Terms of Service

Independent Contractor Status:

Interpreters and translators are independent contractors, not employees, partners, or agents of Talksie Inc. They are solely responsible for the manner and hours in which they perform their services.

Profile Eligibility:

Profiles must represent individual freelance interpreters or translators only. Agencies, companies, and third-party provider organizations are not permitted on the Platform. Talksie reserves the right to remove any profile that represents a non-individual entity without notice.

Profile Verification:

Only qualified interpreters and translators receive Verified status, and only verified profiles are visible to clients. To be verified, a professional must hold a degree in translation or interpreting, or an equivalent degree such as languages and literature, or a recognized professional certification, and have verifiable professional experience. Talksie may ask for supporting documents at any time. Talksie decides on verification through its internal review. Talksie may remove Verified status if the information behind it proves inaccurate or out of date.

Pricing of Services:

Interpreters and translators set their own rates — hourly, half-day, daily, per word, or per page. They may require a minimum engagement — for example, a minimum number of hours for on-site interpretation or a minimum booking period for day-rate work. Clients agree to honor stated minimums when engaging a professional.

No Benefits:

Interpreters and translators are not eligible for any employee benefits.

Taxes and Licenses:

Interpreters and translators are solely responsible for obtaining all necessary licenses and permits and for paying all applicable taxes on payments received through the Platform. Talksie may be required by law, including EU Council Directive (EU) 2021/514 (DAC7), to collect and verify identity and tax information from interpreters and translators, and to report their earnings on the Platform to tax authorities. Professionals agree to provide this information when asked. If it is not provided after two reminders, Talksie may hold payouts or suspend the account until it is.

Service Quality:

Interpreters and translators undertake to perform all work professionally, accurately, and in a timely manner.

Client Confidentiality:

Interpreters and translators must maintain strict confidentiality regarding all client information, project details, documents, and communications encountered through the Platform. This obligation survives termination of any project or account.

Prohibition on Using Client Data for AI Training:

Interpreters and translators are strictly prohibited from using any client data, documents, communications, or project materials obtained through the Platform to train, fine-tune, or improve any artificial intelligence or machine learning model, including large language models (LLMs). Violation of this prohibition is grounds for immediate removal from the Platform.

Conflict of Interest:

Interpreters and translators must disclose any conflict of interest to the client and to Talksie before accepting a project. This includes prior relationships with opposing parties, financial interests in the subject matter, or any circumstances that could affect impartiality.

Off-Platform Solicitation:

Interpreters and translators may not actively solicit clients found through the Platform to work outside the Platform in order to avoid Talksie's service fee. If a client independently offers an interpreter or translator a full-time employment position, this is welcomed — use Talksie for your ongoing freelance needs. However, any interpreter or translator found to be actively soliciting clients off-platform to circumvent fees will have their profile permanently removed.

Project Engagement:

Clients engage interpreters and translators for specific projects based on terms agreed between both parties, including scope, deadlines, and the professional's quoted rate.

Minimum Engagements:

Clients must respect any minimum engagement requirements stated by the interpreter or translator. If a professional charges a half-day or daily rate, the client cannot unilaterally reduce the engagement to an hourly rate after booking. Minimums must be agreed upon before the project begins.

Payment:

Clients agree to pay the total agreed amount — the professional's quoted rate plus Talksie's 20% service fee — through the Platform's payment system before work commences.

Materials:

Clients warrant that they have all necessary rights and permissions for any source materials provided to interpreters or translators. Clients agree to indemnify Talksie Inc. and the professional against any third-party claims arising from client-provided materials.

Conduct Toward Professionals:

Clients must communicate respectfully and professionally with all interpreters and translators on the Platform. Discriminatory, abusive, threatening, or harassing behavior is strictly prohibited and grounds for immediate account termination.

Inappropriate Messages:

If a client sends an inappropriate, threatening, discriminatory or harassing message to an interpreter or translator, Talksie may share that message with relevant authorities, law enforcement or legal advisers, and may take any action under Section 12 to protect the professional.

Client Data Sharing:

Clients may not share interpreter or translator contact details, personal information, or platform communications with third parties without the explicit written consent of the professional.

Talksie Service Fee:

Talksie charges clients a 20% service fee on top of the interpreter's or translator's quoted rate. This fee covers platform maintenance, payment processing, and client support. The total amount — professional's rate plus 20% — is shown clearly before payment.

No Fee for Interpreters & Translators:

Building a profile and listing services on Talksie is completely free for interpreters and translators, and Talksie deducts nothing from your quoted rate — you receive 100% of what you quote. Standard payout costs charged by Stripe, Wise, or your own bank (such as transfer or currency conversion fees) are borne by the professional and vary by country.

Payment holds:

Clients pay invoices through Talksie. Payments are processed by Stripe, and Talksie holds each payment until it is released under this section. When the interpreter or translator marks the job delivered, the client is notified by email and has 48 hours to raise an issue through the Platform. If no issue is raised within that period, Talksie releases the funds to the interpreter or translator. If an issue is raised, Talksie continues to hold the funds until it resolves the issue.

Cancellation and Refunds:

• If the interpreter or translator cancels: the client receives a full refund.
• If the client cancels before work has started: the client receives a full refund.
• If the client cancels after work has started: a partial refund will be issued based on the portion of work completed, as assessed by Talksie. The interpreter or translator will be compensated for work already performed.
• Minimum engagement fees are non-refundable once work has commenced if the professional has honored their availability commitment.

Chargebacks:

Initiating a chargeback through your bank or payment provider without first going through Talksie's dispute process is a violation of these Terms and may result in account suspension.

Payment Setup:

Interpreters and translators must complete Stripe Connect or Wise account setup within 30 days of their first booking. Payments will be held until setup is complete.

Disputes:

If either party is dissatisfied with a project, they may raise a dispute within 48 hours after the job is marked delivered, through the Platform or by contacting Talksie at info@talksie.app. Talksie will review the dispute manually and make a final determination. Talksie's decision is final.

Platform IP:

All intellectual property rights in the Platform — including software, design, trademarks, and content — are owned by or licensed to Talksie Inc.

Professional Work Product:

Upon full payment for a project, the client acquires the agreed-upon rights of use for the translation or interpretation provided. The professional may retain moral rights as applicable by law.

Client Materials:

Clients retain all intellectual property rights to their original source materials.

12.1 How we moderate:

Talksie reviews reports and flagged activity by hand. We use automated checks to block disposable email addresses, to limit how many new conversations a new client can start each day, and to alert us when messages are sent. A person makes every final decision to restrict or remove an account.

12.2 Grounds for action:

Talksie may issue a warning, remove content, hold payouts, or suspend or permanently remove an account or profile for any of the following.

Interpreters and translators:

• Unprofessional communication with clients
• Asking a client to pay outside the Platform
• Agreeing to receive payment outside the Platform
• Soliciting clients to work off the Platform to avoid the service fee
• False or misleading information about identity, qualifications, certifications, experience or languages
• A profile that represents an agency, a company or anyone other than the individual professional
• More than one account
• Breaching client confidentiality, or recording a session without consent
• Using client data to train AI models
• Failing to disclose a conflict of interest
• Repeated no-shows, late cancellations, or not responding to confirmed bookings
• Failing to provide required tax or payout information

Clients:

• Registering with false company details or without a genuine business
• Discriminatory, abusive, threatening or harassing behavior toward professionals
• Asking a professional to accept payment outside the Platform
• Sharing a professional's contact details or messages without their written consent
• Filing a chargeback without first using Talksie's dispute process

All users:

• Fraud, phishing or scam attempts, including links meant to deceive other users
• Impersonating another person or business
• Illegal content or unlawful use of the Platform
• Fake or manipulated reviews
• Trying to bypass security measures or contact limits, or scraping the Platform
• Any breach of Section 11 (Zero Tolerance Policy)

12.3 Notice and reasons:

When Talksie restricts or removes an account, content or payouts, we email the affected user a notice. It states what action we took, whether it is temporary or permanent, the facts behind it, the section of these Terms or the law it relies on, and how to appeal. For less serious issues, we usually send a warning first. Where needed to stop fraud or protect users, we may act immediately and send the notice right after.

12.4 Appeals:

You may appeal any decision within 60 days by emailing info@talksie.app with “Appeal” in the subject line. A person who reviews it will reply by email, normally within 14 days. If we find the decision was wrong, we will reverse it.

12.5 Payments after removal:

If an account is removed, payment for completed work that is not in dispute will still be released to the professional, and clients will be refunded for work not yet started, unless the funds are linked to fraud.

12.6 Closing your account:

You may close your account at any time by emailing info@talksie.app.

Reporting content or conduct:

Anyone can report content or behavior on the Platform they believe is illegal or breaks these Terms by emailing info@talksie.app. Please include where it is (a profile link or the conversation), why you believe it is illegal or breaks these Terms, your name and email address, and a statement that your report is accurate and made in good faith. We will confirm receipt, review the report and tell you what we decided.

Complaints:

Send any complaint about the Platform, a user or a decision we made to info@talksie.app.

Contact point under the EU Digital Services Act:

info@talksie.app is Talksie's single point of contact for users and for EU Member State authorities, the European Commission and the European Board for Digital Services. We communicate in English.