In short
- Paid features open in stages. This document applies to each paid feature from the moment the Service offers it with a price and a checkout.
- Nothing physical is shipped. Access starts in your Account at once after payment, or at the scheduled time of an online Screening.
- A Rental lasts for the window shown in the Listing. A Purchase has no set end date and lasts at least 12 months from the Order.
- If access fails, tell us. We restore it within 48 hours of your report or refund you in full.
1. Scope and status
Paid features open in stages. This document applies to each paid feature from the moment the Service offers it with a price and a checkout. Where it describes paid access, confirmation emails or delivery records, it describes how they will work from that moment. Festival submissions are not yet open in the Service. This document applies to Submissions from the day the feature opens.
You need an Account to watch Films in the Catalog, free ones included. Nothing physical is shipped: everything sold in the Service is delivered digitally.
Sellers' duties to keep what they sell available are in the Creator and Organizer Terms, section 7 "Delivering what you sell".
2. How and when you get access
| What you buy | When and where you get it |
|---|---|
| Rental or Purchase | at once after payment, in your Account and on the Film's page |
| Fan Subscription | at once after payment, for the Films the Creator offers to subscribers |
| Ticket | at once after payment: a confirmation email, and the Ticket in your Account |
| Online Screening | the watch link becomes active at the scheduled time |
| Submission | delivered to the Festival at once after payment, or on submitting if there is no fee |
| Sphere Paid Service | features active at once after payment; for a Consumer, only after a tick in the early-start box, and otherwise when the 14 days for withdrawal end |
Whether the start of access ends your Withdrawal Right is set out in Purchases, Cancellations and Refunds, section 7 "When the right to withdraw does not apply or ends early".
3. Access periods, devices and regions
- Rentals. You can watch a Rental during its Rental window. The Listing states when the window starts and how long it lasts.
- Purchases. A Purchase has no set end date: you can watch the Film while it stays in the Catalog, and in any case for at least 12 months from the Order. A Purchase is a licence to stream the Film in the Service; it includes no download or copy. If it becomes unavailable within those 12 months for reasons other than your breach or your own decision to close your Account, you get a full Refund (Purchases, Cancellations and Refunds, section 9 "Refund Floor for purchases from Sellers"). If the Seller stops selling the Film or leaves the Service, you keep the access you already bought (Creator and Organizer Terms, section 6 "The licence you give us for selling").
- Fan Subscriptions. Access lasts while the subscription is active, including the rest of a paid period after you cancel (Payment Policy, section 8 "Recurring payments").
- Tickets. A Ticket is valid for the Screening on the date and at the time shown, or on the new date if the Screening is moved.
How you watch:
- Films are streamed in the Service in a current web browser. They cannot be downloaded.
- If a Listing limits the countries where a Film may be watched, it says so before you pay, and you may watch the Film only there.
- Access belongs to the Account that paid for it. Do not share that access or your sign-in details.
4. Confirmation and proof of delivery
- After each paid Order you get a confirmation email, and your Order history in the Account shows the Order for at least 120 days, as set out in Purchases, Cancellations and Refunds, section 4 "Order confirmation and records".
- For each paid Order, we will keep a record of when access was granted or the item delivered, and of when playback first started. These records and the confirmation email are our proof of delivery, for example when a payment is disputed (Payment Policy, section 10 "Chargebacks and payment disputes").
5. If access fails
- Write to support@sphere.art with your Order number and a short description of the problem.
- We restore your access. For a Rental, we also extend the window by the time you lost.
- If access is not restored within 48 hours of your report, you get a full Refund under Purchases, Cancellations and Refunds, section 9 "Refund Floor for purchases from Sellers". An online Screening that fails and is not restored during the Screening is refunded under the same section.
Other points:
- Problems with your own device, browser or connection are outside our control; our support team still helps you find the cause.
- We tell affected Buyers about planned maintenance in advance by email, and any time it takes from a Rental window is added back.
- If you are charged twice for the same Order, or buy access you already have, we refund the duplicate in full (Payment Policy, section 9 "Failed, pending and duplicate payments").
- Our liability is otherwise governed by the Terms of Service, section 13 "Liability".
6. Changes and contact
We may update this document. We tell you about material changes by email and in the Service at least 14 days before they take effect, and at least 30 days before for changes to Seller fees, Payouts or selling rules, as set out in the Terms of Service, section 15 "Changes to the Service and the Legal Documents". Earlier versions of this document are available on request at legal@sphere.art.
Questions about access, delivery or a failed Order go to support@sphere.art.