1. Acceptance of these terms
By creating an account, placing an order, or otherwise using Once Upon A Hero (“we”, “us”, the “Service”), you confirm you have read, understood, and agreed to these Terms & Conditions and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.
2. Eligibility & accounts
- You must be at least 18 years old to open an account or place an order.
- You are responsible for the accuracy of the details you enter (child’s name, age, shipping address, etc.) and for keeping your account credentials secure.
- You are responsible for all activity under your account.
3. What we provide
We generate AI-personalized children’s storybooks and comic books in which the child you nominate appears as the hero, and we deliver them as digital PDFs and/or printed books via third-party print-on-demand partners. Books are stylised illustrations, not photorealistic likenesses.
4. Orders & pricing
- Prices, formats, and available themes are as shown at checkout at the time of order. We reserve the right to change catalog and prices for future orders.
- All prices are shown in the currency indicated at checkout. Taxes and duties, if applicable, are calculated at checkout or on delivery depending on destination.
- Payment is processed by Stripe. Placing an order is an offer to buy; the contract is formed when we send the order confirmation email.
- Discount codes are single-use per account unless stated otherwise and may be withdrawn at any time.
- We may cancel an order and refund it in full if we suspect fraud, if the order violates §8 or §12, or if a pricing error is obvious.
5. Character-sheet approval
- After you place an order we generate a “character preview” — a stylised illustration of the hero. You review and approve it on your story page after signing in; we email you when it’s ready.
- You get up to three free redos if the first preview doesn’t feel right. After that our team reviews it with you personally.
- There is no deadline and we never approve on your behalf: your order simply waits until you approve. We send occasional reminders. If an uploaded photo reaches its 30-day deletion date first, the already-created illustration is unaffected and your approval stays open.
6. Production, printing & shipping
- Digital PDFs are delivered to your account and by email typically within 24 hours of character-sheet approval.
- Printed books are produced by our print-on-demand partners (Lulu, Gelato). Typical production + shipping time is 5–8 business days after approval, but international delivery can vary.
- Risk of loss for printed books passes to you on delivery to the carrier; title passes when we receive full payment.
- You are responsible for entering the correct shipping address. Reshipment to a corrected address after a failed delivery may incur a re-printing charge.
7. Cancellations & refunds
- Full refund any time before your book is sent to print.
- After printing has started, refunds are at our discretion — contact support and we’ll do our best.
- Digital PDFs are non-refundable once downloaded.
- If your printed book arrives damaged, defective, or with a printing defect, we’ll reprint and reship at no cost when notified within 14 days of delivery with photo evidence.
- Statutory consumer rights (including the EU/UK “right to withdraw”) are not waivable and apply on top of the above; because each book is personalized, those rights may be limited under applicable law for personalised goods.
8. Content rules
Every book generated on Once Upon A Hero must be safe for a child aged 3–12. You agree not to request, and we will refuse to produce, content that:
- Depicts real, identifiable third parties (other children, celebrities, teachers, neighbours, etc.) without their consent — the hero must be a child you have the right to feature.
- References real brands, trademarked characters, or franchises (e.g. Disney, Marvel, Pokémon, sports teams).
- Contains violence beyond mild cartoon peril with a happy resolution.
- Contains sexual content, nudity, drugs, alcohol, gambling, weapons, self-harm, or medical/diagnostic labels.
- Contains political or religious content, unless custom-requested for a benign occasion (e.g. a christening) and approved by our moderators.
- Shames, frightens, or labels the child (e.g. “lazy”, “bad”) — we build stories where the hero learns and succeeds.
- Is illegal or infringes anyone’s rights.
We run automated + human moderation and may edit, refuse, or cancel any order that breaches these rules. Refunds for orders cancelled under §8 are issued in full if we cancel before print.
9. Photo rights & consent
By uploading a photo you confirm that:
- You are the parent or legal guardian of the child in the photo, or you have their guardian’s explicit permission to use it for this purpose.
- You grant us a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide, revocable licence to use the photo solely to generate and deliver your order.
- You understand and agree that the photo will be handled as described in our Privacy Policy and permanently deleted within 30 days.
10. Intellectual property
- Your book. Once your order is paid, you receive a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free licence to use the finished book (PDF and print) for personal, non-commercial use — reading it, gifting it, printing extra copies for your family, sharing photos on social media.
- Not permitted: reselling, mass-reproducing, sub-licensing, or using the book (or its characters) as part of a commercial product.
- Our IP. The Once Upon A Hero brand, site, illustrations of stock characters, prompts, and underlying software remain our property.
11. AI-generated content
Books are generated using large language models and image-generation models, supervised by human moderation and quality-check. AI output can occasionally be imperfect — wording, likeness, or small details may need a regeneration. That’s what the character-sheet approval step is for. We do not guarantee that any two books, even with the same inputs, will be identical.
12. Prohibited use
You agree not to:
- Scrape, reverse-engineer, or attempt to extract our prompts or models.
- Use the Service to generate content that violates §8.
- Interfere with the Service, its security, or other users’ access.
- Use bots, resellers, or automated ordering without our written permission.
13. Warranties & disclaimers
We provide the Service with reasonable skill and care. Except as expressly set out in these terms and to the fullest extent permitted by law, the Service and all content are provided “as is” without warranties of any kind. Statutory warranties for consumers (e.g. that goods are of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose) are unaffected.
14. Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total aggregate liability for any claim arising out of or relating to the Service or an order is limited to the amount you paid us for that order in the 12 months preceding the claim. We are not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, or special damages, or for loss of profits, data, or goodwill. Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for any liability that cannot be excluded by law.
15. Indemnity
You agree to indemnify us against reasonable claims, losses, and expenses arising from your breach of §8, §9, or §12 — in particular, submitting a photo you did not have the right to use, or requesting content that infringes a third party’s rights.
16. Suspension & termination
We may suspend or terminate your account if you breach these terms, if we’re required to by law, or in cases of suspected fraud. You may close your account at any time from the Account page. Sections that by their nature should survive (IP, liability, indemnity, governing law) will survive termination.
17. Changes to these terms
We may update these terms from time to time. The version applicable to a given order is the version accepted at the moment you placed the order (recorded with the order). Material changes to the terms for future orders will be announced by email or in-app notice at least 14 days before they take effect.
18. Governing law & disputes
These terms are governed by the laws of the jurisdiction in which Once Upon A Hero is established, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. Nothing in this clause deprives you, as a consumer, of the protection of the mandatory laws of your country of residence. We’ll always try to resolve any dispute informally first — write to us at support@onceuponahero.com.
19. Contact
Once Upon A Hero — support@onceuponahero.com · /contact.