Socialync Marketplace Terms

These Marketplace Terms apply when you use the Socialync creator marketplace, either as a Brand hiring creators or as a Creator taking paid work. In them, "Socialync", "we" and "us" mean Socialync LLC, and "you" means the account holder using the marketplace.

They are in addition to the Socialync Terms of Service, the Acceptable Use Policy and the Privacy Policy, all of which continue to apply. You accept these terms separately, when you set up a brand or creator profile, because they carry obligations that most Socialync users never encounter. Where they conflict with the general Terms of Service on a marketplace matter, these terms govern.

An "Engagement" is a deal between a Brand and a Creator arranged through the marketplace. The "Content Agreement" is the document generated at the point of hire and signed by both of them.

Socialync is a venue and a verification service. We publish job listings, let creators apply, generate the Content Agreement from the choices the parties made, verify that deliverables were actually published through connected accounts, report the performance statistics those platforms return, and provide the page a Brand pays a Creator on. What that page does, and what it does not do, is set out in section 5.

Socialync is not a party to any Content Agreement. Every Engagement is a contract directly between a Brand and a Creator. We are not an employer, an agent, a talent agency, a manager, a broker or a representative of either side. We do not negotiate for anyone, we do not select creators on a brand’s behalf, and we do not procure engagements for creators. We do not set, propose or negotiate what a Creator is paid: a Brand states the pay in its listing, and a Creator decides whether to apply on those terms. Creators choose which listings to apply to, and brands choose which applications to accept.

A Brand may invite a Creator to apply to one of its campaigns only if that Creator has already applied to, or worked with, that Brand, or if the Brand already knows that Creator’s exact handle and types it in itself. An invite is the Brand’s own message. It promises no work and no pay, the Creator still has to apply, and the Creator still has to meet every requirement of the campaign. Socialync does not list, suggest, choose or rank who is invited, and we run no directory of Creators for Brands to search or browse. When a Brand invites by handle, we do not tell it whether that handle belongs to anyone on Socialync. A Creator can switch invites off at any time in their profile, and a Brand may not invite a Creator who has.

A Creator’s public page is the Creator’s own opt-in portfolio. It is unlisted, which means it is reachable by its link and is not listed or searchable on Socialync, and we do not promote it to Brands. Our support team never proposes, negotiates or relays pay, for either side.

Socialync is not a guarantor. We do not promise a Brand that a Creator will deliver, and we do not promise a Creator that a Brand will pay. We do not hold, transmit, insure or advance any payment between a Brand and a Creator.

Socialync does not give legal, tax or accounting advice. The Content Agreement is produced by software from your own answers. Nobody at Socialync reviews it for you or advises you on it. Each party should take its own advice before signing.

You must be 18 or older to use the marketplace, whichever side you are on, and you must be able to form a binding contract. This is stricter than the general Socialync eligibility age, because an Engagement is a binding contract and a minor can walk away from one afterwards, which leaves the other party holding nothing. When you accept these terms you confirm that you are 18 or older. This applies to Brands as well as Creators.

Socialync is a US company and must follow US sanctions law. You may not use the marketplace if you are in, or ordinarily live in, a country or region under comprehensive US sanctions (currently Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and the Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine), or if you are on a US sanctions list, or act for someone who is. We may refuse an account, remove listings, or close an account to comply with the law, without notice where the law requires it.

If you set up a brand, you confirm you are authorised to enter contracts on behalf of the legal entity you name, and that the entity exists and is the one that will pay.

If you take work as a Creator, you confirm the connected accounts on your profile are yours, and that you act as an independent contractor of the Brand. You are not an employee, worker or contractor of Socialync, and nothing in the marketplace creates that relationship.

One account per person or entity. An account created to get around a suspension is not permitted, and neither is using someone else’s.

A published listing is an offer to hire on the terms it states. Applying, being offered a slot and signing forms the Content Agreement. It takes effect only once both parties have signed, and not before.

The version of the agreement snapshotted at the Creator’s signature is the one that governs that Engagement. Editing a listing afterwards does not reach back and change a deal already struck.

Socialync stores a copy of every agreement together with a SHA-256 fingerprint of its terms, taken at signature. If any copy of a document differs from the one we hold, the one we hold governs.

We generate the document. We do not review it, approve it, or represent that it suits your situation or is enforceable where you live.

Socialync provides an in-platform payment facility, built on Stripe Connect. A Creator who has completed Stripe’s onboarding holds their own Stripe account, and when a Brand pays that Creator through Socialync the charge is made directly to that account. The Creator is the merchant of record for it.

No payment between a Brand and a Creator is ever held by Socialync. It does not pass through a Socialync account, it is not held in trust or on account by us at any point on any rail, and we do not forward it. We cannot hold it back, release it, or pay a Creator on a Brand’s behalf, and we have no obligation to pay a Creator anything if a Brand does not.

Socialync takes no commission and no fee out of a payment from a Brand to a Creator. Not a percentage, not a flat charge, not a markup on the processing cost. We are paid by the Brand, separately and on our own invoice, through the fees described in section 6, and by nothing else on the marketplace. Stripe’s own processing fee is deducted from the charge by Stripe and borne by the Creator as merchant of record.

The payment card a Brand adds when setting up a brand profile is verified with a zero-value authorisation. It is there to prove a real payment instrument behind a real identity. We may charge it for the Socialync fees described in section 6, and for nothing else. We will never charge it, or any other stored instrument, for money you owe a Creator: no reminder, deadline, sweep or other automatic process in the marketplace ever results in us taking a payment for a Creator. Every such payment happens on a page where the Brand chooses the method and confirms the amount.

When a payment falls due is set by the Content Agreement the parties signed, normally a stated number of days after delivery is confirmed. Confirming delivery inside Socialync records that the required posts went live. It is evidence of delivery and it starts the clock the parties agreed to. It is not a payment instruction to us, and it does not make us responsible for the payment that falls due. While a payment is outstanding we email the Brand reminders carrying a link to the payment page. A reminder is a request, not a charge.

Above the amount stated on the payment page, currently one thousand US dollars, a payment is made by bank debit from a business bank account rather than by card. That is a rule about which method each side can safely carry on a payment that size, not a fee, and it changes only the method.

A chargeback, reversal or payment dispute on a payment to a Creator runs between the person who paid, the Creator’s Stripe account and Stripe, and is decided under the Stripe Connected Account Agreement. Socialync is not a party to it, does not decide it, does not fund it and does not indemnify either side against its outcome. A Creator who onboards to Stripe through Socialync enters that agreement with Stripe directly, and it is incorporated into these terms by reference as it applies to marketplace payments. Reversing a payment does not cancel, reduce or excuse anything owed under a Content Agreement.

Where the in-platform facility is not available for a deal, including where a Creator is outside the countries Stripe payouts are open to, the Brand pays the Creator directly and outside Socialync, exactly as the marketplace worked before the facility existed. A Brand that pays a Creator outside Socialync is responsible for any tax reporting that payment requires of it. Nothing here obliges us to offer the facility for any particular deal, in any particular country, or to keep offering it at all.

Non-payment by a Brand is an enforcement matter under section 11 and a contract claim against that Brand. It is not a claim against Socialync.

Socialync has no subscription for Brands. We charge a fee on each campaign instead, and you agree to it once, before your first campaign is published. There is no charge to set up a profile, to write drafts or to receive applications.

Organic campaigns, meaning every campaign that is not a partnership ad or an ad video campaign, carry a service fee to the Brand of 5% of the contract value of each job. The contract value is what the Brand agreed to pay the Creator for that job in the Content Agreement, including a bonus once it is earned. It is counted when the Brand confirms delivery (or delivery is confirmed for the Brand under the confirmation deadline), and, for a bonus or a per-view payment, when it is settled. It is counted from the agreed figure, not from any charge, so it applies in the same way whether the Brand pays the Creator through Socialync or off the platform. The Creator receives one hundred percent of the agreed payment; the fee is a separate amount the Brand owes Socialync for its service, invoiced to the Brand on Socialync’s own account and never deducted from, added to or collected out of any payment to a Creator.

Ads campaigns, meaning a partnership ad or an ad video campaign, pay the ads fee instead of the organic fee: 1.5% of attributed sales on a campaign whose commission is on purchases, or 1.25% of ad spend on every other ads campaign, and never both on one campaign. Attributed sales are measured by the same figure the Creator’s commission statement is paid on. Ad spend is measured by the ad platform’s own reported spend on ads launched or matched through Socialync. One campaign pays one fee, never both the ads fee and the organic fee.

Both fees are billed monthly, in arrears, to the card on file as lines on one Socialync invoice. You agree to each fee once, before the first campaign of that kind is published. We may change a fee with at least 30 days notice, and a change never applies to a job whose Content Agreement was signed before it.

To publish a campaign you need a verified payment card and at least one social account connected to your Socialync account. Until a Creator has been paid through Socialync you may run one campaign at a time.

If you turn on showing your logo on Socialync’s site, you confirm that you are entitled to allow it. You give Socialync a revocable, non-exclusive licence to show your logo and brand name as a brand that uses Socialync, on our website and marketing. You can turn it off at any time in your brand profile, and we will remove it within a reasonable time afterwards. It is off unless you turn it on.

Refunds follow the standard Socialync refund policy in the Terms of Service.

If you dispute a Socialync fee charge with your card issuer or bank rather than asking us for a refund, we may suspend your marketplace access and unpublish your open listings while the dispute runs. A chargeback against Socialync does not cancel, void or excuse any Content Agreement you have signed. Money you owe a Creator is owed to the Creator, and reversing a payment to us does not reverse it.

If a fee invoice is not paid, you cannot publish new campaigns or launch new ads until it is settled. Campaigns and ads already running are not paused, and Creators you have hired are unaffected. The fees are separate from, and are never taken out of, any payment to a Creator. While a fee is owed you may replace the card on file but not remove it, your ad account stays connected, and your Socialync account cannot be deleted, until it is settled.

Where the in-platform facility applies to your deal, the Brand pays you by a charge made directly to your own Stripe account, and you are the merchant of record for it. Where it does not, the Brand pays you directly by whatever method the two of you agree. Either way Socialync is not a paymaster, never holds the money, and does not owe it to you. If a Brand does not pay, your claim is against that Brand under the agreement you both signed.

Completing Stripe’s onboarding is a condition of signing an agreement that pays through the facility. The Stripe account is yours, not ours: you hold the relationship with Stripe under the Stripe Connected Account Agreement, you see your own dashboard, Stripe’s processing fee comes out of each charge, and a dispute raised on one of your charges is handled on your account and counts on your record rather than on Socialync’s. We can pass on what Stripe tells us. We cannot overrule it.

You are an independent contractor of the Brand. Socialync does not withhold tax from anything you earn here and takes no cut of it. Where you are paid through your own Stripe account, Stripe collects your identity and tax information under your agreement with Stripe, and any information return arising from those charges is a matter between you and Stripe rather than a form we issue. Where a Brand pays you directly, off the platform, no form comes from either of us, though the Brand itself may have to report what it paid you and may ask you for a tax form so that it can. What you earn is your income to declare, in your own country, at your own responsibility, and you should take your own advice on it.

Tell us if a Brand does not pay after delivery was confirmed. We record it, it shows on that Brand’s record where the next creator can see it, and repeat non-payment gets them removed from the marketplace. We say this plainly: we cannot compel a Brand to pay you, and we will not pay you ourselves.

Payment terms are set in the Content Agreement you signed, including how any view bonus or per-thousand-view rate is measured and when it is settled. Read that before you sign, because that document, not this one, decides what you are owed.

We verify that a deliverable exists: that a post is live on the connected account it was promised on, and we read its metrics from the platform’s own API. We do not audit those metrics, we cannot tell you a view came from a real person, and we do not judge whether the work is any good.

We verify nothing about a shipment. When a Brand ships a product to a Creator, the Brand enters the carrier and tracking number and marks it shipped, and the Creator marks it arrived or reports a problem. Those are their statements, not ours: we do not check them against the carrier, we do not track, hold, inspect, insure or recover the product, and a tracking link we show is the carrier’s page, not our confirmation of anything on it.

Platforms delay, restate and sometimes withhold their numbers, and they change what they report without notice. Where a payment term depends on a number, both parties agree to use the figure Socialync recorded at the measurement point named in their agreement. If we cannot obtain a figure at all, the parties settle it between themselves.

Automatic confirmation of delivery after the period stated in an agreement is a mechanism the two parties agreed to when they signed. It is a contractual deadline running, not a judgement by Socialync that the work was acceptable.

Track records shown on the marketplace, such as how many of a Creator’s drafts brands approved, how many brands and videos that covers, how quickly a Brand usually answers applications, or how often a Brand paid after delivery was confirmed, are derived from what actually happened in the system. They are statements of record, not opinions and not accusations, and we show them to the other side so people can decide who to work with. They are counts. They do not name the other parties involved.

A Creator’s track record includes unconfirmed products: a product the Brand marked shipped, and gave notice through Socialync had gone unconfirmed, that the Creator neither marked arrived nor reported a problem with within 3 days of that notice (or that the Creator withdrew from while the notice was open). It records that no answer was given in that window. It is not a finding that the product was received, kept, lost or stolen, and we make no such finding.

A track record covers work done through Socialync and nothing else. A Creator or Brand with no history here is shown as new, which says nothing about their work elsewhere.

We do not edit or remove a track record because its subject asks us to. We correct one where the underlying record was wrong.

You may not manufacture a track record: no Engagements between accounts you control, no paying for or trading approvals, and nothing else done to make a number say something that did not happen.

If you fall out with the other party, the two of you resolve it, in good faith, on the terms of the agreement you signed. Socialync does not arbitrate, adjudicate, mediate or take sides.

A product a Brand ships to a Creator is shipped at the Brand’s own cost and risk, to the address the Creator gave for it, and is a matter between the Brand, the Creator and the carrier. Whether it was sent, whether it arrived, what condition it arrived in, and what is owed if it did not arrive or was not returned are decided between the two of you under your agreement. Socialync does not decide any of that, does not pursue a product or its value for either side, and is not liable for a product that is lost, delayed, damaged, kept or never sent.

On request from either party to an Engagement we will provide our records of that Engagement: what was published, when, the agreement as signed and its fingerprint, and the verified statistics we hold. Providing those records does not make us a party, an expert or a witness for either side. We also respond to lawful requests from courts and authorities as described in the Privacy Policy.

To the fullest extent the law allows, you release Socialync and our officers, employees and agents from every claim, demand, loss, liability and expense of any kind, known or unknown, arising out of or in any way connected with an Engagement, a Content Agreement, a payment or non-payment under one, content produced or published under one, a product shipped under one, or any other dealing between a Brand and a Creator who found each other through Socialync.

If you are a California resident, you waive California Civil Code section 1542, which says: "A general release does not extend to claims that the creditor or releasing party does not know or suspect to exist in his or her favor at the time of executing the release and that, if known by him or her, would have materially affected his or her settlement with the debtor or released party."

This release covers disputes with the other party. It does not release a claim that Socialync itself failed to provide the service you paid us for.

Any of the following is grounds for us to remove listings, suspend marketplace access, or close the account: not paying after delivery was confirmed; not delivering after signing; asking a Creator to remove, obscure or weaken a required advertising disclosure; any arrangement where a Creator buys the product and waits to be reimbursed; manufacturing a track record, including through Engagements between accounts you control; presenting yourself as a brand you have no authority to represent; taking a deal off the platform to avoid fees once fees apply; publishing a post made under an Engagement without the disclosure section 14 requires; buying or faking views, clicks, leads or sales to inflate a result that pay depends on; disconnecting tracking, or moving an ad outside the tracked campaign, to avoid commission; using a Creator’s content, name or likeness beyond what the Content Agreement allows, including to make a synthetic version of them; and anything prohibited by the Acceptable Use Policy.

For a Creator, not marking a shipped product arrived and not reporting a problem with it within 3 days of the Brand’s notice through Socialync ends that Engagement, and is recorded as an unconfirmed product under section 9. A Creator with 2 or more unconfirmed products in the last 12 months cannot apply for or sign new Engagements until we lift the bar. Engagements already signed are not affected by the bar. We lift it, or correct the record, where the record was wrong.

We may act on the evidence we hold without deciding who is right in an underlying dispute. Removing someone from the marketplace is a decision about whether we host them. It is not a ruling on their contract, and it neither settles nor affects what either party owes the other.

Enforcement outcomes may be recorded on the account and reflected in the track record shown to the other side.

You will defend, indemnify and hold harmless Socialync and our officers, employees and agents from any claim brought by a third party, and any resulting loss, liability, damages or reasonable legal costs, arising out of your use of the marketplace. This is in addition to, and does not replace, the indemnity in the Terms of Service.

For a Brand, that includes claims about the product, the claims you asked a Creator to make about it, the materials and trademarks you supplied, your non-payment, and your use of a Creator’s content beyond the licence you were granted.

For a Creator, that includes claims about the content you produced, anything included in it that was not yours to use, your failure to disclose a paid relationship as required, and your failure to deliver work you signed for.

The marketplace is provided as is. We do not promise that a Creator will be hired, that a Brand will find suitable creators, that anyone will earn anything, or that the marketplace will be available uninterrupted.

To the fullest extent the law allows, Socialync is not liable for indirect, incidental, special or consequential loss, or for lost profits, lost business, lost opportunity or lost data, arising out of the marketplace, however caused.

To the fullest extent the law allows, our total liability for all claims connected with the marketplace is limited to the fees you paid us in the 12 months before the claim arose, or 100 US dollars if you paid us nothing in that period. Creators pay Socialync nothing to use the marketplace, so for a Creator that limit is 100 US dollars.

Nothing here excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, including for fraud, and some jurisdictions do not allow certain exclusions, in which case the exclusion applies only as far as that jurisdiction permits.

Every post made under an Engagement is advertising, and the law requires the paid relationship behind it to be disclosed. The Creator must disclose it clearly in the post itself, where a viewer sees it without clicking through: #ad or #sponsored at the start of the caption, a spoken or on-screen statement in a video, or the platform’s own paid partnership label where that label is shown prominently. Payment by commission is a paid relationship exactly as a flat fee is, and needs the same disclosure, whether or not any commission has been earned yet.

A brand tag or mention is not a disclosure. That includes the brand mention Socialync adds to a caption on a partnership ad job, which exists so the platform can run the post as an ad and tells a viewer nothing about who paid whom.

A Brand must not ask a Creator to remove, hide or weaken a disclosure. A Brand is responsible for the claims it asks a Creator to make and must be able to substantiate them. A Brand must not ask a Creator to say they used a product they have not used, or to give an opinion they do not hold, and a Creator must not do either. Content must reflect the Creator’s honest opinion and real experience.

What we do about it: we set the rules out here and in the posting flow, we check the caption of a post tagged to an Engagement before it goes out and hold it until the Creator adds a disclosure or confirms the post is labelled the platform’s own way, we may review published posts, and we act on what we find under section 11. Those steps are there to help you comply. They are not legal advice, they do not make any post compliant, and they do not move responsibility for a disclosure away from the Creator who made the post and the Brand that paid for it.

Where an Engagement allows it, a Brand can run a Creator’s post as an ad from inside Socialync, for example as a Meta partnership ad or a TikTok Spark ad. The ad runs in the Brand’s own ad account, is paid for by the Brand to the ad platform, and is governed by the Brand’s own agreement with that platform. Socialync passes the Brand’s instructions to the platform through the connection the Brand authorised. Socialync is not the advertiser, does not buy media, does not fund ad spend, and is not responsible for a platform approving, rejecting, limiting, pausing or removing an ad, or for how an ad performs.

A Creator gives permission for a post to run as an ad through the platform’s own permission step. What a Brand may do with a Creator’s content, name, handle and likeness, and for how long, is set by the Content Agreement and by nothing in these terms. A Brand may use them only as that agreement allows and must stop an ad when the permission behind it ends. A Brand must not use a Creator’s content, voice or likeness to create a synthetic or AI-generated version of the Creator, or to train a model, unless the Content Agreement describes that specific use.

Where a Content Agreement pays commission on results, Socialync prepares a statement for each period from figures reported by the source named for that Engagement: the Brand’s ad account on the ad platform, or the Brand’s store through the Socialync Shopify app. A statement is our arithmetic on their figures under the terms the parties agreed. We do not audit those figures, we cannot see a sale that did not come through the tracked link, and platforms restate, delay and sometimes withhold what they report. Both parties agree to use the statement figures, subject to the dispute window in their Content Agreement. A disagreement about a statement is between the Brand and the Creator, and section 10 applies to it. We are not liable for a figure that a platform or a store reported wrongly, late or not at all.

A Brand must keep its ad account, its tracking pixel and any store connection working for as long as commission can accrue. If a connection lapses, results stop being counted until it is restored, and both sides are shown that it has happened. Commission does not stop being owed because tracking stopped: the Brand remains responsible to the Creator under their Content Agreement for results it received during a gap, and the two of them settle that period between themselves.

The Socialync Shopify app reads order identifiers, order amounts, refunds and the link an order arrived through, so that an order can be attributed to a Creator’s tracked link. It does not store the names, emails or addresses of a Brand’s customers. The Brand remains responsible for its own customers’ data and for making sure its own privacy notice allows this use. We use what the app reads only to calculate attribution for that Brand.

Commission is paid the same way as any other payment under section 5: on the payment page, by the Brand, confirmed by the Brand. A statement is never a charge.

These terms carry a version, shown at the top of this document. The current version is mkt-v8.

If we change them in a way that alters what you agreed to, we will ask you to accept the new version, and you will not be able to publish a listing or apply to one until you do. Content Agreements already signed keep their own terms and are unaffected by any change here.

The arbitration agreement and class action waiver in the Socialync Terms of Service apply to claims between you and Socialync arising from the marketplace. They do not apply between a Brand and a Creator: we are not a party to that relationship and do not purport to govern it. Their Content Agreement has its own governing law and dispute clause.

Governing law for these terms is the same as the Socialync Terms of Service.

If any part of these terms is held unenforceable, the rest stays in force. If we do not enforce something immediately, we have not given up the right to enforce it later.