Terms of Service

Encore operates the software platform and the discovery, booking, and payment tools. The styling itself is provided by independent stylists, not by Encore. Stylists are independent professionals who set their own rates, choose which sessions to accept, use their own methods and tools, and run their own businesses. When you book, you engage that independent stylist directly; you are choosing them. Encore is not your stylist, your employer, or your agent, does not perform, supervise, direct, or guarantee the styling, and does not stand behind or warrant any stylist’s work. Stylists agree to a separate Stylist Agreement that governs their conduct on the platform.

You must be 18 years of age or older to create an account, request, or book a session. By using Encore, you represent that you are 18 or older, that you are able to enter into these Terms, and that you are not barred from using the platform under any applicable law. You also represent that you are not located in, and are not a national of, any country subject to U.S. embargo or sanctions; that you are not on any U.S. government restricted-party or sanctions list; and that you will not use Encore in violation of any applicable export-control or sanctions law.

We sign you in using passwordless, one-time email codes. Keep your email account secure; you are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account. Provide accurate information and keep it current, and notify us promptly of any unauthorized use. You may maintain only one account, and your account is personal to you: you may not sell, transfer, or assign it, or permit others to use it. We may suspend or close duplicate accounts, accounts that remain inactive for an extended period, and accounts opened by anyone previously removed from the platform.

Stylists set their own rates. Each stylist sets the rate they receive for their services. Encore never sets or caps a stylist’s rate.

What you pay: the stylist’s rate plus an Encore service fee. Encore charges a platform service fee for use of the marketplace, which is added to the stylist’s rate to produce the total you pay. The service fee is currently 29% of the stylist’s rate, added to the rate (so the total you pay is the stylist’s rate plus that fee). For example, if a stylist’s rate is $100, the Encore service fee is $29 and the total you pay is $129. Before you book, you see a single all-in total that already includes the platform service fee, consistent with California’s Honest Pricing Law (Civil Code section 1770(a)(29)); Encore then shows you a breakdown identifying the stylist’s rate and the platform service fee. Your payment of the all-in total through Encore’s payment processor (Stripe) satisfies and discharges your payment obligation to the stylist for that booking; Encore and the processor receive the funds as the stylist’s limited payment-collection agent.

The stylist receives their rate in full. The Encore service fee is ours, for operating the marketplace; it is not a charge the stylist deducts from their rate, and it is not a wage.

Payment. Payments are processed by Stripe. You authorize payment when you submit a booking request; your payment method is charged when the stylist accepts.

Confirmation. A booking is confirmed when the stylist accepts your request. If the stylist declines or the request expires, the authorization is released or any payment is fully refunded, and you are not charged for a session that was never confirmed.

After a session, your stylist’s payout is released automatically about 48 hours after the scheduled end of the session. If within that window you report that a session was not delivered, that the stylist did not show, or that a material policy violation or fraud occurred, we will hold the payout and review it before funds are released. Dissatisfaction with the styling alone does not delay or reduce the stylist’s payout; any goodwill remedy for a service issue is funded by Encore and is not offset against the stylist.

Chargebacks and fraud-loss allocation. A chargeback is one of the events that can hold your stylist’s payout while we review it (see above). If you dispute or reverse a charge with your card issuer or bank for a session your stylist actually delivered in compliance with our Community Guidelines, Encore may contest the dispute using your booking and session records, and if the dispute nonetheless succeeds, Encore absorbs the resulting processor loss; we do not reverse or reduce your stylist’s payout for a session they delivered. This does not limit any right you have under law or under Section 5; it means only that disputing a charge for a session you received does not come out of your stylist’s pay. Initiating a chargeback for a session you received, without first using the problem-reporting process above or the refund process in Section 5, may be treated as a violation of these Terms and can result in suspension of your account.

Billing questions. If you believe a charge is incorrect, notify us within 60 days of the charge through our contact page or at hello@encorestylist.com so we can review and correct it. Reporting a charge promptly helps us fix it; if you report a charge long after it appears, we may be unable to reverse the underlying processor charge, though this does not limit any right you have under law.

Cancellations and refunds follow the cancellation terms shown to you at the time of booking. Unless a different policy is shown for your booking: cancel 72 hours or more before the session start for a full refund; between 48 and 72 hours, a 50% refund; less than 48 hours before the session, the booking is non-refundable. If a stylist declines, cancels, or does not show, you always receive a full refund. A reschedule requested 48 hours or more before the session moves your booking without charge, subject to the stylist’s availability; a later reschedule is treated as a cancellation unless the stylist agrees otherwise. The full policy, including how client no-shows are treated, is set out in our Cancellation Policy, which is part of these Terms. Refunds for service issues are handled on a case-by-case basis. A goodwill refund is a business decision and is not an admission of fault or liability.

By creating an account, you consent to receive transactional communications from Encore (and, in connection with your bookings, from stylists) by email and text message, including booking requests and confirmations, sign-in codes, reminders, receipts, and support responses. These may include autodialed or prerecorded messages where permitted by law. Message and data rates may apply. You can stop text messages by replying STOP; because we use email codes to sign you in, opting out of essential communications may impair your use of the platform. We send marketing communications only where you have separately consented, and you may unsubscribe from those at any time. Communications made through the platform may be monitored or recorded for safety, support, and quality purposes, as described in our Privacy Policy.

Encore provides an in-platform messaging channel so you can coordinate a session with a stylist and reach Encore support. Before a booking exists, in the inquiry stage, Encore automatically detects and masks specific contact details (for example, phone numbers and email or other off-platform addresses) and solicitations to pay or be paid off the platform, in the version of an inquiry message shown to the other party, as a safety and fraud-prevention measure, and delivers the remainder of the message; this masking applies only before a booking exists and stops once a booking is made. Encore processes message content only by automated means, and only to operate the channel, for safety and abuse prevention, and for legal compliance, and it retains messages as records for safety, abuse prevention, and dispute resolution as described in our Privacy Policy. Apart from that pre-booking masking, Encore does not edit, alter, withhold, or pre-approve messages, and does not screen or use message content to enforce the platform service fee; the pre-booking masking is a safety and fraud-prevention measure, not a condition of any booking, and you remain free to share your own contact information and to book or work off the platform. Message content is not used to train artificial-intelligence models, is not sent to an artificial-intelligence provider, and is not used to match, route, or rank you or any stylist. Encore does not direct, script, or send a stylist’s messages or control which stylist you choose. Our handling of messages is described in our Privacy Policy.

You also consent to transact with Encore electronically and to receive agreements, notices, disclosures, and other records electronically, including by email and through the platform. You may request a paper copy of any record through our contact page.

You may submit content such as reviews. It must be honest, your own, lawful, and consistent with our Community Guidelines. Reviews must reflect your genuine experience; you may not post fake, deceptive, or undisclosed incentivized reviews, and Encore does not pay for or condition any benefit on positive reviews. You grant Encore a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, display, and distribute the content you submit in connection with operating and promoting the platform. We may moderate, decline, or remove content that violates these Terms or harms the community, but we have no obligation to monitor content or user communications. If a stylist photographs you or your session through the platform, you consent to those photos being captured and used to provide and document the service as described in our Privacy Policy. We will not use your image, name, or story in our own marketing without a separate written release, and we will not use your content to train artificial-intelligence models without your consent. If you send us feedback, suggestions, or ideas about Encore, you agree they are non-confidential and that we may use them for any purpose without obligation or compensation to you.

The Encore platform, including its name, logo, design, text, and software, is owned by Encore and protected by intellectual-property laws. We grant you a limited, revocable, non-transferable license to use the platform for its intended purpose. You may not copy, modify, reverse-engineer, scrape, or create derivative works from the platform except as permitted by law, and you may not use the Encore name, logo, or marks, or register any confusingly similar name, domain, or social-media handle, without our written permission.

If you believe content on the platform infringes your copyright, send a notice containing the elements required by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. §512(c)(3)) to our designated Copyright Agent at copyright@encorestylist.com, or by mail to the agent address published at encorestylist.com/legal. We respond to valid notices, including by removing the identified content, we accept counter-notices as the DMCA provides, and we terminate the accounts of repeat infringers.

We review stylists before listing them, and, where applicable and with the stylist’s consent, we may confirm identity, a license, or that current proof of insurance is on file. Encore does not rank, grade, tier, or rate stylists. Any neutral status shown on the platform (for example, that identity or a license was confirmed, that current proof of insurance is on file, or that a stylist is newly listed or featured) indicates only that the relevant listing or record criterion was met, and nothing else; it is not an endorsement, a recommendation, a guarantee, a warranty, or an evaluation of the stylist or the stylist’s services, and you should exercise your own judgment in choosing and working with a stylist. These are marketplace admission and quality standards; they are not an endorsement of any stylist and not a guarantee or warranty of any stylist’s conduct, qualifications, or results. Encore does not conduct criminal background checks on stylists. You are responsible for evaluating whether a stylist is right for you.

Styling sessions are in-person services performed by an independent stylist you choose. To the maximum extent permitted by law, you assume the entire risk arising out of your use of the platform and any session or other interaction with a stylist or other user, whether online or in person, including the risks of illness, bodily injury, and property damage. Encore does not control how a stylist performs their services. You are responsible for your own safety, for any space in which you host a session, and for the acts and omissions of anyone you invite to or allow to be present at a session.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, you release Encore and its officers, members, employees, and agents from all claims, demands, causes of action, damages, and liabilities of every kind and nature, whether known or unknown, suspected or unsuspected, disclosed or undisclosed, arising out of or in any way connected with the acts, omissions, advice, results, or conduct of an independent stylist, or with any dispute between you and a stylist or another user. Your relationship for the styling itself is with the stylist.

If you are a California resident, you expressly waive the protection of California Civil Code Section 1542, which provides: “A general release does not extend to claims that the creditor or releasing party does not know or suspect to exist in his or her favor at the time of executing the release and that, if known by him or her, would have materially affected his or her settlement with the debtor or released party.” If you reside elsewhere, you waive the protection of any comparable statute or doctrine to the same extent.

This release applies only to claims arising from the conduct of stylists and other users, and the waiver of Section 1542 above applies only to those released claims. It does not release, waive, or limit any right or claim that cannot be released, waived, or limited under applicable law, including any non-waivable consumer right and any claim for Encore’s own fraud, willful misconduct, gross negligence, violation of law, or for bodily injury or death caused by Encore; any such right or claim is excluded from this release.

The Encore platform is provided “as is” and “as available.” To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not warrant any particular styling result, a stylist’s availability, or that the platform will be uninterrupted or error-free. Curation means we review stylists before listing them; it is not a guarantee of any outcome (Section 9).

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Encore’s total liability arising out of or relating to the platform or any booking is limited to the total amount you paid through the platform for the booking giving rise to the claim (or, if no booking is involved, one hundred U.S. dollars). Encore will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits or data. Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes Encore’s liability for its own fraud, willful misconduct, gross negligence, or violation of law, for bodily injury or death caused by Encore, or for any other liability that cannot be limited or excluded under applicable law.

These limitations are fundamental elements of the agreement between you and Encore and apply to the maximum extent permitted by law. If a limitation is held unenforceable, it is reformed to permit the maximum limitation allowed by law, and the remaining limitations stay in full effect.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, you agree to release, indemnify, and hold harmless Encore and its officers, members, employees, and agents from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable legal and accounting fees) arising out of or in any way connected with: (i) your breach of these Terms or any policy that is part of them; (ii) your improper use of the platform; (iii) your interactions with any stylist or other user, including any session and any injury, loss, or damage of any kind arising in connection with it; (iv) your content; or (v) your violation of any law or of the rights of any third party, including intellectual-property and privacy rights, to the maximum extent permitted by law. This indemnification does not require you to indemnify Encore for any claim arising from Encore’s own negligence, fraud, willful misconduct, or violation of law, or for any liability that cannot be shifted or limited under applicable law. Encore may, at its own expense, assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification, and you agree to cooperate with that defense and not to settle any such matter without Encore’s written consent.

Follow our Community Guidelines, which are part of these Terms and set the standards for respectful, safe, lawful, and non-discriminatory conduct on Encore. We may remove content, or suspend or terminate accounts, for violations. You also agree not to scrape, crawl, or harvest data from the platform; access it with bots or other automated means except as we expressly permit; reverse-engineer or attempt to derive its source code; probe, scan, or circumvent any security or authentication measure; introduce malware or otherwise disrupt the platform’s operation; create or use multiple or fraudulent accounts, or sell, transfer, or share your account; or avoid our fees on bookings that originate on Encore.

Booking through the platform. This is a platform-integrity provision, not a restriction on whom you may see or hire. You owe Encore no fee, conversion charge, or buyout for seeing, hiring, or continuing with any stylist off the platform, whether or not Encore introduced you, and Encore claims no continuing interest in your relationship with any stylist. You agree only not to scrape, harvest, or export platform or client data, and not to use the platform’s tools or automated systems to defraud Encore, a stylist, or another user. The platform service fee applies to a booking that is made and completed through Encore. Serving a stylist off-platform, hiring or continuing with any stylist off the platform whether or not Encore introduced you, or declining to book through Encore, is never a breach, and you owe Encore no fee, conversion charge, or penalty for it.

What a rental is. Pieces a stylist offers for rent are owned and rented out by the independent stylist, either alongside a booked session or on their own as a direct rental (no session required). Encore facilitates discovery, booking, and payment and provides optional tooling; Encore does not own, rent, insure, clean, ship, or take possession of any piece, and is not a party to the rental. The rental contract is between you and the stylist.

Care of the piece; what is included. While a piece is in your possession you hold the stylist’s property as a bailee and agree to take reasonable care of it: wear it as intended, do not alter it, and do not attempt cleaning or repairs unless the stylist instructs you to. Normal wear and tear is included in your rental and carries no fee: anything consistent with intended one-occasion wear that a standard professional cleaning or minor routine repair resolves, for example light creasing or wrinkling, faint exterior soil or surface marks, cosmetic, makeup, or deodorant traces, a loose thread, a detached or missing button, hook, or snap, or a minor seam slip. You are responsible only for loss, non-return, or damage beyond that, meaning damage a standard professional cleaning or minor repair cannot resolve, such as tears, holes, burns, broken zippers or hardware, permanent staining, alteration, or odor that professional cleaning cannot remove, such as smoke.

Your responsibility for loss or damage. Each piece is the stylist’s own property, rented to you by the stylist as its owner under the stylist’s own terms, disclosed to you before you book. You are responsible to the stylist for loss, non-return, or damage beyond normal wear and tear, in an amount that reflects the stylist’s actual, documented loss or a reasonable pre-estimate of it: the reasonable and documented cost of cleaning or repair, or, where a piece is not returned or is beyond repair, its reasonable and documented value. Normal wear and tear carries no charge, and there is no flat, fixed per-day, or punitive charge. Any such charge is the stylist’s, as the owner of the piece; Encore does not charge these for its own account.

Risk of loss. For pieces shipped to you, you become responsible for the piece when the carrier confirms delivery, and you remain responsible while it is in your possession, up to the declared value the stylist sets in the stylist’s own rental terms.

Return timing and logistics. One return method is chosen at booking. Self-drop is free. For stylist pickup, your stylist sets a fee, disclosed in the listing, that passes to your stylist in full. For a prepaid mailer or shipping, Encore facilitates payment of postage in the same way it facilitates payment for the rental itself, and charges you the exact carrier cost of the label with no markup; that amount is postage passed through to the carrier at cost, not a fee retained by Encore or your stylist, and it is shown to you at its exact cost before you book. When Encore generates a prepaid label, it automatically applies a standard economy service (the lowest-cost available service for the route) at the exact carrier cost; your stylist may instead ship with their own carrier and postage. Encore generates and pays for the label through its carrier account as a ministerial convenience: it does not perform the shipment, take custody of any piece, guarantee delivery, or bear any risk of loss or damage in transit. On a piece shipped to you, your stylist is the sender and you are the recipient; on a return, you are the sender and your stylist is the recipient. Risk of loss or damage in transit is allocated between you and your stylist under your stylist’s terms. Any prepaid label is generated only when a piece is actually being shipped, so no postage is charged for a booking that is cancelled before shipment. Unless the stylist’s terms state otherwise, pieces are due back within 7 days after the session (or, for a direct rental, after the rental start date). Any charge for a late return is set by the stylist in the stylist’s own terms and must reflect the stylist’s actual, documented loss, not a flat per-day or punitive amount.

Charges are between you and the stylist. Any charge for late return, loss, or damage is the stylist’s, under the stylist’s own rental terms, and is resolved directly between you and the stylist. Encore does not adjudicate, decide fault, mediate, investigate, or determine or limit either party’s rights, and is not the renter, a guarantor, an insurer, or a party to the rental. Encore provides only optional tools to document a piece’s condition and to collect a charge the stylist sets, by invoice or payment link; it does not store your card for later off-session charges. The amount of any charge, and its basis, is disclosed to you before you book.

Condition photos and consent. You and the stylist each photograph the pieces at handoff and at return through the platform’s guided flow. You consent to these photos being captured, stored, and used to resolve condition disputes; they may incidentally capture home interiors and are retained and protected as described in the Privacy Policy.

Listing information and warnings. Stylists are responsible for accurate, complete listing information, including size, fit, material, and any care or safety information a renter needs. Encore may add or require warnings or information on listings; doing so is Encore’s own platform function and does not make Encore the renter, a warrantor of the piece, or a party to the rental.

No agency. The stylist, not Encore, rents the piece to you and is responsible for it. Encore’s role is limited to facilitating discovery, booking, and payment and providing optional tooling; Encore does not adjudicate, decide fault, mediate, investigate, or determine either party’s rights, and is not the stylist’s principal, agent, or guarantor.

Cancellations. Rental amounts reserved ahead of a session follow the booking’s cancellation tiers in the Cancellation Policy; any stylist pickup fee is refunded in full whenever the rental never occurs, and because a prepaid label is generated only when a piece actually ships, no postage is charged for a rental that never occurs. In-session rentals (paid at or after the session via express checkout) are not subject to the tiers, because the session already happened; any refund is platform-mediated.

Payment before handoff (in-session rentals). A piece offered at the session is handed over only after the rental payment completes; an unpaid rental link expires after 24 hours and commits neither party.

Fees. The stylist sets the rental amount they receive, and the Encore service fee is charged to you in addition to that amount, in the same way as for services (Section 4); it is not deducted from the stylist’s rental amount.

Release and disputes. The assumption of risk, release (including the waiver of unknown claims), limitation of liability, and Arbitration Procedure in these Terms (Sections 10 to 13 and Section 19) apply to rentals and to any rental dispute, which arises out of and relates to the platform for all purposes under those sections. Encore does not adjudicate rental disputes or determine fault, and nothing here limits either party’s rights under the Arbitration Procedure or otherwise.

Encore relies on third-party services, including Stripe for payments, which have their own terms and policies. Your use of those services is subject to their terms, and Encore is not responsible for them. Our handling of your information is described in our Privacy Policy.

You may stop using Encore at any time. We may suspend or terminate an account for violations of these Terms, safety concerns, or as reasonably needed to operate the platform. Sections that by their nature should survive termination (including the assumption of risk, releases, warranty disclaimers, liability limits, indemnification, the platform-integrity (booking-through-the-platform) provision, and dispute resolution) will survive.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules.

Before either of us starts arbitration, we agree to complete the informal resolution process in our Arbitration Procedure: an individualized written notice of the dispute followed by a personal telephone or video conference between you and Encore, with 30 days to resolve the matter. If we cannot resolve it, you and Encore agree to resolve disputes arising out of or relating to these Terms or the platform through binding arbitration on an individual basis, administered by JAMS under its rules, including, for consumer disputes, the JAMS Consumer Arbitration Minimum Standards, conducted in the California county where you live or remotely, and to waive any right to a jury trial or to participate in a class action. Encore pays the arbitration fees and costs beyond a filing fee comparable to the cost of filing in court, as the JAMS consumer standards provide. The Federal Arbitration Act governs this section.

Coordinated proceedings. If multiple arbitration demands involving similar claims are filed against Encore, they are administered individually under the arbitration provider’s own published rules for multiple or mass filings, applied by the provider as a neutral. Encore does not impose any batching, bellwether, precedent, or coordinated-filing procedure of its own design. Each claimant’s dispute is decided individually on its own facts; no claimant is bound by, and no claimant’s claim may be determined by, the result of any proceeding in which that claimant did not participate, and there are no binding bellwether or precedent cases. The enforceability of the class- and representative-action waivers is decided by a court, not the arbitrator.

The following stay out of arbitration: qualifying claims in small-claims court; injunctive relief in court for intellectual-property or unauthorized-use claims; individual claims of sexual assault or sexual harassment, which you may elect to bring in court as federal law provides; and requests for public injunctive relief under California law, which a court may decide and which are stayed pending arbitration of all other claims. An arbitration demand must be made before the statute of limitations that would apply to the claim in court expires; otherwise, to the extent permitted by law, the claim is permanently barred.

If Encore is required to pay fees or costs to JAMS to initiate or continue an arbitration, Encore will pay them within the time required by the provider’s rules and by applicable law, including California Code of Civil Procedure sections 1281.97 and 1281.98. The timing and the consequences of any late payment are governed by those statutes and applicable law; these Terms do not purport to extend, shorten, or alter any deadline they impose, and any extension of a due date is effective only if agreed by all parties.

You may opt out of arbitration within 30 days of first accepting these Terms by emailing hello@encorestylist.com with your name and account email. The full procedure, including the live-conference requirement, the coordinated-proceedings protections, and your right to reject future changes to the arbitration terms, is set out in our Arbitration Procedure, which is part of these Terms.

Any claim excluded from arbitration, or proceeding in court because you opted out, must be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in San Francisco County, California (except small-claims actions, which may be brought in the qualifying small-claims court), and you and Encore consent to personal jurisdiction and venue there.

Encore may give you notice through the platform, by email to the address on your account, or by text message to a number you provide; notice is effective when sent. You may give Encore routine notice through our contact page or at hello@encorestylist.com. Formal legal notices to Encore, including the pre-arbitration notice described in the Arbitration Procedure, must be sent by mail to Encore Style LLC’s registered agent for service of process, whose current name and address are published at encorestylist.com/legal, with a copy by email to hello@encorestylist.com; such notice is effective when received.

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, Community Guidelines, Cancellation Policy, and Arbitration Procedure, are the entire agreement between you and Encore regarding the platform. If any provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, it will be reformed and enforced to the maximum extent permitted by law, or if it cannot be reformed, severed, and the remaining provisions will remain in full force. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision, including the class action waiver, the assumption of risk, the releases, or the limitation of liability, will not affect the validity or enforceability of the agreement to arbitrate or of the remainder of these Terms. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. You may not assign these Terms; Encore may assign them in connection with a business transfer, and they bind and benefit the parties’ successors and permitted assigns. No joint venture, partnership, employment, or agency relationship is created between you and Encore, or between you and any stylist and Encore, by these Terms or your use of the platform, and these Terms confer no rights or remedies on anyone other than you and Encore. Neither party is liable for delays or failures caused by events beyond its reasonable control, including acts of God, natural disasters, epidemics or disease, war, terrorism, riots or civil unrest, government action, fire, flood, utility or telecommunications failures, and strikes or labor shortages. The client’s agreement is with Encore; stylists agree to a separate Stylist Agreement.

We may update these Terms as Encore grows. We’ll revise the date above, and for material changes we will provide at least 30 days’ advance notice by email or prominent notice on the platform before the change takes effect; if you disagree, you may stop using the platform and close your account before the effective date. Continued use after the effective date means you accept the revised Terms. Changes to the arbitration terms are subject to the separate rejection right in Section 10 of the Arbitration Procedure, and rejecting such a change does not affect the arbitration terms you previously accepted.

Questions about these Terms? Reach us through our contact page or at hello@encorestylist.com.

Under California Civil Code §1789.3, California users are entitled to the following notice: the platform is provided by Encore Style LLC. Complaints may be directed to the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs, 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112, Sacramento, CA 95834, or by telephone at (800) 952-5210.