Licence summary

Your copyright stays yours

You made it, you own it. You're giving us permission to use it for a while, not handing it over. You can still put it in your portfolio, on your own site and socials, and in applications for college or work.

What we get

An exclusive licence for two years to make and sell your design on the product you chose, only on 5c5v.co.uk (that includes our US version of the site and any other regional version we add). We can also use the design, photos of the product and your credit name to promote it.

Exclusive means that during those two years nobody else, including you, sells the design on products. After two years, it's all yours again unless we both want to carry on and sign an extension.

Two years from the first sale

The clock starts the day the first customer orders your product, not the day you sign. We'll email you that date.

What you get

• Your competition prize, paid within 30 days of signing.
• 50% of the profit on every sale, for the full two years. Profit is what the customer paid (including delivery) minus any VAT, what it cost to make and post, and the payment fee. Nothing else is taken off.
• A statement on the 1st of every month, with the order report and the production invoice behind it, so you can check every line.
• Payment within 15 days of the end of each month, by bank transfer or PayPal, in pounds or in US dollars, euros or Canadian dollars if you'd rather. We pay the transfer and conversion fees on our side.
• Your own discount code to share. Any discount on your code comes out of our half, not yours.
• A shot at Seller of the Month (£100) and Seller of the Year (£1,000, if the design sells 100 or more in its first year).

If what you're owed in a month is under £5, it rolls into the next month rather than being paid as a tiny transfer. Nothing is lost. If a customer gets a refund, the profit on that order comes off the next statement. You'll never be asked to pay anything back.

Your name on it

The product page says "Design by" with your credit name, and that it won the 5C5V Design Competition 2026. We credit you when we post it. You can use a credit name that isn't your real name if you'd prefer.

We don't mess with your design

We size it to fit the product, place it, and match colours to the closest thread or ink. That's it. No cropping, redrawing or recolouring without asking you. Before it goes on sale we make a sample and send you photos. You have five working days to say yes or tell us what's wrong. If it's wrong we fix it and make another one at our cost.

What you're promising us

That the design is your own original work, you own it, it doesn't use anyone else's logo, character, photo or unlicensed font, it hasn't been sold on a product before, and nobody else has a claim on it. If that turns out not to be true and it costs us money, you'd cover what it cost us, but never more than we've paid you in total.

Tax

We pay you gross. Any tax where you live is yours to sort out. If you're VAT-registered, tell us and we'll set up self-billing so the statement works as your invoice.

If you're 16 or 17

A parent or guardian signs alongside you, gets a copy of every statement until you're 18, and is covered by the same cap on liability. When you turn 18 you can confirm the agreement in your own name.

Ending early

If we haven't put your design on sale within 120 days of signing, you can walk away and keep your prize. If either side breaks the agreement and doesn't fix it within 20 working days, the other can end it. When it ends, for any reason, the rights come back to you. Orders already placed still get made and you still get paid on them.

The boring but important bits

Governed by the law of England and Wales. We're not partners or employer and employee. We use your details only to run the competition, pay you and promote the product, and we keep payment records for six years because the tax people say so.

Run by 5C5V LIMITED (company number 16789464), 43 Chichester Close, Hartlepool TS25 2QT, United Kingdom. Questions: matthew@5c5v.co.uk.