Terms of Service — Far Reach

1. Who we are, and what this service is

Far Reach operates far-reach.com, a marketplace where clients engage independent professionals. We are not a party to the contract between a client and a freelancer. We provide the platform, hold the money while work is in progress, and release it according to these terms.

Freelancers are independent, not our employees. We do not direct the work, set the hours, or supervise how it is done. Each side is responsible for its own taxes and its own compliance with the law where it is.

2. Accounts

You must give accurate registration details and keep your password to yourself. You are responsible for what happens under your account. One person or business, one account; tell us at once if you think someone else is using yours.

We may suspend or close an account for fraud, for abuse of another user, for attempts to move a transaction off the platform to avoid fees, or for breaking these terms.

3. Fees

A commission of 7% is charged on the value of the work, and it is borne by the client. It is added to the amount the freelancer quotes. Nothing is deducted from the freelancer: the freelancer receives the amount agreed, in full.

The commission is shown before you commit, with the breakdown, on every quote and on the contract page. If we change the rate we will publish it here and on the fees section of the questions page before it takes effect, and a contract already funded keeps the rate it was funded at.

Far Reach does not bear the cost of moving the money. Banks, payment processors and money transfer services charge for a payout, and a payment that crosses a currency boundary is converted at their rate. Those charges are deducted from the transfer itself, so the amount that reaches a freelancer's account is the amount we send minus whatever the transfer service takes.

Those charges belong to the transfer service and not to us. We do not set them, we do not receive any part of them, and we cannot waive or refund them. They are separate from our commission, which is charged to the client and never to the freelancer.

4. Escrow, and how money moves

Work is divided into milestones. A milestone is funded before the work on it begins.

The client funds a milestone. The money leaves the client's account and is held by Far Reach.
The freelancer does the work and submits it.
The client accepts it, and we release the money to the freelancer.

A client may fund one milestone at a time, which is the default, or fund the whole contract up front in a single payment. Funding everything at once costs exactly the same as funding each milestone in turn: the commission is the same percentage and any one-off fee is charged once either way. Each milestone is still released separately as it is accepted, and an unreleased milestone can still be refunded.

While a milestone is funded, neither side can move the money unilaterally. The client cannot take it back at will and the freelancer cannot draw it before the work is accepted. That is the point of escrow, and it is the promise this platform makes to both sides.

Funds held in escrow are not a deposit, do not earn interest for you, and are not insured as a bank balance would be.

5. Releasing, and disputes

A client should accept or reject submitted work within a reasonable time. Where the two sides disagree, contact us and we will look at what was agreed, what was delivered and what the contract said. We may release the funds to either side in whole or in part.

We are not a court and we do not decide the legal merits. Our decision settles only where the money we are holding goes. Either side is free to pursue the matter elsewhere.

6. What you may not do

Take a transaction that began here off the platform to avoid the commission.
Post work that is illegal where the client is, where the freelancer is, or in the countries whose services we depend on.
Upload malware, or content you have no right to upload.
Misrepresent who you are, your skills, or your right to work.
Use the platform to launder money or to move funds for anyone other than yourself.

7. Content and files

You keep ownership of what you upload. You give us the limited permission needed to store it, show it to the other side of a contract, and back it up.

Attachments are scanned before they can be downloaded, and are quarantined until a scan has passed. A file that cannot be scanned stays quarantined. This is deliberate: serving an unscanned file to the other party is not a risk we take on your behalf.

Unless the contract says otherwise, work delivered and paid for belongs to the client on release of the final milestone.

8. Availability

We aim to keep the service running and we take backups, but we do not promise uninterrupted service. Maintenance, a provider outage, or a fault can take the site down.

9. Liability

To the extent the law allows, Far Reach is n ot liable for the quality, legality or timeliness of work performed by a freelancer, nor for indirect or consequential loss. Our total liability to you is limited to the commission we have charged you in the twelve months before the claim.

Nothing here excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

10. Changes and ending

We may change these terms; material changes will be posted here with a new date. Continuing to use the platform after that is acceptance. You may close your account at any time, but contracts already funded run to completion or refund first.

11. Contact

Questions about these terms: contact us.