Reality Check · Money and contracts

What has to be checked before you sell something you made?

Before anything you made goes on sale, someone qualified should check the title, any trademark wording, the legal notices, the links, the privacy terms, any contest, and the payment flow — in each country you sell in. This book prints that rule about itself on page 2, which is the standard it is asking you to hold it to.

Red · an adult must be involvedReality CheckBook page 2

What the book says

Word for word from printed page 2. Nothing is cut, and this is the only part of the page written by the author.

Reality Check

Before commercial release, have the final title, trademark wording, legal notices, links, privacy terms, contests, and payment flows checked by qualified publishing and legal professionals in the countries where the book will be sold.

Why this happens

Naming, payment handling and privacy wording are decided by law in the country of sale, not by the person selling. They are also the parts nobody enjoys, so they are the parts that get left until after launch.

The person who made the thing is the last person likely to spot the problem in it. That is not a failing; it is what being close to your own work does.

What to do instead

Publish it free, or show it to a small number of people, while it is still unchecked. Nothing on this site is behind a price, for the same reason.

Before money is involved, write the list out: title, trademark wording, legal notices, links, privacy terms, contests, payment flow. Hand the list to an adult rather than a summary of it.

Who to talk to

A parent or guardian first, for anything that will be sold.

For a real commercial release, a publishing or legal professional in the country you are selling in. This is one of the few places on this site where an amateur answer is not good enough.

If none of those is available, an adult here also counts:

Going around the gate is the failure, not the clever move. And if the adult you ask says no, that is information about timing — not about you. There is more on how that conversation tends to go on Race Control, for parents.

No secrecy around money, meetings, identity documents, or pressure. A legitimate opportunity can survive an adult review and a night of sleep.