Freelancer.com

Freelancer.com

Please review carefully the terms and conditions set forth below before using the Freelancer.com web site. The terms "You", "Your", "User", or "Users" refer to anyone accessing our services or web site for any reason. The terms "We", "Us", or "Our" refer to Freelancer.com (or Freelancer.com). The Freelancer.com web site is offered to you conditioned on your acceptance of the terms, conditions, restrictions and notices contained herein. Freelancer.com may amend or modify these terms and conditions without notice, effective immediately, by updating this posting. Your use of the Freelancer.com web site constitutes your agreement to all such terms, conditions, restrictions and notices. Note: For purposes of this agreement, Users are classified as Service Buyers or Service Providers, or Hirers or Freelancers, respectively or jointly as the "Parties" and individually as a "Party". These terms and conditions constitute the entire agreement between you and Freelancer.com as to its subject matter. If you do not agree to any of these terms and conditions you should immediately cease to use Freelancer.com's website.

ELIGIBILITY FOR REQUIREMENTS

Freelancer.com shall have absolute discretion as to whether or not it accepts a particular applicant or site for participation in the service. Freelancer.com's web site is available only to individuals or entities who can form legally binding contracts under applicable law. The services of this web site are not available to minors. If Users do not qualify, they cannot legally use any of Freelancer.com's services including, but not limited to, those that require the User's ability to form legally binding contracts.

REMOVAL FROM NETWORK

Freelancer.com reserves the right to terminate the participation of any member or site without reason but expressly including any member site that Freelancer.com judges to be in violation of the Terms and Conditions.

Members in violation of Freelancer.com's Terms and Conditions will be immediately deactivated. Freelancer.com may deactivate members with no prior notification. Members found in violation of the Terms and Conditions will not receive any credit or payment from Freelancer.com. Members that are terminated by Freelancer.com on any basis other than violation of these Terms and Conditions will be entitled to receive any payment due from Freelancer.com.

DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES

Freelancer.com offers a wide range of tools, content, products, services, benefits, and other resources on its Freelancer.com web site of particular interest to freelancers and to enable freelancers to efficiently and cost effectively manage their careers, professions, and businesses. These services are for use only under a non-exclusive, non-transferable, and non-assignable license under these terms and conditions of use. You do not have the right to copy, sell, or otherwise exploit for any commercial purpose the services or content (in whole or in part), access to this service or use of this service.

Some of the services offered at Freelancer.com may include feedback to questions by Users of this service and/or articles with original content and opinions. Use of this content or links to this content is at the User's own risk. No warranty is made that the information is accurate or reliable and Freelancer.com and its related entities, directors, officers and agents disclaim all liability and responsibility for any direct or indirect loss or damage you may suffer relying on anything contained in or omitted from this content.

User understands and agrees to the following:
Some of the content provided at Freelancer.com may relate to various subjects such as information pertaining to legal matters, financial matters, health matters, and other matters for which the content of is provided in an advisory nature. This information is provided solely for informational and general non-advisory purposes. If desired, Users should use their own efforts to confirm such information with a professional(s) in the pertinent field(s). All of the information that Freelancer.com provides should not be considered professional, medical, legal, technical, or any other discipline-specific advice.

Freelancer.com is a dynamic time-sensitive web site. As such, the information on Freelancer.com will be changed frequently. It is possible that some information could be considered offensive, harmful, or inaccurate, and in some cases may be mislabeled or deceptively labeled accidentally by Freelancer.com or accidentally or purposefully by a third-party, regardless of whether such third parties are with or without a legitimate business purpose.

Freelancer.com provides unmonitored access to third-party content. Freelancer.com is only acting as a venue and/or portal, and has no liability based on, or related to, the third-party content on this Site, whether arising under the laws of copyright or other intellectual property, defamation, libel, privacy, obscenity, or any other legal discipline. This web site may contain links to third-party web sites. Freelancer.com does not control nor always review the web sites to which we link from Freelancer.com. Freelancer.com, therefore, cannot endorse the content, products, services, practices, policies, or performance of the web sites we link to from Freelancer.com, and Users should not treat any link as such an endorsement or acceptance of veracity or value.

Freelancer.com does not have the resources to nor does it undertake any obligation to, control, research, verify, validate, or approve the content that is received or viewed on its web site. Freelancer.com expect that the User will undertake necessary activities and practices and will use caution and common sense when using Freelancer.com for User's account.

REFERRAL COMMISSIONS

The referral commission paid out will be the one listed on the Referrals page. You may not refer yourself, nor sign up for multiple accounts to collect referral fees. You may also not partner with any other Freelancer.com user to share/transfer the commission made from your own account, or else both parties will be immediately suspended from the service without payment. Freelancer.com reserves the right to delay or cancel sending affiliate earnings if it believes the referred User will not pay the fees they were charged, since affiliate commissions are based on those fees.

MILESTONE PAYMENTS

Freelancer.com is not an escrow service. Freelancer.com does have, however, a special, non-compulsory feature, which allows controlled payments to be made with a project to a Freelancer. At your request, Freelancer.com will accept an advance payment from a Hirer for a project. We will hold such funds ("Milestone Payments") until the Hirer and the Freelancer agree that the funds should be released to the Freelancer or until the Hirer and the Freelancer have concluded the process of the Dispute Resolution Services (as defined below) Once a Hirer instructs Freelancer.com to pay a Freelancer that performed a service for him/her, the Hirer acknowledges that the Freelancer has completed the service fully and satisfactory. Freelancer.com will then disburse the Milestone Payment to the Freelancer. If a Hirer does not approve of the Freelancers work product, the Parties agree to be bound by the terms of Dispute Resolution Services below.

CONTRACTUAL RELATIONSHIP

Freelancer.com is owned by Ignition Networks Pty Limited, trading as Freelancer.com (ACN 134 845 748), under license from Plendo Sweden AB, which is a 100% owned subsidiary of Ignition. Ignition Networks Pty Limited has exclusive licence and management agreements in place with Plendo Sweden AB. Consequently, your account, funds held and payments with Freelancer.com are processed and managed by Ignition Networks Pty. Limited.

PAYMENTS

Freelancer.com will typically print and mail cheques if the member requests it AND their account balance is equal to or greater than $30. This also applies to payments made through the PayPal service. All amounts are stated in and all payments will be made in US funds. Freelancer.com reserves the right to suspend a withdrawal if the source of the funds is suspected to be fraudulent. Any funds received from an account having made a fraudulent deposit (e.g. stolen creditcard) will be reversed immediately. If in a fraudulent payment situation a withdrawal has already been processed, you will be expected to return the funds to your Freelancer.com account or face account termination and any other remedies available to Freelancer.com to recover its funds.
As previously stated, any member site that Freelancer.com removes from the service due to violation of the Terms and Conditions will receive no credit or payment.

Freelancer.com requires you to make all payments to Freelancer.com and to make payments to and accept payments from other Users in the purchase and sale of Services for Freelancer.com Projects directly through the mechanisms available on the Freelancer.com site. You understand and agree that Freelancer.com will not hold funds (including Milestone Payments) delivered to Freelancer.com from Users for the purchase and sale of Services in a separate account, but may commingle and deposit such funds with other funds to be paid to other Users and with funds of Freelancer.com in any account, at any institution, or in any other manner Freelancer.com may decide in its sole discretion from time to time. In addition, you understand that such commingled funds could be used to pay other Users and by Freelancer.com for general corporate purposes or otherwise, provided that Freelancer.com will remain contractually obligated to make payment to you, as a Freelancer or Hirer, for any purchases and sales of Services provided by you through Freelancer.com. To the extent Freelancer.com is obligated to make payment to you, you will be an unsecured creditor of Freelancer.com. Any interest earned on funds held by Freelancer.com will belong to Freelancer.com. Users will not be paid interest on funds held by Freelancer.com, and Freelancer.com will not be liable for any lost interest on such funds.

You acknowledge that: (1) Freelancer.com is not a bank or other licensed financial institution; (2) the amounts shown as on deposit, including Milestone Payments, in a User account are not segregated into a separate account but represent unsecured obligations of Freelancer.com to the User with respect to the purchase and sale of Services through Freelancer.com; (3) Freelancer.com is not acting as a trustee or fiduciary with respect to such funds or payments, but is acting only as an agent and (4) AMOUNTS TRANSFERRED THROUGH OR STORED IN THE PAYMENT SERVICE ARE NOT INSURED OR GUARANTEED DEPOSITS. Your account will not constitute an escrow. By initiating and sending payments through Freelancer.com, you appoint Freelancer.com as your agent to obtain the funds and hold and to transfer such funds to the Freelancer or Hirer for Services, subject to these terms and conditions.

TAXES

You are responsible for paying any taxes, including any goods and services or value added taxes, which may be applicable depending on the jurisdiction of the services provided by Freelancer.com. These taxes will be added to fees billed to you, if applicable.

Freelancer.com offers the Dispute Resolution Services only to those registered users that have elected to use the Milestone Payment feature. You agree and acknowledge that (i) Freelancer.com is not providing legal services,(ii) Freelancer.com will not advise you regarding any legal matters and (iii) if you desire to have legal counsel, you will seek independent legal counsel licensed to practice law in your jurisdiction and not rely on Freelancer.com for any such counsel. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Freelancer.com and any of our affiliates against any damages or liability you may suffer as a result of using the Milestone Payments and/or Dispute Resolution Services.

In the event of any dispute between a Hirer and a Freelancer regarding return/release of Milestone Payments, either Hirer or Freelancer may request Dispute Resolution Services through Freelancer.com. We will then notify both Hirer and Freelancer that the matter will be addressed through the Dispute Resolution Services.

It is agreed by You that You will make every endeavor at fair play and post reasonable and fair demands/offers.

Our dispute resolution services are applied to the Milestone Payments with the amount equal to or more than $30 only.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCESS

Round 1 - Automated Resolution
Freelancer.com's automated resolution process allows the Parties to settle disputes through the Freelancer.com's Web Site software. The software compares the Parties' offers and demands on a round-by-round basis.

Each Party will have 3 opportunities to settle the dispute. One offer/demand ("Bid") is entered for each round and each Party. A Party initiates the process by submitting a Bid to pay/return the opponent party 100%, 75%, 50% or 25% of the money of the Milestone Payment. The responding Party is instantly notified through the Web Site and then has 7 days to respond with his/her Bid. If no Bid is submitted within 7 days, the opponent Party's Bid is implemented. If a responding Bid is submitted, the software compares the response to the opponent Party's Bid. When the responding Bid is equal to the opponent Party's Bid, the dispute is settled.

If no Bids match after 3 rounds the software will suggest a solution ("Auto-offer") based on the Parties Bids. The Auto-offer is presented to both parties. The Parties then have 7 days to either accept or reject the Auto-offer. If any Party rejects the Auto-offer the Dispute Resolution Process proceeds to round 2. In case if one of the parties fails to respond to the Auto Offer, this fact will mean that this party agrees with the Auto Offer.

Round 2 - Submit Evidence and Arbitration Fee is Estimated
The Parties have 7 days to submit/upload all the material ("Evidences") the Parties want Freelancer.com to consider if the dispute has to be resolved through Arbitration. Within 7 days from the time when all Evidences have to be submitted both Parties will be able to review the Evidences submitted/uploaded and also review Freelancer.com estimated Arbitration Fee (Freelancer.com charge 2% or USD 10, whichever is greater, from the Milestone Payment for estimating the Arbitration Fee). Within 3 days each Party must either (i) accept one of the opponents previously submitted Bids or (ii) agree to proceed to Arbitration (see Round 3 below). If a Party fails to react within 3 days the dispute is decided in the opponents favor and the latest Bid submitted by that Party is implemented. If both Parties want to continue each Party must deposit 50% of the estimated Arbitration Fee in advance (min. Arbitration fee is USD 10). Freelancer.com may, at its own discretion, decide to offer a credit to a Party. If a Party fails to deposit its part of the Arbitration Fee within 7 days (or get a credit by Freelancer.com) the dispute is decided in the opponents Party's favor. If both Parties deposit their part of the Arbitration Fee the Dispute Resolution Process proceeds to Arbitration (round 3). If both parties fail to deposit fees, auto offer is implemented

Round 3 - Arbitration
Freelancer.com shall serve as the arbitrator in a dispute between the Parties that have elected to use the Milestone Payment feature and requested that a dispute shall be addressed through the Dispute Resolution Services. You acknowledge and agree that Freelancer.com will only consider the Evidences submitted within the stipulated timeframe. Freelancer.com shall render its decision within 14 days after the submission of a dispute to arbitration. During this time, the Parties are encouraged to continue to negotiate an amicable settlement. In the event that the Parties reach a settlement, the Party which initiated the Dispute Resolution Services shall notify Freelancer.com of such settlement, and Freelancer.com shall terminate the Dispute Resolution Services. You agree that the decision of Freelancer.com, acting as an arbitrator during our rendering of the Dispute Resolution Services, shall be final and binding. Accordingly, after we have rendered a decision, we will disburse the Milestone Payment in accordance with our decision.

Freelancer.com offers the Dispute Resolution Services only to those registered users that have elected to use the Milestone Payment feature. Any other dispute regarding arrangements between Freelancers and Hirers remain solely between Hirers and Freelancers. Freelancer.com is not involved in any transactions between You and any other users of Freelancer.com. You acknowledge and agree that Freelancer.com will not be a party to any such dispute or be obligated to take any action or refrain from taking any action toward resolving any such dispute. If you have a dispute with any other users of the Site, you hereby release Freelancer.com from any and all claims, demands, and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, related to such a dispute.

Any disputes regarding arrangements between Freelancers and Hirers remain solely between Hirers and Freelancers. We are not involved in any transactions between you and any other users of Freelancer.com. You acknowledge and agree that Freelancer.com will not be a party to any such dispute or be obligated to take any action or refrain from taking any action toward resolving any such dispute. If you have a dispute with any other users of the Site, you hereby release Freelancer.com from any and all claims, demands, and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, related to such a dispute.

E-MAIL ADDRESSES

Members agree not to post their e-mail address on the site, except in the "e-mail" field of the signup form, or when asked by Freelancer.com at any other time. There should be no need to give anyone your e-mail address. It is automatically provided if you choose a Service Provider (or you are the Service Provider chosen for) a project, and before that time you can use the message board to communicate. This does not only apply to e-mail addresses, but to all methods of communication, including phone, ICQ, AIM, MSN Messenger, etc... See "Avoiding Commissions" below for the reason.

PROVIDING CONTACT INFORMATION

You are prohibited from making direct contact with another member, unless it's for a project you (a Service Provider) have been picked for, or you (a Service Buyer) have picked a Service Provider for. This includes giving out your e-mail address, ICQ number, phone number, or any other method of contact outside of this site. Freelancer.com provides you with message boards, which should be sufficient for pre-project planning. The only exception to this is on "Featured" projects. If a project has the "Featured" graphic on it, that means the Service Buyer has paid a flat fee in advance, and you ARE allowed to provide contact information in the message board.

AVOIDING COMMISSIONS

You are strictly prohibited from attempting to negotiate the fee for a project with another member directly (outside of Freelancer.com) after that project has been created/opened and before that project has been closed (i.e. during an ongoing project). This also applies to any project that was closed without a Service Provider being chosen, and then contacting them about the project anyway. Both parties are responsible for notifying Freelancer.com if the payment amount increases (above the bid amount) after the project is closed. Receiving a larger amount than the original project bid, without notifying Freelancer.com, will be considered an attempt to avoid the commissions. When a Service Provider requests a withdrawal, we always review all payments received for each project to verify that they match the bid. If at the time of a withdrawal request the Service Provider has failed to notify Freelancer.com staff of a payment received above the amount of his bid (a total payment above US$100), Freelancer.com reserves the right to deduct double the fee for the amount that should have been reported. We believe our commissions are very fair and justified for the service we provide, therefore we will absolutely not tolerate any of this activity on Freelancer.com.

COPYRIGHTS

No copyrighted material can be posted on Freelancer.com. This includes scripts which are sold by the author. Only posting sections, or excerpts of these scripts, as examples, will be permitted. A "section" or "excerpt" being no more than 10% of the script's contents. This is meant to protect the author's intellectual property rights.

USER CONTENT

User is solely responsible for content or any other information User provides to Freelancer.com. User understands and agrees to the following:
Freelancer.com is only acting as a venue for the online distribution and publication of User content. However, no warranties as to the actual distribution or publication of User content are made or implied. Freelancer.com has the right (but no obligation) to take any action deemed appropriate with respect to User content if it is believed that such content may create liability for Freelancer.com, harm its business operation or reputation, or cause Freelancer.com to lose the services of its suppliers.

User represents and warrants that User's content: (a) will not infringe upon or misappropriate any copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, or other intellectual property right or proprietary right or right of publicity or privacy; (b) will not violate any law or regulation; (c) will not be defamatory or trade libelous; (d) will not be obscene or contain child pornography; (e) will not include incomplete, false or inaccurate information about User or any other individual; and (f) will not contain any viruses or other computer programming routines that are intended to damage, detrimentally interfere with, surreptitiously intercept or expropriate any system, data or personal information.

By submitting User content to Freelancer.com (including, but not limited to creating your Account; posting a resume, posting a profile, posting a portfolio, posting a Project; sending messages through or to Freelancer.com). You hereby grant to Freelancer.com a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free license to use, copy, modify, display, and perform User content, under all User intellectual property and proprietary rights worldwide. For the avoidance of doubt, providing links to content hosted on servers other than that of Freelancer.com (such as a portfolio of sample works hosted on Your own web site) will not be considered "submitting" such content for purposes of this license grant.

User Restrictions

ADVERTISING

Users are prohibited from advertising their website on Freelancer.com. Any URL posted in a bid, project description, or the message board, must relate to a project on Freelancer.com. An example of a permissible URL: User's portfolio or resume' page.

BIDDING

Service Providers can only place bids that equal the total amount of money they are requesting for the project. You cannot post an hourly bid or any other abnormal type of bid. This also applies to Service Buyers. Service Buyers cannot create projects that directly or indirectly require Service Providers to place hourly or other abnormal bids. The only exception, for both Service Buyers and Service Providers, is when the project is featured.

HIRER AGREES THAT:

• Hirer will not redistribute any of the content on Freelancer.com.
• Hirer will not use Hirer's Account to post false or misleading project descriptions. Hirer will not post project descriptions that, in the judgement and discretion of Freelancer.com, are inappropriate to Freelancer.com's audience, viewers, or visitors in the judgment and discretion of Freelancer.com.
• Hirer agree to pay featured project fee if project posted should have been posted as featured.
• Hirer will not falsify Hirer's own or any other identity.
• Hirer will comply with all Freelancer.com's policies.

FREELANCER AGREES THAT:

• Freelancers are strictly forbidden to redistribute any of the content (information) on Freelancer.com, including but not necessary limited to private messages, documents, support tickets.
• Freelancer will not falsify Freelancer's own or any other identity.
• Freelancer will comply with all Freelancer.com policies.

GENERAL RESTRICTIONS

• Users (Hirers and Freelancers) will not use any automated collection mechanism or any manual process to monitor or copy the web pages comprising the Freelancer.com web site or the content contained therein without the prior written permission of Freelancer.com.
• Users (Hirers and Freelancers) will not distribute unsolicited commercial messages ("spam") through User's account.
• Users (Hirers and Freelancers) will not contact employers or freelancers through our site or through information gained from our site with the intent of subverting them from using our services.
• Users (Hirers and Freelancers) will not engage in personal attacks, negative or other unfair criticism or other forms of discourteous and unprofessional online conduct or practices.
• Users (Hirers and Freelancers) will not create multiple user accounts to avoid fees, suspension or bad ratings on Freelancer.com.

REGISTRATION AND PROCESSING OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA

Your personal information will be processed by Freelancer.com in order to fulfil the agreement with You, perform delivery of products etc. Furthermore, we will process your personal information for marketing of campaigns, offers, new products or services. Your personal information may also be transferred between Freelancer.com and any associated entity within the Freelancer.com organisation. At such transfer, personal data may be transferred outside the EEC-area. By entering into this agreement, You hereby approve such processing of your personal information as set forth above, including processing of your personal identification number, and hereby give such consent as required by the Swedish Personal Data Protection Act (Sw. personuppgiftslagen 1998:204). The consent hereby given can in whole or in part be recalled by giving written notice to us. Should you choose to recall your consent, and such recall should make our due performance of the agreement or other obligations difficult, we reserve the right to immediately terminate the agreement. Should you require further information regarding our processing of your personal information, please contact us at the address set forth below.
Freelancer.com discloses sensitive personal information only if required to comply with legal obligations or with your consent.

TRADEMARKS

Freelancer.com and EUFreelance are trademarks of Ignition Networks Pty Limited (ACN 134 845 748).

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT POSSIBLE UNDER THE RELEVANT LAWS GETAFREELANCER.COM EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL LIABILITIES FOR ANY LOSS, CLAIM, DAMAGE OR PENALTY A USER SUFFERS DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OF THE GETAFREELANCER.COM WEBSITE. GETAFREELANCER.COM MAKES NO GUARANTEE, INDEMNITY OR WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED IN RESPECT OF THE USE OF THE GETAFREELANCER.COM WEBSITE.

APPLICABLE LAW

Any dispute arising out of or in connection with these User Terms shall be governed by the laws of the State of New South Wales, Australia. You and Freelancer.com irrevocably submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of New South Wales, Australia. If any of the provisions of these terms and conditions of service are held to be invalid or unenforceable, such provision may be removed and the remaining provisions will be enforced.