Terms and Conditions
 

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

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

CertificationPoint shall have absolute discretion as to whether or not it accepts a particular applicant or site for participation in the service.

REMOVAL FROM NETWORK

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

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

AFFILIATE COMMISSIONS

The affiliate commission paid out will be the one listed on the Affiliates page (http://www.CertificationPoint.Org/contact.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 CertificationPoint user to share/transfer the commission made from your own account, or else both parties will be kicked from the service without payment.

PAYMENTS

CertificationPoint will typically make withdrawals if the member requests it AND their account balance is equal to or greater than $75. 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. New members cannot withdraw funds within 90 days of their first project payment. CertificationPoint 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 CertificationPoint account or face account termination. CertificationPoint cannot be held liable for deposits reversed without its authorization due to reasons, including, but not limited to, fraud, chargebacks or complaints. CertificationPoint reserves the right to earn interest from its service provider banks or others arising from the processing of payments. CertificationPoint is prohibited by law from paying interest to members in respect of any balance held in member's account. CertificationPoint may request proof of programming services performed at any time before authorizing a withdrawal of funds received for that project.

ESCROW

CertificationPoint provides escrow as a free, bonus, and automated service only as a tool to help members transact more securely. We do not act as an arbitrator between parties, should a dispute arise, except in limited situations. Financial disputes should be resolved between members, or via another third party, and without CertificationPoint whenever possible. We do, however, reserve the right to cancel an escrow payment, at any time, if we believe we are left with no other option. We also reserve the right to complete an escrow payment if no response is received from the payer, after repeated attempts at contact, for 30 continuous days.

DISPUTES

Members may not file a complaint with one of our payment processors, including PayPal, Moneybookers or Google, regarding the funds deposited into their account. CertificationPoint staff will do its best to resolve any problem a member may have. Refunds will be processed, if deemed necessary, at a time of CertificationPoint staff's choosing. Due to the incompatible communication systems between our payment processors and CertificationPoint staff members, payment disputes logged directly with those processors cannot be properly managed and will cause further delays. Due to this, members who make a complaint to our payment processor will face account termination without notice. CertificationPoint makes available a project dispute system that may be used by members to request mediation by staff. CertificationPoint reserves the right to use its own discretion to make decisions in favor of a party and considers its decision final. A fee may be charged to reopen closed dispute cases. Dispute and cancelation cases may not be opened more than 30 days after the project's delivery date for projects with a delivery date from 0-7 days after project closing date; 45 days for projects with a delivery date of 7-30 days; and 60 days for delivery dates of 30 or more days. Escrow payments will not be completed or cancelled by CertificationPoint if the buyer (in the case of cancelling; Service Provider in the case of completing) fails to contact CertificationPoint support within 45 days after the project's delivery date for projects with a delivery date from 0-7 days after project closing date; 60 days for projects with a delivery date of 7-30 days; and 90 days for delivery dates of 30 or more days. CertificationPoint reserves the right to complete or cancel any escrow payments, if either party fails to reply to requests for information by support staff, or if deemed necessary after review of a project dispute. Direct transfers and escrow payments fully completed by the buyer are considered final and cannot be considered for reversal.

COPYRIGHTS

No copyright material can be posted on CertificationPoint. Only posting sections of articles or scripts, as examples, will be permitted. A "section" being no more than 10% of the contents. This is meant to protect the author's rights. We also do not tolerate projects that are clearly requesting unauthorized reproduction of copyrighted or patented material.

MODIFICATIONS

CertificationPoint 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 CertificationPoint 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 CertificationPoint, and all information compiled by CertificationPoint through operation of the affiliate program, is the proprietary information of CertificationPoint. Personal information provided by members to CertificationPoint 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 CertificationPoint 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 programmer) have been picked for, or you (a buyer) have picked a Service Provider for. This includes giving out your e-mail address, instant messenger, phone number, or any other method of contact outside of this site. Website addresses which display or directly link to a members contact info are also not permitted. CertificationPoint provides you with message boards, which should be sufficient for pre-project planning. The only exception to this policy is on Featured projects and Job Listings.

AVOIDING COMMISSIONS

You are strictly prohibited from attempting to negotiate the fee for a project with another member directly (outside of CertificationPoint). 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 CertificationPoint 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 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 CertificationPoint staff of a payment received above the amount of his bid (a total payment above US$100), CertificationPoint 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 CertificationPoint. Penalty fees will be charged to repeat offenders of the site terms, including for the posting of contact info, for which double the fees that potentially would have been charged for a completed project will be charged to the offendor. The potential project fee will be determined by CertificationPoint at its discretion, and will typically incorporate the buyer's fee and the Service Provider's fee based on the bid. If no bid has been placed the fee may be determined based on the project budget. Penalty fees charged to an offending member may be refunded if the offendor eventually participates in that project on CertificationPoint on which the violation was made, and pays the regular project fees.

BIDDING

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 CertificationPoint support.

ADVERTISING

You are prohibited from advertising your website on CertificationPoint. Any URL posted in a bid, project description, or the message board, must relate to a project on CertificationPoint. An example of a permissible URL: your portfolio or resumé page.

ACCOUNTS

An individual may not possess more than one Buyer account and one Service Providers account, unless they have contacted and received authorization from CertificationPoint staff. Users found with unauthorized multiple accounts, or found to be using multiple accounts to avoid bad reviews, fees, suspensions or other limitations, will face suspension of all their accounts. It is prohibited under all circumstances to transfer ownership of an account, without authorization from CertificationPoint staff. Accounts that are inactive (have no login activity) for more than 12 months will be deactivated and have their remaining funds deducted by CertificationPoint.

AFFILIATES

Affiliates can only refer legimitately interested visitors. You understand that CertificationPoint can delay payment if it believes a referral's fee payment may be reversed due to fraud or by other means. CertificationPoint reserves the right to limit participation in its affiliate program as well as withhold payment of commissions due to innapropriate activity on behalf of any involved party.

CREDITS

All credits are non-refundable, non-tranferable and cannot be redeemed for cash. Unless specified otherwise, unused credits expire after 1 year. Credits associated with a cancelled or disputed project will not be refunded; A replacement credit may be given when a request is made with staff. CertificationPoint may change bulk credit purchasing prices and winning promotions at any time; Previously purchased/earned credits will not be affected. Credits may be revoked by CertificationPoint at its discretion; Purchased credits will be refunded if revoked by staff.

THE ROLE OF CertificationPoint

CertificationPoint functions as a venue to connect buyers and Service Providers in a virtual marketplace. As a neutral facilitator, CertificationPoint is not directly involved in the actual transactions between users of the Site. As a result, CertificationPoint 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, CertificationPoint cannot and does not confirm the identity of users. CertificationPoint 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 enouraged to review our Project Guidlines before taking part in a project. If you are unsatisifed with another member, the most CertificationPoint 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. CertificationPoint 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.

LEGAL ISSUES

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