Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are a binding agreement between you and Collectwall ("Collectwall", "we", "us"), the operator of Collectwall Aviation and the other Collectwall sites and services (the "Service"). By creating an account, uploading content or otherwise using the Service you agree to these Terms, our Privacy Policy, our Copyright Policy and our Disclaimer. If you don't agree, don't use the Service.

Please read section 3 (how your photos may be used, including by our partners) and section 15 carefully. Section 15 requires disputes to be resolved by binding individual arbitration, not in court, and waives your right to a jury trial and to take part in a class action, unless you opt out as described there.

1. Eligibility and your account

• You must be at least 13 years old, or older if the law where you live requires it. If you are under 18, or under the age of majority where you live, a parent or legal guardian must agree to these Terms for you, and only they may buy a paid plan.
• You confirm that you are not located in a country subject to a comprehensive U.S. embargo, and are not on any U.S., EU, UK or UN sanctions or restricted-party list. We may refuse or end service where the law requires it.
• Give accurate information, keep your password secure and tell us about any unauthorised use. You are responsible for everything that happens on your account.
• One person or organisation per account. Don't impersonate anyone, including airlines, airports, businesses or other photographers.
• Official badges for airlines and businesses are given only after we verify them, and we may remove a badge at any time.

2. Your content and your responsibility

You keep the copyright in the photos and other content you upload ("Your Content"). We do not review who owns content before it is published. Each time you upload, you represent and warrant that:

• you took the photo yourself, or you hold all rights and permissions needed to post it and grant the licence below;
• Your Content does not infringe or violate anyone's copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity or other rights, or any contract or confidentiality duty;
• you took the photo lawfully, in compliance with all laws, airport rules, airspace and drone rules, and any restrictions on photographing military, government or security sites in the place you took it;
• the details you add (registration, type, operator, location, date) are honest to the best of your knowledge.

You are solely responsible for Your Content and for any consequences of posting it. Collectwall is not responsible for content posted by users and does not endorse it.

Published photos stay on Collectwall. Once a photo is published you can edit its details, but you can't delete it yourself. The exceptions are photos still waiting for review, photos above your plan's limit when a paid plan ends (see Plans), and deleting your whole account, which removes all of your photos. If a photo has to come down for a serious reason, contact us.

Keep your own copies. Collectwall is not a backup service. Always keep your original files. We are not liable, legally or otherwise, for any photo or other content that is removed, deleted, reduced in size or lost for any reason, including removal for breaking these Terms, the end of a paid plan, account deletion, technical failure or the Service closing.

3. Licence you give us and our partners

3.1 The licence. Each time you upload Your Content, you grant Collectwall a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, fully paid-up, transferable licence, with the right to sublicense (including through several levels of sublicensees), to host, store, copy, reproduce, resize, crop, reformat, adjust (for example colour, exposure or sharpness), add or keep the Collectwall attribution strip, watermarks, captions, text, logos or graphics, combine with other material, translate, publish, publicly display and perform, distribute, transmit and otherwise make available Your Content, in any media and format now known or developed later.

3.2 What it is used for. We and our sublicensees may use Your Content:

• to run, secure, improve and develop the Service, including link previews and shared pictures when you or others share it;
• to promote Collectwall and the Service, on our own and others' websites, apps, social media, newsletters, emails, videos, print, events, exhibitions and advertising;
• in features, galleries, compilations, articles, reports and similar editorial content about aviation, made by us or our Partners;
• by our Partners, as described in 3.3.

3.3 Partners. "Partners" are companies and organisations we work with, such as airlines, airports, aircraft and equipment manufacturers, aviation, travel and media businesses, sponsors, and companies under the same ownership or control as Collectwall. We may sublicense Your Content to Partners, and give them copies of it, so they can use it for their own editorial, promotional, marketing, advertising and social media purposes connected with aviation, travel or Collectwall, on any of their channels. Partners may receive Your Content with the details shown with it on the Service (such as the registration, aircraft type, operator, airport, date and your username). A Partner's use of Your Content is governed by its agreement with us; we require Partners to stay within this section.

3.4 Credit. When Your Content is used outside the Service, we will credit you, or ask the Partner to credit you, by your username or display name (for example "Photo: @username / Collectwall Aviation") where this is reasonably practical in the format used. Keeping the Collectwall attribution strip on the photo counts as credit. Credit may be left out where it isn't practical (for example very small formats, some advertising and video), and a missing or wrong credit is not a breach of these Terms; tell us and we will ask for it to be corrected where we can.

3.5 No payment. You will not be paid for any use under this licence, by us or by Partners, unless we separately agree in writing to pay you (for example for a paid campaign). We may choose to offer photographers rewards, features or other benefits, but we don't have to.

3.6 What the licence does not allow. You keep the copyright in Your Content. Neither we nor our Partners may claim to own it, sell it as stock photography, or sell prints or downloads of a single photo of yours as a product on its own, unless you agree to that separately.

3.7 How long it lasts. The licence starts when you upload and continues while Your Content is on the Service. When a photo is removed from the Service, or your account is deleted, no new uses of it will begin, but: (a) material already created, published, printed or distributed before the removal (including posts, articles, printed matter and advertising already running or booked) may continue to be used and does not have to be withdrawn; (b) copies already shared by other users or by Partners stay where they are; and (c) we may keep copies in backups for a limited period and where we must keep them by law or to resolve disputes.

3.8 Your rights to grant it. You confirm that you have every right needed to grant this licence for all the uses above, including commercial and promotional use by Partners. To the extent the law allows, you waive, and agree not to assert, any moral rights (such as the right to object to cropping or editing) against uses made under this licence, without affecting the credit commitment in 3.4. Partners are responsible for any extra permissions their own use may need (for example for identifiable people, trademarks or private property shown in a photo); we give no promise that a photo is free of such rights.

3.9 Photos uploaded before 26 October 2026. This section 3 applies to Your Content uploaded on or after 26 October 2026. For Your Content uploaded earlier, it applies from 26 November 2026; until then the licence in the previous version of these Terms applies to it. If you don't want a photo uploaded before 26 October 2026 to be covered, ask us to remove it before 26 November 2026 through the contact form on our copyright page (choose "Privacy, legal or other request"), or delete your account.

4. Emails and notifications

We send you emails and notices about your account and activity on the Service, for example when you sign up, reset your password, when your plan changes, and when someone shares one of your photos. These are part of the Service. We send marketing emails only where you have agreed or the law allows, and you can unsubscribe from them at any time.

5. Rules

Photo size. Every photo must be at least 1000 px wide after cropping. Photos are cropped to 3:2 or 16:9, so the shortest allowed height is 563 px. Smaller photos can't be uploaded.

Photo quality. We don't screen photos before they are posted: a photo goes on your wall as soon as you upload it, and we keep the right to change how it is shown under these rules. In each photo, the aircraft must not be too far away or too small in the frame; the photo must not be badly blurred; the aircraft must not be lost in heavy fog or haze, and the photo must not be too dark; and the image quality must not be too poor. These can be allowed in an outstanding scenic shot. If a photo doesn't meet them, we may hide it from public view and tell you which photo, without giving a reason. You can then fix or replace it. If it isn't fixed within 5 days of that notice, we may delete it.

Creative edits. Photos with added text or graphics (such as the aircraft type, airline logo or year), composites that put several aircraft in one image, and photos with heavy effects or retouching are allowed, but must be marked Artistic / creative when uploaded. They are shown in the Artistic / Creative section, not on the home page wall. If such a photo isn't marked, we may mark it for you.

You agree not to:

• upload photos you didn't take and have no permission to post, including screenshots or downloads from other sites;
• remove, crop out or cover any watermark or attribution, or repost others' photos without their permission;
• post nudity, sexual content, graphic violence, hate, harassment, threats or anything illegal;
• post content that reveals sensitive security, military or operational information you are not allowed to share, or that encourages entering restricted areas;
• post content that isn't about aviation on Collectwall Aviation;
• send spam, create fake accounts, buy or sell followers or likes, or manipulate stats, badges or rankings;
• scrape, crawl, copy or bulk-download the Service or its data, or use it to train machine-learning models, without our written permission;
• probe, attack or get around the security, rate limits or plan limits of the Service, or interfere with its operation;
• use the Service in any way that breaks the law or these Terms, or helps someone else do so.

We may use automated tools and human review to check uploads. We may refuse, hold, hide or remove any content, and suspend or close any account, at any time and for any reason we consider reasonable, including to protect the Service, our users or third parties, with or without notice.

In particular, we may hide or permanently delete, without telling you first, any photo that in our view is not a real photograph (for example a screenshot, drawing, render or edit that misrepresents the scene), breaks these rules or is vulgar or offensive, is not related to aviation, or may have been created or substantially altered with artificial intelligence. Hidden photos are not shown anywhere on the Service, including on your own profile, but they still count towards your plan's upload limit until you delete them.

Plus and Pro members may add one profile link shown with their own short text (up to 10 words). Links are checked automatically and, where needed, by our team before they appear, and we may remove a link, or refuse to show it, at any time and without notice if we consider it unsafe, misleading, vulgar or against these Terms. Links open another website, which we don't control. Starter accounts can't add links.

6. Copyright complaints

If you believe content on the Service infringes your copyright, follow our Copyright Policy. We respond to valid notices, accept counter-notices, and close the accounts of repeat infringers.

7. Paid plans, free trials and renewals

• Paid plans, their prices, billing periods and features are shown before you subscribe. Payments are processed by our payment partner, Polar, as merchant of record, under its own terms; we never receive your full card details.
• Free trial. A paid plan may start with a free trial (currently 10 days). You must add a payment method to start it. Unless you cancel before the trial ends, you authorise us to charge the plan price when the trial ends. One trial per person; we may refuse a trial if we believe it is being misused.
• Launch offer. A limited number of new accounts get the Plus plan free for 2 months (60 days), with no payment method needed. Accounts that had a one-month free Plus or Pro plan running on 27 October 2026 had it extended by one month. One per person; we may move accounts made to get the offer more than once back to Starter. About 10 days before the free period ends we tell you on the Service (a notice on the site and in your notifications). Until the free period ends, you can subscribe to any 12-month Plus or Pro plan at 10% off the first year. This price is only available during the free period, applies to the first payment only, and renewals are charged at the then-current price. Because you have already had a free period, a subscription started from the launch offer has no free trial: you are charged in full when you subscribe, and the paid period starts on that day (days left in the free period are not added). If you don't subscribe to a plan of the same level by the end of the free period, your account returns to Starter on that date: members-only features stop and the Starter photo limit applies, as described below. See the plans page for what each plan includes. We may end or change the launch offer for new sign-ups at any time.
• Special offer links. From time to time we share links that give a new account Plus or Pro free for a stated time (for example 1 month, 6 months or 1 year), with no payment method needed. The offer, its length and any limit on places or end date are shown on the sign-up page before you create your account. It applies only to a new account created through that link, one per person, and can't be combined with the launch offer. We may move accounts made to get an offer more than once back to Starter. When the free time ends, your account returns to Starter unless you subscribe, as described below. We may end or change an offer link for new sign-ups at any time.
• Automatic renewal. Plans renew automatically at the end of each billing period (every month, 6 months or 12 months, as you chose) at the then-current price, until you cancel. You can cancel at any time in Settings; the plan stays active until the end of the period already paid, and you won't be charged again.
• No refunds. Payments are non-refundable, including for partly used periods, except where the law requires otherwise or under section 14. Where the law gives you a right to withdraw from a digital-service purchase, you agree, by starting the service immediately (including a free trial that converts to a paid plan), that you lose that right once the paid period begins, to the extent the law allows.
• You are responsible for any taxes, unless they are collected by our payment partner.
• We may change prices or plan features; price changes apply from your next renewal and we will tell you before they do. If a paid plan ends or you move to a smaller plan, members-only features stop and the photo limit of the new plan applies. When a paid plan with an end date won't renew, we tell you about 5 days before it ends and on the day it ends, and we keep your photos and settings for 3 days after it ends. Within those 3 days you can delete the photos above the new limit yourself; photos still above the limit after that are permanently deleted, newest uploads first, photos larger than 1200 px are reduced to 1200 px, and your profile look returns to the Starter defaults. If a plan drops without notice (for example when moving from Pro to Plus) you have 14 days to choose. You are responsible for keeping your own copies; you can download your photos at any time in Settings.
• Renewal offer. From about 5 days before a paid plan ends until 3 days after, you can subscribe to any 12-month Plus or Pro plan at 5% off the first year (10% while a launch offer is still running). It can be used once per account, applies to the first payment only, has no free trial, and renewals are charged at the then-current price.
• The Founding Spotter badge, stats, badges, followers, likes and other in-service items have no monetary value and cannot be exchanged for money.

8. Statistics and data

We may create and use statistics and other information from the Service that don't identify you, such as the most photographed aircraft, airlines and airports, traffic by country and how features are used, and share them with Partners and others, including in reports and publications.

9. Our property

The Service, its software, design, logos, the Collectwall name and attribution strip, and its compilation of data are owned by Collectwall and protected by law. These Terms give you no rights in them other than to use the Service as allowed here. If you send us feedback or ideas, we may use them freely without paying you.

Airline, airport and manufacturer names, logos and liveries belong to their owners and appear only to identify the aircraft or place in a photo. They do not mean that any owner endorses or is affiliated with Collectwall.

10. Third-party services

The Service relies on and links to third-party services (for example hosting, login, payment and sharing to social networks). We don't control them and are not responsible for their content, availability or practices. Your use of them is at your own risk and under their terms.

11. Disclaimer of warranties

The Service and all content are provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, accuracy and uninterrupted or error-free operation. We do not warrant that content (including aircraft, airport and other data) is accurate or complete, that the Service will be secure or available, or that content will be preserved. You are responsible for keeping your own copies of your photos. See also our Disclaimer.

12. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Collectwall and its owners, officers, employees, contractors and agents will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, data, goodwill or content, arising out of or relating to the Service or these Terms, even if advised of the possibility. Our total liability for all claims arising out of or relating to the Service or these Terms is limited to the greater of (a) the amounts you paid us for the Service in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim and (b) USD 100. These limits apply to every theory of liability and even if a remedy fails of its essential purpose.

13. Indemnity

You will defend, indemnify and hold harmless Collectwall and its owners, officers, employees, contractors and agents from and against all claims, losses, liabilities, damages, fines, costs and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or relating to Your Content, your use of the Service, your breach of these Terms, or your violation of any law or anyone's rights. We may take control of the defence of any claim at your expense, and you will cooperate with us.

14. Ending your account, or the Service

You can delete your account at any time in Settings. We may suspend or end your access at any time if we believe you broke these Terms or the law, or to protect the Service or others.

We may change, suspend or permanently discontinue the Service, or any part of it, at any time. If we decide to close the Service for good, we will, where reasonably possible:

• announce it on the Service and by email at least 60 days before it closes;
• stop selling new paid plans and stop charging renewals from the date of the announcement;
• refund the unused part of any paid period that runs past the closing date, in proportion to the time left;
• let you download your photos during the notice period;
• delete personal data afterwards as described in our Privacy Policy, except records we must keep by law.

These steps are your sole remedy if the Service closes. We are not liable for closing the Service or for any loss caused by it, beyond those steps. Sections 2, 3 (as set out in 3.7), 7 (fees owed), 8, 9 and 11 to 17 survive termination.

15. Disputes: governing law and arbitration

Governing law. These Terms and any dispute arising out of or relating to them or the Service are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, United States, and the Federal Arbitration Act, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply.

Talk to us first. Before starting any claim, you agree to contact us through the contact form on our copyright page (choose "Privacy, legal or other request") and try to resolve the dispute informally for at least 30 days.

Binding arbitration. Any dispute, claim or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service that is not resolved informally will be resolved by final and binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules (or, where you are not a consumer, its Commercial Arbitration Rules), before a single arbitrator. The seat of arbitration is Wilmington, Delaware; hearings may be held by video or in writing. The arbitrator may award the same individual relief a court could, and judgment on the award may be entered in any court with jurisdiction. Questions of arbitrability are for the arbitrator, except that a court decides the enforceability of the class action waiver below.

Exceptions. Either party may bring an individual claim in small-claims court, and either party may seek a court injunction to stop infringement or misuse of intellectual property or of the Service.

No class actions, no jury. You and Collectwall each bring claims only in an individual capacity, not as a plaintiff or class member in any class, collective, consolidated or representative proceeding. You and Collectwall each waive the right to a jury trial.

Courts. For any claim not subject to arbitration, you agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Delaware.

Time limit. Any claim must be brought within one year after it arises, or it is permanently barred, to the extent the law allows.

Opting out. You can opt out of arbitration within 30 days of first accepting these Terms by sending us a notice with your username and a clear statement that you opt out of arbitration, through the contact form on our copyright page (choose "Privacy, legal or other request"). Opting out doesn't affect the rest of these Terms.

Where you live. If you are a consumer in a country whose law gives you mandatory rights that cannot be waived by contract (for example in the EU or the UK), nothing in these Terms takes those rights away, and only to that extent you may also bring a claim in the courts of your country.

16. Changes to these Terms

We may change these Terms. If a change is material, we will tell you on the Service or by email before it takes effect, and where a change gives us wider rights in content you have already uploaded, we will give you at least 30 days to remove that content before the change applies to it. If you keep using the Service after a change takes effect, you accept the new Terms. Changes to section 15 do not apply to disputes that arose before the change.

17. General

• These Terms, together with the policies linked above, are the entire agreement between you and us about the Service.
• If any part of these Terms is found unenforceable, it will be limited to the minimum extent needed and the rest stays in effect.
• Our not enforcing a right is not a waiver of it.
• You may not assign these Terms without our consent. We may assign them, including to an affiliate or in a merger, sale or reorganisation.
• We are not liable for delays or failures caused by events beyond our reasonable control.
• These Terms are written in English. If we provide a translation, the English version controls.
• Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, employment or agency relationship.