Frequently asked questions

ToBePolo is the platform for teaching and learning Italy’s finest crafts. People who master a craft offer it as a craft or an experience; people who want to learn it find it, book it and pay on the site. ToBePolo holds it all together: the showcase, the booking, the payment and the support.

A craft is learnt with your hands and leaves a result: bread, a vase, a sailor’s knot. An experience is lived alongside someone who knows how: a visit, a story, a day in a workshop. Both are booked for a set date and time, in person or online, alone or in a group.

The person who offers it: they organise it, run it and are responsible for it. ToBePolo is an intermediary: it runs the platform, the bookings and the payments, but it does not organise or run crafts and experiences and is not a party to the contract between you and the person teaching.

Both are people who teach on ToBePolo. A ToBePolo Artisan has a VAT number (this includes other professionals too); a ToBePolo Hobbyist teaches occasionally, without a VAT number. The listing and the checkout summary always say which one it is, before you pay.

It changes your protections. With an Artisan, who has a VAT number, you have the protections of the Italian Consumer Code. With a Hobbyist the contract is between private individuals: those protections do not apply, including the right of withdrawal and the legal guarantee of conformity. ToBePolo’s cancellation rules are the same for everyone.

That the team has checked their identity document. We also review every listing before it goes online. The tick is not a judgement of quality and does not say that an insurance policy is adequate: for quality there are the reviews. We do not check how the person teaching runs the craft or experience, nor the venue or the tools.

Only people who booked and paid on ToBePolo, within 25 days of the end of the craft or experience. The team checks it within 5 days: a low rating or criticism is not a reason not to publish it. The person who teaches can reply, but cannot edit or remove it.

There are four ways: the map on the Home page, the Catalogue, Search with its filters (place, date, in person or online, difficulty, risk, price and more) and AI Colombo, whom you can tell what you would like to do.

On the listing, in the “When would you like to come?” form, choose the day, the time and how many people you are, then tap “Book”. At checkout you review the summary and choose how to pay. The booking is confirmed when the person teaching confirms it.

Yes. To book you need a ToBePolo account, with true and up-to-date details. If you are not logged in, the checkout will ask you to.

When the person teaching accepts it. They have at most 6 hours from your request. If they accept, you receive the confirmation email. If they decline or do not reply within 6 hours, the request lapses and you pay nothing.

Up to 24 hours before the start. After that, bookings for that time close automatically, so the person teaching has time to prepare.

Yes, up to the free places for that time: in the form choose how many people you are with − and +. The price is per person, so 2 people at €35 make €70. The form only shows days with free places, and each time shows how many places are left.

Yes. Write to info@tobepolo.com with the subject “Richiesta pre-acquisto – name of the teacher – name of the experience”. We pass the question on to the person teaching and send you their reply. The chat with them opens with the booking.

Before booking you see the town or the area. The exact address appears in the booking details once the booking is confirmed, and we also send it to you by email.

The person teaching states the programme (Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, WhatsApp video or Skype) and the link. Only people who booked see the link, once the booking is confirmed: you find it in the booking details and in the email, and a reminder arrives the day before.

In “My account”, under “My bookings”. From the details of each booking you can write to your teacher in the chat, change the date or cancel.

Only to low-risk crafts and experiences, and only if a parent or a person with parental responsibility makes the booking, accepts the conditions of the listing and takes responsibility. Minors are not admitted at medium and high risk. The person teaching can set stricter age limits, stated on the listing.

By credit or debit card, with Apple Pay or Google Pay if your phone or browser has them, or with Klarna. Payments go through Stripe: ToBePolo does not store card numbers.

At checkout the amount is only authorised on your payment method: you are charged when the person teaching accepts the request, within 6 hours at most. If they decline or do not reply in time, we do not charge you anything. Until they accept, you can withdraw the request from the booking details, with “Cancel the request”.

Yes. The total in the summary, before you pay, is the amount you are charged: the price per person times the number of people, minus any discounts. ToBePolo’s service fee is paid by the person teaching and is not added to your total. The summary also shows the VAT, or states that it does not apply.

At checkout, in the discount code field. ToBePolo codes are worth up to 35% of the price; codes from whoever teaches up to 50%, and only on their own crafts and experiences. A fixed-amount code only applies if the total is high enough: if it is not, the checkout tells you from what amount it applies.

It is what you can choose if you cancel a booking more than 72 hours before the start. It is worth what you paid, lasts 12 months and can be used on all crafts and experiences, even in several goes. It arrives by email and you find it in “My account”, under “My discount codes”. To use it, enter the code at checkout in the discount code field.

Two different parties. The tax document for the price is issued by the person teaching, according to their tax regime. ToBePolo only documents its own service fee. If you need a document in your name or your company’s, save your invoicing details in “My account” or at checkout.

Do not repeat the payment straight away if the outcome is unclear. Look in “My bookings”: if the booking is there, it went through. If you see an amount on your account but no booking, write to info@tobepolo.com with your account email, the craft or experience and the date. Never send your card details.

Do not do it, and report it to us. Whatever you agree outside ToBePolo has no cancellation, date change or refund, and we cannot help you. Never send card details, passwords or codes in the chat.

Yes, up to 72 hours before the start. You choose between a voucher of the same value, to use on ToBePolo, and a date change, depending on your teacher’s availability. You do it from the booking details, in “My bookings”.

In the 72 hours before the start, the booking cannot be cancelled or refunded, except for force majeure or documented exceptional circumstances.

Force majeure: unforeseeable events beyond the control of those involved, such as natural disasters, health emergencies or orders from the authorities. Exceptional circumstances: serious events that can be documented, such as the death or serious illness of you, the person teaching or a close family member, or a serious accident in the 48 hours before.

Write to info@tobepolo.com and attach the documents. We assess the request and reply within 7 working days of receiving complete documentation. Depending on the case we may arrange a full or partial refund, a date change or another measure.

From the booking details, up to 72 hours before the start: choose another day and time of the same craft or experience, at least 72 hours from now. The payment remains valid and you pay nothing more. If there are no other dates, you can choose the voucher or write to us.

You are always entitled to a full refund of everything you paid, including ToBePolo’s service fee and any other amount linked to the booking.

Within 14 days of the cancellation, to the same means of payment you used, unless otherwise agreed.

No, for crafts and experiences with a set date and time: the law excludes the right of withdrawal for leisure services booked for a specific date (Italian Consumer Code, art. 59). ToBePolo’s cancellation rules still apply, as do the full refund if the person teaching cancels and your rights if the craft or experience does not take place as described.

No. Cancellations, date changes and modifications only count if they go through ToBePolo or our official channels. A private arrangement is not valid, unless we confirm it in writing.

If a medium- or high-risk listing is suspended because the teacher’s insurance policy has expired, we let you know by email. The booking stays valid if the new policy arrives more than 48 hours before the start. Otherwise we cancel it and give you back everything you paid.

Write to us straight away, from the platform or through the official channels: we inform the people who booked and refund them in full. Do not handle refunds or date changes yourself outside ToBePolo. Cancellations notified in the 72 hours before can lead to progressive measures, from a written warning to suspension of the account.

People with a VAT number, as ToBePolo Artisans (craftspeople, farms, studios, small businesses and other professionals), and people without one, as ToBePolo Hobbyists. You must be of age. As an Artisan you can offer crafts and experiences at every risk level; as a Hobbyist only at low risk.

From the Teach on ToBePolo page: create your account with your email or with Google, Facebook or Apple, choose the profile (professional or hobbyist) and sign the agreement straight away on the screen, with your tax code and address. Then write your first listing, with photos, price and times. When you press “Save and submit” we only ask for an identity document: the listing goes into review by itself and we check it before publishing it. We ask for your IBAN, date of birth and tax details at your first confirmed booking.

Nothing: there are no sign-up costs and no subscriptions. On each booking ToBePolo keeps a service fee of 20% of the price paid by the customer, plus VAT on the fee. Stripe’s payment fees are borne by you.

At sign-up, with the agreement: your tax code (your VAT number if you have one) and address. To publish: a valid identity document, which we ask for when you submit your first listing. At your first confirmed booking we ask for your IBAN, date of birth and, if you have a VAT number, your ATECO code and tax regime: we need them to pay you (Terms for professionals, art. 3). Some crafts and experiences also need permits or an insurance policy.

Your identity document when you submit your first listing with “Save and submit”: it is the only thing left, because you signed the agreement at sign-up. You can put it off for a few days, but without it the listing stays a draft and does not go into review. The IBAN later: we ask for it at your first confirmed booking, together with your date of birth and tax details, with a notice in Payouts and on the dashboard of your professional profile. You can enter them earlier if you wish. Until then your share stays on hold at ToBePolo and is released as soon as details and account are there (Terms for professionals, arts. 3 and 5).

Only the ToBePolo staff in charge of the check and Stripe, which is required by law to verify the account holder. Other users do not see it. We delete it within 30 days of the outcome of the check; Stripe keeps it according to its own privacy notice.

The membership agreement, online, which refers to the Terms for professionals accepted at sign-up. You sign it when you sign up, on the “Choose your profile” page: enter your tax code (or VAT number) and address, read the text, approve the clauses and sign on the screen with your finger or the mouse. By signing you also accept the Stripe Connected Account Agreement, needed to receive payments. At “Save and submit” we only ask for your identity document. You find the signed agreement in “My account”, under “Documents”.

When we have approved your profile and your identity document and published your first craft or experience. Until the document is approved, only you can see the profile. IBAN, date of birth and tax details are not needed to publish: we ask for them at your first confirmed booking, and until then your share stays on hold at ToBePolo (Terms for professionals, arts. 3 and 5). In the meantime your account already works as a customer.

As long as you teach occasionally. We monitor two thresholds in the calendar year: €5,000 in fees or 50 crafts and experiences held. When you reach the first one we let you know and, to continue, you need a VAT number. We may ask for it earlier if your teaching is no longer occasional.

The thresholds are our own precautionary limit: they do not say whether the law requires you to open a VAT number. That is for you to assess, with your adviser.

Yes, with 30 days’ notice, completing the crafts and experiences already booked.

From your professional profile, with the guided procedure, one question at a time, or with the classic view, all fields together. At the end you tap “Save and submit”. If your identity document is still missing, the listing stays a draft and the list “To publish you still need” opens: once the document is uploaded, it goes into review by itself. We reread every listing before publishing it and may ask you to correct it. If you get stuck, AI Colombo and the team help you.

You declare it, using the criteria of the Safety and Risk Policy: what counts are the tools, the sources of danger, the environment and the physical effort, not the name of the craft. If there are elements of more than one level, the highest applies. The classification is your declaration and you are responsible for it.

For medium- and high-risk crafts and experiences, in person or online: you need a third-party liability policy covering damage to people and property. In the procedure you upload the policy, as a PDF or a photo, with its expiry date; it covers all your medium- and high-risk listings. For high risk we may ask for further documents. Without a policy the listing does not go to review.

We let you know 30 days before, by email and in your professional profile. If there is no new policy from the day after the expiry, your medium- and high-risk listings are suspended; they come back online when you upload the new policy and the team approves it. People who have already booked are informed; if the policy does not arrive more than 48 hours before the start, the booking is cancelled and refunded.

Among other things: crafts and experiences that need health authorisations we cannot verify, tastings centred on alcohol, weapons and explosives, extreme sports with a high risk to life, sexual content or content unsuitable for minors, driving motor vehicles by participants. ToBePolo also does not sell objects, products or material kits.

No, it is optional, but it helps people choose. You can also upload a long video from your phone, in MP4 or MOV up to 100 MB: we keep 10 seconds and you choose where it starts. Without a video you need at least 3 photos in the gallery.

In the listing’s calendar, open the dates and times you want, even just one a month, and for each time decide how many places to offer. A minimum number of participants cannot be set for now.

Yes. Choose “Online” and give the programme (Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, WhatsApp video or Skype) and the link. Only people who booked see the link, once the booking is confirmed: it never appears on the public page.

You do. The price you enter is what the customer pays, VAT included if you charge it. ToBePolo’s fee is not added to the price: it is deducted from your share.

They remain yours. You give us a non-exclusive, free licence to use them on the platform and to promote it, including on social media, for the duration of the relationship and for 24 months afterwards. You must hold the rights to what you upload.

The price paid by the customer, minus the 20% service fee plus VAT, minus Stripe’s fees on that payment and any withholdings required by law. For example, on a €40 craft you receive about €29.39. In your professional profile you see each item separately.

Work it out with your own price in the calculator above.

48 hours after the end of the craft or experience your share moves to your balance; if there is an open cancellation request or dispute, the transfer waits until it is closed. From the balance the money goes to your IBAN by bank transfer.

You choose: once a month, after each sale or whenever you want with “Transfer”. Each month the first transfer is free; any others in the same month cost €0.10 plus 0.25% of the amount. The balance does not stay put for more than 90 days: amounts held for 80 days are paid out to you free of charge. Crediting times depend on Stripe and your bank.

We collect payments on your behalf with Stripe Connect: when you sign the agreement, at sign-up, we open a payment account in your name at Stripe, with the details you gave us, and Stripe verifies your identity. You add your IBAN, date of birth and tax details at your first confirmed booking, from your professional profile, under Payouts. Until account and details are there, the amounts stay on hold and arrive afterwards (Terms for professionals, art. 5).

The discount from a ToBePolo code comes out of our fee and does not touch your share. The discount from one of your codes comes entirely out of your share. Your codes can be worth at most 50% of the price.

You do, according to your tax regime: whoever teaches is solely responsible for the tax document for their fee. ToBePolo only documents its own service fee. If you are a hobbyist without a VAT number, you take care of any receipt and of the obligations for occasional work.

We take back the corresponding amount from your connected account, in proportion to the amount refunded or disputed. If a dispute is closed in your favour, the share is transferred to you again.

Every year, by 31 January, we report your identification details, IBAN, fees, commissions withheld and the number of crafts and experiences in each quarter, as required by the DAC7 rules, and send you a copy. If you do not give us the requested details after two reminders and 60 days, we may withhold your fees until they arrive, or close the profile.

Each craft or experience is low, medium or high risk. Low: no dangerous tools, flames or intense effort, such as crochet or drawing. Medium: sharp tools, moderate heat, light effort, such as pottery on the wheel or cooking with knives and hobs. High: open flames, high temperatures, power tools, climbing, experiences in water.

Risk is not difficulty: difficulty (easy, intermediate, hard) says how demanding it is.

The person teaching: they organise and run the craft or experience and are responsible for safety, the venue and the tools. For medium and high risk they must have a third-party liability policy. ToBePolo is responsible for the platform, the bookings, the payments and personal data.

The limitations of liability in the Terms do not apply to wilful misconduct or gross negligence, to death or personal injury, or to rights that the law does not allow to be excluded. If there is immediate danger, call 112.

For medium and high risk we check that the person teaching has uploaded the policy with its expiry date, before approving the listing. We do not certify that it is adequate, valid or large enough: the person teaching is responsible for that.

With “Report” on a listing, a profile, a review or in the chat, or by writing to info@tobepolo.com with the page and the reason. We examine every report within 24 hours. In the chat you can also block anyone who bothers you: they will no longer be able to write to you. If there is immediate danger, call 112 first.

So that agreements and payments stay on ToBePolo, where we can help you. Numbers, email addresses and links for paying outside are hidden before the message arrives. Contact details for the day of the experience are shared with “Share your contact details”: the other person only sees them in the 72 hours before, and the team does not see them. The team can read the chat to help you.

With your email and a password, or with Google, Facebook or Apple. From Sign up you create the account, from Log in you get in.

This happens if you opened ToBePolo inside another app, for example Google or Facebook. Finish logging in in the browser that opened: you see “Continue as…” with your name, tap “Continue” and you are in. If it does not work, open tobepolo.com directly in your phone’s browser and try again.

From Log in tap the link to recover your password and follow the email we send you. If the email does not arrive, check your spam folder or write to us from your account’s address.

Yourself, whenever you want: log in, open “My account” and choose “Delete account”. We delete your profile, contact details, photos and videos, messages and preferences. We only keep the tax documents for purchases for the time required by law (10 years) and the data needed for any disputes. Anyone who teaches and has future bookings cannot delete the account until they have taken place or been refunded.

The data you give us for your account, bookings and payments, your messages to AI Colombo and some technical browsing data. We use them for the contract, for legal obligations, for example tax ones, and in anonymous, aggregated form to improve the service. All the details are in the Privacy Notice.

Only what is needed for the booking. ToBePolo and the person teaching are independent data controllers, each for their own part, and the person teaching may use your data only to run the craft or experience booked.

Write to info@tobepolo.com: you can request access, rectification, erasure, restriction, objection and portability, and withdraw consent. We reply within 30 days. You can also lodge a complaint with the Italian Data Protection Authority (Garante).

The ones needed for the site to work, such as login, account and bookings, are always active. Content from external services, such as YouTube or Vimeo videos, only loads if you allow it. You can change your choice at any time from “Cookie preferences”, at the bottom of the pages.

It makes the area’s crafts bookable all year round. It starts with membership, which is free: the municipality signs a letter of intent, ToBePolo publishes its page in the “Municipalities and public bodies” section, highlights the experiences that start in the area and shares aggregate data. Then, if the municipality wishes, there are the twelve-month programmes and the à la carte services: amounts and the request form are in Services for municipalities.

No. Membership and patronage are free and do not commit the municipality to buy anything. To join, the municipality signs a letter of intent, with a resolution of its executive (Giunta): no cost and no obligation. The municipality’s page goes online in the “Municipalities and public bodies” section.

From Register a municipality or public body: create the ToBePolo account, fill in the body’s details and sign the letter of intent. Then we contact you to activate the page, which only goes online after activation. For the page you need the name, the logo, a description and the body’s official references. Signing up only concerns the free membership: programmes and services are requested separately, from Services for municipalities.

The 2027 programmes last twelve months: Start €4,900, Territory €10,000, Destination €20,000, excluding VAT. You choose one: each includes everything in the one before. The amounts are valid for contracts awarded by 31 March 2027. No programme renews by itself: for the following year the municipality decides again, with the reports in hand. What each one includes is in Services for municipalities.

Yes. The à la carte services can be added to a programme or requested on their own: Census of 10 crafts €1,500, Crafts Day €900, Tourism communication €390 a month, Training for municipal staff €350 per session, Experiences for residents from €500, Support with funding calls by quote. Amounts exclude VAT.

It is free and each municipality regulates it with its own rules. We ask for it for a crafts day or a specific initiative in the area, in advance, and use the coat of arms only within the limits of the patronage act.

By direct award (Legislative Decree 36/2023, art. 50(1)(b)): all programmes and services cost less than €140,000. Below €5,000, that is for the Start programme and the à la carte services, the award decision and the CIG are enough: there is no obligation to use the electronic marketplace. From €5,000, that is for the Territory and Destination programmes, it is still a direct award but goes through a certified e-procurement platform: MePA, Sintel or the one the municipality already uses (Law 296/2006, art. 1(450)).

The programme is current expenditure in the municipal budget: tourism, culture, trade and local businesses, youth or social policies, depending on the goal the municipality gives it. Where a tourist tax applies, the law also assigns its revenue to tourism measures (Legislative Decree 23/2011, art. 4): a programme of experiences and promotion can fall within them, at the municipality’s discretion. The 2027-2029 budget is written between October and December 2026: if the item goes in now, the municipality can award in January.

Not always. The bottom of each page says who looks after it. “Page curated by the municipality with ToBePolo” means the municipality has signed the letter of intent and follows the page. “Written by ToBePolo from public sources. This is not the body’s own page” means we wrote it ourselves to present the area: in that case the page does not indicate membership, patronage or official collaboration.

It is ToBePolo’s artificial intelligence assistant. It suggests crafts and experiences from the catalogue, in chat or by voice, guides you all the way to booking and helps the people who teach create their listings. You open it from “AI Colombo” in the menu.

Yes, and you can use it after accepting its terms of use with the box at sign-up. You can write to it or talk to it: by voice you take turns, you speak and then it answers. By voice each person has 3 minutes of conversation a day: after that Colombo carries on in writing.

What you write is processed by an external artificial intelligence provider, through OpenRouter, in the United States. When you speak, the audio is transcribed on our server, which deletes it right after: only the text leaves it. The answers are read aloud by a synthetic voice from OpenAI, which receives only the text of the answer, never your voice. Do not write or say personal data: the conversation is not used to build a profile of you. Some of these providers process data in the United States, with the safeguards required by the European data protection regulation.

Colombo searches the catalogue and must not make up prices or dates, but it is an artificial intelligence and can make mistakes. Before paying, always check the listing and the checkout summary. For rules, payments and refunds the Terms apply; for your own case write to the team.

No. Colombo prepares the booking, but confirming and paying is up to you, at checkout. It never asks for or accepts card numbers, IBANs or codes: do not dictate them. It cannot delete your account, request refunds or change your email and password: it tells you where to do it.

The iPhone and Android apps are coming soon. In the meantime, on your phone the site works like an app: at the bottom there is the bar with Home, Search, Catalogue and your profile.

Italian, English, French and German: you choose the language from the menu. Emails arrive in the language you booked in. In Search you can also filter crafts and experiences by the language they are held in.

Yes. In the menu, under “Theme”, choose Light, Dark or ToBePolo, the tricolour theme. Under “Sounds” you switch the site’s sounds on or off.

Write to info@tobepolo.com or call +39 351 397 5256. For communications with legal value there is the certified email (PEC) tobepolo@pec.it. You can also use the form on the Contact page.

Your account email, the craft or experience, the date and the order number if you have it, what happened and the message you see. Never send passwords, access codes or full card details.

Yes. In the AI Colombo chat ask to talk to the team: the conversation moves to “Talk to the team”. Or write to us at info@tobepolo.com.

Write to info@tobepolo.com. We give you a first reply within 7 working days and, where possible, a final answer within 30 working days. You can still use the ADR bodies and the European Commission’s tools for consumer disputes. For ToBePolo Artisans and Hobbyists, complaints are handled within 15 working days.