Payment Agreement

1.Averentium's role: limited payment collection agent

Each worker appoints Averentium as the worker's limited agent solely to accept posters' payments for the worker's jobs, to have those payments held by Stripe until they are released or refunded under this Agreement, and to instruct Stripe to transfer them. When a poster's payment for a job succeeds, the poster has paid the worker for that job, whether or not the amount has yet been transferred to the worker. Payments are processed, held and transferred by Stripe, Inc. and its affiliates ("Stripe"). Averentium is not a party to the Job Contract, does not buy the work from the worker or sell it to the poster, and does not provide escrow, banking, stored-value or money-holding services. Averentium's only compensation from a job is the Help service fee.

2.The Job Contract

Each job is a contract between the poster and the worker (the "Job Contract"). It is formed when the worker accepts the job in Help, on the terms shown on the job at that moment: the poster's and the worker's names, the address, the work described with any hazards the poster disclosed, the price, when the price is due (section 7), how a problem is reported and decided (section 8), and the versions of the agreements each of them had accepted. The price is due for the work as described. Help keeps a copy of the Job Contract, which the poster and the worker can each download from the job in Help. Tips and helpers added later are recorded as additions to it. Averentium is not a party to the Job Contract.

3.What a poster pays

Before you pay, Help shows the total you will pay for the job, first and most prominently, above the ways to pay. The total is made up of:

(a) the job amount, which is the worker's price for the job and is paid to the worker in full;

(b) the Help service fee, which is 6% of the job amount, rounded to the nearest cent (half a cent rounds up), plus $0.50. The Help service fee is the same for every payment method. It is Averentium's charge for arranging the job and processing the payment; and

(c) any tax a law requires, shown on its own line.

For example, a $5.00 job has a Help service fee of $0.80 and a total of $5.80; a $20.00 job, a fee of $1.70 and a total of $21.70; a $100.00 job, a fee of $6.50 and a total of $106.50; and a $1,000.00 job, a fee of $60.50 and a total of $1,060.50.

The total shown is everything Averentium charges you for that job. Averentium may lower the Help service fee at any time. Any other change to it is made only in a new version of this Agreement under section 27 of the Terms of Service, and applies only to jobs posted after you accept it. Amounts are in United States dollars.

4.Paying for a job

You may pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay, a card, Cash App Pay or a United States bank account. When you tap Pay, you authorise Averentium, as the worker's payment agent, to charge the payment method you choose for the total shown. A job is charged when it is posted, and must be paid before a worker can accept it. A bank account payment is made under Stripe's payment authorisation (mandate) and takes several business days to settle, and the worker's payment for that job is not released until it has settled. If you save a payment method, Averentium charges it only for jobs and tips you approve in Help, each time for the amount shown before you approve. If a payment fails, the job is not posted.

5.Tips

A tip is optional. Whether to tip, and how much, is decided by the poster alone. A tip can be given only after the worker marks the job finished, and only for 30 days after that. There is no fee on a tip: the poster pays exactly the tip, and 100% of it is paid to the worker. Averentium keeps no part of a tip and never uses a tip to pay anything Averentium owes. A tip is paid to the worker when the job amount is released, or at once if it has already been released. If the whole job amount is refunded to the poster under section 8, 9 or 13 before it is released, any tip not yet paid to the worker is refunded to the poster too. Once paid to the worker, a tip is final, except to correct a payment error. Each tip must be at least $0.50, and all tips on one job together may be at most the lesser of the job price and $200.00. A worker must not ask for, negotiate or suggest a tip, or make any part of the work depend on one. Whether a tip was given does not affect any rating or report. Averentium makes no statement that any tip is a qualified tip for tax purposes or that any tax deduction or exclusion is available for it.

6.Limits

A job price must be at least $5.00 and at most $1,000.00, or less where Averentium sets a lower limit for a type of job or for a state. Averentium may set limits on the number and value of jobs and tips, including between the same two people and for new accounts, and may refuse a payment, or hold a transfer that exceeds a limit while it reviews the payment.

7.Completion and automatic release

When the work is done, the worker marks the job finished in Help. The poster then confirms completion in Help, and confirming releases the job amount to the worker. If the poster neither confirms nor reports a problem within 24 hours after the worker marks the job finished, the job amount is released to the worker automatically at the end of those 24 hours, unless a hold in section 12 applies. Confirm only when the work was done as posted; if it was not, report a problem instead.

8.Refunds and reports

(a) When a refund is available. The job amount is refunded only:

(1) in full, with the Help service fee, if the job is cancelled or expires before any worker accepts it, including after a worker withdraws or the poster chooses someone else and the job is open again;

(2) in full or in part, if an administrator approves a report under this section; or

(3) to correct a payment error, such as a duplicate or wrong charge.

Section 9 (a Stop for safety) and section 13 (prohibited jobs) also provide for refunds, as those sections describe. No other refund is due under this Agreement.

(b) What can be reported. A poster may report only that the worker did not arrive or did not start; that the job was not finished; that the work done is materially different from the job as posted; or that the check-in, the photographs or the completion record are false or do not show the job done. A poster may also report damage to property. A report of damage to property holds the job amount while it is reviewed. Damage itself is a claim between the users; an administrator may refund part or all of the job amount only if the damage means the job was not done as posted. The following are not grounds for a refund: dissatisfaction with work that matches the posted description; work the poster added or changed after acceptance; weather; and events outside the job. A claim for injury, loss or damage is not a refund. It is a claim between the users, as section 15 of the Terms of Service describes.

(c) When to report. A report must be made in Help before the poster confirms completion, and no later than 24 hours after the worker marks the job finished. Confirming completion, or letting that period end without a report, releases the job amount to the worker. After release, no refund of the job amount is available under this Agreement, except under (a)(3) or for fraud.

(d) Review. A report holds the job amount. Averentium tells the worker, who may respond in Help, with a statement and photographs, within 48 hours. After the worker responds or the 48 hours end, an administrator reviews the job record, including the description, disclosed hazards, the check-in, times, locations, photographs, messages and both parties' statements, and decides in good faith and on that record to release the job amount, to refund all or part of it, or both. The poster and the worker are both told the outcome and the reason. The decision governs the payment held for the job. A refund decided because the worker did not do the job as posted, or for damage the worker caused, also counts as a strike, as section 12 of the Terms of Service describes. The decision is not a finding of legal liability, and it does not decide any other claim between the poster and the worker. Averentium aims to decide within 7 days.

9.Cancellations, withdrawals and safety stops

Before a worker accepts a job, the poster may cancel it in Help and is refunded in full, including the Help service fee.

A worker may withdraw from a job in Help at any time before checking in. The job opens again for other workers, and there is no penalty.

A poster may choose a different worker in Help at any time before the worker checks in. The worker is taken off the job, the job opens again, and there is no penalty to either of them. Averentium may limit how many times a poster can do this for one job. After a worker has accepted a job, a poster who wants to cancel it first chooses a different worker, so that the job is open again, and then cancels it.

Stop for safety. A worker may end a job at any time, for their own safety, by using Stop for safety, without penalty. If the worker had not checked in, the poster is refunded in full, including the Help service fee. If the worker had checked in, the job amount is held, and an administrator decides, in good faith on the job record, whether to refund it, to release it or to divide it between the poster and the worker, and whether to refund the Help service fee. The poster and the worker are both told the outcome. Averentium aims to decide within 7 days.

10.When a worker earns, and recovery from a worker

A worker earns the job amount for a job only when the poster confirms completion, when it is released automatically under section 7, or when an administrator releases it after a report or a Stop for safety. Until then it is held for the job and is not payable to the worker. A decision to refund part or all of the job amount to the poster means that part was never earned.

If an amount transferred to a worker is later refunded or charged back, Averentium may recover it from the worker only if it was refunded or charged back because of: (1) an approved report; (2) a card or bank dispute in which the job record shows the job was not done as posted; (3) the worker's own conduct; or (4) a prohibited job under section 13.

Averentium may recover such an amount, for the poster, only by reversing the transfer for that job through Stripe, or by setting the amount off against later transfers to the worker. No other method is used. Averentium tells the worker the amount and the reason before it recovers, except where Stripe acts on its own under its agreement with the worker. Averentium recovers no more than the amount refunded or charged back for that job, and charges no fee, fine or penalty. Averentium does not recover from a worker any loss caused by payment fraud the worker did not take part in, by the poster's conduct, or by Averentium's error. For workers, section 9 of the Independent Contractor Agreement says the same.

11.Card and bank disputes

Nothing in this Agreement limits any right you have under the Fair Credit Billing Act, the Electronic Fund Transfer Act or the rules of your card network, including your right to dispute a charge with your card issuer or bank. Before you dispute a charge, please report the problem in Help; a report is usually the quickest way to resolve it. If you dispute a charge, Averentium may hold any payment for that job that has not been released; give your card issuer, your bank and Stripe the record of the job, including photographs, times, locations, messages, payment records and your acceptance of this Agreement; and suspend your ability to post jobs while the dispute is open. If you disputed a charge for work you received as posted, you still owe that amount. A dispute or chargeback made outside the report process may lead to suspension of your account and to recovery of the amount where the law allows.

12.Holds

A payment for a job is held only:

(a) until the payment has settled and either the 24-hour period in section 7 has ended or the poster has confirmed completion;

(b) while a payment report on the job is open;

(c) while a card or bank dispute about the payment is open;

(d) while Stripe restricts the worker's payout account or needs information;

(e) while a fraud check, a review of a limit under section 6, or a legal requirement applies to that payment;

(f) while a report of illegal activity, or another severe report under section 12 of the Terms of Service, involving the job or either party is reviewed; or

(g) after a Stop for safety, until it is decided under section 9.

When the reason ends, the payment is released or refunded under this Agreement.

13.Prohibited jobs and illegal activity

Averentium may cancel a job that it reasonably believes is a prohibited use under section 11 of the Terms of Service, or is work that section 10 of the Terms of Service does not allow; refund the poster's payment to the method it came from; reverse or withhold the worker's transfer for that job; and hold amounts while a report, an investigation, or a request from law enforcement or Stripe is open. No one is entitled to be paid for a job whose work or purpose was illegal or was a prohibited use under section 11 of the Terms of Service. Where the work was lawful and was done as posted, but section 10 of the Terms of Service does not allow it on Help, Averentium may remove the job and act on the accounts involved, and the job amount is released or refunded under section 8 as for any other job. A person who pays for a prohibited job, or disputes a charge to recover money paid for one, remains liable for any resulting loss, fee or chargeback. Amounts unconnected with the prohibited use are released when the review ends.

14.Payouts to workers and worker setup

A worker cannot accept a paid job until worker setup is complete and Stripe has enabled transfers to the worker's payout account. Setup collects the worker's identity, date of birth, taxpayer identification number and bank details directly into Stripe, in screens Stripe provides inside Help. Averentium never receives or stores a worker's Social Security number or bank account number. Once funds are available, Stripe pays them out to the worker's bank account daily; a first payout, or one that Stripe reviews, may take longer. Averentium pays Stripe's fees for the payout account and keeps no part of any payout.

15.Authorisation for payout account activity

You authorise Averentium, and Stripe acting on Averentium's instructions, to: open, maintain, update, restrict and close a payout account for you; submit and update the identity, tax and bank information you provide; receive from Stripe your verification, account, balance, payout and tax-form status; create transfers to your payout account and set or change your payout schedule; hold or delay a transfer or payout as this Agreement allows; reverse a transfer for a job, in whole or in part, where a refund or dispute relates to that job or to correct an error; reduce later transfers to you by any amount you owe under this Agreement; and share your information and your transaction information with Stripe as the Privacy Policy describes. This authorisation is limited by sections 10 and 12.

16.Stripe

Payment processing services for workers on Help are provided by Stripe and are subject to the Stripe Connected Account Agreement (https://stripe.com/connect-account/legal/full), which includes the Stripe Terms of Service (https://stripe.com/legal/ssa) (collectively, the Stripe Services Agreement). By agreeing to this Agreement or continuing to operate as a worker on Help, you agree to be bound by the Stripe Services Agreement, as the same may be modified by Stripe from time to time. As a condition of Help enabling payment processing services through Stripe, you agree to provide Help accurate and complete information about you and your business, and you authorize Help to share it and transaction information related to your use of the payment processing services provided by Stripe.

A worker accepts the Stripe Services Agreement on the Working on Help screen, and Averentium gives Stripe the date, network address and device of that acceptance. Stripe's bank partners are listed at https://stripe.com/legal/acquirer-disclosure. Stripe's Privacy Policy is at https://stripe.com/privacy. Averentium may tell you about changes to Stripe's terms. Section 19 of the Independent Contractor Agreement applies this section to a worker's payout account, and section 3 of the Terms of Service explains Stripe's role in Help.

17.Taxes

Taxes on what a poster pays. Where a law requires Averentium to collect a sales, use or similar tax on a job or on the Help service fee, Averentium may add it to the total as a separate line shown before you pay. Otherwise, any use tax or other tax the law places on you as the buyer is yours. Averentium issues no tax form to posters.

You are responsible for reporting your earnings and filing and paying all federal, state, local, and other taxes applicable to you. Help and AVERENTIUM LLC do not prepare or file your personal income tax return. When required, AVERENTIUM LLC or its payment and tax reporting provider may report payments made to you to federal or state tax authorities and provide you with applicable tax documents.

Tax reporting. Averentium, itself or through a service provider it chooses (currently Stripe), files the information returns the law requires Averentium to file about amounts paid to workers through Help, furnishes the statements the law requires, and files with a state where the law of that state requires it. Averentium decides in good faith, from its own records, which form applies, the amounts reported, the year in which an amount is reported, and any code the form requires. Where the form requires gross amounts, amounts later refunded, reversed or recovered are not subtracted. Averentium may file a return even where it is not required to, and may file corrected returns. An amount recovered from a worker in a later year does not change a form filed for an earlier year. These decisions are made to meet Averentium's own legal obligations and are not tax advice. If you believe a form is wrong, tell Averentium through Report a Problem in Help; your remedy under this Agreement is a corrected form where the law allows one; this does not limit any right the law gives you.

18.Payment errors and unclaimed funds

If a payment is made in error, such as a duplicate charge, a wrong amount or a payment to the wrong person, Averentium may correct it, and you must return any amount paid to you by mistake. If an amount released to a worker cannot be transferred, or a refund cannot be delivered, Averentium keeps it with Stripe for the person entitled to it and, if it remains unclaimed, handles it as the unclaimed property laws that apply require. It is never forfeited to Averentium.

19.Administrator decisions

Averentium makes decisions under this Agreement through its administrators, who act only on Averentium's behalf. To the fullest extent the law allows, Averentium is not liable for a payment decision made in good faith on the job record, and no owner, member, manager, operator or administrator of Averentium is personally liable for any payment decision.

20.Receipts and records

The amounts charged, refunded and tipped for a job are shown with that job in Help. Every movement of money is recorded in an append-only ledger. You may ask for a statement of your own payments by emailing contactus@averentium.com.

21.General

Sections 22 and 24 to 27 of the Terms of Service apply to this Agreement, and so do sections 30 and 31 of the Terms of Service. Changes to this Agreement are made only as section 27 of the Terms of Service describes, and a change never affects a payment already made. Nothing in this Agreement waives a right that the law does not allow to be waived.