Terms of service

This page explains our terms of use. When you use Buyreply, you’re agreeing to all the rules on this page. Some of them need to be expressed in legal language, but we’ve done our best to offer you clear and simple explanations of what everything means — hence the brief summaries in these blue boxes. The summaries, for the record, are not part of the official legal terms.

Welcome to Buyreply.

By using this website (the "Site") and services (together with the Site, the "Services") offered by Buyreply Inc. (together with its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, agents, representatives, consultants, employees, officers, and directors - collectively, "Buyreply," "we," or "us"), you're agreeing to these legally binding rules. You're also agreeing to our Privacy Policy, and agreeing to follow any other rules on the Site. These terms and conditions, as well as our Privacy Policy and other rules on the Site, are referred to as these "Terms".

We may change these Terms from time to time. If we change them, we'll let you know about any material changes, either by notifying you on the Site or by sending you an email. New versions will never apply retroactively - we'll tell you the exact date they go into effect and these terms will always bear a "last updated" date. If you keep using Buyreply after a change, that means you accept the new Terms.

You may only use Buyreply for your personal, non-commercial use.

To sign up for a Buyreply account, you need to be 18 or over. You’re responsible for your account and all the activity on it.

You can browse Buyreply without registering for an account. But to use some of Buyreply's functions, you'll need to register, choose a username, and set a password. When you do that, the information you give us has to be accurate and complete. Don't impersonate anyone else or choose names that are offensive or that violate anyone's rights or these Terms. If you don't follow these rules, we may cancel your account.

You're responsible for all the activity on your account, and for keeping your password confidential. If you find out that someone has used your account without your permission, you should report it to support@buyreply.com.

To sign up for an account, you need to be at least 18 years old, or old enough to form a binding contract where you live. If necessary, we may ask you for proof of age.

This section is a list of things you probably already know you shouldn’t do — lie, break laws, abuse people, steal data, hack other people’s computers, and so on. Please behave yourself. Don’t do this stuff.

• Don't break the law. Don't take any action that infringes or violates other people's rights, violates the law, or breaches any contract or legal duty you have toward anyone, including under these Terms.

• Don't lie to people. Don't post information you know is false, misleading, or inaccurate. Don't do anything deceptive or fraudulent.

• Don't victimize anyone. Don't do anything threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libelous, tortious, obscene, profane, or invasive of another person's privacy.

• Don't spam. Don't distribute unsolicited or unauthorized advertising or promotional material, or any junk mail, spam, or chain letters. Don't run mail lists, listservs, or any kind of auto-responder or spam on or through the Site.

• Don't harm anyone's computer. Don't distribute software viruses, or anything else (code, films, programs) designed to interfere with the proper function of any software, hardware, or equipment on the Site (whether it belongs to Buyreply or another party).

We also need to make sure that the Site is secure and our systems function properly. So don’t do any of these things — most of which boil down to “don’t mess with our system.”

• Don't try to interfere with the proper workings of the Services.

• Don't interfere with, bypass, impede or frustrate any measures we've put in place to secure the Services, including any identity verification services we use to verify your identity.

• Don't try to damage or get unauthorized access to any system, data, password, or other information, whether it belongs to Buyreply or another party.

• Don't take any action that imposes an unreasonable load on our infrastructure, or on our third-party providers. (We reserve the right to determine what's reasonable.)

• Don't use any kind of software or device (whether it's manual or automated) to "crawl" or "spider" any part of the Site.

• Don't take apart or reverse engineer any aspect of Buyreply in an effort to access things like source code, underlying ideas, or algorithms.

Buyreply is a question and answer crowdfunding platform. Users can ask questions from public figures by pledging them money for replies.

To ask a question a user must pledge $5 USD or more to a public figure. Once a question has been added to a public figure’s profile it cannot be removed and the pledge cannot be cancelled. The public figure has 30 days to reply. During that time any Buyreply user can contribute additional pledges to that question, to encourage the public figure to reply. Pledges made to existing questions must be $1 USD or more. If after those 30 days the public figure does not reply the question is removed, the pledges are cancelled and no fees are taken.

When a question receives a reply the pledges made are automatically transferred to the public figure. Buyreply does not offer refunds for any reason whatsoever. It is the responsibility of users to take caution when asking questions or making pledges, including considering the public figure’s history of providing thoughtful answers. Buyreply takes no responsibility for a public figure’s failure to provide an answer, or an answer satisfactory to the user who posted it. Users who ask questions can rate the answers they receive. Average answer ratings are published on each public figure’s profile to help the community decide whom they should ask questions.

Buyreply and its payment partners may authorize or reserve a charge on your credit card (or whatever payment method you use) for any amount up to the full pledge, at any time. Buyreply deducts 10% of all pledges transferred plus $0.30 USD per transaction. All pledges are displayed and are made in USD. Foreign payment cards may be subject to additional exchange fees charged by their financial institution.

When a pledge can’t be transferred because a payment can’t be collected - for instance, when a user’s credit card expires before a reply is given - the sum of the pledges will accordingly be less than the full amount pledged after deduction of fees. If the total pledges for a question fall below $5 USD due to an unchargeable card the question is removed, the pledges are cancelled and no fees are taken.

If you are a public figure to whom a question has been asked on Buyreply, please provide a thoughtful and truthful answer, and note that you do not need to reply to any questions you do not want to answer. Also, please provide your own replies. It is against our rules for a public figure to have any third party answer questions on their behalf. Replies cannot be deleted from Buyreply so please answer with that in mind.

Public figures listed on Buyreply do not necessarily represent active accounts. Buyreply allows users to add new profiles prior to the public figure activating their own account. For a public figure to activate and begin replying to questions on Buyreply they must first verify their identity using the services provided by Buyreply. Buyreply has the right to deny any application to activate a public figure’s account and impersonation is strictly forbidden.

Buyreply isn’t liable for any damages or losses related to your use of the Services. We don’t become involved in disputes between users, or between users and any third party relating to the use of the Services. We don’t oversee the content or performance on the Site of any question or reply, and we don’t endorse any content users submit to the Site. When you use the Services, you release Buyreply from claims, damages, and demands of every kind - known or unknown, suspected or unsuspected, disclosed or undisclosed - arising out of or in any way related to such disputes and the Services. All content you access through the Services is at your own risk. You’re solely responsible for any resulting damage or loss to any party.

Buyreply charges 10% of all pledges transferred + $0.30 USD for each card payment made.

Creating an account on Buyreply and using the Services is free. If we charge a fee for our Services our Site will describe the fees and how they work. If our fees ever change, we'll announce that on our Site.

Our payment partners' may charge additional fees based on your location. Each payment partner is its own company, and Buyreply isn't responsible for its performance. You can read more about our payment partners here.

When you initially pledge we may - through our payment partners - place a hold on your payment method until the charge is finally made or canceled.

You're responsible for paying any additional fees or taxes associated with your use of Buyreply.

Unless the Site says otherwise, the fees that we charge are fully non-refundable.

If you follow a link to another website, what happens there is between you and them — not us.

Buyreply may contain links to other websites. When you access third-party websites, you do so at your own risk. We don't control or endorse those sites.

Buyreply partners with other companies (such as Stripe) for payment processing. When you process a payment using our Services you're also agreeing to the payment processor's terms of service.

We don’t own the stuff you post on Buyreply. But when you post it, you’re giving us permission to use or copy it however we need in order to run the Site, or show people what’s happening on it. (We generally just use this to showcase our community on the Site.) You’re responsible for the content you post, and you’re vouching to us that it’s all okay to use.

Buyreply doesn't own content you submit to us (including any feedback, comments or suggestions that you give to us or that you publish on the Site, your "Content"). But we do need certain licenses from you in order to perform our Services. When you publish any content to the Site you agree to these terms:

• We can use the content you've submitted. You grant to us, and others acting on our behalf, the worldwide, non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable, transferable right to use, exercise, commercialize, and exploit the copyright, publicity, trademark, and database rights with respect to your Content.

• When we use the content, we can make changes, like editing or translating it. You grant us the right to edit, modify, reformat, excerpt, delete, or translate any of your Content.

• You won't submit stuff you don't hold the copyright for (unless you have permission). Your Content will not contain third-party copyrighted material, or material that is subject to other third-party proprietary rights, unless you have permission from the rightful owner of the material, or you are otherwise legally entitled to post the material (and to grant Buyreply all the license rights outlined here).

• Any royalties or licensing on your Content are your responsibility. You will pay all royalties and other amounts owed to any person or entity based on your Content, or on Buyreply's hosting of that Content.

• You promise that if we use your Content, we're not violating anyone's rights or copyrights. If Buyreply or its users exploit or make use of your submission in the ways contemplated in this agreement, you promise that this will not infringe or violate the rights of any third party, including (without limitation) any privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, contract rights, or any other intellectual property or proprietary rights.

• You're responsible for the stuff you post. All information submitted to the Site, whether publicly posted or privately transmitted, is the sole responsibility of the person from whom that content originated.

• We're not responsible for mistakes in your content. Buyreply will not be liable for any errors or omissions in any content.

The content on Buyreply is protected in various ways. You do have the right to use it for certain personal purposes, but you can’t use it for anything commercial without getting permission first.

Buyreply's Services are legally protected in various ways, including copyrights, trademarks, service marks, patents, trade secrets, and other rights and laws. You agree to respect all copyright and other legal notices, information, and restrictions contained in any content accessed through the Site. You also agree not to change, translate, or otherwise create derivative works of the Service.

Buyreply grants you a license to reproduce content from the Services, for your personal use only. This license does not apply to you if you are our competitor - you may not use the Services for any competitive purpose. This license covers both Buyreply's own protected content and user-generated content on the Site. (This license is worldwide, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, and non-transferable.) If you want to use, reproduce, modify, distribute, or store any of this content for a commercial purpose, you need prior written permission from Buyreply or the relevant copyright holder. A "commercial purpose" means you intend to use, sell, license, rent, or otherwise exploit content for commercial use, in any way.

You can delete your account at any time. Deleting your account won’t automatically make some content you’ve already posted go away.

You can terminate your account at any time through your account settings. We may retain certain information as required by law or as necessary for our legitimate business purposes. All provisions of these Terms, other than licenses granted to you in these Terms, survive termination of an account, including our rights regarding any content you've already submitted to the Site. (For instance, if you've asked a Question on the Site, deleting your account will not automatically remove the Question from the Site.) You can contact us at support@buyreply.com for additional information or to request content deletion (this is not available in all circumstances).

To operate, we need to be able to maintain control over what happens on our website. So in this section, we reserve the right to make decisions to protect the health and integrity of our system. We don’t take these powers lightly, and we only use them when we absolutely have to.

Buyreply reserves these rights:

• We can make changes to the Buyreply Site and Services without notice or liability.

• We have the right to decide who's eligible to use Buyreply. We can cancel accounts or decline to offer our Services. (Especially if you're abusing them.) We can change our eligibility criteria at any time. If these things are prohibited by law where you live, then we revoke your right to use Buyreply in that jurisdiction.

• We have the right to reject, cancel, interrupt, remove, or suspend any Question asked or any Answer given on the Site at any time and for any reason.

Buyreply is not liable for any damages as a result of any of these actions, and it is our policy not to comment on the reasons for any such action.

We work hard to provide you with great services, but we can’t guarantee everything will always work perfectly. This site is presented as-is, without warranties.

You use our Services solely at your own risk. They are provided to you "as is" and "as available" and without warranty of any kind, express or implied.

BUYREPLY SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE (INCLUDING ANY THAT MAY BE APPLICABLE UNDER STATUTE), AND ANY WARRANTIES IMPLIED BY ANY COURSE OF DEALING, COURSE OF PERFORMANCE, OR USAGE OF TRADE. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION (ORAL OR WRITTEN) OBTAINED BY YOU FROM BUYREPLY SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY. WE DO NOT REPRESENT, WARRANT OR COVENANT THAT ANY QUESTION YOU POSE USING THE SERVICES WILL BE ANSWERED TO YOUR SATISFACTION, OR AT ALL.

If you do something on Buyreply that winds up getting us sued, you have to help defend us.

If you do something that gets us sued, or break any of the promises you make in these Terms, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold us harmless from all liabilities, claims, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees and other legal costs) that arise from or relate to your use or misuse of Buyreply. We reserve the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to this indemnification clause, in which case you agree that you'll cooperate and help us in asserting any defenses.

If something bad happens as a result of your using Buyreply, we’re not liable (beyond a small amount).

To the fullest extent permitted by law, in no event will Buyreply, its directors, employees, partners, suppliers, or content providers be liable for any indirect, incidental, punitive, aggravated, consequential, special, or exemplary damages of any kind, including but not limited to damages (i) resulting from your access to, use of, or inability to access or use the Services; (ii) for any lost profits, data loss, or cost of procurement or substitute goods or services; (iii) for any conduct of content of any third party on the Site, or (iv) resulting from negligence. In no event shall Buyreply's liability for direct damages be in excess of (in the aggregate) one hundred U.S. dollars ($100.00).

We’re located in Ontario, Canada and any disputes with us have to be handled in Toronto, Ontario under Ontario law.

We at Buyreply encourage you to contact us if you're having an issue, before resorting to the courts. In the unfortunate situation where legal action does arise, these Terms will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada applicable in Ontario, and without application of the Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act or the United Nations Convention of Controls for International Sale of Goods. You agree that Buyreply and its Services are deemed a passive website that does not give rise to jurisdiction over Buyreply, either specific or general, in any jurisdiction other than the Province of Ontario. You agree that any action at law or in equity arising out of or relating to these Terms, or your use or non-use of Buyreply, shall be filed only in the courts located in the City of Toronto in the Province of Ontario, and you hereby consent and submit to the personal jurisdiction of these courts for the purposes of litigating any such action. You hereby irrevocably waive any right you may have to trial by jury in any dispute, action, or proceeding.

These are our official terms and our rules for how things work. (So if you ever see confusing or conflicting information about any of this stuff, just check these terms — they’re the last word.) Thanks so much for reading them, and for using Buyreply!

These Terms are the entire agreement between you and Buyreply with respect to the Services. They supersede all other communications and proposals (whether oral, written, or electronic) between you and Buyreply with respect to the Services and govern our future relationship. If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid under the law, that provision will be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that the Terms otherwise will remain in full force and effect and enforceable. The failure of either you or Buyreply to exercise any right provided for in these Terms in any way won't be deemed a waiver of any other rights.

These Terms are personal to you. You can't assign them, transfer them, or sublicense them unless you get our prior written consent. Buyreply has the right to assign, transfer, or delegate any of its rights and obligations under these Terms without your consent. Buyreply will provide you notice via email, written notice, or by conspicuously posting the notice on our Site.

These updated terms will go into effect on June 1, 2019, at 12 a.m. Eastern Time.