Terms
Terms of Service for Retailers.
Draft for legal review. Square brackets mark open commercial decisions. Not legal advice.
Before you start
Showroom is free for retailers, distributors, agents and marketplace sellers. You tell us what you are looking for, we show you brands that fit, and where you want to meet one we make the introduction ourselves.
Four things worth knowing before you read the rest:
- Showroom introduces. It does not sell. An order you place with a brand is between you and the brand. We are not the seller and we are not a party to it.
- Medium Rare also trades. Separately from Showroom, we distribute brands into retail — currently in the GCC. If we ever offer to supply you ourselves we say so plainly, it happens under a separate agreement, and saying no never affects your account. Clause 3 sets out how the two are kept apart.
- We publish anonymised market statistics built partly from platform activity. We never publish your pricing or anything that identifies you. Clause 10 sets out exactly what we can and cannot do.
- Showroom is for businesses. Consumer protection rules do not apply here.
1. Who we are and what these terms cover
1.1 Showroom is operated by Medium Rare Trading LLC, a company registered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (commercial registration 1415394, VAT registration 104706154200003), at Office No. 358, Obaid Musabeh Mohammed Al Mansoori Building, Hor Al Anz, Deira, Dubai. In these terms "we", "us", "our" and "Medium Rare" mean that company.
1.2 "You" means the business that holds the Showroom account, not the individual using it. If you accept these terms you confirm you are authorised to bind that business.
1.3 These terms apply to retailers, distributors, agents and marketplace sellers. Brands subscribe under a separate agreement.
1.4 By creating an account you agree to these terms and to the Privacy Notice, which forms part of them.
2. What Showroom is, and what it is not
2.1 Showroom is an introduction and discovery platform. We hold profiles of watch brands and of retail businesses, we match them against criteria each side sets, and we make introductions.
2.2 Showroom is not a party to any transaction between you and a brand. When we introduce you to a brand, we are not the seller, reseller, agent, broker or commission agent in that trade. We hold no stock in it, we take no title, and we are not in the payment chain.
2.3 Every purchase, contract, delivery, payment, warranty and dispute arising from an introduction is between you and the brand directly, on whatever terms the two of you agree. We are not responsible for any of it.
2.4 The one exception is where Medium Rare itself is the supplier — where you buy from our own distribution business. That is dealt with in clause 3, and it is never done through the back door of an introduction.
2.5 A match, a fit score, a ranking or an introduction is not a recommendation, an endorsement, or advice. It reflects the criteria both sides entered and the data both sides supplied. It does not mean we have assessed the brand's products, finances or conduct beyond the verification described in clause 6.
2.6 We may change, add to or withdraw features at any time.
3. When Medium Rare trades on its own account
3.1 We run a distribution business alongside Showroom. We buy watches from brands at wholesale, or act as an appointed distributor or agent for a brand, and sell into retailers. Today that business is focused on the [GCC]. Nothing in these terms stops us doing that, and nothing in them obliges you to buy from us.
3.2 Separate agreement, separate terms. If we supply you, we do so under a separate written agreement between you and us — a supply agreement, an order confirmation, or our trading terms of sale. These terms govern Showroom only. That agreement governs the trade. If the two conflict on anything to do with the trade, that agreement wins.
3.3 We always say which hat we are wearing. An offer to supply you from our own stock or from a brand we distribute will say so in plain words. It will never be dressed up as an introduction to a third-party brand, and an introduction will never be used as cover for a sales approach on our own behalf.
3.4 Your platform data is not our sales advantage. Our distribution business:
- does not use your buying criteria, your brand list, your profile or your activity on Showroom to target you, except where you have given that information to us for that purpose, in that capacity, under clause 3.2;
- does not use another member's confidential data in dealing with you, or yours in dealing with another member;
- does not use masked listings to identify and approach members outside the introduction process — the same rule we ask of you in clause 8.
3.5 No matching advantage. A brand we distribute, or goods we hold, appear in your matches and in the model search on exactly the same criteria as any other brand's. They never displace a materially better match, and where they appear our interest is labelled.
3.6 Our trading arm is a member like any other. Where our distribution business appears on the platform as a distributor, it holds a Showroom account on these same terms, is subject to the same verification, the same ratings and the same rules of conduct, and receives no data or access that any other distributor member would not receive.
3.7 Liability for a trade sits with the trade. Where we are your supplier, the exclusions in clause 15.3 (dealings with a brand) do not apply to that trade. Our liability for it is governed by the agreement in clause 3.2.
3.8 Declining to buy from us never affects your account, your verification, your matches, your ranking or your introductions.
4. Eligibility
4.1 To hold an account you must be a business that buys goods for resale or for onward distribution, and you must be able to trade lawfully in your territory.
4.2 Showroom is not open to consumers, and nothing bought through a Showroom introduction is bought as a consumer.
4.3 We may decline or close any account at our discretion, including where we cannot verify the business or where an account appears to be held by a competitor for the purpose of gathering information.
5. Your account and the information you give us
5.1 You must give accurate information when you register and keep it current. Much of what makes Showroom work — matching, ranking, the quality of introductions — depends on it.
5.2 You are responsible for activity on your account and for keeping credentials secure. Tell us promptly if you think someone else has access.
5.3 Accounts are for one business. You may add colleagues as users. You may not share access with, resell access to, or hold an account on behalf of, another business without our written agreement.
5.4 You confirm that any third-party information you give us — the names and contact details of your buying, accounts and shipping staff, for example — is given lawfully and that those people have been told their details will be shared with brands you ask to be introduced to.
6. Verification
6.1 Nothing is mandatory to open an account. Uploading documents raises your verification strength, shown to brands as Strong, Medium, Weak or Unverified.
6.2 That rating is our assessment of how much supporting evidence we hold. It is not a statement about your creditworthiness, solvency, conduct or suitability, and no brand should treat it as one.
6.3 Brands see the rating only. They never see the underlying documents.
6.4 We may re-check, downgrade or withdraw a rating at any time, particularly where information appears inaccurate or out of date.
6.5 Brand names, and the model search, are available to verified accounts only.
7. Introductions
7.1 You may ask to be introduced to any brand that appears in your matches. [ Decision: is the number of introductions unlimited, or capped? Current build has no cap. ]
7.2 We make introductions personally and at our discretion. We may decline or delay one — for example where the brand cannot supply your territory, has asked not to be introduced, or where your verification is incomplete.
7.3 We do not guarantee that a brand will respond, engage, quote, supply, or agree terms.
7.4 Once we have made an introduction, the relationship is yours. You deal with the brand directly. We may ask both sides for progress updates so the introduction record stays accurate, and we may send reminders where an introduction has gone quiet.
8. Not going around us
8.1 Before an introduction is made, brand identities are deliberately masked. You agree not to use information shown in a masked listing — attributes, territory, stockist counts or any combination of them — to identify a brand and approach it outside Showroom.
8.2 If you do, and a trading relationship results within [12] months, you agree to pay us [the then-current price of one introduction] as a genuine pre-estimate of our loss, not as a penalty.
8.3 This clause does not apply to any brand you already knew of, already stocked, had already approached, or came across independently of Showroom. If there is a dispute about which, it is for us to show the brand first became known to you through Showroom.
8.4 Nothing here restricts how you trade with a brand after we have introduced you. That is the whole point of the service.
8.5 The same obligation binds brands towards you under their terms, and binds our own distribution business under clause 3.4.
9. Using the platform properly
9.1 You agree not to:
- scrape, crawl, harvest or bulk-extract data from Showroom by any automated means
- attempt to unmask brand identities other than through an introduction
- pass brand data, pricing or assortment information to a third party, including any business competing with that brand
- use Showroom to build, train or populate a competing service or database
- misrepresent your business, your size, your channel or your buying intentions
- upload anything unlawful, infringing, or containing malicious code
- interfere with the platform's operation or security
9.2 Assortment data — specs, wholesale pricing, stock and imagery — is made available to you to assess whether to buy. It stays the brand's property and must be treated as confidential under clause 12. It must not be republished, shared outside your business, or used for any other purpose.
10. Data — what we collect and what we do with it
This is the clause that governs the market statistics we publish. It is written to be read.
10.1 What you give us
Your business profile, your buying criteria, verification documents, contact details, and the record of what you do on the platform — matches viewed, favourites, introductions requested, searches run, ratings submitted, and any order information you or a brand records.
10.2 Running the platform
We use all of that to operate Showroom for you: matching you to brands, ranking results, making introductions, keeping the introduction record, showing your profile to brands you match with, supporting you, and preventing fraud and misuse. This is what you signed up for, and it is necessary to provide the service.
10.3 Aggregated market data
You grant us a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free licence to use platform data — including the commercial and behavioural data described in 10.1 — to produce aggregated and anonymised statistics, analysis, benchmarks, indices and reports.
We may publish these, share them with members, and license them commercially.
Examples of what that means in practice: how many retailers in a territory are actively buying; which movement origins and price bands retailers are asking for most; which attributes are searched for and not found; the share of demand coming from single-door versus multi-door businesses.
10.4 The limits — what we will never do
These limits are part of the agreement, not a statement of intent:
- Every published figure is aggregated and anonymised. You are never identified.
- No published figure ever represents fewer than five contributing businesses. Where a cut of the data falls below that, it is suppressed rather than published.
- We never publish your pricing, your terms, or your trading relationships in any form that identifies you.
- We never sell, rent or license your contact details.
- We never license raw or member-level data to anyone. Aggregate outputs only.
- Your verification documents never leave Medium Rare. They are not shown to brands or to any third party.
- Our own distribution business gets nothing under this clause that it would not get as an ordinary member. Clause 3.4 applies.
10.5 Personal data
Personal data is handled as set out in the Privacy Notice, which explains what we hold, why, how long for, who processes it, and what rights you have. Where GDPR or UK GDPR applies, those rights include access, correction, erasure, objection and portability.
10.6 Confidential by default
Nothing in 10.3 permits us to disclose anything a brand or retailer has marked confidential, or anything that would identify a specific commercial arrangement between two members.
11. Ratings
11.1 Once an introduction reaches a completed order, both sides may rate each other out of five.
11.2 Ratings are blind — neither side sees the other's score until both have submitted or fourteen days have passed. Once released, a rating cannot be amended.
11.3 A brand's aggregate score is hidden until at least three ratings exist, so that a single difficult first order does not define a new brand.
11.4 Ratings must be honest, based on your own dealings, and must not be traded, incentivised or coordinated.
11.5 The private note that accompanies a rating comes to Medium Rare alone and is never published.
11.6 We may remove a rating that is abusive, unlawful, obviously false, or not based on a real transaction. We are not obliged to monitor ratings and do not endorse them.
11.7 Where our own distribution business supplies you through the platform, you can rate it and it can rate you on exactly the same footing (clause 3.6). Ratings of it are moderated by the same rules and are not removed because they are unflattering.
12. Confidentiality
12.1 Each side will keep the other's confidential information confidential and use it only for the purposes of these terms. This covers brand assortment data, pricing, terms, and anything marked confidential or obviously confidential from the circumstances.
12.2 This does not cover information that is public through no breach, was already lawfully held, is independently developed, or must be disclosed by law.
12.3 For the avoidance of doubt, "the purposes of these terms" does not include our own distribution business. Confidential information you give us as a Showroom member is not used for that business except as clause 3.4 permits.
12.4 Clause 12 survives termination for [3] years.
13. Intellectual property
13.1 Showroom, its software, design, structure and content are ours or our licensors'. Nothing here transfers any of it to you.
13.2 Content you upload stays yours. You grant us a licence to host, display and process it as needed to run the service and as set out in clause 10.
13.3 You confirm you hold the rights to everything you upload.
14. Suspension and termination
14.1 You may close your account at any time.
14.2 We may suspend or close an account, with notice where reasonably practicable, if you breach these terms, if information you have given is materially inaccurate, if we cannot verify your business, or if your use harms other members or the platform.
14.3 On termination your profile stops being visible and your access ends. Introduction records, ratings and aggregated data produced before termination survive. The licence in 10.3 continues in respect of aggregate outputs already produced or derived.
14.4 Closing your Showroom account does not, by itself, end any supply agreement under clause 3.2, and vice versa.
15. Liability
15.1 Nothing here limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything that cannot lawfully be limited.
15.2 Showroom is provided free to retailers and is provided "as is". We do not warrant that matches will be suitable, that brands will respond or perform, that data supplied by brands is accurate, or that the service will be uninterrupted.
15.3 We are not liable for anything arising out of your dealings with a brand you were introduced to through Showroom — including non-delivery, defective goods, late delivery, pricing disputes, non-payment, product compliance, intellectual property claims, or any loss arising from a transaction. This does not apply where we are the supplier (clause 3.7).
15.4 We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, loss of profit, loss of business, loss of goodwill, or loss of anticipated savings.
15.5 Our total liability under these terms in any twelve-month period is limited to [US$ 250], reflecting that the service is provided without charge. Liability under a supply agreement is governed by that agreement.
16. Indemnity
You will indemnify us against claims, losses and reasonable costs arising from your breach of these terms, your misuse of brand data, or your dealings with a brand you were introduced to through Showroom.
17. Changes
17.1 We may change these terms. Material changes will be notified by email or on next login, at least [30] days before they take effect.
17.2 Continuing to use Showroom after that date means you accept the new version. If you do not, close your account.
17.3 Every version is dated and numbered, and we keep superseded versions.
18. General
18.1 Governing law: the laws of [the United Arab Emirates / the Dubai International Financial Centre].
18.2 Jurisdiction: the [DIFC Courts / Dubai Courts] have exclusive jurisdiction. [ Decision — see the recommendation note. DIFC Courts are common-law and English-language, can be chosen by agreement, and are usually easier to explain to an international counterparty. ]
18.3 No partnership, joint venture, agency or employment is created by these terms. In particular, being a Showroom member does not make us your supplier, agent or buying agent. Only a separate agreement under clause 3.2 can do that.
18.4 You may not assign these terms. We may assign them on a sale or reorganisation of our business.
18.5 If a clause is unenforceable, the rest stands.
18.6 These terms and the Privacy Notice are the entire agreement between us in respect of Showroom. They do not form part of, and are not varied by, any supply agreement under clause 3.2.
18.7 Questions: joseph@anunatrading.com
Medium Rare Trading LLC · Hor Al Anz, Deira, Dubai, UAE · CR 1415394 · VAT 104706154200003