The Platform sets standards for conduct and quality on the Platform. It does not direct, control, or supervise how you produce your Deliverables or how you manage your time, tools, or methods. You decide how you work. The Platform decides what standards apply on the Platform and whether your work meets them.

You are solely responsible for your own tax affairs, National Insurance contributions, insurance, professional memberships, and any other obligations that arise from operating as a self-employed professional in your jurisdiction. See Section 17 for further detail on tax and IR35.

Nothing in these Terms prevents you from offering your services through other platforms, directly to clients, or through any other channel. You are not exclusively contracted to Celestial Verity. However, any Order that originates as an enquiry on this Platform must be fulfilled through this Platform in accordance with Section 4 of the General Terms of Use and Section 12 of these Terms.

To apply for verification you must: (a) register an account on the Platform; (b) complete your Stripe Connect Express onboarding; (c) submit your portfolio through the verification application process; and (d) accept these Specialist Terms and the General Terms of Use. Your profile will not go live until all four steps are complete and the Celestial Verity team has reviewed and approved your portfolio.

The Platform assesses portfolio submissions against the quality and relevance of work demonstrated, the clarity and professionalism of how that work is presented, and the applicant's apparent capability to deliver AI services of the type they intend to list. The Platform's assessment is at its sole discretion. The Platform does not assess protected characteristics and will not exercise its discretion in a manner that constitutes unlawful discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.

The Platform may decline a verification application without providing detailed reasons. Where an application is declined, the applicant may reapply after 30 days with an updated portfolio. A declined application does not prevent reapplication and is not a permanent bar to Specialist status.

You warrant that all information submitted in your verification application is accurate, complete, and not misleading. You warrant that all portfolio items submitted are your own work or work you have the right to present as representative of your capability. Submitting false, misleading, or third-party work without authority constitutes a material breach of these Terms and the General Terms of Use and may result in immediate termination of your account.

To receive payouts you must complete Stripe Connect Express onboarding before your first listing goes live. Stripe's onboarding requires identity verification and bank account details. Celestial Verity does not have access to your full bank account details or identity documents — these are processed directly by Stripe under Stripe's own terms and privacy policy. You are responsible for maintaining your Stripe Connect account in good standing. If your Stripe Connect account is closed, restricted, or suspended by Stripe, your ability to receive payouts will be affected as described in Section 7.

Every Service Listing must: (a) accurately describe the service you offer; (b) be placed in the correct specialist category for that service; (c) state a Listed Price that reflects your genuine base rate; (d) contain no contact information of any kind — see Section 10 and General Terms Section 31.5; (e) contain no false or misleading claims about your skills, qualifications, or the outcomes you can guarantee; and (f) comply with the General Terms of Use Section 15 (Prohibited Conduct) in full.

Your Listed Price is the minimum starting point for Custom Offers in respect of that listing. You may send Custom Offers at, above, or — at your sole discretion — below your Listed Price for any specific engagement. The Listed Price displayed on your listing is not a commitment to deliver any service at that price without first sending and having the Buyer accept a Custom Offer.

You are responsible for keeping your listings accurate. If your availability changes, your Listed Price changes, or the scope of what you offer changes materially, you must update your listing promptly. Listings that are materially inaccurate or misleading may be removed by the Platform without notice.

Where you are unavailable for an extended period, you must notify the Platform by emailing support@celestialverity.com so that your listing status can be updated accordingly. The Platform may deactivate listings where a Specialist demonstrates a consistent pattern of non-response to Buyer enquiries, at the Platform's sole discretion.

Before sending a Custom Offer, you must send the Buyer a Pre-Offer Disclosure Message through the Platform's messaging inbox. This message must: (a) describe the specific scope of work you are proposing; (b) state the price you intend to propose in the Custom Offer; (c) confirm the delivery date you are proposing; (d) disclose any AI Tool you intend to use in producing the Deliverable; (e) provide a link to the General Terms of Use; and (f) provide a link to the Buyer Terms. The Pre-Offer Disclosure Message is part of the Order Record and cannot be deleted or edited after sending.

A valid Custom Offer must contain as a minimum: (a) a clear description of the specific scope of work; (b) the total price in GBP; (c) the delivery date; (d) the number of revisions included; and (e) disclosure of any AI Tool to be used in producing the Deliverable. A Custom Offer that omits any of these elements is incomplete. An accepted incomplete Custom Offer may be cancelled at the Platform's discretion without penalty to either party.

When a Buyer accepts your Custom Offer and payment is successfully processed, an Order is formed. The Custom Offer defines the binding scope of that Order. You may not unilaterally change the scope, price, delivery date, or revision allowance after the Order is formed. Any change requires the Buyer's written agreement through the Platform's messaging inbox.

A Custom Offer that has not been accepted expires 7 calendar days after it is sent, unless you extend or withdraw it earlier. You may withdraw a Custom Offer at any time before it is accepted. Once accepted, it cannot be withdrawn.

Each engagement with a Buyer results in a single Custom Offer reflecting the full agreed scope and price. You must not send multiple overlapping Custom Offers for the same engagement or split a single agreed scope across multiple offers.

Your Deliverable must: (a) conform to the scope agreed in the Custom Offer; (b) be produced with reasonable care and skill; (c) be original or properly licensed; (d) not infringe any third-party intellectual property rights; and (e) match the AI Tool disclosure made in the Pre-Offer Disclosure Message and Custom Offer.

You must deliver the Deliverable by the date stated in the accepted Custom Offer. If you anticipate that you will not meet the delivery date, you must notify the Buyer through the inbox as soon as practicable and submit a formal extension request before the delivery date passes, or as soon as reasonably practicable where Platform access was unavailable at the time. Extension requests are governed by General Terms Section 9B.

You must provide the number of revisions stated in the Custom Offer. Revisions must be within the original agreed scope — a revision request that substantially changes the scope is a new scope of work and may be the subject of a new Custom Offer at your discretion. You are not obliged to accept out-of-scope revision requests as part of the original Order.

An Order is complete when: (a) the Buyer accepts the Deliverable through the Platform; or (b) 5 calendar days pass from the point of delivery without a revision request or dispute being raised. Upon Order completion, the Order Record is generated and your payout is processed by Stripe in accordance with Section 7.

If you abandon an Order — by ceasing communication, failing to deliver without a valid extension request, or otherwise failing to fulfil your obligations under the accepted Custom Offer — the Platform may treat the Order as cancelled, issue a full refund to the Buyer, and record the abandonment on your account. Repeated abandonment is grounds for account suspension or termination under Section 16.

Payouts are processed by Stripe Connect Express directly to your connected bank account. The Platform does not hold, control, or have access to your payment funds at any point. Payouts are initiated by Stripe upon Order completion and are subject to Stripe's standard processing times and their terms of service. Stripe's payout timelines vary by country and account type — typically 2–7 Business Days from Order completion.

You are responsible for maintaining your Stripe Connect Express account in good standing and keeping your bank account details current. Where your Stripe Connect account is closed, restricted, or suspended by Stripe for any reason outside the Platform's control, the Platform will notify you and use reasonable endeavours to assist you in resolving the matter with Stripe. The Platform is not liable for delays or failures in payout caused by Stripe's decisions regarding your Connect account.

The Platform Service Fee is charged to the Buyer at checkout. It is: £3.99 for Orders under £50; £4.99 for Orders between £50 and £100; and £5.99 for Orders over £100. It is the Platform's sole revenue from each transaction. It does not reduce your Custom Offer price. No VAT is currently charged on the Platform Service Fee.

Where a dispute is determined in the Buyer's favour under the General Terms dispute process, you may be required to refund the Custom Offer price to the Buyer. The Platform Service Fee is not refundable to the Buyer in such circumstances except where the Platform has been directly at fault. Where a refund is due and your payment has already been transferred to your Stripe account, the Platform will issue a Report of Findings for the Buyer's independent use. You remain personally liable to the Buyer for any amount determined to be refundable. Chargebacks initiated by Buyers outside the Platform's dispute process constitute a breach of the General Terms by the Buyer — the Platform will submit the Order Record and inbox thread to Stripe in support of your position.

You are solely responsible for all tax obligations arising from your earnings on this Platform, including income tax, National Insurance, VAT (where applicable), and any equivalent obligations in your jurisdiction. See Section 17 for further detail.

Upon Order completion and receipt of full payment, you assign to the Buyer all intellectual property rights in the specific Deliverable produced for that Order — to the extent you hold those rights. This includes copyright, database rights, and any other intellectual property that subsists in the Deliverable as produced for this specific engagement.

The assignment transfers only the specific Deliverable produced for this Order. Your pre-existing skills, methods, tools, training data, reusable frameworks, general knowledge, and any IP you held before the engagement — none of this transfers. Only what was created specifically for this Order and delivered to this Buyer.

By sending a Custom Offer and delivering a Deliverable, you warrant that: (a) the Deliverable is your original work or properly licensed; (b) you have the right to assign the IP as described; (c) the Deliverable does not infringe any third-party intellectual property rights to the best of your knowledge; and (d) where the Deliverable incorporates AI-generated content, you have disclosed this in the Pre-Offer Disclosure Message and Custom Offer.

Copyright law as it applies to AI-generated work continues to evolve across jurisdictions. Where a Deliverable contains AI-generated content, you assign to the Buyer what rights you hold — not rights you do not hold. You must be honest in your disclosure and honest in your warranty. Where the copyright status of AI-generated elements is uncertain, you should inform the Buyer of that uncertainty in the Pre-Offer Disclosure Message or Custom Offer before the Order is placed.

You may display completed Deliverables in your portfolio on the Platform unless the Buyer objected in writing through the Platform's messaging system before proceeding to checkout to accept the Custom Offer. Once a Buyer has objected, you must not display that Deliverable. A portfolio display licence does not transfer any rights in the Deliverable back to you — it is a limited right to display for professional reference only.

You must not use any Deliverable produced for a Buyer, any Buyer's brief, or any communication received through the Platform's messaging inbox to train, fine-tune, or improve any AI model — whether your own, a third party's, or a publicly available model. This prohibition applies regardless of whether the Buyer has accepted the Deliverable. The inbox is not your training data.

You must disclose in the Pre-Offer Disclosure Message and in the Custom Offer every AI Tool you intend to use in producing the Deliverable. This disclosure must be specific enough for the Buyer to understand what AI involvement there will be — "AI-assisted" is not sufficient if the Deliverable is substantially AI-generated. Disclosure must be made before the Custom Offer is accepted. You may not retroactively disclose AI tool use after delivery.

Your disclosure should state: (a) the category of AI tool used (e.g. large language model, image generation model, voice synthesis); (b) the role of that tool in producing the Deliverable (e.g. primary generation, editing assistance, quality checking); and (c) any material limitations of that tool that affect the Deliverable (e.g. copyright uncertainty in outputs, knowledge cutoff dates, accuracy limitations). You are not required to disclose the specific model name or provider if you have a legitimate commercial reason for confidentiality, provided the category and role are clearly stated.

Delivering a Deliverable that contains substantial AI-generated content without disclosing that use in the Custom Offer constitutes a breach of your warranty under Section 8.3 and a breach of these Terms. Where the Platform determines through the dispute process that undisclosed AI use has materially affected the Deliverable's conformance with the agreed scope, a refund may be issued and your account may be subject to action under Section 16.

You must conduct yourself professionally in all communications with Buyers and with the Platform. Professional conduct means: responding to enquiries within the timeframe required by these Terms; communicating clearly and honestly about scope, progress, and any issues; raising concerns or disagreements through the inbox rather than abandoning the Order; and treating Buyers with respect regardless of the nature of the brief — while preserving your right to decline briefs under Section 14.

You must not share, solicit, or attempt to communicate any contact information — including email addresses, phone numbers, social media handles, messaging application usernames, website addresses, or any coded or disguised form of the above — through the Platform's messaging inbox, your Service Listing, your profile, or any other part of the Platform. The full contact information policy is set out in General Terms Section 31.5. A single breach is a material breach of these Terms.

You must not solicit or accept payment from any Buyer outside the Platform for any service that originated as a Platform enquiry or that falls within the scope of your Service Listing. Off-platform transactions strip both parties of the protections this Platform provides and constitute a breach of both these Terms and the General Terms of Use Section 5.6.

You must not offer any incentive to a Buyer to leave a positive review, threaten or pressure any Buyer in connection with a review, or engage in any conduct designed to manipulate your rating or level status. Review manipulation under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 constitutes a breach of these Terms and the General Terms of Use and may result in immediate termination.

You must not list or deliver any service that is illegal in England and Wales or in your jurisdiction or the Buyer's jurisdiction to the extent you are aware of it; that involves the production of harmful, abusive, or illegal content as described in the General Terms Section 15; or that violates the child protection provisions of the General Terms Section 30. These prohibitions apply regardless of whether the Buyer has requested the service.

You must use reasonable endeavours to respond to messages from prospective Buyers within 2 Business Days. The Platform recognises that you are an independent contractor and cannot guarantee any specific response time, but persistent non-response may result in your listing being deactivated at the Platform's sole discretion.

Once an Order is placed, you must maintain active communication with the Buyer through the Platform's inbox for the duration of the Order. Active communication means responding to reasonable messages within 2 Business Days, proactively notifying the Buyer of any issue that may affect delivery, and not going silent without reason during the delivery period.

If you need more time than the agreed delivery date allows, you must submit a formal extension request through the inbox before the delivery date passes, or as soon as reasonably practicable where Platform access was unavailable. An extension request must state the new proposed delivery date and the reason for the extension. Extensions are governed by General Terms Section 9B. You may not simply deliver late without requesting and receiving confirmation of an extension.

You must: (a) keep all Confidential Information strictly confidential; (b) use Confidential Information only for the purpose of fulfilling the Order or responding to the enquiry for which it was disclosed; (c) not disclose Confidential Information to any third party without the Buyer's prior written consent through the inbox; and (d) not use Confidential Information for any commercial purpose beyond the specific Order, including but not limited to using it to train or fine-tune any AI model.

Your confidentiality obligations survive Order completion and account termination indefinitely. The fact that an Order has completed and you have been paid does not give you any right to use or disclose the Buyer's Confidential Information for any purpose other than those for which it was originally shared.

Confidentiality obligations do not apply to information that: (a) is or becomes publicly available through no fault of yours; (b) you can demonstrate you already knew before it was disclosed to you through the Platform; or (c) you are required by law or court order to disclose, in which case you must notify the Platform at support@celestialverity.com as soon as practicable before disclosure where legally permitted to do so.

You may decline to accept, respond to, or send a Custom Offer in response to any enquiry. You do not have to give a reason. Where an enquiry asks you to produce content that you reasonably believe would: cause you genuine psychological harm; expose you to material you find genuinely distressing; or require you to produce content that you reasonably consider to be harmful, unlawful, or deeply objectionable on grounds of conscience — you should decline the enquiry. This is your right. The Platform supports it.

Where you have accepted an Order and subsequently encounter content, communications, or instructions from the Buyer that cause genuine psychological harm, are deeply distressing, or would require you to produce material you reasonably consider harmful, unlawful, or deeply objectionable on grounds of conscience, you may withdraw from the Order on welfare grounds by notifying the Platform at support@celestialverity.com as soon as practicable.

Where the Platform accepts that your withdrawal is made on genuine welfare grounds: (a) the Order will be treated as cancelled without fault on your part; (b) the Buyer will receive a full refund; (c) the withdrawal will not be recorded negatively on your account or affect your level status; and (d) the Platform may take conduct action against the Buyer where their communications constituted a breach of the General Terms. The Platform's determination of whether a welfare withdrawal is genuine is assessed by reviewing the inbox thread under the General Terms dispute process.

The Platform will never require you to complete the delivery of content that is harmful to you or to others. No commercial obligation, no pending payout, and no Buyer complaint will cause the Platform to enforce delivery of content that constitutes a genuine welfare risk to you. If you are asked to deliver content you believe would harm you or others, contact support@celestialverity.com immediately.

Where a Buyer sends abusive, threatening, or harassing communications through the Platform's inbox, you should report this to support@celestialverity.com immediately. Do not delete the messages — they are the evidence. The Platform will review the inbox thread and take such conduct action as is appropriate, which may include suspension or termination of the Buyer's account. You are not obliged to continue responding to abusive communications while a review is in progress.

Professional — awarded at verification to every Specialist who passes portfolio review. This is the entry level and the quality baseline. Every Professional Specialist has been reviewed by the Celestial Verity team.

Expert — awarded by the Platform based on demonstrated delivery history and Buyer satisfaction on the Platform. The indicative criteria are published in the Specialist Information document at celestialverity.com. These criteria are indicative, not guaranteed thresholds — the Platform's assessment considers the overall pattern of delivery, feedback quality, and conduct.

Elite — the highest designation on Celestial Verity. Awarded at the Platform's discretion to Specialists with an exceptional and sustained record of delivery. It cannot be applied for. It can only be earned.

Meeting any indicative criteria does not create an entitlement to level promotion. The Platform assesses the full picture — delivery history, feedback quality, conduct, and any dispute record — at its sole discretion. You may contact support@celestialverity.com if you believe your level assessment should be reviewed, but the Platform is under no obligation to promote any Specialist on the basis of that request.

Your level may be reviewed and reduced or revoked at any time where the Platform has reason to believe that: (a) the basis on which a level was awarded was inaccurate or no longer applies; (b) your delivery history or conduct no longer meets the standard for your current level; or (c) you have breached these Terms or the General Terms in a manner that affects the integrity of the level assessment. Revocation of a level is not a termination of your account — you remain a verified Specialist at the revised level.

The Platform may suspend your Specialist account at any time, with or without notice, where it has reasonable grounds to believe that you have: breached these Terms or the General Terms of Use; received multiple dispute determinations against you; demonstrated a consistent pattern of non-response or abandonment; shared contact information in breach of Section 10.2; engaged in review manipulation; or where suspension is required for legal compliance reasons including AML obligations.

The Platform may terminate your Specialist account permanently where: (a) a suspension has not resulted in the relevant conduct being remedied; (b) you have committed a material breach of these Terms or the General Terms that is not capable of remedy; (c) you have provided false or misleading information in your verification application; (d) you have engaged in any conduct described in General Terms Section 15 as prohibited; or (e) termination is required by law or regulatory authority.

You may close your Specialist account at any time by contacting support@celestialverity.com. Where you have active Orders at the time of account closure, you must: complete those Orders before closure takes effect; or provide reasonable notice to the Platform so Buyers can be notified and refunded. You may not close your account to avoid a pending dispute determination.

On termination: your listings are deactivated and no longer visible to Buyers; no new enquiries or Orders can be placed; any in-progress Orders are treated in accordance with General Terms Section 18; your Order Records and inbox data are retained for the periods stated in the Privacy Policy; and your confidentiality obligations under Section 13 survive indefinitely. You retain access to your Order Records on request in accordance with General Terms Section 11.

You are solely responsible for: (a) declaring all income earned through the Platform to the relevant tax authority in your jurisdiction; (b) paying income tax, self-employment tax, National Insurance contributions (in the UK), or equivalent taxes in your jurisdiction on your Platform earnings; (c) registering for VAT or equivalent sales tax if your earnings exceed the relevant registration threshold in your jurisdiction; (d) maintaining accurate financial records of your Platform earnings and expenses; and (e) filing all required tax returns on time.

Where a Buyer is a UK business and engages you through this Platform, the Buyer is the engager for the purposes of the off-payroll working rules under Chapter 10 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 (as amended by the Finance Act 2021). The Buyer is responsible for making their own IR35 status determination in respect of any engagement where those rules apply. The Platform is an intermediary marketplace and is not the engager for IR35 purposes. You should seek independent tax advice if you are uncertain about your IR35 status in respect of any engagement.

In certain jurisdictions, Buyers may be required to withhold a portion of payments made to overseas Specialists and remit it to the relevant tax authority. Where a Buyer is required to withhold tax, the Custom Offer price stated on the Platform is the gross amount before any withholding. The Platform does not process, facilitate, or account for withholding tax obligations. Any withholding is a matter between the Buyer and their tax authority. You receive the gross Custom Offer amount from Stripe — you are responsible for your own tax obligations on that gross amount.

Nothing in these Terms constitutes tax advice. Celestial Verity is not a tax adviser. If you are uncertain about your tax obligations as a Specialist on this Platform, you should seek independent professional advice from a qualified accountant or tax adviser in your jurisdiction.

Where a Buyer's brief contains personal data about third parties — for example, personal data about the Buyer's own customers, employees, or service users — you may be acting as a data processor in respect of that personal data under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). You are responsible for: (a) identifying when a brief contains third-party personal data; (b) processing that data only for the purpose of fulfilling the Order; (c) not retaining, using, or disclosing that data after the Order is complete; and (d) not using that data to train or fine-tune any AI model.

The Platform processes your personal data as set out in the Privacy Policy. You have all the rights described in the Privacy Policy including the right of access, rectification, erasure (subject to legal retention requirements), and data portability. Contact support@celestialverity.com to exercise any of these rights.

The Platform's messaging inbox is a closed, purpose-limited system. The Platform may access your inbox threads for the four purposes described in General Terms Section 31.4: dispute resolution, safeguarding, Terms breach investigation, and legal compliance. You must not share inbox content outside the Platform except for your own private record-keeping or for the purpose of exercising your legal rights — see General Terms Section 31.3A.