This agreement sets out the terms and conditions ('Terms and Conditions') applicable to members of the service operated by ZeeLance.com. Applicants (referred to as 'members') must agree to the following Terms and Conditions. In the event a member breaches or otherwise fails to comply with any provision of these Terms and Conditions then in addition to any other remedy available to ZeeLance, ZeeLance may terminate the participation of such member in the service and/or may withhold any payments relating to participation in the service due to such member from ZeeLance.
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
ZeeLance.com shall have absolute discretion as to whether or not it accepts a particular applicant or site for participation in the service.
REMOVAL FROM NETWORK
ZeeLance.com reserves the right to terminate the participation of any member or site without reason but expressly including any member site that ZeeLance judges to be in violation of the Terms and Conditions.
Members in violation of ZeeLance's Terms and Conditions will be immediately deactivated. ZeeLance may deactivate members with no prior notification. Members found in violation of the Terms and Conditions will not receive any credit or payment from ZeeLance. Members that are terminated by ZeeLance on any basis other than violation of these Terms and Conditions will be entitled to receive any payment due from ZeeLance.
REFERRAL COMMISSIONS
The referral commission paid out will be the one listed on the Referrals
page (http://www.ZeeLance.com/referrals.php).
If the commission rate is changed, it will only affect referrals made after
the new commission was announced. You may not refer yourself, nor sign up
for multiple accounts to collect referral fees. You may also not partner
with any other ZeeLance user to share/transfer the commission made from
your own account, or else both parties will be kicked from the service
without payment. ZeeLance reserves the right to delay or cancel sending
affiliate earnings if we believe the referred user will not pay the fees
they were charged, since affiliate commissions are based on those fees.
PAYMENTS
ZeeLance 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. ZeeLance 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 ZeeLance account or face account termination.
As previously stated, any member site that ZeeLance removes from the service due to violation of the Terms and Conditions will receive no credit or payment.
COPYRIGHTS
No copyright material can be posted on ZeeLance. This includes scripts which are sold by the author. Only posting sections of these scripts, as examples, will be permitted. A "section" being no more than 10% of the script's contents. This is meant to protect the author's rights.
MODIFICATIONS
ZeeLance reserves the right to change the member Terms and Conditions at any time. It is the member's responsibility to check these Terms and Conditions from time to time for such changes. In the event ZeeLance offers any additional or replacement services then this agreement shall apply to such services in the absence of any new agreement specific to such services which is entered into between the parties.
OWNERSHIP
Members agree that all information contained on a website operated by ZeeLance, and all information compiled by ZeeLance through operation of the affiliate program, is the proprietary information of ZeeLance. Personal information provided by members to ZeeLance will be kept confidential and will not be distributed to any third party.
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 ZeeLance at any other time. There should be no need to give anyone your e-mail address. It is automatically provided if you choose a programmer (or you are the programmer 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 programmer) have been picked for, or you (a webmaster) have picked a programmer for. This includes giving out your e-mail address, ICQ number, phone number, or any other method of contact outside of this site. ZeeLance 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 webmaster has paid a flat fee in advance, and you ARE allowed to provide contact information in the message board. Note that the ZeeLance system does not distinguish between featured and non-featured message board posts, so you will still get a warning when submitting an e-mail address, even if the project is featured.
AVOIDING COMMISSIONS
You are strictly prohibited from attempting to negotiate the fee for a project with another member directly (outside of ZeeLance) after that project has been created/opened and before that project has been closed (basically, during an ongoing project). But this also applies to any project that was closed without a programmer being chosen, and then contacting them about the project anyway. Both parties are responsible for notifying ZeeLance 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 us, will be considered an attempt to avoid the commissions. When a programmer 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 programmer has failed to notify ZeeLance staff of a payment received above the amount of his bid (a total payment above US$100), ZeeLance 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 ZeeLance.
BIDDING
Programmers 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 applies to webmasters too. Webmasters cannot create projects that directly or indirectly require programmers to place hourly or other abnormal bids. The only exception, for both webmasters and programmers, is when the project is featured. See featured project information at http://www.ZeeLance.com/featured.shtml.
FEATURED PROJECTS
The following conditions are here to prevent abuse of the "Featured project" feature on ZeeLance. The maximum amount of money a programmer can receive for a Featured project, through the ZeeLance system, without being charged a fee, is $2,500. Any amount received above $2,500 will be subject to the regular fee of 5%. Note that this condition only applies to money received with the ZeeLance system; you can receive more than $2,500 for a single Featured project, without being charged a fee, if the payment is made outside of ZeeLance. If this condition applies to a payment you received on ZeeLance, you must notify us of the amount so that we can apply a 5% fee to the amount above $2,500. Failure to notify us could result in temporary account suspension.
ADVERTISING
You are prohibited from advertising your website on ZeeLance. Any URL posted in a bid, project description, or the message board, must relate to a project on ZeeLance. An example of a permissible URL: your portfolio or resumé page.
THE ROLE OF ZEELANCE
ZeeLance functions as a venue to connect webmasters and programmers in a virtual marketplace. As a neutral facilitator, ZeeLance is not directly involved in the actual transactions between users of the Site. As a result, ZeeLance has no control over the truth, accuracy, quality, legality, or safety of postings made by users. Because verifying the identity of a user on the Internet is difficult, ZeeLance cannot and does not confirm the identity of users. ZeeLance also does not confirm nor verify the qualifications, background, or abilities of users. Therefore, We recommend that You be careful and exercise common sense and good judgment when dealing with any member on the Site. You are encouraged to review our Project Guidlines before taking part in a project. If you are unsatisfied with another member, the most ZeeLance can do is refund the project commission you have been charged by us. We cannot refund the money you have sent to someone, we are not responsible for your transactions.
AND FINALLY..
.We thank you for choosing the ZeeLance.com service and we look forward to a mutually successful business relationship.
Click here to report term violations.