1. Who you are agreeing with
The Retail Lab is operated by David Seminsky in San Diego, California. In these terms, ‘we’ means David Seminsky doing business as The Retail Lab, and ‘you’ means the person creating an account or the organization they are authorized to represent. Contact: seminsky@icloud.com.
When you select Agree and continue, you accept this version of the terms for your account and services ordered under it. You must be at least 18 and able to enter a contract. If acting for a business, you confirm you have authority to bind it. You can save or print these terms. Our Privacy Notice explains how we handle personal information.
2. Your account and acceptable use
Provide accurate account and request information, protect your login and tell us promptly if you suspect unauthorized access. Do not share your login publicly, impersonate another person, bypass access controls, interfere with the service or use it unlawfully. You are responsible for activity you authorize through your account.
Do not submit passwords, payment-card details, sensitive personal information or confidential business information through the research forms. Submit only information you have the right to share and allow us to process. A separate written agreement is required before any confidential engagement.
3. What our research does and does not provide
We provide company research, hypotheses, examples, scenarios and advisory support within the agreed scope. Research may use artificial intelligence and public third-party sources, which can be incomplete, inaccurate or outdated. A dated report is a snapshot; it is not a promise of continuing updates, exhaustive due diligence or independent verification of every claim.
Recommendations and estimates are informational, not guarantees of revenue, profit, cost savings, investment performance or successful implementation. Hypothetical scenarios and results reported by other companies are not forecasts for your business. You are responsible for validating important facts, obtaining professional advice where needed and deciding whether and how to implement an idea. We do not provide legal, tax, accounting, securities or regulated financial advice through these reports.
We retain editorial judgment over research methods, findings and recommendations. Buying a report does not entitle you to a particular conclusion or favorable assessment. Unless expressly agreed, the service does not include implementation, access to internal company systems, third-party software fees or ongoing consulting. Named companies do not endorse our independent analyses merely because they appear in a report.
4. Orders, fees and delivery
Creating an account or submitting an inquiry does not itself authorize a charge. The report scope, market, price, payment arrangements and any delivery commitment must be confirmed before paid work begins. There is no recurring subscription unless separately and expressly agreed. A separate written engagement controls any scope or payment terms that it expressly replaces.
Free snapshots and examples are limited to what is offered and available. Account access does not guarantee free custom research for every company. Delivery estimates are estimates unless expressly agreed as deadlines. We will communicate material delays. Additional markets, questions, revisions or services beyond the confirmed scope may require a new quote and your approval.
5. Cancellation, corrections and refunds
You may cancel paid research before we begin and receive a refund of the unused payment. After work begins, fees for work already performed and delivered digital reports are generally non-refundable solely because you change your mind, disagree with a reasoned finding or do not achieve a hoped-for result. If you cancel during work, we will explain the work completed and any refund of unearned fees.
If we cannot deliver the agreed service, we will refund the amount paid for the undelivered portion. If a report has a material error or does not match the agreed scope, contact us promptly so we can correct it or offer an appropriate remedy. Statutory refund, cancellation and other consumer rights override this policy where applicable. Nothing prevents a lawful dispute, chargeback or complaint.
6. Ownership and your report license
To the extent protected by applicable law, we retain ownership of our original analyses, report presentation, methodology, templates, software and branding. Public facts, your own information, third-party material and any material without protectable rights are not claimed as our exclusive property.
After any required payment, you receive a non-exclusive license to download and use your report internally within your business and to share it confidentially with colleagues and professional advisers supporting that business. You may discuss its ideas and use them in your own decisions. Do not resell reports, publicly reproduce substantial protected content, remove attribution, redistribute them as your own product or use protected report content to train a commercial model without our written permission, except where law permits otherwise. Third-party rights and licenses continue to apply.
You retain rights to information you submit. You authorize us and service providers to process it only as reasonably needed to respond to your request, provide the service, maintain your account and comply with law, as explained in our Privacy Notice. Submission does not authorize us to publish your confidential information or claim your business as a client publicly.
7. Availability and suspension
We may maintain, change or suspend features and reasonably limit abusive use, suspected fraud, security threats or violations of these terms. We will provide notice where practical and take proportionate action. Ending access does not eliminate a refund or delivery obligation for paid services. Keep a downloaded copy of reports you need; we do not promise perpetual online storage.
8. Disclaimers and limits on liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, research and the website are provided as available, without implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or uninterrupted or error-free operation. We do not warrant that every proposed opportunity will be feasible or profitable. This does not override express commitments in your paid scope or mandatory warranties.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive losses, including lost profits, opportunities or anticipated savings arising from use of the service. Our aggregate liability arising from the service is limited to the greater of US$100 or the fees you paid us in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim.
These exclusions and caps do not apply to fraud, willful misconduct, gross negligence, liability for unlawful conduct that cannot be limited, or any other responsibility or remedy that law does not allow us to exclude. Nothing waives non-waivable consumer rights, statutory remedies or liability for death or personal injury where a limitation is prohibited.
9. Responsibility for unlawful submissions
For a business customer, to the extent permitted by law, you agree to reimburse us for reasonable losses and costs from a third-party claim directly caused by your knowingly unlawful submissions, infringement of another party’s rights or intentional misuse of the service. This does not cover claims caused by our own conduct. We will notify you promptly, allow reasonable participation in the defense and obtain your consent before a settlement imposes obligations on you. This clause does not reduce protected consumer rights.
10. Disputes, updates and the agreement
California law governs, except where mandatory local consumer law requires otherwise. To the extent permitted by law, courts in San Diego County, California are the agreed venue. This does not prevent access to a competent small-claims court, a regulator or another forum required by law. Contact us first if practical so we can try to resolve a concern; doing so is not a condition of exercising a legal right.
We may publish updated terms with a new version and effective date. Material changes to an existing agreement require notice and renewed agreement; posting a new version does not retroactively change a completed paid order. The version you accepted and any separately agreed written engagement form your agreement. If a provision is unenforceable, the remaining lawful provisions continue. Failure to enforce a provision once does not waive it for the future.