Total Transparency Is Our Baseline

We believe in total honesty. We do not hide our rules behind secret corporate tricks or complicated legalese. Because we are a non-profit cooperative, we make our commercial terms fully public for everyone to see.

Below is the exact, friendly agreement we make with our independent winemakers. It is designed to keep things fair, protect their cash flow, and ensure a true handshake between equals.

Are you a winemaker? [Apply to join here]

Vivan Coop Limited – Winemaker Seller Terms

This document sets the rules between you (The Winemaker) and us (Vivan Coop Limited). 

We are an FCA-regulated, non-profit benefit society operating as a democratic cooperative. 

Our goal is simple: we handle the exhausting administrative, marketing, and cross-border logistics work so you can stay in the vineyards caring for your living soil.

These are our seller terms, not a cooperative membership agreement 

1. Official Details (Who We Are)

• The Platform: vivan.coop (operated by Vivan Coop Limited).

• Registry Status: Registered in the UK under the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

• Society Number: 5506

• Registered Office: Barnhouse, Smailholm, Kelso, Scottish Borders, TD5 7PH, UK.

• Direct Collective Phone: +44(0)7872513979

• Direct Team Email: hello@vivan.coop

2. Account Creation & Fees (Risk-Free Setup)

• The Account: To sell on Vivan, you apply through our online form. Our team verifies your vineyard size and practices to ensure you fit our standards before we can sell your wines.

• The Launch Promotion: Standard account creation and launch costs €299 HT. However, under our current launch initiative, your registration fee is exactly €0. We hope to remain free as long as possible

• Our Ongoing Guarantee: If we ever change this promotion and charge an entry fee in the future, we back it with a safety net. If you don't match your registration costs in sales during your first year and choose to leave, we will refund 50% of your fee immediately.

3. Your Guarantees to the Cooperative (Trust & Truth)

• Honest Farming: You guarantee that you legally own your wine and that all your organic, biodynamic, or natural certifications (Ecocert, Demeter, Vin Méthode Nature) are 100% accurate and up to date. You agree to provide copies of these certificates whenever we or customs authorities ask.

• Staying Connected: We don’t expect you to look at a screen all day, but to keep deliveries smooth for our drinkers, you agree to reply to our emails within 48 hours.

4. Cross-Border Logistics (We Do the Heavy Lifting)

Exporting wine post-Brexit can be a nightmare. We built Vivan to solve exactly this:

• Your Job: You are responsible for filing standard export documents in your home country and providing accurate commercial declarations so the bottles can legally leave your cellar. We’re here to help and guide you if you need. Just ask!

• Vivan’s Job: We take care of the scary stuff. Vivan pays for and manages all UK customs clearances, transport fees, transport insurance, excise duties, and import VAT. The price we agree on at your cellar door is what you keep.

5. Packing & Sending Orders

• Stock Updates: When a customer buys your wine, the order is locked in. If a bottle suddenly runs out of stock, you must alert us within 24 hours so we can update the buyer.

• Fulfilment Turnaround: You agree to pack and hand over the parcel to our designated courier within 72 hours of receiving the order.

• Safe Packaging: To survive international travel, you must use high-quality, professional double-walled cardboard boxes designed for wine transport (UPS certified)

6. The Cooperative Trust Rule (Direct Contact)

Our cooperative relies entirely on collective solidarity and mutual transparency.

• It is strictly forbidden to use the customer data provided by Vivan to contact buyers directly to sell wine outside the platform.

• If a winemaker bypasses the cooperative to undercut the community, it breaks our ecosystem. Doing so results in an immediate contract termination

7. Fixed Pricing & Fair Payments

• Predictable Prices: To avoid the constant pricing volatility of standard retail, your bottle sale prices are fixed and locked in annually from March 1st to February 28th. This allows you to plan your finances safely.

• Fast Payment Terms: You send us a monthly invoice for all shipped sales. Vivan pays your bank account directly within 15 days of receiving the invoice for the month.

• Invoicing Contact: All finance items go straight to greg@vivan.coop.

8. Product Integrity, Quality Guarantees, and Fault Resolution

• Our Collective Quality Standard To uphold the premium reputation of the Vivan cooperative and to confidently honour our 60-Day Customer Satisfaction Guarantee, all participating winemakers commit to delivering wines free of commercial or structural flaws

• The Trust-Based Fault Protocol. In the rare event that an end-customer declares an agricultural or structural defect in a bottle (including but not limited to cork taint, severe oxidation, or volatile instability), Vivan will honour the community agreement and issue a full refund to the customer.

Because our direct-to-consumer distribution model spans international borders, it is logistically impossible for the cooperative or the winemaker to physically retrieve and inspect individual opened bottles. To protect consumer confidence and keep the purchase loop friction-free, Vivan operates on a strict mutual-trust framework, accepting customer declarations made in good faith.

• Financial Responsibility and Adjustments. By accepting a direct cellar allocation through the cooperative, the winemaker agrees to fully indemnify the cooperative for the cost of any customer-declared faulty product. The reimbursement covered by the winemaker will include:

  • The original cellar-door value of the affected wine

  • A proportional share of the outbound international transport and logistics fees.

  • 100% of the associated post-Brexit UK import VAT, excise duties, and clearance taxes incurred on that unit.

• Payout Settlement. For total transparency, any customer refunds issued under this clause will be itemised in the winemaker’s cooperative dashboard. The total financial adjustment (wine value, shared transit, and full duties) will be automatically deducted from the winemaker’s subsequent scheduled payout or settlement cycle.

9. Marketing & Legal Rights

• Spreading Your Story: You give Vivan the right to use your photos, videos, and vineyard history across our website and social channels to promote your wines and story via advertising. Because social media algorithms archive content permanently, you acknowledge we cannot retroactively delete promotional posts if you ever leave the Coop.

• Digital Solidarity & Visibility: To help the cooperative drive web traffic and increase direct sales for your bottles across the UK and Europe, you agree to place a simple text link to the Vivan platform (https://vivan.coop) on your website’s footer or "Where to Buy" page within 30 days of your account activation. The cooperative will provide you with a quick local-language copy template (English, French, or Spanish) to make this easy for your web manager to copy and paste.

• Legal Shield: You remain solely responsible for the physical quality, health compliance, and liquid safety of your products. Any unexpected legal disputes will be settled constructively under United Kingdom law in UK courts.

Version 1.2 - 2/5/2026