Nevari International Limited — Company No. 16018299 (England & Wales), trading as Apex Evolution Labs (A.E.L.™)
ContentsThese terms are between you and Nevari International Limited, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 16018299, trading as Apex Evolution Labs ("A.E.L.", "we", "us", "our"). They apply to every submission of items for grading, authentication, encapsulation or related services (the "Services") and to all matters arising from them. By placing an order you accept these terms.
"Intake Record": the timestamped video of a parcel being opened at our inspection station together with our photography of each card at first sight, and our exit imaging on completion. "Deemed Condition": the condition attributed to an item for settlement under clause 13. "Appraised Value": the value we attribute to an item on completion of grading. "Order": your submission request placed through our site and confirmed by us. "Working Day": a day other than a weekend or public holiday in England.
We provide professional grading, authentication and encapsulation of trading cards. We do not provide storage, valuation, investment, brokerage or insurance services, and nothing in the Services constitutes advice of any kind.
You must be at least 18 and capable of entering a binding contract. You are responsible for the accuracy of your account details and the security of your credentials; activity under your account is deemed yours.
Your order is an offer, accepted when we issue our order confirmation. Fees are payable in full at the time of order and are stated inclusive of VAT where applicable. Where a fee has been listed in obvious error, we may cancel the affected order before performance and refund the sum paid, and that is your sole remedy.
If you are a consumer you may have a statutory right to cancel a distance contract within 14 days. By placing an order you expressly request that we begin the Services within any cancellation period, and you acknowledge that you lose the right to cancel once the Services have been fully performed in respect of an item. If you cancel after performance has begun but before completion, you must pay for the Services performed up to cancellation, and our reasonable costs of returning your items apply. Nothing in this clause affects rights that cannot be excluded.
Every submission must be dispatched by a tracked and insured service and must arrive in a rigid protective box, packed substantially in accordance with our published instructions, with a printed copy of the order form enclosed. Envelopes, jiffy bags, postal bags and any other non-compliant packaging are not accepted. Our packaging instructions are guidance as to method; you remain responsible for how your items are packed and for the carriage and cover you arrange. Risk in inbound transit remains with you at all times. Non-compliant submissions will be refused, and may be refused without being opened; refused items are returned to you, the service fee for a refused item is not refunded, and return carriage is charged at cost. A refused item is never accepted into our care and we have no liability in respect of it.
You are responsible for the accuracy of all information you provide — the identity, set, number, declared condition and declared value of each item, and your contact and delivery details — and we are entitled to rely on it. The correct service tier for an item is determined by its market value on inspection. Where the tier selected at submission is lower than the correct tier, we will invoice an uplift to the correct fee, and grading will not proceed until it is paid. If the uplift is not paid within 14 days of our notice: no service is provided and the fee already paid is not refunded — that fee covers receipt, recorded inspection and handling already performed — and at our election we may either (a) return the item to you, with return carriage arranged and covered by reference to the declared value at submission only, you having first signed a written waiver accepting return on that basis entirely at your own risk, or (b) retain the item under our general lien (clause 27) until all sums due are paid. Errors in your information are at your risk.
You warrant that you are the sole legal owner of each item you submit (or are duly authorised by the owner), that each item is free of any charge, claim or encumbrance, and that its submission does not infringe any law or third-party right. You will indemnify Nevari International Limited (Company No. 16018299) in full against all claims, losses, damages and costs arising from any breach of this warranty, including any claim by a third party to ownership of an item.
You must disclose in writing, at submission, any known alteration, restoration, cleaning, trimming, pressing or repair of an item. Any claim in respect of an item whose alteration was known to you and not disclosed is void, and we may annotate our records and the item's certification accordingly.
A signature on delivery acknowledges receipt of a sealed package only and is not acceptance of, or responsibility for, its contents. Packages are held sealed and unopened until inspection, which is carried out in the order submissions are received, as soon as reasonably practicable. We accept no liability in respect of any item until its recorded inspection begins.
Every package is opened on camera at the inspection station and every card is photographed at first sight. The Intake Record is the definitive and conclusive record of the contents of a package and of each item's condition on arrival. Our responsibility for an item begins at the moment its recorded inspection begins and is limited as set out in these terms. Inspection video recordings are retained for 14 days following return dispatch of the item. No claim lies in respect of damage, wear or defects shown in, or consistent with, the Intake Record, nor in respect of items not shown in it.
Subject to clause 34, our total liability in respect of any item — however arising, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), bailment, breach of statutory duty or otherwise — is limited as follows. Every item is treated for settlement as a raw, ungraded card, whatever its actual or claimed state; values attaching to graded or encapsulated examples never apply, and an item received encapsulated by any third party is valued on a raw, de-slabbed basis. Until an item has completed our grading process its condition is unverified; its Deemed Condition is accordingly no better than Lightly Played, and where completed-sale data exists for the same card (set and number) in Moderately Played condition, that value applies. Settlement value means the value evidenced by completed sales of the same card in the Deemed Condition at the date of loss — asking prices, listings and sentiment are not evidence — subject in every case to an absolute maximum of £5,000 per item; and in any event our total aggregate liability to any customer — across all items, orders and claims — shall not exceed £5,000 per order and £5,000 in any six-month period of use of the Services. One claim only per item; no combination of claims increases these limits. The burden of proving that loss or damage occurred while an item was in our care rests on the claimant at all times, and the absence of any recording or image does not of itself establish or shift that burden.
Our published fees are set on the basis of the standard £5,000 per-item limit. Where an item's value exceeds £5,000 you may, before submission, request a higher limit by prior written arrangement under clause 8, at additional cost; if you do not, you elect the standard limit and accept that any value above it is at your own risk. Where the limits in these terms differ, the lowest applicable limit applies. For any claim not relating to loss of or damage to an item, our total liability shall not exceed the fees paid for the order concerned.
All timescales we publish or communicate — including grading turnaround times and return-dispatch times — are estimates only. We may extend any timescale, including the time to inspect, grade, or dispatch an item back after grading, at our discretion, at any time and without reason, and we accept no liability for delay. Time is not of the essence in respect of any obligation of ours.
Grading requires physical handling: items are removed from sleeves and holders, examined, imaged and encapsulated. By submitting, you accept the inherent risks of professional handling and encapsulation. Pre-existing characteristics — print defects, factory flaws, surface variation, centring, and conditions consistent with the Intake Record — are not damage. Submission supplies (sleeves, semi-rigids, bags, boxes and similar) are not returned and may be disposed of.
Where you submit an item encapsulated by a third party, you instruct us to remove it from that holder. De-encapsulation is performed with professional care but is inherently risky and undertaken entirely at your risk; any damage arising in de-encapsulation is subject to the limits and settlement basis in clause 13.
We take reasonable care in the accuracy of label and certificate data. Where a label contains an error, your sole remedy is correction and re-holdering at our cost; label errors give rise to no other liability. Certificate numbers, grades, labels and registry entries are and remain our property and records.
Our holder is part of the Services. Any opening of, or tampering with, a holder voids the certification of the item it contained, and we may invalidate the corresponding certificate and registry entry. No claim lies in respect of an item whose holder has been opened or tampered with after dispatch.
Appraisal is conducted by our forensic instruments, computational data points and human-in-the-loop review, and is provided by Nevari International Limited trading as Apex Evolution Labs and its appointed representatives and systems. A grade is a matter of professional judgement and is final. A grade — or the difference between a grade and any grade you expected — is never of itself evidence of damage; a damage claim must identify specific damage absent from the Intake Record and present on return. Enquiries may be raised with customer services, but grades are not subject to challenge or regrade except under any published review service. Without limiting the foregoing, we have no liability to you or to any third party for any opinion rendered, grade assigned or statement made, save as expressly provided in these terms.
Market values, price data, graded-value indications and any other figures displayed in our submission tools or elsewhere are provided for information only, are drawn from third-party sources, and are not advice, valuations or representations by us. You rely on your own judgement in submitting items, and we accept no liability for any decision made in reliance on displayed figures.
On completion, items are normally dispatched within 24–48 hours (business Working Days), subject to clause 14, by tracked carriage under our carrier arrangements, with cover up to the lower of the Appraised Value and our standard carriage cover limit of $10,000 (USD), aligned with our highest published service tier. Where the Appraised Value exceeds $10,000, dispatch is withheld and we will contact you to arrange specific carriage at an additional quoted cost (POA), outside our published rates; pending arrangement the item is held securely and the in-care limits above continue to apply. If you decline the quoted carriage, you may instead sign a written agreement and waiver accepting dispatch by uninsured transit entirely at your own risk, in which case we have no liability in respect of the item from the moment of dispatch. Risk passes to you on dispatch, and our liability in respect of return transit is otherwise limited to sums actually recovered under the applicable carriage cover, with reasonable assistance provided for any carrier claim.
Any claim must be notified to us in writing — quoting the order number and enclosing supporting evidence — within 48 hours of delivery of the returned item to you (as evidenced by the carrier's tracked delivery record), or, for loss, within 48 hours of our notification; time is of the essence, and claims outside this window are barred. Where an item is not delivered, any claim must be notified within 48 hours of our notification of loss or, in any event, within 14 days of our dispatch notification, whichever is earlier. Claims are determined by us acting reasonably on the Intake Record and exit imaging. Settlement is by payment up to the applicable limits. No proceedings may be brought more than 12 months after the event giving rise to the claim.
We are not liable in any circumstances for: loss of profit, revenue, opportunity or anticipated sale; diminution in market value or movement in market prices; loss of expected grade or expected value uplift; sentimental or emotional value; or any indirect or consequential loss, howsoever arising.
We may decline to grade any item, before or after inspection, at our discretion and without giving reasons, and return it to you. Where we reasonably suspect an item is counterfeit, altered, tampered with or otherwise not genuine, we may decline to grade it, annotate our records accordingly, and return it; we accept no liability for any such determination or annotation. Where an item or package presents a risk to safety, health or our facility — including contamination, mould or pests — we may isolate, decline, return at your cost, or where necessary dispose of it, without liability. Where an item's value on inspection materially exceeds the standard limit, we may require a higher-limit arrangement under clause 8 before proceeding, or decline and return the item.
Any grade, certificate or appraised figure we issue is a professional opinion for identification and grading purposes only — not a valuation for insurance, sale, lending or any other purpose — and we do not arrange, advise on or recommend insurance. At your request, we may introduce you to third-party insurance providers who may, at their discretion and subject to their own criteria, offer a quotation referencing the Appraised Value, at a premium payable to them. Any quotation, policy, premium and claim are matters solely between you and that provider; Nevari International Limited trading as Apex Evolution Labs acts only as an introducer, is not a party to any policy, and accepts no liability in respect of any quotation given or declined, any policy, or any insured or uninsured loss.
We may suspend, withdraw or vary the Services, any service tier, or our published fees at any time; changes do not affect submissions already accepted.
We have a general lien over all items of yours in our possession for all sums you owe us on any account, and may retain any item until those sums are paid in full. Items that remain uncollected or undeliverable for 90 days after our first notice may incur reasonable storage charges; items unclaimed 12 months after notice may be disposed of or sold in accordance with the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977, with any proceeds (less our fees, charges and costs) held to your order.
All sums due to us are payable in full without set-off, counterclaim or deduction, and unpaid sums bear interest at 4% a year above the Bank of England base rate from the due date until payment. We may set off any sum you owe us against any sum we owe you, including any claim settlement.
Our contract is with the submitting customer only. No other person — including any subsequent owner or purchaser of a graded item — acquires any rights under it, and the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 is excluded. You may not assign or transfer your rights without our written consent; we may subcontract or perform through appointed representatives, and may assign to any member of our group.
We may retain and use the Intake Record, exit imaging, images of items, and grading data for our records, security, quality, research, and the operation and promotion of our registry, population data, galleries and services, including in anonymised or aggregated form. All trade marks, grade names and scales, label designs, certificates and registry content are our intellectual property; no licence is granted to you. Personal data is handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
For submissions from or returns to addresses outside the United Kingdom, you are the importer and exporter of record; all customs duties, taxes and charges are your responsibility, and we may refuse delivery of, or re-bill to you, any package arriving with charges payable. You must not submit items from, or require return to, any person or territory subject to applicable sanctions.
Complaints may be raised with customer services at our published contact address and we aim to respond promptly. We are not required to, and do not, participate in any alternative dispute resolution scheme.
We may give any notice by email to the address on your order, deemed received on the day of sending; you must give notices in writing to our published contact address.
Nothing in these terms limits or excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any liability that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded; nothing affects statutory consumer rights that cannot be excluded.
If you submit in the course of business, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and other consumer protections do not apply to you, all implied terms are excluded to the fullest extent permitted, and these terms apply with any consumer-specific provisions disapplied.
We are not liable for delay or failure caused by events beyond our reasonable control.
These terms constitute the entire agreement in respect of the Services. If any provision is found unenforceable, the remainder continues in full force. We may update these terms; the version in force at the date of your submission applies to that submission. Failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it. Nothing in these terms creates any partnership, agency or employment relationship.
These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction.
Nevari International Limited — Company No. 16018299 (England & Wales), trading as Apex Evolution Labs (A.E.L.™)