The deal, written the way we say it.

Kiln is a platform in active development. Some features run in sandbox mode, and when they do, they are labeled as sandbox or demo in the interface. Anything not labeled is real: real checkout, real money, real obligations on our side.

Building on Kiln is free: the quiz, brand generation, drafts, the design customizer, the storefront preview, and the public REST API and MCP server cost nothing. Taking a store live, so it can accept real checkout, is a subscription of $29 per month, or $180 per year (about $15 a month). Cancel anytime: your store stops taking new orders and everything you made stays yours.

On each sale, Kiln's fee is a flat 5 percent of the product price only. It is never charged on shipping, never on tax, and never on card processing. Card processing (2.9 percent plus 30 cents) is passed through at cost and shown on the receipt. These numbers are this contract, not an illustrative promise.

Stripe processes all payments, for both product checkout and subscriptions, under its own terms of service. Kiln never holds your card details.

A seller on the Live plan can run a pre-order campaign with a public threshold: the goal and the progress toward it are shown on the store, not decided in anyone's sole discretion. Reserving a spot saves the buyer's card with Stripe; nothing is charged at reservation.

If the campaign reaches its threshold, the saved cards are charged and production begins. The fee on those charges is the same flat 5 percent of the product price as any other sale, never more because it was a campaign. If the threshold is not reached, reservations expire and nothing is owed: no charge, no fee, no partial capture.

Kiln never holds campaign funds. The card save and the later charge both live on the seller's own Stripe account, so buyer money moves directly from buyer to seller, with Kiln's fee netted from that charge. If a campaign cannot run that way, it does not run.

Everything you make on Kiln belongs to you: the name, the designs, the customer relationships. You can export your work and leave any day, and we will not make leaving hard. These terms contain no non-circumvention clause, no exclusivity clause, and no clause that quietly transfers your brand to us. They never will.

That includes the makers behind your products. We introduce you to your supplier and never stand between you: you may work with them directly, any day, with no waiting period and no penalty, whether or not you keep selling on Kiln.

The guarantees published on our pricing page are part of these terms, not marketing. If the two ever disagree, the reading more favorable to the seller wins.

If these terms change, the effective date above changes and the new version is published here before it applies. Sellers who signed up under an earlier version can request that version by email. Questions go to hello@joinkiln.com. Signed, Kiln.