Company & Conditions
User Agreement for freelancecoders.co.uk
This is an important document which you must consider carefully when
choosing whether to use the freelance-coders.co.uk website at any time.
This Agreement was last modified on 27th February 2011.
THE FOLLOWING DESCRIBES THE TERMS ON WHICH FREELANCER.COM OFFERS YOU ACCESS TO OUR SERVICES.
Acceptance of User Agreement
This user agreement ("User Agreement" or "Agreement") is a contract between you and freelance-coders if you use freelance-coders.co.uk services or view/use any of it's scripts hints or tips, however anything provided by a third party individual or company is not ocvered in this agreement and you agree to their stated User Agreement if any.
This user agreement is a contract between you and freelance-coders.co.uk. The Site is offered to you conditional on your acceptance of the User Agreement. Please review the terms and conditions set out below before using the Site.
Your continued use of the Site after such time will signify your acceptance of this User Agreement.
This User Agreement and all policies and terms incorporated by reference constitute the entire agreement between you and freelance-coders.co.uk as to its subject matter.
If you do not agree to any of these terms and conditions you should immediately cease to use freelance-coders.co.uk. Please note that we may close, suspend, or limit your access to your freelance-coders.co.uk account ("Account") or the Services provided by us on the Site ("Services"), and/or limit access to your funds if you carry out activities which are in contravention of this User Agreement and its associated policies incorporated by reference.
Amendment of User Agreement
freelance-coders.co.uk may amend or modify this User Agreement in whole or in part from time to time, without notice, by posting an amended User Agreement on the Site or any linked information. Such updated version of the User Agreement will be effective at the time we post it.
1. ELIGIBILITY
freelance-coders.co.uk offers its Services to its Users. We shall have absolute discretion as to whether or not we accept a particular applicant or site for participation in the service. The Site is available only to individuals or corporate entities who can form legally binding contracts under applicable law. Without limiting the foregoing, this Site are not available to persons under 18 years of age. If Users do not qualify, they cannot use any of freelance-coders.co.uk's Services including, but not limited to, those that require the User's ability to form legally binding contracts. Each User is responsible for what occurs on their Account and must report any unauthorised use of their Account to us.
2. USERS
The terms "You", "Your", "User", or "Users" refer to anyone accessing our Services or Site for any reason.
freelance-coders.co.uk provides a venue to introduce Users who wish to provide professional services ("Freelancers") and Users who seek such professional services ("Hirers")(respectively or jointly as the "Parties" and individually as a "Party"). The Site enables Users to identify each other and work together online to complete, invoice and pay for projects.
3. LEGAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YOU AND THIS SITE
3.1 Termination
freelance-coders.co.uk reserves the right to terminate the participation of any User without reason but expressly including any User that freelance-coders.co.uk judges to be in violation of the User Agreement. Without limiting the foregoing, freelance-coders.co.uk may terminate the participation of a User if we think that they are creating problems, legal liabilities (actual or potential), infringing someone else.s intellectual property rights, engaging in fraudulent, immoral or illegal activities, or for other similar reasons.
3.2 Relationship between Users
The only parties to a project are the Freelancer and the Hirer. Upon the Hirer awarding a project to a Freelancer and the Freelancer's acceptance of a project on the Site, the Hirer agrees to purchase, and the Freelancer agrees to deliver the Provider Services in accordance with the following agreements: (1) the User Agreement; and (2) the User Services Agreement between the Hirer and Freelancer available on the Site, as amended from time to time; (3) any other contractual provisions accepted by both the Freelancer and Hirer uploaded to the Site, to the extent not inconsistent with the User Agreement; and (4) the project terms as awarded and accepted on the Site, to the extent not inconsistent with the User Agreement.
You agree not to enter into any contractual provisions in conflict with the User Agreement. Any provision of a member contract in conflict with the User Agreement is void.
3.3 User Responsibilities
The responsibilities of the Freelancer and Hirer are set out in the Services Agreement between Freelancer and Hirer.
When you enter into a transaction you create a legally binding contract with another User, unless the transaction is prohibited by law or by this User Agreement.
You are responsible for ensuring that you comply with your obligations to other Users. If you do not, you may become liable to that User(s). You must ensure that you are aware of any domestic laws (including common law) international laws, statutes, ordinances and regulations relevant to you as a Hirer or Freelancer, or in any other uses you make of the Site.
If another user breaches any obligation to you are solely responsible for enforcing any rights that you may have. For the avoidance of doubt, freelance-coders.co.uk has no responsibility for enforcing any User rights.
3.4 No Insurance
freelance-coders.co.uk does not offer any form of insurance or other Hirer or Freelancer protection which will assist you, because our Site merely provides the online venue for Users to offer, sell, and buy professional services and we are not otherwise involved in the transactions and interactions between Hirers and Freelancers. However, some forms of payment permitted on the Site, such as PayPal or credit card, may offer limited buyer or seller protection or chargeback services and you should familiarise yourself with these before proceeding with a transaction of any kind through the Site.
Because user identification on the Internet is difficult, we cannot and does not confirm each User's purported identity.
3.5 Independent Contractors
Each User acknowledges and agrees that the relationship between Users is that of independent contractors. Nothing in this User Agreement creates a partnership, joint venture, agency or employment relationship between: (1) Users; or (2) between us and any User.
3.6 Services offered by freelance-coders.co.uk
freelance-coders.co.uk offers a wide range of tools, content, products, services, benefits, and other resources on the 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 the Site 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 freelance-coders.co.uk 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.
3.7 Terms of use
The User understands and agrees to the following terms:
Our Site merely acts as an online venue to allow Users to offer and buy professional services. You acknowledge and agree that freelance-coders.co.uk is not involved in the actual transaction between the Freelancers and Hirers. As a result, freelance-coders.co.uk has no control over the quality or legality of the professional services provided by Users on our Site, or the ability of Freelancers to provide the services or the Hirers to pay for the services. We do not guarantee that a User will actually complete a transaction or act lawfully in using the Site.
Some of the content provided at the Site 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 freelance-coders.co.uk provides should not be considered professional, medical, legal, technical, or any other discipline-specific advice.
The Site is a dynamic time-sensitive web site. As such, the information on the Site will be changed frequently. It is possible that some information could be considered offensive, harmful, or inaccurate, and in some cases may be mislabelled or deceptively labelled accidentally by freelance-coders.co.uk or accidentally or purposefully by a third-party, regardless of whether such third parties are with or without a legitimate business purpose.
freelance-coders.co.uk provides unmonitored access to third-party content. freelance-coders.co.uk 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. freelance-coders.co.uk does not control nor always review the web sites to which we link from the Site. freelance-coders.co.uk, therefore, cannot endorse the content, products, services, practices, policies, or performance of the web sites we link to from the Site, and Users should not treat any link as such an endorsement or acceptance of veracity or value.
freelance-coders.co.uk 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. freelance-coders.co.uk expect that the User will undertake necessary activities and practices and will use caution and common sense when using freelance-coders.co.uk for User's Account.
3.8 Promotion
You agree and acknowledge that unless explicitly requested, freelance-coders.co.uk may display your company name, logo and public description of your projects and profile as part of the freelance-coders.co.uk website(s) and / or other freelance-coders.co.uk marketing material.
4. FEES
All fees are set forth in the summary of freelance-coders.co.uk's fees and charges which can be found on the Site. All fees will be assessed in British Pounds. Your Account and all transactions are made and displayed in Pounds unless otherwise specified.
freelance-coders.co.uk earns fees for creating, hosting, maintaining, and providing the Site, and for all Services delivered by freelance-coders.co.uk that are accessible through the Site and to cover expenses and fees freelance-coders.co.uk incurs to banks, credit card companies, PayPal, and payment processors. After deducting such amounts, freelance-coders.co.uk transfers the remaining payment amount to the Freelancer.
freelance-coders.co.uk charges fees in relation to the posting of a project; selecting a Freelancer; posting a featured project; hiding a project from search engines; hiding bids from other Users; posting a full time project; project commission fees; and other miscellaneous fees that are described on the Site.
Users can choose various membership programs to subscribe to different levels ofparticipation on the Site which will incur additional fees.
5. AFFILIATE PROGRAM
5.1 General
The Freelancer Affiliate Program ("Affiliate Program") is a program that allows you to receive a payment from Freelancer ("Bonus") into your Account for referring a new user ("Referred User") to Freelancer. To participate in the Affiliate Program, you must comply with all of these requirements, and have an Account that is in good standing.
5.2 Requirements for Referred Users
You may not refer yourself for the Affiliate Program or a user having the same IP address as yourself. The Referred User must be an individual (or business) with whom you have a pre-existing relationship. You may not obtain names for referrals from group email addresses, third party bulk mailing lists, customer lists, or other similar sources. You may not send unsolicited e-mails ("Spam"). If you send Spam in order to recruit Referred Users, Freelancer may immediately and permanently close your Account, without paying out any accrued Bonus.
5.3 Bonus Amount
The amount of the Bonus is based on the Referred User's net project fees ("Project Fees"), defined as the total project fees less any chargebacks, refunds, and reversals. The amount of the Bonus will be determined by Freelancer and equal to 90% percentage of Project Fees for referrals through affiliate links; or 20% through referrals via the "Invite Friends" module.
5.4 Payout Period
You are eligible to receive Bonus payouts for the first 3 months of the Referred User's Account ownership.
5.5 Requirements
To be eligible for a Bonus, the Referred User must: (1) sign up for an Account through either the supplied affiliate links or invitations through the "Invite Friends" module; (2) become a User; and (3) not already have an Account at the time of the referral (or previously).
5.6 Discontinuance or modification of Program
Freelancer may discontinue or modify the Affiliate Program at any time by providing you with seven days. notice. In the event that the Affiliate Program is discontinued, you will receive the Bonus for all of your Referred Users that have satisfied all of the requirements in this section prior to the discontinuation date of the Affiliate Program.
5.7 Non-compliance
Failure to comply with these terms may result in your Account and participation in the Affiliate Program being terminated.
6. MILESTONE PAYMENTS
6.1 Not an escrow service
freelance-coders.co.uk does not operate an escrow service. freelance-coders.co.uk does have, however, a special, non-compulsory feature, which allows controlled payments to be made with respect to a project to a Freelancer. At your request, freelance-coders.co.uk 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 freelance-coders.co.uk to pay a Freelancer that performed a service for him/her, the Hirer acknowledges that the Freelancer has completed the service fully and satisfactory.
freelance-coders.co.uk will then disburse the Milestone Payment to the Freelancer. If a Hirer does not approve of the Freelancer's work product, the Parties agree to be bound by the terms of the Dispute Resolution Services set out below.
6.2 Inactive Users
In the event that the Hirer has not provided any instruction to freelance-coders.co.uk with respect to a Milestone Payment within 1 year after the day that the Milestone Payment was made, and has not logged in during that time period, such Milestone Payment will be refunded to the User account of the person who initially paid it.
7. ACCOUNTS
7.1 Opening Account
To become a User and access the Site and Services you must register for an "Account.. You agree to provide true, accurate and complete information as prompted by the registration form and all forms you access on the Site, and to update this information to maintain its truthfulness, accuracy and completeness.
7.2 Accounts
You agree that you will not receive interest or other earnings on the funds that freelance-coders.co.uk handles as your contractor. freelance-coders.co.uk may receive interest on those funds. freelance-coders.co.uk will not be liable for any lost interest on such funds.
All amounts are stated in and all payments will be made in US funds. freelance-coders.co.uk 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 credit card) 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 freelance-coders.co.uk account or face account termination and any other remedies available to freelance-coders.co.uk to recover the funds.
Any User that freelance-coders.co.uk removes from the service due to violation of the User Agreement will receive no credit or payment and will become liable for certain fees described in this User Agreement.
freelance-coders.co.uk requires you to make all payments to freelance-coders.co.uk and to make payments to and accept payments from other Users in the purchase and sale of Services for freelance-coders.co.uk projects directly through the mechanisms available on the Site. You understand and agree that freelance-coders.co.uk will not hold funds (including Milestone Payments) delivered to freelance-coders.co.uk 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 freelance-coders.co.uk in any account, at any institution, or in any other manner freelance-coders.co.uk 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 freelance-coders.co.uk for general corporate purposes or otherwise, provided that freelance-coders.co.uk 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 freelance-coders.co.uk. To the extent freelance-coders.co.uk is obligated to make payment to you, you will be an unsecured creditor of freelance-coders.co.uk.
7.3 Acknowledgement
You acknowledge that: (1) freelance-coders.co.uk is not a bank or other licensed financial institution and does not provide banking services; (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 freelance-coders.co.uk to the User with respect to the purchase and sale of Services through freelance-coders.co.uk; (3) freelance-coders.co.uk 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 freelance-coders.co.uk, you appoint freelance-coders.co.uk 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.
7.4 Inactive Accounts
User Accounts that have been inactive for more than 365 days ("Inactive Accounts") will incur a dormant account fee of US$10 per month until either the Account is terminated or reactivated.
freelance-coders.co.uk reserves the right to cancel Inactive Accounts with a nil or negative balance.
7.5 Chargebacks
You acknowledge and agree that any chargebacks (a chargeback occurs when a buyer rejects or reverses a charge on his or her credit card through the credit card issuer) on funds paid to you by Hirers through the Site are your responsibility and you will not hold freelance-coders.co.uk liable for such. You agree that freelance-coders.co.uk may reverse any such payments that are subject to chargeback via our Payment Processors. To cover the cost of processing chargebacks, freelance-coders.co.uk assesses a US$20.00 fee to Users for credit and debit card payment chargebacks.
7.6 Insufficient funds in Accounts
If there are not sufficient funds in your User Account to meet outstanding fees and charges, freelance-coders.co.uk reserves the right to collect any amounts owing to freelance-coders.co.uk by any other legal means.
7.7 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 freelance-coders.co.uk. These taxes will be added to fees billed to you, if applicable.
Please note Australian customers are required to pay an extra 10% goods and services tax on all fees.
8. AVOIDING COMMISSIONS
8.1 Prohibition on negotiation of fee outside of Site
You are strictly prohibited from attempting to negotiate the fee for a project with another user directly (outside of freelance-coders.co.uk) 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 freelance-coders.co.uk if the payment amount increases (above the bid amount) after the project is closed.
You are strictly prohibited from under-bidding on projects in an attempt to renegotiate the actual price privately, avoiding fees. We aim to provide a fair and open playing field at freelance-coders.co.uk, and such activities interfere with providing such a marketplace. freelance-coders.co.uk charges project commissions on all funds received by either direct transfer or Milestone Payment through the site, regardless of the final bid amount.
We believe our commissions are very fair and justified for the service we provide, therefore we will absolutely not tolerate any fee avoidance or underbidding on the Site.
8.2 Email
Users 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 freelance-coders.co.uk 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, GTalk and Yahoo.
8.3 Providing contact information
You are prohibited from making direct contact with another User, 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. freelance-coders.co.uk provides you with message boards, which should be sufficient for pre-project planning. The only exception to this is on "Fulltime" projects. If a project has the "Fulltime" 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.
9. USER CONTENT
9.1 Content
The User is solely responsible for content or any other information the User provides to freelance-coders.co.uk. User understands and agrees to the following:
- freelance-coders.co.uk 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. freelance-coders.co.uk 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 freelance-coders.co.uk, harm its business operation or reputation, or cause freelance-coders.co.uk 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 libellous; (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.
- No copyrighted material can be posted on the Site. 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
9.2 Grant of License
Subject to clause 9.3 below, by submitting User content to freelance-coders.co.uk (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 freelance-coders.co.uk). You hereby grant to freelance-coders.co.uk a worldwide, exclusive, sublicensable, 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 freelance-coders.co.uk (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.
9.3 Feedback, Reputation and Reviews
By using the Site, you acknowledge that you transfer copyright of your the feedback, reputation and reviews you leave (whether a "Hirer" or "Freelancer"), consisting of comments and a multidimensional rating (e.g. Quality, Communication, etc) together with a composite rating by freelance-coders.co.uk ("Feedback"). You acknowledge that this feedback belongs solely to us, notwithstanding that we permit you to use it on our Site while you remain a member. You may not use it or deal with it in any way inconsistent with freelance-coders.co.uk's policies as posted on the Site from time to time, without our prior written permission.
You may not do (or omit to do) anything that may undermine the integrity of the Freelancer feedback system. We are entitled to suspend or terminate your membership at any time if we, in our sole and absolute discretion, are concerned by any feedback about you, or your feedback rating is considered to be problematic to Freelancer.
freelance-coders.co.uk's feedback ratings belong to us and may not be used for any purpose other than facilitating the exchange of services between Users of the Site. You may not use your Freelancer feedback (including, but not limited to, marketing or exporting your composite rating or feedback comments) in any real or virtual venue other than a website operated by freelance-coders.co.uk or its related companies without our written permission.
10. USER RESTRICTIONS
10.1 Advertising
Users are prohibited from advertising a website on the Site. Any URL posted in a bid, project description, or the message board, must relate to a project on freelance-coders.co.uk. An example of a permissible URL would bea User's portfolio or resume page.
10.2 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 bidor 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 fulltime.
10.3 Hirer
The Hirer agrees that:
- The Hirer is strictly forbidden from redistributing any of the content
of the Site, including but not necessary limited to private messages,
documents, support tickets. - The Hirer will not use the Hirer's Account to post false or misleading project descriptions.
- The Hirer will not post project descriptions that, in the judgment and
discretion of freelance-coders.co.uk, are inappropriate to freelance-coders.co.uk's
audience, viewers, or visitors in the judgment and discretion of
freelance-coders.co.uk. - The Hirer agrees to pay featured project fee if project posted should have been posted as featured.
- The Hirer agrees to pay fulltime project fee if project posted should have been posted as fulltime.
- The Hirer will not falsify the Hirer's own or any other identity.
- The Hirer will comply with all of freelance-coders.co.uk's policies as posted on the Site from time to time.
10.4 Freelancer
The Freelancer agrees that:
- The Freelancer will not redistribute any of the content of the Site,
including but not necessary limited to private messages, documents,
support tickets. - The Freelancer will not falsify Freelancer's own or any other identity.
- The Freelancer will comply with all freelance-coders.co.uk policies as posted on the Site from time to time.
10.5 Prohibited use of Site content
The content and information on the Site (including, but not limited to, messages, data, information, text, music, sound, photos, graphics, video, feedback, reputation, reviews, icons, software, code or other material), as well as the infrastructure used to provide such content and information, is proprietary to us. All Users agree not to otherwise modify, copy, distribute, transmit, display, perform, reproduce, publish, license, create derivative works from, transfer, or sell or re-sell any information, software, products, or services obtained from or through this Site. Additionally, you agree not to:
- use this Site or its contents for any commercial purpose;
- access, monitor or copy any content or information of this Site using any robot, spider, scraper or other automated means or any manual process for any purpose without our express written permission;
- violate the restrictions in any robot exclusion headers on this Site or bypass or circumvent other measures employed to prevent or limit access to this Site;
- take any action that imposes, or may impose, in our discretion, an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure;
- deep-link to any portion of this Site for any purpose without our express written permission;
- "frame", "mirror" or otherwise incorporate any part of this Site into any other website without our prior written authorisation; or
- attempt to modify, translate, adapt, edit, decompile, disassemble, or reverse engineer any software programs used by us in connection with the Site or the services.
10.6 General restrictions
Users agree that:
- Users will not use any automated collection mechanism or any manual
process to monitor or copy the web pages comprising the Site or the
content contained therein without the prior written permission of
freelance-coders.co.uk. - Users will not distribute unsolicited commercial messages ("spam") through the User's Account.
- Users will not contact employers or freelancers through the Site or
through information gained from our Site with the intent of subverting
them from using our Services. - Users will not engage in personal attacks, negative or other unfair
criticism or other forms of discourteous and unprofessional online
conduct or practices. - Users will not create multiple user Accounts to avoid fees, suspension or bad ratings on the Site.
10.7 Consequences of termination
In the event of termination, Users found in violation of the User Agreement will not receive any credit or payment from freelance-coders.co.uk.
Without limiting freelance-coders.co.uk's other remedies, to the extent you are in violation of this User Agreement, you must pay freelance-coders.co.uk for allfees owed to us and reimburse us for all losses and costs (including any and all freelance-coders.co.uk employee time) and reasonable expenses (including legal fees) related to investigating such breach and collecting such fees.
You and freelance-coders.co.uk agree that the damages that freelance-coders.co.uk will sustain as a result of actions that breach the User Agreement will be substantial, potentially including (without limitation) fines and other related expenses from its payment processors and service providers, but may be extremely difficult and impracticable to ascertain. If you engagein such activities, then freelance-coders.co.uk may fine you up to US$3,000.00 for each such violation and/or freelance-coders.co.uk may take legal action against you to recover losses that are in excess of the amount charged. You acknowledge and agree that a fine up to US$3,000.00 is presently a reasonable pre-estimate or minimum estimate of freelance-coders.co.uk's damages,considering all currently existing circumstances, including (without limitation) the relationship of the sum to the range of harm to freelance-coders.co.uk that reasonably could be anticipated and the anticipationthat proof of actual damages may be impractical or extremely difficult.
You agree that freelance-coders.co.uk is entitled to deduct such charges directly from any existing balance in the offending Account, or any other freelance-coders.co.uk Account owned by you.
Users that are terminated by freelance-coders.co.uk on any basis other than violation of this User Agreement will be entitled to receive any payment due from freelance-coders.co.uk.
In the event of termination, you will have no claim whatsoever against freelance-coders.co.uk in respect of any such suspension or termination of your membership.
11. DISPUTE RESOLUTION SERVICES
11.1 Dispute resolution services
freelance-coders.co.uk 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) freelance-coders.co.uk is not providing legal services,(ii) freelance-coders.co.uk 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 freelance-coders.co.uk for any such counsel. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless freelance-coders.co.uk 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 freelance-coders.co.uk. We will thennotify 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 £20 only.
11.2 Dispute resolution process
Round 1 - Automated Resolution
freelance-coders.co.uk's automated resolution process allows the Parties to settle disputes through the Site.s 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 has7 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 toboth 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 freelance-coders.co.uk 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 freelance-coders.co.uk estimated Arbitration Fee (freelance-coders.co.uk charges 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). freelance-coders.co.uk 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 from freelance-coders.co.uk) 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
freelance-coders.co.uk 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 freelance-coders.co.uk will only consider the Evidences submitted within the stipulated timeframe. freelance-coders.co.uk 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 theDispute Resolution Services shall notify freelance-coders.co.uk of such settlement, and freelance-coders.co.uk shall terminate the Dispute Resolution Services. You agree that the decision of freelance-coders.co.uk, 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.
freelance-coders.co.uk 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 Hirersremain solely between Hirers and Freelancers. freelance-coders.co.uk is not involved in any transactions between You and any other users of freelance-coders.co.uk. You acknowledge and agree that freelance-coders.co.uk 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 freelance-coders.co.uk from any and all claims, demands, and damages (actual andconsequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, related to such a dispute.
11.3 freelance-coders.co.uk not a party to disputes
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 freelance-coders.co.uk. You
acknowledge and agree that freelance-coders.co.uk 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 freelance-coders.co.uk from any
and all claims, demands, and damages (actual and consequential) of
every kind and nature, known and unknown, related to such a dispute.
12. REGISTRATION AND PROCESSING OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA
Your personal information will be processed by freelance-coders.co.uk 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 freelance-coders.co.uk and any associated entity
within the freelance-coders.co.uk 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.
freelance-coders.co.uk discloses sensitive personal information only if required to comply with legal obligations or with your consent.
13. TRADEMARKS
freelance-coders.co.uk is a trademark of resplace.net.
14. COPYRIGHT
14.1 Copyright of freelance-coders.co.uk
The content and compilation of content included on the Site, such as
text, graphics, logos, icons, images, audio clips, digital downloads and
software, are the property of freelance-coders.co.uk and are protected by
Australian and international copyright laws.
14.2 Copyright infringement
It is our policy to respond to clear notices of alleged copyright
infringement. Our policy, set out below, is designed to make submitting
notices of alleged infringement to us as straightforward as possible
while reducing the number of notices that we receive that are fraudulent
or difficult to understand or verify.
14.3 DMCA Digital Millennium Copyright Act (United States)
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act 1998, found at 17 U.S.C. § 512
("DMCA"), provides recourse for owners of copyrighted materials who
believe that their rights under United States copyright law have been
infringed upon on the Internet.
Under the DMCA, the bona fide owner of copyrighted materials who has a
good faith belief that their copyright has been infringed may contact
not only the person or entity infringing on their copyright, but may
also contact the designated agent of an Internet service provider to
report alleged infringements of their protected works, when such alleged
infringements appear on pages contained within the system of the
Internet service provider ("ISP").
As the owner of the Site, we are committed to complying with the DMCA.
Upon receipt of a properly filed complaint under the DMCA, we will block
access to the allegedly infringing material. We will forward a copy of
the notification of claimed copyright infringement to the alleged
infringer. Anyone who believes in good faith that a notice of copyright
infringement has wrongfully been filed against them, may submit a notice
as set out below.
14.4 DMCA Notice
If you believe that your copyrighted works are contained on our system
and you are a person authorised to act on behalf of the owner of an
exclusive right that is allegedly infringed, then we want you to know
the proper procedure for notifying us. You should send us a written
notice which contains the following:
- Identification of the copyrighted work(s) claimed to have been infringed.
- Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing
or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed
or access to which is to be disabled. - Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material.
- Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact you,
such as a physical address, telephone number, and, if available, an
electronic mail address. - A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the
material in the manner complained of is not authorised by the copyright
owner, your agent, or the law. - A statement that the information in the notification is
accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are authorised to act
on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly
infringed. - A physical signature. You must be a person authorised to act on
behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
(Together, "Notice".)
The Notice specified above is consistent with the form suggested by the
United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the text of which can be
found at the U.S. Copyright Office Web Site, http://www.copyright.gov)
but we will respond to notices of this form from other jurisdictions as
well.
Your Notice to us should be sent to us via a reliable means to "Legal
Department - DMCA Compliance" at the address in our .contact us. section
of the Site. Generally, you should use certified mail or a carrier that
provides not only delivery confirmation but that also requires a
signature. While you may email us or call us, this does not constitute a
proper Notice to us.
In appropriate circumstances, we will terminate the membership of Users
that are repeat infringers. If you believe that a User is a repeat
infringer, please follow the instructions above to contact us and
provide information sufficient for us to verify that the User is a
repeat infringer.
Once we receive your Notice we will follow the procedures outlined above
and in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (United States).
14.5 Counter-notice
If a Notice has been filed with us against you, the owner will attempt
to notify you and provide you with a copy of the notice of copyright
infringement. If you have a good faith belief that you have been
wrongfully accused, you may file a counter-notice with us. If we receive
a valid counter-notice, the DMCA provides that the removed or blocked
information will be restored or access re-enabled.
We will replace the removed material and cease disabling access to it in
not less than 10, nor more than 14, business days following receipt of
the counter-notice, unless we first receive notice from the complaining
party that such complaining party has filed an action seeking a court
order to restrain the alleged infringer from engaging in infringing
activity relating to the material on this Site.
Please be advised that United States copyright law provides substantial
penalties for a false counter-notice filed in response to a notice of
copyright infringement. Accordingly, if you are not sure whether certain
material of yours is protected by copyright laws, we suggest that you
obtain legal advice.
15. NO WARRANTY
freelance-coders.co.uk is not involved in the actual transaction between
Freelancers and Hirers. Our Services, the Site and all content on it
are provided on an .as is. basis and without warranties of any kind
either express or implied. Without limiting the foregoing,
freelance-coders.co.uk does not represent or warrant that:
• the Site will be accurate, reliable, uninterrupted, secure or error-free;
• defects in the Site will be corrected;
• the Site or the server that makes it available are free of viruses or other harmful components.
To the extent permitted by law, we specifically disclaim any implied
warranties of title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose
and non-infringement. For example, consumers (as defined by consumer
protection laws) may be entitled to the benefit of certain warranties
under applicable trade practices or fair trading legislation in
Australia. If you are considered a consumer under an Australian consumer
protection law that applies to freelance-coders.co.uk, you will be entitled to
the benefit of certain warranties under that legislation. For more
information on consumer protection laws, please visit www.accc.gov.au or
the website of your state fair trading agency.
To the extent that freelance-coders.co.uk are able to limit the remedies
available under this User Agreement, freelance-coders.co.uk expressly limits its
liability for breach of a non-excludable condition or warranty implied
by virtue of any legislation to the following remedies (the choice of
which is to be at freelance-coders.co.uk's sole discretion):
(1) in the case of goods, any one or more of the following:
- the replacement of the goods or the supply of equivalent goods;
- the repair of the goods;
- the payment of the cost of replacing the goods or of acquiring equivalent goods; or
- the payment of the cost of having the goods repaired; and
(2) in the case of services:
- the supply of the services again; or
- the payment of the cost of having the services supplied again.
- However, if you are considered a consumer under an Australian consumer protection law that applies to freelance-coders.co.uk, and you use our Services for personal, domestic or household use, the above clause may not apply to you. For more information on consumer protection laws, please visit www.accc.gov.au or the website of your state fair trading agency.
16. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
16.1 Limitation of liability
In no event shall freelance-coders.co.uk, its affiliates or staff be liable,
whether in contract, warranty, tort (including negligence), or any other
form of liability, for:
• any indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages that may be incurred by you;
• any loss of income, business or profits (whether direct or indirect) that may be incurred by you; and any claim, damage, or loss which may be incurred by you as a result of any of your transactions involving the Site.
• The limitations on freelance-coders.co.uk.s liability to you above shall apply
whether or not freelance-coders.co.uk, its affiliates or staff have been advised
of the possibility of such losses or damages arising.
Notwithstanding the above provisions, nothing in this Agreement is
intended to limit or exclude any liability on the part of freelance-coders.co.uk
and its affiliates and related entities where and to the extent that
applicable law prohibits such exclusion or limitation including those
within the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) and relevant state fair
trading legislation.
16.2 Jurisdiction.s Limitations
As some jurisdictions do not allow some of the exclusions or limitationsas established above, some of these exclusions or limitations may not apply to you. In that event the liability will be limited as far as legally possible under the applicable legislation.
16.3 Bar to action
freelance-coders.co.uk may plead this User Agreement in bar to any claim, action, proceeding or suit brought by you, against freelance-coders.co.uk for any matter arising out of any transaction or otherwise in respect of this User Agreement.
17. INDEMNITY
You agree to indemnify and hold us and (as applicable) our related
entities, affiliates, and our and their respective officers, directors,
agents, and employees, harmless from and against any and all claims,
demands, proceedings, losses and damages (actual, special and
consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, including
reasonable legal fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of
your breach of this User Agreement or your violation of any law or the
rights of a third party.
18. APPLICABLE LAW
Any dispute arising out of or in connection with this User Agreement
shall be governed by the laws of the State of New South Wales,
Australia. You and freelance-coders.co.uk irrevocably submit to the
non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of New South Wales, Australia.
19. GENERAL
The provisions of this User Agreement are severable, and if any
provision of this Agreement is held to be invalid or unenforceable, such
provision may be removed and the remaining provisions will be enforced.
This Agreement may be assigned by freelance-coders.co.uk to a third party
without your consent in the event of a sale or other transfer of some or
all of the assets of freelance-coders.co.uk. In the event of any sale or
transfer you will remain bound by the User Agreement. Headings are for
reference purposes only and in no way define, limit, construe or
describe the scope or extent of such section. Our failure to act with
respect to an anticipated or actual breach by you or others does not
waive our right to act with respect to subsequent or similar breaches.
Nothing in this clause shall exclude or restrict your liability arising
out of fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.
Please contact us to report violations of terms and conditions.