Terms and conditions

1. About us and these terms

The Online Shopping Expert (“TOSE”, “we”, “us”, “our”) is a trading name of Dome Media Ltd, a company registered in England & Wales (Company No. 15464039), registered office 3rd Floor Hampton Place, 7 Leacon Road, Ashford, England, TN23 4AN.

These terms apply from the date you create an account or first use TOSE, whichever happens first. We may update them as TOSE evolves or the law changes; when a change is material, we will tell you by email and through the platform, and the “last updated” date at the top shows the current version. Continued use after a change means you accept the updated terms. If you do not accept them, you should stop using TOSE, and you may close your account.

These terms apply alongside our Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, Acceptable Use & Community Policy, Competition & Prize-Draw Terms, and Affiliate Disclosure. If you join the Shopping Curator programme, the Shopping Curator terms also apply.

2. Definitions

These words have the following meanings wherever they appear in these terms.

• Account means the personal TOSE membership account you hold with us.
• Platform means the TOSE website, our apps, and the services we provide through them.
• Retailer means a brand or merchant you shop with through TOSE. Your purchase contract is with the retailer, not with us.
• Affiliate network means a third-party company, such as Awin or Impact, that records your click-through to a retailer, reports the resulting sale, and pays us commission on it.
• Cashback means the agreed share of the commission we receive on your purchase, which we pass on to you. The rate you see is the rate you receive.
• Pending cashback means cashback recorded against your account but not yet confirmed by the retailer. It is not yet payable, and it may still be declined.
• Confirmed cashback means cashback the retailer has confirmed, having accepted the sale as valid.
• Available cashback means confirmed cashback for which we have received the commission, and which you may therefore withdraw. You can withdraw once your available cashback reaches £10.
• Material breach means a breach that is serious in its nature or consequences, including fraud, deliberate abuse of the cashback programme, or repeated breaches of these terms after we have asked you to stop.
• Shopping Curator means a member who has joined our Shopping Curator programme to share the brands they recommend and earn from them.

3. Your account

Membership is free. To hold an account, you must be 18 or over and resident in the United Kingdom. The owner of the email address used to register is the account holder, and you may hold one account per person.

You can sign in by email magic link, or with Google or Apple where offered. Each magic link works once and expires shortly after it is sent, for your security; you can always request a fresh one. We may refuse, suspend or close an account we reasonably believe is duplicated, fraudulent, or in breach of these terms. Where something appears irregular, we will normally contact you before taking action.

Looking after your account. Keep your login details confidential and do not share them. If you believe someone else has accessed your account, contact us at info@theonlineshoppingexpert.co.uk and we will help you secure it. We may disable login details where we reasonably believe they have been compromised.

Staying reachable. Please keep your email address current, so you do not miss information that matters — a confirmed withdrawal, or notice of a prize. If we cannot reach you at the address on file, we may be unable to pay your cashback or deliver a prize.

4. What we do

We bring together cashback, discount codes, freebies and prize draws from brands worth knowing, alongside our editorial. We are not the retailer. When you make a purchase, your contract is with the retailer, on their terms — the goods, delivery, returns and pricing are the retailer’s responsibility, not ours. If an issue arises with an order, the retailer is the party who can resolve it, though we are glad to point you in the right direction.

Rates and offers are set by retailers and can change, so a figure shown on TOSE may occasionally be out of date despite our efforts to keep it current. The price and any saving you receive are those confirmed at the retailer’s checkout.

5. Earning cashback

When you shop through our links, you can earn money back. This section explains how that works in full, including the parts that depend on the retailer and the affiliate network rather than on us.

(a) How your cashback progresses. After you shop, the affiliate network tracks your purchase and it appears in your account as pending. When the retailer confirms the sale it becomes confirmed. Once we receive the commission it becomes available, and you can withdraw it once your available cashback reaches £10. When you withdraw, it is paid. Your account shows each stage in plain words as your cashback progresses, and where a purchase is declined or adjusted — for example after a cancellation or a partial return — your account will show that too.

(b) Helping your cashback track. To give your cashback the best chance of tracking, sign in to your TOSE account before you start shopping so we can match the purchase to your account. Find the brand or offer on TOSE and use the link or button provided to go to the retailer. After clicking through from TOSE, complete your purchase without returning to the retailer through another cashback website, voucher website, affiliate link or advertisement before you check out. Make a genuine purchase that meets the retailer's cashback conditions. To identify your purchase, the affiliate network shares a reference, such as an order ID, with us.

(c) Tracking limitations. Tracking depends on the retailer and affiliate network recording and reporting the sale. Your cashback may not track if, for example, cookies are blocked, an ad-blocker or similar technology interferes with tracking, you use another cashback or voucher service before completing your purchase, or the transaction is excluded under the retailer's cashback conditions.

Affiliate tracking normally works on a “last click” basis. This means the retailer usually credits the last eligible referral link you click before completing your purchase. If you click through from TOSE and then return to the retailer through another cashback website, voucher website, affiliate link, advertisement or other tracked source before checking out, that later source may receive the credit instead of TOSE. If that happens, your cashback may not track and will not be payable unless the retailer or affiliate network later attributes the purchase to TOSE.

(d) Retailer decisions. Whether a purchase qualifies is determined by the retailer. Cashback may be declined — for example on cancellations, returns, amended orders, or where the retailer’s conditions are not met. Where only part of an order is returned, cashback is normally recalculated using the value of the items kept, applying the cashback rate that applied when the purchase was made. Settlement may therefore take longer while the retailer confirms the revised commission.

(e) Network dependency. We receive commission from the retailer or affiliate network and pass an agreed share of that commission to you as cashback. The rate shown is the rate you receive. Where we do not receive the commission for a transaction, for any reason, we are not able to pay the related cashback — but see (j) below: we will always help you pursue it.

(f) The rate you see is the rate you receive. Cashback rates can go up or down, and a retailer may offer different cashback rates for different products, categories or types of purchase. The rate that applies to your purchase is the applicable rate displayed on TOSE for that type of purchase at the moment you click through to the retailer. Where several rates are shown in a rate table, the rate for the category or purchase type your transaction falls within is the rate that applies. There is no separate charge to you.

(g) Estimated dates. Any “confirmed by” or payable date shown on a transaction is an estimate only, as retailer validation times vary, and is not guaranteed.

(h) Correcting errors. Where cashback is credited to an account in error — for example where it was not genuinely due, or where a retailer subsequently reverses the commission — we may adjust or reclaim it, so each balance reflects what is genuinely owed.

(i) How your balance is held. Your cashback balance is not a bank deposit and does not earn interest. Confirmed cashback becomes available for withdrawal once we have received the retailer commission. Once withdrawn, the cashback is paid to you and no longer forms part of your TOSE balance.

(j) If cashback is missing, we will help. If a purchase does not appear in your account as expected, tell us and we will raise it with the affiliate network on your behalf and make reasonable efforts to trace it. We cannot guarantee every claim will succeed, as the final decision rests with the retailer and network, but you will not have to pursue it alone, and we will keep you informed of progress.

6. Withdrawing your cashback

(a) When you can withdraw. You can withdraw once your available cashback reaches £10.

(b) Withdrawal methods. You can withdraw your cashback by bank transfer (BACS) to a UK bank account in pounds sterling (GBP), or by PayPal. We do not make international bank transfers or payments to bank accounts outside the United Kingdom. The available methods may change over time; we are developing further options — including a gift-card option and the ability to donate your cashback to charity — and will notify you when they change or become available.

(c) How long it takes. We process your withdrawal as soon as you request it. The time it takes to reach you depends on the payment provider handling it, for example Stripe or your bank under BACS. Timings are set by them, not by us.

(d) Your payout details. Please ensure your payout details are correct before you withdraw. We are not responsible for cashback sent to the wrong destination as a result of incorrect details, and such payments may not be recoverable.

(e) Security and verification. Where you change your payout details, we may apply a short verification delay before your next withdrawal as a fraud-prevention measure. In limited cases we may ask for reasonable information to confirm your identity, or hold a withdrawal, where we need to prevent fraud or meet a legal obligation.

7. Inviting friends

Members may invite friends using their personal invite link. When an invited friend joins and earns their first £10 of confirmed cashback (excluding any sign-up bonus), the friend receives £5 and you receive £5. A £10 milestone bonus is paid for every 5 invited friends who reach that point. Rewards release only on the friend’s confirmed cashback, within 3 years of the invitation.

Invite rewards are for genuine introductions of new members. Inviting yourself, creating duplicate accounts (see section 3), or manufacturing qualifying activity is deliberate abuse of the cashback programme, and rewards may be withheld or reclaimed. If you close your account before a reward releases, the unreleased reward lapses; your friend’s own reward is unaffected. We may change the reward amounts or pause the programme on notice; changes do not affect invitations already made.

8. Tax

You are responsible for any tax that may arise on cashback, Shopping Curator earnings, or prizes you receive through TOSE, and for reporting it where required. We do not provide tax advice, and you should seek your own where you are unsure.

9. Discount codes and freebies

We check codes before publishing them, but retailers change and withdraw offers, so we cannot guarantee a code will work at the moment you use it — please confirm the discount has applied before completing your purchase. Using a code not obtained from TOSE in the same session may prevent your cashback from being awarded. Freebies are subject to the retailer’s terms and availability, and some require you to pay postage, which we will show you before you claim.

10. Competitions and prize draws

Our competitions are free to enter, with no purchase necessary, unless a specific competition clearly states otherwise — where a purchase is involved, we will say so plainly on the competition page and the entry routes will comply with applicable law. The full rules — eligibility, entry, the draw, winner notification, and prizes — are set out in our Competition & Prize-Draw Terms. You must be 18 or over and UK-resident to enter.

11. Shopping Curator programme

If you join our Shopping Curator programme, you can share the brands you recommend and earn from them. Shopping Curators must comply with applicable advertising rules, including clearly disclosing paid or commercial relationships, for example “#ad”. The full details are set out in our Shopping Curator terms.

12. Using TOSE fairly

You must use the platform lawfully and fairly. In particular, you must not attempt fraudulent cashback, post unlawful or infringing content, introduce viruses or other harmful material, attempt to gain unauthorised access to our systems, or scrape the platform or use automated tools against it. Some of these actions are also criminal offences, which we would report.

Treating our team with respect. We will always deal with you courteously, and we ask the same in return. We will not accept abusive, threatening, discriminatory or persistently offensive communication toward our staff, and we may suspend or close an account where it occurs, after a warning where reasonable.

Where you upload content, for example in community or Shopping Curator features, you retain ownership of it and grant us a licence to host and display it on the platform. You are responsible for ensuring your content is yours to share and meets our standards. We may remove content, or suspend accounts, that breach these terms. The full standards are set out in our Acceptable Use & Community Policy.

13. Intellectual property

Unless stated otherwise, the content, branding, logos, graphics and software on the platform belong to us or our licensors, and may not be copied or reused without our permission.

We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, revocable licence to use TOSE for your own personal, non-commercial use.

14. Affiliate links

Some links on TOSE are affiliate links: we may earn a commission when you shop through them, and we share part of it with you as cashback. This never changes the price you pay. Our editorial choices are made on merit, not payment, and paid placements are marked as sponsored. See our Affiliate Disclosure.

15. Other sites we link to

TOSE links to retailers and other third-party sites for your convenience. A link is not an endorsement, and we do not control those sites or how they handle your data. When you leave TOSE, we recommend reviewing the terms and privacy notice of any site you visit.

16. Availability of the platform

We aim to keep TOSE available and running reliably, but we cannot guarantee it will be uninterrupted. We may suspend, withdraw, or change all or part of the platform for business or operational reasons, giving reasonable notice where we can. We do not warrant that the platform or its downloads are free of errors or viruses, so you should maintain your own security software.

17. Your data

Dome Media Ltd is the data controller for the personal data we process through TOSE, and we handle it in accordance with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. Our Privacy Policy explains what we collect, why, and your rights.

18. Electronic communications

By creating an account you agree that we may give you notices and communications electronically, including by email and through the platform.

19. Our liability

Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited by law. Nothing in these terms affects your statutory rights as a consumer.

Subject to that: we are not liable for the acts, goods or services of retailers, whose responsibilities are set out in section 4; we are not liable for losses that were not reasonably foreseeable to both of us when these terms applied to you; and because TOSE is free to use, we are not liable for loss of profits or business. Where a purchase fails to track for reasons outside our control, section 5(j) sets out how we will help you pursue it.

Nothing in this section limits the effect of the events-beyond-our-control provision in section 22.

20. Complaints

If something is not right, we would like the chance to put it right. Contact us at info@theonlineshoppingexpert.co.uk with the details, and we will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days and aim to resolve it within 28 days. If we cannot resolve it to your satisfaction, your statutory rights as a consumer are unaffected.

21. Pausing, dormancy and closing your account

Closing your account. You may close your account at any time, from your settings or by contacting us. On closure, your available cashback will be paid to you where this is lawful and can be verified. Pending cashback that has not yet been confirmed by the retailer at the point of closure is not payable. This is because closing your account ends your participation in the cashback programme before the retailer’s validation completes, and validation is the step that turns a pending amount into money owed. If you have pending cashback you wish to receive, you can keep your account open until it confirms.

On closing your account:

(a) If your available cashback balance is below the £10 withdrawal threshold when you ask us to close your account, you may request withdrawal of that balance as part of closure. We action the request straight away; the payment itself takes a short period to process by bank transfer.

(b) Referral rewards that have not become payable by the date your account closes are forfeited. If a person you referred qualifies after your closure, the £5 reward cannot be credited or paid.

(c) Commission and cashback that are pending, or that arise from purchases made through your links after closure, are forfeited and cannot be claimed later.

(d) We delete your personal data within approximately 30 days of closure. During that period a new account cannot be opened with the same email address.

(e) If you later create a new account with an email address we previously deleted, we cannot restore or recreate any transactions, cashback, or referral progress that were pending at the time of the earlier deletion.

Suspension and termination by us. We may suspend or close accounts for breach of these terms or suspected fraud. Where an account is closed for fraud, deliberate abuse of the cashback programme, or another material breach of these terms, cashback in it may be forfeited.

Dormant accounts. If you do not sign in for 12 months, we may treat your account as dormant. We do not charge dormancy or inactivity fees. We will make reasonable efforts to reach you — including emailing the address on your account — and any cashback balance is protected; a balance is only at risk of forfeiture after at least a further 12 months during which we have been unable to contact you, and then only as permitted by law.

22. General

Entire agreement. These terms, together with the policies they link to, form the entire agreement between you and us regarding your use of TOSE, and replace any earlier statements or representations.

Changes. We may update these terms as described in section 1.

Transfer. You may not transfer your rights or obligations under these terms. We may transfer ours to another company — for example if our business is reorganised, sold or merged — without affecting your rights.

No waiver. If we do not enforce a right immediately, we may still enforce it later.

Severability. If any part of these terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remainder continues to apply.

Third parties. These terms are between you and us; no one else has the right to enforce them.

Events beyond our control. Neither the timing nor the performance of our obligations is guaranteed where events beyond our reasonable control — such as failures of networks or suppliers, industrial action, or emergencies — prevent or delay us. We will do what we reasonably can to minimise the effect on you.

Sanctions and legal obligations. We may refuse or withdraw service where we need to comply with applicable sanctions or other legal obligations.

23. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of England & Wales, and you and we agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of its courts — except that if you are a consumer resident in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you may also bring proceedings in your own jurisdiction.