Terms of Service

Effective date: September 28, 2026

1. About these terms

This website and the consulting services offered under the Niki Techen brand are operated by Notch Trading Inc., based in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. In these Terms, “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to that legal entity. “You” refers to the website user or, for a consulting engagement, the client identified in the accepted engagement agreement.

These Terms address website use and the conditions on which we offer consulting services. The services are intended for business and professional purposes. Service-related provisions apply to an engagement only when expressly incorporated into an agreement accepted by both parties.

2. Forming an engagement

Submitting a contact form, requesting a quote, joining a waiting list, or having an introductory conversation does not create a paid consulting engagement, reserve availability, or commit either party to proceed.

An engagement begins when both parties accept a written proposal, statement of work, or other written agreement identifying the client, scope, deliverables, fees, and payment arrangements. Acceptance may be recorded through signatures, electronic signatures, or a clear exchange of emails. Any required initial payment must be received before work starts, unless otherwise agreed.

A person accepting an engagement on behalf of an organization confirms that they have authority to bind that organization.

The accepted engagement agreement takes precedence over these Terms where the two conflict. A separate confidentiality or data-processing agreement governs its subject matter unless the parties expressly agree otherwise in writing. Publishing these Terms does not amend an existing agreement or override an existing confidentiality commitment.

3. Website use

You may use this website and its public resources to learn about the services, evaluate a potential engagement, and contact us. Public articles, examples, graphics, and other website content provide general information. Advice for a particular business is provided within an agreed engagement.

You must not use the website unlawfully, impersonate another person, submit malicious content, attempt unauthorized access, interfere with its operation, or use automated tools to circumvent access restrictions or materially disrupt the service.

Website text, designs, images, and other protected materials may not be reproduced or commercially redistributed without permission, except as permitted by law. You may keep a copy of these Terms and reasonable extracts for your own records and internal evaluation.

4. Scope and nature of the services

Our services include Amazon Operations Analysis, Sourcing & Purchasing Analysis, Operational Analysis & Improvement, and Business & Data Analysis. The accepted engagement agreement determines which questions, business areas, time periods, data sources, and deliverables are included.

We provide analytical and advisory services with reasonable care, skill, and diligence. The engagement may involve reviewing records, testing assumptions, evaluating workflows, developing calculations, and explaining findings. It does not promise examination of every transaction, process, or potential issue.

Legal advice, tax advice, bookkeeping, regulated investment advice, statutory audit, and professional assurance or certification are outside these services. An operational analysis does not constitute a forensic accounting investigation or an audit opinion.

Implementation, software development, recurring reporting, and ongoing operational support require a separate written scope. We do not take over management of your business, employees, purchasing, or marketplace accounts through an analytical engagement. We act as an independent contractor and have no authority to bind your business.

5. Client information and cooperation

You agree to make reasonable efforts to provide accurate, complete, and timely information relevant to the agreed scope, and to identify known gaps, unreliable estimates, changed assumptions, and other limitations. You should notify us promptly when information previously supplied is corrected or materially changes.

You are responsible for having the necessary authority, permissions, and lawful basis to share materials, personal information, and third-party records with us for the agreed work. We remain responsible for our own handling of that information.

Provide only the information reasonably needed. Remove unnecessary personal identifiers where practical. Do not send passwords, authentication codes, payment-card details, or unnecessary sensitive personal information through the contact form. Amazon analyses ordinarily use exported reports; Seller Central login credentials are neither required nor requested.

You remain responsible for maintaining your original records and backups. Where staff explanations or access to relevant records are needed, you agree to arrange reasonable cooperation through an appropriate contact person.

6. Fees, currency, and payment

Fees and currency are stated in the accepted proposal. Published starting prices are indicative and do not establish the final fee for a particular engagement. Applicable taxes are additional unless expressly included in the quote.

Unless the accepted proposal provides otherwise, fixed-fee engagements require 50% of the agreed fee before work begins and the remaining 50% upon delivery of the agreed final written deliverables. Any included walkthrough remains part of our obligations and is scheduled with the client. The proposal may specify a different delivery milestone or payment schedule.

Fees pay for the agreed work and deliverables. They are not contingent on finding a minimum amount of savings, achieving a particular business outcome, or the client implementing recommendations.

Additional work and third-party expenses require prior written approval. We will not impose an undisclosed hourly rate, cancellation charge, or late-payment charge retrospectively. Any agreed late-payment charge must comply with applicable law.

Please raise invoice questions promptly. Undisputed amounts remain payable under the agreed schedule while a genuine dispute is being addressed.

7. Timelines and changes to scope

Timelines depend on the agreed scope, data availability, record quality, client responses, and confirmed scheduling. An estimated completion period begins only when the information and approvals needed for that stage have been received. A deadline is binding only where expressly agreed as such.

If missing information, unexpected complexity, or a requested change affects the work, we will explain the implications and agree on any adjustment to scope, fees, or timing before undertaking additional chargeable work.

Client delays may require rescheduling. A paused project resumes according to mutually confirmed availability. No automatic renewal, retainer, or continuing service arises from completion of a project.

8. Deliverables, review, and corrections

The engagement agreement identifies the deliverables and their format. Reports, spreadsheets, process maps, recommendations, and walkthroughs are included only as agreed. Drafts and preliminary observations may change and should be treated accordingly.

Please review final deliverables promptly and identify suspected errors or omissions with enough detail for us to investigate. We will investigate reasonably detailed reports of suspected errors or omissions. Where the investigation identifies an error or omission on our part within the agreed scope, we will correct it within a reasonable period without an additional professional fee.

New datasets, changed assumptions, additional business questions, and revisions beyond the agreed scope may require a separately approved fee. These review arrangements do not create a shortened legal claim period or waive rights merely because an issue was not identified immediately.

You should retain your own copies of the final deliverables. Permanent file hosting, ongoing updates, and maintenance are included only where separately agreed.

9. Cancellation, suspension, and refunds

You may cancel an engagement by written notice. Unless a different lawful cancellation arrangement was agreed beforehand, you are responsible for work properly completed before cancellation and reasonable, non-cancellable third-party costs that you approved in advance.

For a fixed-fee engagement, completed work is valued using agreed milestones or, where none were set, a reasonable documented proportion of the agreed fee reflecting progress. It is not repriced using a newly introduced hourly rate. Advance payments are credited against the amount properly payable under this section. Any unearned balance will be refunded within 14 days after the effective date of cancellation or termination, regardless of which party ends the engagement, subject to any shorter period required by law.

We may suspend work for overdue undisputed payments, essential missing information, or a material breach after written notice and a reasonable opportunity to resolve the issue. Immediate suspension may be necessary to address unlawful activity or an urgent confidentiality or security risk.

Either party may end the engagement for a material breach that remains unresolved after a reasonable opportunity to remedy it. We may also end an engagement on reasonable written notice if we cannot continue responsibly. If we end the engagement, we will explain the position. Following cancellation or termination by either party, we will provide usable completed portions of the agreed deliverables once the amounts properly due for them under this section have been paid, identifying any draft status or limitations. Unearned advance payments will be refunded under the timetable above.

Payment for completed work does not prevent either party from exercising available remedies for defective performance or another breach. Rights that cannot lawfully be excluded remain unaffected.

10. Analytical limitations and business decisions

Findings depend on the information available, the period examined, the agreed scope, and the methods used. Data may contain omissions, inconsistent definitions, incomplete transaction links, and estimates. We will identify material limitations and assumptions that become apparent during the agreed work.

Models of contribution, profitability, returns, inventory recovery, and operating costs may combine recorded activity with estimates. Product and category results reflect the costs included in the agreed model. A contribution figure should not be treated as company-level net profit or cash generated unless the analysis expressly establishes that basis.

Historical results, scenarios, and estimated financial impacts do not guarantee future performance. An identified historical loss is not automatically an achievable future saving. We do not guarantee that an engagement will identify previously unknown problems or produce a particular level of revenue, profit, savings, or return on investment.

You remain responsible for business decisions, implementation, and obtaining specialist advice where necessary. Recommendations should be assessed against current prices, policies, staffing, financing, and other relevant circumstances before implementation.

These limitations do not remove our obligation to perform the agreed services with reasonable care, skill, and diligence. We have no continuing duty to update completed analysis for later events unless agreed in writing.

11. Confidentiality

Each party will protect non-public business information received from the other in connection with evaluating or performing an engagement. This includes business records, purchase costs, supplier information, operational details, analytical methods, and client-specific findings that are identified as confidential or should reasonably be understood to be confidential.

Confidential information may be used only for the agreed work, administering the relationship, the archival purposes permitted under section 13, complying with legal obligations, or another separately authorized purpose. Access must be limited to people and service providers who need it for that purpose and are subject to appropriate confidentiality obligations. Technology providers are also subject to the arrangements described in section 12.

Confidentiality does not apply to information the recipient can demonstrate was lawfully known without restriction, independently developed, lawfully obtained from another source, or made public without a breach.

A legally required disclosure must be limited to what is required. Where permitted, the recipient will give advance notice and reasonably cooperate with efforts to protect the information.

These obligations continue after the engagement while the information remains confidential, subject to any separate agreement governing its duration. Personal information remains subject to applicable privacy requirements.

12. Technology, cloud services, and AI-assisted tools

We may use spreadsheets, scripts, automation, cloud services, and AI-assisted tools to support the work. We remain responsible for the professional judgment applied to the findings and for reviewing tool-assisted output used in final deliverables. Niki Techen performs that review on our behalf.

Written authorization may cover recurring use of AI-assisted tools throughout the engagement, including analysis of sales, costs, inventory, returns, and other operational data. Separate approval is not required for each prompt, upload, or analysis that remains within the authorized purposes, data categories, and disclosed processing arrangements.

We may use Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and other cloud-based services to receive, store, organize, back up, and share engagement information and deliverables with the client and other authorized recipients. These services remain subject to the confidentiality, privacy, security, and processing restrictions in these Terms and any applicable engagement agreement.

We will limit information submitted to AI-assisted tools to what is reasonably needed for the authorized work and remove or replace unnecessary personal identifiers. We will assess whether the remaining information could identify an individual. De-identified client information remains subject to the agreed confidentiality and use restrictions.

Before confidential client information is submitted to a third-party AI service, the intended use and relevant handling arrangements must be disclosed and authorized in writing through the engagement agreement or a separate approval. Relevant arrangements include the information involved, the purpose, and applicable retention, training, and access restrictions. Client authorization does not replace any additional legal authority required for personal information.

We will use only processing arrangements consistent with applicable law and the agreed confidentiality requirements. Confidential client information must not be used to train general-purpose AI models without separate express written authorization and a lawful basis.

Cloud or AI processing may involve storage or access outside Canada. Information processed outside Canada may be subject to the laws and lawful access requests of the relevant jurisdiction. Any material location or provider restrictions must be agreed before transfer. Using a service provider does not remove our responsibility for the obligations we have accepted.

13. Privacy, security, and retention

Personal information is handled under applicable privacy law, the relevant privacy notice, and any project-specific data-processing agreement. These Terms do not authorize unrestricted collection, disclosure, or secondary use of personal information.

We will use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards appropriate to the information and the agreed work. No method of transmission or storage can be guaranteed entirely secure. If we become aware of a breach of security safeguards affecting client information in our possession or control, we will notify the client without undue delay, unless prohibited by law. We will provide the relevant information available to us, take reasonable steps to contain and address the breach, comply with our applicable reporting, notification, and recordkeeping obligations, and reasonably cooperate with the client’s response.

Subject to applicable law and any controlling written agreement, we may retain archival copies of final deliverables and the client-provided records, supporting analyses, assumptions, approvals, and correspondence reasonably needed to document the work performed, investigate alleged errors, respond to disputes or reasonably anticipated legal claims, and meet legal or insurance requirements. Completion or termination of an engagement does not itself require deletion of records that may lawfully be retained for those purposes.

Retention is limited to the information and period reasonably necessary for those purposes. We review retention needs periodically. Retained information remains subject to our confidentiality and security obligations and may be used only for the permitted purposes.

Any project-specific retention or deletion schedule must be agreed in writing. Deletion requests will be assessed under applicable law and any controlling agreement. When continued retention is no longer reasonably necessary or is no longer permitted, information will be securely deleted or, where appropriate, made non-identifiable. Lawful preservation requirements continue to apply, and retention and deletion procedures also cover backup copies.

Privacy questions and requests can be directed to the contact in section 22.

14. Ownership and use of deliverables

You retain the rights you hold in materials and data you provide. You authorize us to use those materials only as needed for the agreed services and permitted administration of the engagement.

Upon full payment, the client is entitled to ownership of the copyright we hold in original client-specific content created for and included in the agreed final deliverables. We will record the assignment in a written instrument signed by us, which may be the engagement agreement. Background materials and third-party materials described below are excluded. A separate written agreement may specify a different ownership arrangement.

Any transfer of ownership under this section is subject to our limited right to retain, reproduce, and use archival copies in accordance with section 13.

For usable completed portions of the agreed deliverables supplied following cancellation or termination under section 9, the ownership and licence provisions in this section apply once all amounts properly due for those portions under section 9 have been paid.

We retain ownership of pre-existing materials and reusable methods, templates, formulas, scripts, tools, and general analytical know-how, including generally applicable improvements developed during the engagement. These retained materials do not include ownership of your confidential business information. Internal working papers and source code are deliverables only where expressly included in the scope.

Where our retained materials are incorporated into a paid final deliverable, the client receives a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use, copy, and adapt them as part of that deliverable for its own business purposes. Third-party materials remain subject to their applicable licences.

You may share final deliverables with your personnel and professional advisers for the agreed business purpose, subject to confidentiality. Commercial resale or standalone licensing of our retained tools requires permission. Sharing a report does not create an engagement or duty of care to an additional recipient; third-party reliance requires a separate written agreement. Legally required disclosures remain permitted.

15. Third-party platforms and independence

Our consulting services are independent. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Amazon or another platform merely because our services concern that platform. Third-party names identify the relevant products or services, and their owners retain their rights.

We do not control platform policies, account decisions, fees, data availability, supplier conduct, or external websites. Recommendations may need reassessment when those circumstances change. Links to external resources do not create responsibility for their content or an assurance that they remain available.

16. Testimonials, examples, and publicity

We require separate written permission before publishing a client’s name, logo, testimonial, report excerpt, or client-derived case study or result, including an anonymized case study. An engagement does not automatically grant publicity rights.

Synthetic examples may be created to explain a method or deliverable, and will be identified as illustrative. Published examples and testimonials describe particular circumstances and do not promise that another client will obtain the same outcome.

17. Website availability and warranties

We aim to keep the website useful and accurate, but do not promise uninterrupted availability or that every public resource will remain current. Website materials are provided as available for general information.

For paid services, the express commitments in the accepted engagement agreement and these Terms apply. To the extent permitted by law, no additional warranty is given that the work will achieve a specific commercial result or meet a requirement that was outside the agreed scope. Nothing in this section excludes a warranty or remedy that cannot lawfully be excluded.

18. Limitations of liability

This section applies to a consulting engagement only when these Terms have been expressly incorporated into its accepted agreement.

To the extent permitted by law, our total aggregate liability arising from an engagement, whether in contract, negligence, or another legal basis, is limited to the total professional fees paid or payable for that engagement, excluding taxes and reimbursed third-party expenses. The limit applies collectively to claims arising from the same engagement.

To the extent permitted by law, we will not be liable for indirect, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, anticipated savings, business opportunities, or goodwill arising from the engagement, even if such losses were foreseeable. The aggregate limit above applies to recoverable direct damages.

The exclusions and limitations in this section are also intended to benefit Niki Techen and our directors, officers, employees, and consulting subcontractors for acts or omissions in performing the agreed services on our behalf. Each may rely on this section, subject to the same exceptions and applicable law. The aggregate liability limit applies collectively to Notch Trading Inc. and all such persons.

These exclusions and limits do not apply to fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, wilful misconduct, gross negligence, or liability that applicable law prohibits us from excluding or limiting. They do not remove any obligation to refund unearned advance payments under section 9.

Any different liability arrangement must be expressly agreed in writing before the relevant work begins.

19. Events outside reasonable control

Neither party is responsible for delay caused by an event outside its reasonable control, provided it takes reasonable steps to reduce the impact and informs the other party promptly. Affected obligations resume when reasonably possible.

If an extended disruption prevents completion within a reasonable period, either party may end the affected work by written notice. The payment and refund provisions in section 9 apply. This section does not excuse payment for completed work or failures to take reasonable security precautions.

20. Governing law and disputes

Subject to mandatory applicable law and any different written engagement agreement, these Terms are governed by the laws of British Columbia and the federal laws of Canada applicable there. The courts and tribunals of British Columbia with jurisdiction over the dispute will be the forum for proceedings, except where applicable law requires otherwise.

We encourage direct discussion of concerns. Discussion or mediation is voluntary and does not prevent a party from bringing a claim, obtaining urgent relief, or meeting a legal deadline.

These Terms do not require mandatory arbitration, waive class-proceeding rights, prevent an honest review, or restrict complaints to a regulator. Any statutory right or protection that cannot lawfully be waived remains in effect.

21. Changes and general provisions

Updated website Terms will show a new effective date. Updates apply prospectively and do not automatically change an existing engagement. The version incorporated into an accepted engagement continues to apply unless both parties agree to a change in writing.

If a provision is unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue to apply to the extent permitted by law. A failure to enforce a provision immediately does not waive the right to enforce it later.

Confidentiality, accrued payment obligations, ownership and licence provisions, limitations of liability, and dispute provisions survive completion or termination where their purpose requires it. Nothing in these Terms limits the effect of mandatory law.

22. Contact

Questions about these Terms or a consulting engagement may be sent to:

Notch Trading Inc.
Attention: Niki Techen
Email: info at notchtrading.com

Please send formal engagement notices to the email address specified in the accepted proposal, if no separate notice address was agreed.