Speaking Humans - Language Teacher Booking

speakinghumans.com is operated by Tim Freuler, a sole proprietorship under Swiss law, registered at Langgruetstr. 88A, 8047 Zurich, Switzerland ("speakinghumans.com", "we", "our", or "the Platform").

By creating an account or using speakinghumans.com, you ("you", "User", "Student", or "Teacher") agree to these Terms of Service.

1. About the Platform

The Platform is an online marketplace connecting language teachers and students for one-on-one online lessons.

The Platform does not provide lessons directly.

Defined Terms

Platform means speakinghumans.com and the related services operated by Tim Freuler.
User means any person who accesses or uses the Platform.
Teacher means a User who offers lessons or receives bookings through the Platform.
Student means a User who books or attends lessons through the Platform.
Lesson means a language-learning session arranged through the Platform.
Booking means a reservation for a Lesson made through the Platform.

2. Eligibility

Use of the Platform is limited to individuals who are at least 18 years old.
Each user account must be created, maintained, and used only by the person in whose name the account is registered.
Users are responsible for their identity, qualifications, authority to use the Platform, and compliance with applicable law.
The Platform may restrict or prohibit access from certain countries or regions where use of the Platform would violate applicable laws, sanctions, or payment provider requirements.

3. Accounts & User Responsibilities

Users are required to provide accurate, current, and complete account information.
Each user is responsible for all activity conducted through that user's account.
Impersonation, false identity claims, and misrepresentation of affiliation are prohibited.
The Platform may suspend, restrict, or terminate accounts for violations of these Terms or for conduct that creates legal, payment, fraud, or safety risk.

4. Teacher-Specific Terms

This Section 4 serves as the Platform's teacher and seller policy. It applies to all teachers who offer lessons, accept bookings, or receive payments through the Platform.

4.1 Independent Contractor Status

Teachers are independent contractors and not employees, partners, joint venturers, or agents of the Platform.
Teachers set their own availability and are responsible for the quality, legality, and delivery of lessons.
Teachers are responsible for their own taxes, VAT/GST, and business obligations. This includes compliance with all applicable reporting requirements in their jurisdiction.
Where required by applicable law, the Platform may also be subject to separate reporting and due diligence obligations in relation to Teachers and Teacher earnings (see Section 9.1).

4.2 Seller Eligibility & Account Standards

Teachers may offer only legitimate language-learning and tutoring services through the Platform.
Teachers must provide truthful, accurate, and not misleading profile information, pricing, availability, qualifications, and service descriptions.
Teachers may not list prohibited, illegal, deceptive, harmful, or unrelated services.
Teachers must maintain all permissions, registrations, and legal rights required to provide their services.
Teacher access and certain booking, calendar, and lesson-management features may require authentication through Google and the continued availability of the permissions necessary for those features.
The Platform is not responsible for lesson failures, interruptions, delays, missing Meet links, calendar-sync failures, or feature limitations caused by Google or other third-party providers, including outages, suspensions, API changes, permission revocations, or other provider-side restrictions.

4.3 Payments, PayPal, & Commission

The Platform acts solely as a facilitator of transactions between Users and does not itself provide payment services.
Payments are processed via PayPal multiparty; the Platform does not take custody of funds.
Teacher eligibility to accept bookings and receive payouts depends on successful PayPal seller onboarding, account status, and any verification, compliance, or review requirements imposed by PayPal or the Platform.
Teachers pay a 4.9% commission to the Platform per lesson.
The Platform may pause bookings, payouts, or seller visibility where PayPal onboarding, verification, risk review, or compliance status is incomplete or unsatisfactory.
Teachers act as the contracting providers of the Lessons and are responsible for determining applicable taxes, pricing, and legal compliance relating to their services.

4.4 Teacher Refund Responsibilities

The Platform's general cancellation, refund, and lesson-dispute rules are set out in Section 6 and apply to both Teachers and Students.
Where a lesson is not delivered, is cancelled, or is otherwise determined through the Platform's review process to be refundable, the teacher may be required to accept a refund or reversal.
Teachers may publish supplementary cancellation or refund rules only to the extent those rules are consistent with these Terms and applicable law.
The Platform does not act as the merchant of record and is not independently responsible for funding refunds from its own account.
The Platform acts as an intermediary in disputes and does not act as a court, arbitrator, or insurer of any transaction.

4.5 Restricted Seller Conduct

Teachers may not circumvent the Platform by directing students to complete bookings or payments off-platform.
Teachers may not use the Platform to launder funds, conceal the nature of transactions, or engage in suspicious payment activity.
Teachers may not misuse buyer information, payment information, or confidential Platform data.
Teachers must cooperate with reasonable compliance, safety, fraud, and dispute-related requests from the Platform.

4.6 Enforcement Against Sellers

The Platform may, acting reasonably and proportionately, reject, remove, or edit teacher content that violates these Terms, the Code of Conduct, applicable law, or payment-partner requirements.
The Platform may, acting reasonably and proportionately, pause bookings, suspend seller access, terminate seller accounts, or report suspected unlawful activity where necessary to protect users, the Platform, or payment partners.
Where required by applicable law, the Platform will provide at least 30 days' advance notice before terminating a Teacher account, unless immediate action is required due to legal, regulatory, safety, fraud, or security risks, repeated breaches, or other grounds that permit immediate action under applicable law.
Where required by applicable law, the Platform will provide a statement of reasons for significant restrictions, suspensions, or terminations of Teacher accounts.

4.7 Indemnification

Each teacher agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Platform, Tim Freuler, and their respective representatives from claims, damages, losses, liabilities, penalties, and reasonable legal costs, to the extent caused by or arising out of:

the teacher's conduct on or off the Platform in connection with lessons or student relationships;
lesson content, teaching materials, listings, profile statements, or service descriptions supplied by the teacher;
interactions, disputes, injuries, losses, or claims involving students or other third parties;
the failure to deliver booked lessons or to comply with stated cancellation, refund, or service obligations; and
any violation of applicable law, tax obligations, regulatory requirements, or third-party rights.

4.8 Reviews

Students may leave reviews about teachers.
The Platform may remove reviews that violate our Terms.

4.9 Ranking & Visibility

The order in which Teachers are displayed on the Platform may be influenced by various factors, including but not limited to:

availability and responsiveness;
lesson completion and confirmation rates;
student reviews and ratings;
profile completeness and activity; and
pricing and booking conversion rates.

The Platform does not guarantee any minimum level of visibility or bookings.

4.10 Seller Complaint Handling

Teachers may submit complaints regarding:

account suspension or restriction;
technological issues affecting bookings; and
Platform decisions impacting visibility or access.

Complaints may be submitted through designated support channels and any complaint functionality the Platform may make available. The Platform will review complaints in a reasonable, proportionate, and timely manner.

Nothing in this section limits any statutory rights Teachers may have under applicable law.

5. Student-Specific Terms

This Section 5 serves as the Platform's student and buyer policy. It applies to all students who create accounts, book lessons, or make payments through the Platform.

5.1 Buyer Eligibility & Account Standards

Student accounts must be used only by the named account holder and only with accurate account information.
The Platform may be used by students only for legitimate language-learning services offered through the Platform.
Fraudulent purchases, abusive disputes, testing of unauthorized payment methods, and other unlawful activity are prohibited.

5.2 Booking Lessons & Payments

Lessons may be booked only according to teacher availability as displayed on the Platform.
At the time of booking, the Student enters into a contract directly with the Teacher for the provision of the Lesson.
Payment is charged at the time of booking through the payment methods supported by the Platform.
Students pay a 3.5% processing fee per lesson unless a different fee is stated at checkout.
Students must use only payment methods they are authorized to use and must not initiate fraudulent, bad-faith, or abusive disputes, chargebacks, or payment reversals.

5.3 Student Cancellation & Refund Rights

The Platform's general cancellation, refund, and lesson-dispute rules are set out in Section 6 and apply to both Teachers and Students.
Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes any non-waivable rights that consumers may have under applicable law, including rights relating to withdrawal, cancellation, or refunds.
Where applicable under mandatory law, students may have statutory withdrawal or cancellation rights, except where such rights are lawfully excluded or do not apply.

5.4 Student Conduct During Lessons

Students are expected to behave respectfully and lawfully in lessons, messages, reports, and reviews.
Harassment of teachers, misuse of reporting tools, and attempts to pressure teachers into off-platform payments or rule-breaking communications are prohibited.

5.5 Reviews

Students may leave reviews to provide feedback on lessons.
Reviews must be honest, respectful, and comply with the Code of Conduct.

6. Cancellations, Refunds & Lesson Disputes

Subject to mandatory applicable law, cancellations made more than 24 hours before the scheduled lesson start time are eligible for a refund or reversal of the lesson price. Cancellations made within 24 hours are not guaranteed to be refundable and may be declined or adjusted by the Platform, acting reasonably and in good faith.
Refunds are assessed based on the circumstances of the booking, including the lesson outcome and any applicable review or dispute process, and remain subject to any non-waivable statutory rights.
Disputes concerning whether a lesson took place should normally be submitted through the Platform within 24 hours after the lesson ends. The Platform may request statements, records, or other relevant evidence from the parties and may resolve the dispute in a fair, reasonable, and proportionate manner based on the information available, taking into account applicable law and the legitimate interests of both parties.
Where a lesson is cancelled, not delivered, or found through the Platform's review process to warrant reversal, the transaction may be refunded or otherwise adjusted through the applicable payment flow.

7. Lesson Delivery

All lessons occur via Google Meet.
Lesson delivery and related booking features may fail, be delayed, or become unavailable due to Google Meet, Google Calendar, or other third-party services, including outages, suspensions, API changes, permission revocations, or technical limitations.
The Platform does not record lessons or provide hosting.
Teachers may not upload illegal or proprietary content.

8. Code of Conduct & Prohibited Activities

Users must act professionally, respectfully, and lawfully while using the Platform. Prohibited conduct includes:

Harassment, bullying, or intimidation
Hate speech or discriminatory behavior
Fraud, impersonation, or misrepresentation
Sharing explicit, harmful, or illegal content
Attempting to bypass the Platform or solicit off-platform payments
Sharing personal contact information of minors
Spam or misuse of communication features
Collection of other users' data without consent

The Platform may investigate and take action against accounts that violate these rules.

Users may report suspected violations, and after review, the Platform may remove offending content, pause bookings, suspend accounts, or terminate access to the Platform.

9. Data & Privacy

The Platform processes personal data as described in the Privacy Policy, including for account administration, bookings, payments, legal compliance, and tax-reporting purposes.

A separate Privacy Policy explains how personal data is collected, used, shared, retained, and protected, and how users may exercise applicable privacy rights.

9.1 Tax Reporting (including DAC7)

Where required by applicable law, including Directive (EU) 2021/514 ("DAC7") and any implementing national legislation, the Platform will collect, verify, and report information about Teachers to competent tax authorities within the European Union.

This may include, where required: identity information (such as name, address, and date of birth), tax residence and tax identification number(s) (TINs), payment account details, total consideration paid or credited to the Teacher, and the number of transactions or bookings.
Teachers must provide accurate and complete information reasonably requested for compliance, verification, or reporting purposes, and must keep that information up to date.
The Platform may use third-party providers or official databases where permitted by law to verify relevant information.
If a Teacher does not provide required information, the Platform may suspend, restrict, or terminate the account, or limit access to payouts or seller features, to the extent permitted or required by law.

9. Intellectual Property

All Platform content (brand, interface, code, design) is owned by Tim Freuler (Business name: speakinghumans.com).
Teachers retain rights to their teaching materials unless they upload content they do not own.

10. Limitation of Liability

The Platform provides a marketplace and workflow service and is not responsible for the quality, legality, safety, timing, or outcome of lessons provided by teachers or booked by students.
The Platform is not liable for user conduct, failed lesson attendance, cancellations, disputes between users, or the acts or omissions of third-party providers such as PayPal, Google, or network and hosting providers, including service interruptions, account restrictions, permission revocations, or other provider-side limitations.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Platform excludes liability for lost profits, loss of revenue, loss of business opportunity, data loss, and indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages.
Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability to the extent such exclusion or limitation is prohibited by applicable law.

11. Account Termination

Accounts may be suspended or terminated for violations of these Terms, harmful behavior, illegal activity, or risk to the safety or integrity of the Platform.
Users may close their own accounts at any time.

12. Governing Law & Dispute Resolution

These Terms are governed by Swiss law.
The exclusive place of jurisdiction for disputes arising out of or in connection with these Terms is Zurich, Switzerland, unless mandatory consumer protection laws provide otherwise.

13. Changes to Terms

The Platform may update these Terms at any time. Updated versions will be posted with a "Last updated" date. Continued use of the Platform constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

14. Contact

speakinghumans.com
Operated by Tim Freuler
Sole proprietorship under Swiss law
Langgruetstr. 88A
8047 Zurich
Switzerland

Email: speaking-humans@proton.me