Our goal is simple: AIWine helps customers discover great New Zealand wine and connects them with participating wineries. AIWine holds the alcohol licence under which wine is sold through the marketplace, and provides the technology, marketplace and payment platform. Wineries remain responsible for producing, storing, packing and dispatching their wine, and for meeting the alcohol compliance requirements we set. These terms apply to wineries listing and fulfilling wine through the AIWine marketplace.
This agreement is between AIWine Ventures Limited ("AIWine", "we", "us") and the winery or wine producer ("you"). By accepting these terms and listing wines on AIWine, you confirm that you are authorised to enter into this agreement on behalf of your business.
AIWine provides the online marketplace, customer ordering platform and payment processing. AIWine holds an alcohol licence issued under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 and is the seller of wine purchased through the marketplace. You supply your wine for sale through the marketplace and fulfil accepted orders on our behalf.
You remain responsible for your wines, their quality, storage, pricing and description, and for carrying out fulfilment in accordance with this agreement and Schedule 1.
You may only list wines that you are legally entitled to supply in New Zealand. You are responsible for ensuring all information you provide is accurate and kept up to date, including:
You set your own retail prices. Customers are charged the price displayed at checkout. You agree to honour accepted orders at that price and keep stock levels up to date. If you cannot fulfil an order, you must notify AIWine immediately.
AIWine reserves the right to cancel and refund any order where a wine is unavailable, incorrectly priced due to an error, or cannot be fulfilled.
You may not offer, and must not ask AIWine to display, any promotion that discounts on the basis of volume purchased or that could encourage excessive consumption. Promotions are subject to approval by AIWine and must comply with section 237 of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012.
AIWine may run its own promotions — the 10% AIWine Member discount and regional promo codes. These are funded by AIWine, not by you: our commission is calculated on the wine value before any AIWine-funded discount, and the discount is added back to your payout. Your net is the same whether or not the customer was a member or used a code.
All wines are packed and dispatched directly by the winery, acting as AIWine's fulfilment partner. You are responsible for:
Every order reflects both your winery and AIWine. We ask that all orders are packed carefully, dispatched promptly and delivered to the standard customers expect.
Customers pay AIWine at checkout. AIWine deducts the agreed commission (plus GST where applicable) and pays the remaining balance to you during the first week of the following month. Each payment covers orders you have marked as shipped (or delivered) in the Winery Portal or Winery App by the last day of the month. Orders not yet marked shipped are included in the payment for the month in which they are marked. Cancelled or refunded orders are not paid. Current commission rates and payment schedules are published in the Winery Portal.
How the commission is worked out. AIWine’s commission is a percentage of the price of your wine before GST — that is, your wine’s price in the order divided by 1.15. The rate is 20% at the date of these terms. GST on the commission is added to it. For example, on a bottle you sell for $115 ($100 plus GST), the commission is $20 plus $3 GST, and you receive $92 plus any postage the customer paid. The commission is never charged on postage, and is worked out before any AIWine-funded discount (clause 3). The same applies to direct payments under clause 5A.
If your winery takes part in direct payment, orders your customers pay to your own Stripe account are governed by clause 5A instead of this clause.
5A.1 Taking part. Direct payment is optional and by invitation. If AIWine invites you, you may connect a Stripe account held in your own business name through the Winery Portal. AIWine switches direct payment on for your winery only after confirming the start date with you. Until then, and whenever it is switched off, your orders are paid to AIWine under clause 5 as usual.
5A.2 How customers pay. When direct payment is on, a customer buying your wine pays your Stripe account directly at checkout. You receive the payment as the merchant for that card transaction. AIWine’s fee — the agreed commission plus GST on it, less any AIWine-funded member or promotional discount — is deducted from the payment by Stripe at the moment of sale as an “application fee”. Postage collected from the customer stays with you in full. If a customer’s case also contains other wineries’ wine, they pay for yours separately, in the same checkout.
5A.3 Stripe’s card fees. Stripe charges its card-processing fees to your Stripe account. AIWine pays 20% of Stripe’s fee on each direct payment, refunded to your Stripe account shortly after the sale; you bear the remaining 80%.
5A.4 When you are paid. Stripe pays the balance of your Stripe account to your bank on your own Stripe payout schedule. Direct-payment orders are not part of AIWine’s monthly payment under clause 5, and nothing further is owed by AIWine for them other than the fee share in 5A.3.
5A.5 Declines and refunds. If you decline an order in the Winery Portal or Winery App, the customer is refunded in full from your Stripe account and AIWine returns its fee on that order. If you refund a customer in your own Stripe Dashboard, AIWine returns its fee in proportion to the amount refunded. Stripe does not return its own card fee when a payment is refunded, and AIWine’s 20% fee share is not payable on a payment refunded in full.
5A.6 Disputes and chargebacks. A dispute on a direct payment is raised against your Stripe account. You respond to it in your Stripe Dashboard and meet Stripe’s evidence deadlines. Stripe’s dispute fee is yours. If a dispute is lost, AIWine will return its fee on that order.
5A.7 Your Stripe account. Your Stripe account is held by you under Stripe’s own terms, including the Stripe Connected Account Agreement, and you are responsible for keeping it in good standing. AIWine never sees your bank details. You may disconnect your account at any time by telling AIWine; your orders then return to AIWine-collected payment under clause 5. AIWine may switch direct payment off if your account cannot take payments or if these terms are breached.
5A.8 Licence and receipts. Because the customer pays you directly, a direct-payment sale is made under your own off-licence. You warrant that you hold an off-licence that permits remote sales and keep it current, and you will give AIWine its holder name, number and expiry date and tell us promptly of any renewal, suspension or cancellation. Those details appear on the customer’s receipt for your direct-payment orders. Direct payment stops automatically if AIWine holds no current licence for you. Clause 7 and Schedule 1 continue to apply to these orders.
5A.9 Tax. Clause 6 applies unchanged: you account for GST on the wine sale and the postage, and AIWine accounts for GST on its fee. AIWine issues you one commission tax invoice each month for its fees on your direct-payment orders, dated the last day of the month. AIWine’s 20% share of Stripe’s card fees (5A.3) is a contribution to your payment-processing costs: it is shown on your monthly statement and is not part of AIWine’s commission or its tax invoice.
You are responsible for your own GST and tax obligations. AIWine provides settlement documents to support your accounting records.
Who accounts for GST on what. AIWine operates a marketplace and acts as your agent in collecting payment for wine sales. You are the supplier of the wine, so you account for GST on the full wine sale (and on the postage collected from the customer, which is passed to you in full). AIWine accounts for GST on its commission only, and issues you a monthly commission tax invoice for it.
What the customer's receipt shows. Your winery is named on the receipt as the supplier of the wine, with your GST number beside your name, and the delivery you supply is listed under your name too. AIWine appears only as the agent that collected the payment. If you are not GST-registered, or have not yet given us your GST number, no GST number and no GST amount is shown for your wine — the receipt states nothing rather than asserting a liability you are not accounting for.
If your winery is not GST-registered, tell us before your first sale — the GST question on your store settings is how. Your prices and the customer's receipt must not state a GST amount you are not accounting for, and your monthly statement is prepared differently.
AIWine gift cards. AIWine sells AIWine gift cards in its own name, at a fixed value, and holds the money until a card is used. A customer may use a card to pay for your wine. A gift card is a way of paying, not a discount: your price, AIWine's commission and the amount paid to you are exactly what they would be for a card payment, and AIWine pays you from the gift card money it holds, on the usual settlement.
GST on gift cards — our agreement. You and AIWine agree that an AIWine gift card is a fixed-value voucher on which GST is accounted for when the card is used, not when it is sold. So AIWine accounts for no GST when it sells a card; when a card is used to pay for your wine, you account for GST on that wine sale exactly as for any other order (if you are GST-registered; if you are not, nothing changes for you). If an order paid by gift card is declined or refunded, the gift card part goes back on the card and your settlement is adjusted as for any other refund. If AIWine's accountant or Inland Revenue requires a different treatment, we will tell you through the Winery Portal before it applies.
AIWine holds the alcohol licence under which wine is sold through the marketplace — except for direct-payment orders under clause 5A, which are sold under your own off-licence (5A.8). AIWine's licence holder name, licence number and expiry date, and a link to a legible image of the licence, are displayed on the AIWine website and on every receipt issued for a remote sale.
You warrant that:
You must not sell, supply or dispatch alcohol under AIWine's licence otherwise than in accordance with this agreement. Where the location from which you dispatch AIWine orders is relevant to either party's licence conditions, you will tell us the dispatch address and notify us before it changes.
You must notify AIWine within one working day of becoming aware of any of the following in connection with an AIWine order:
AIWine maintains the incident log for the marketplace and is responsible for acting on what it records.
Before handling an AIWine order, your staff and any courier or delivery provider you use must be trained in age verification, acceptable forms of identification, recognising intoxication, and the refusal procedures in Schedule 1. Training must be refreshed at least annually and records kept.
AIWine may, on reasonable notice, ask to see your training records, your delivery provider agreement, and your procedures for meeting Schedule 1. You agree to cooperate with any compliance review, and with any request from a licensing inspector, the Police or a public health officer relating to an AIWine order.
You are responsible for resolving issues relating to damaged goods, incorrect shipments, product quality and your obligations under New Zealand consumer law. AIWine may assist customers and process refunds where appropriate.
You retain ownership of your brand, trademarks, product information and images. You grant AIWine a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to display, promote and market your content while your wines are listed on the AIWine marketplace. All AIWine software, branding, AI technology and marketplace content remain the property of AIWine.
AIWine handles personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020. Customer information is shared with you only to enable fulfilment of an order and to meet age-verification obligations. You must not use customer information for unrelated marketing without the customer's consent.
Either party may end this agreement at any time by providing written notice. AIWine may suspend or remove listings or winery accounts where:
AIWine may suspend listings immediately and without notice where it considers there is a risk of alcohol being supplied to a minor or to an intoxicated person. Outstanding customer orders must still be fulfilled unless otherwise agreed.
AIWine provides the marketplace, ordering platform and AI recommendation services on an "as is" basis. To the extent permitted by law, AIWine is not liable for indirect or consequential loss. Nothing in these terms limits rights that cannot legally be excluded under New Zealand law.
You remain responsible for the wines you supply, including their quality, safety, legality and compliance with applicable laws, and for carrying out fulfilment in accordance with Schedule 1. To the extent permitted by law, you indemnify AIWine against any fine, penalty, enforcement action or loss arising from your failure to comply with Schedule 1 or clause 7.
AIWine may update these terms from time to time. Where a change is material, we will notify you through the Winery Portal. Continued use of AIWine after the updated terms take effect constitutes acceptance of those changes.
These terms are governed by the laws of New Zealand. Any dispute arising from these terms will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the New Zealand courts.
This schedule forms part of the Winery Partner Agreement. It sets out what you must do when fulfilling an AIWine order. These requirements exist because AIWine is the licensed seller and is answerable for how wine sold through the marketplace is delivered.
Wine ordered through AIWine must not be delivered:
You must select a delivery service and dispatch timing that make compliance with these limits realistic.
By accepting in the Winery Portal, or by signing below, you confirm that you have read and accept these terms, including Schedule 1.
Questions? Email tim@aiwine.co.nz.
This document is a plain-language partner agreement and is not legal advice. AIWine recommends wineries review it against their own circumstances. AIWine Ventures Limited reserves the right to seek professional legal review of these terms before go-live.