Terms and Conditions

This agreement sets out the terms and conditions ('Terms and Conditions') applicable to members of the service operated by ProCopyWriters.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 ProCopyWriters, ProCopyWriters 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 ProCopyWriters.


ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

ProCopyWriters.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

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

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

REFERRAL COMMISSIONS

The referral commission paid out will be the one listed on the Referrals page (http://www.ProCopyWriters.com/affiliate.shtml). 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 ProCopyWriters user to share/transfer the commission made from your own account, or else both parties will be removed from the service without payment. ProCopyWriters 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

ProCopyWriters 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. We verify all deposits and might ask you to verify yours; If you refuse to send verification information via E-mail, Fax or Phone, we reserve the right to refund the deposit and terminate your account. ProCopyWriters 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 ProCopyWriters account or face account termination.

As previously stated, any member site that ProCopyWriters 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 ProCopyWriters, unless the poster owns the copyright.

MODIFICATIONS

ProCopyWriters 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 ProCopyWriters 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 ProCopyWriters, and all information compiled by ProCopyWriters through operation of the affiliate program, is the proprietary information of ProCopyWriters. Personal information provided by members to ProCopyWriters 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 ProCopyWriters at any other time. There should be no need to give anyone your e-mail address. It is automatically provided if you choose a writer (or you are the writer 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 writer) have been picked for, or you (an employer) have picked a writer for. This includes giving out your e-mail address, ICQ number, phone number, or any other method of contact outside of this site. ProCopyWriters 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 employer has paid a flat fee in advance, and you ARE allowed to provide contact information in the message board. Note that the ProCopyWriters 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 ProCopyWriters) 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 writer being chosen, and then contacting them about the project anyway. Both parties are responsible for notifying ProCopyWriters 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 writer 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 writer has failed to notify ProCopyWriters staff of a payment received above the amount of his bid (a total payment above US$100), ProCopyWriters 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 ProCopyWriters. 

BIDDING

Writers 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 employers too. Employers cannot create projects that directly or indirectly require writers to place hourly or other abnormal bids. The only exception, for both employers and writers, is when the project is featured.

POSTING PROJECTS

New users are limited to the posting of only 3 projects before being asked to make a deposit. This is meant to protect other users and prevent fraudulent activity. A user is required to deposit any amount of funds before they gain the right to post unlimited projects. A user may request higher posting limits, under special circumstances, by simply contacting ProCopyWriters support. 

FEATURED PROJECTS

The following conditions are here to prevent abuse of the "Featured project" feature on ProCopyWriters. The maximum amount of money a writer can receive for a Featured project, through the ProCopyWriters 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 ProCopyWriters 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 ProCopyWriters. If this condition applies to a payment you received on ProCopyWriters, 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 ProCopyWriters. Any URL posted in a bid, project description, or the message board, must relate to a project on ProCopyWriters. An example of a permissible URL: your portfolio or resumé page. 

THE ROLE OF ProCopyWriters

ProCopyWriters functions as a venue to connect employers and writers in a virtual marketplace. As a neutral facilitator, ProCopyWriters is not directly involved in the actual transactions between users of the Site. As a result, ProCopyWriters 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, ProCopyWriters cannot and does not confirm the identity of users. ProCopyWriters 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 Guidelines before taking part in a project. If you are unsatisfied with another member, the most ProCopyWriters 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. ProCopyWriters is not responsible for fraudulent payments made by users and cannot be held liable for financial loss incurred from fraudulent transactions. It is the receiver's responsibility to verify the identity and background of the sender. 

AND FINALLY...

We thank you for choosing the ProCopyWriters.com service and we look forward to a mutually successful business relationship.