Terms of Service

1. Agreement

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Velcio platform and related services (collectively, the "Service") operated by Velcio LTD ("Velcio LTD", "Velcio", "we", "us", or "our"). By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

The Service is used by both individuals and businesses. If you use the Service for business or commercial purposes, you confirm you have authority to bind that business, and consumer protections under UK law (including the Consumer Rights Act 2015) may not apply to you to the extent permitted by law. Nothing in these Terms limits rights that cannot be excluded for consumers where those rights apply.

2. What Velcio provides

Velcio is a managed handoff and hosting platform for buyer-funded software projects. Buyers fund projects, agree pricing with assigned developers and authorise payment through our payment provider at fund time. After a free-cancel cooling-off window (default 24 hours from successful fund authorisation, see Section 6), Velcio captures the payment and work may start. Developers work off-platform, submit delivery artifacts and receive payouts through our payment provider after buyer acceptance (or auto-accept). Velcio builds, deploys and may host the delivered project on your behalf.

Supported project types, platforms, runtimes, build options, delivery methods, limits, and integrations are those we offer in the Service from time to time. We may add, change, limit or discontinue any of them. The Service may describe current options (for example Worker or Web apps, automatic language detection, Dockerfiles, ZIP upload or connected source-control snapshots). Those descriptions are informational and do not promise that any particular option will remain available.

Buyers may hire developers directly (including by username or email invite), browse opted-in developer profiles, or post open project listings for proposals. Those discovery features are part of the Service but do not make Velcio a party to any off-platform freelance contract between buyer and developer.

Velcio is a managed handoff platform. It is not an escrow or trust, and it does not decide freelance contract disputes between buyers and developers. Project payments are authorised and captured through our payment provider onto Velcio's platform account as marketplace operator. Funds are not held in trust for either party. Developers may opt in to a public developer directory (marketplace profiles and reviews). Those profiles and reviews are user content: Velcio does not endorse developers, guarantee assignments or outcomes and may remove or suspend directory content or accounts that violate these Terms or create risk for the platform or other users.

We provide tooling and infrastructure. Buyers and developers remain responsible for their project agreements, delivered software behaviour and compliance with third-party rules (including platform terms for any integrated third-party services). Any agreement you make outside Velcio is solely between you and the other party.

Untrusted code. Delivery archives and dependency install steps run on Velcio build and hosting infrastructure. Submitted code is treated as untrusted. You are responsible for what that code does once built or deployed (including in third-party services your app integrates with). Except as required by law and subject to Section 12, Velcio is not liable for harm caused by submitted or deployed code, including supply-chain behaviour during builds. We may refuse, pause, throttle, or stop builds, deploys, or running workloads for security, abuse, capacity, cost, legal or operational reasons, with or without prior notice in an emergency.

Project files. Buyers and developers may upload reference files and handoff archives on a project for collaboration and dispute evidence. Those files are stored by Velcio, scanned for known malware when possible and remain untrusted user content. Velcio does not deploy handoff archives. You are responsible for how you open or use files downloaded from another party.

3. Eligibility and accounts

• You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter a binding contract.
• Authentication is provided through our identity provider. You are responsible for safeguarding your login credentials and for activity under your account.
• You must provide accurate account information and keep it up to date, including contact details used for project notifications and payouts.
• You must choose a username. Usernames are public identifiers used for assignment and marketplace discovery. Once set, a username is immutable and cannot be changed or removed through the Service.
• To delete your account, use Account settings (Your data) to schedule deletion, or email support@velcio.dev from the address associated with your account. Scheduled deletion includes a default 30-day grace period (as set by Velcio and shown in the Service) during which you may cancel before your profile is anonymised and sign-in access is removed. You cannot complete account deletion while you have open projects. Finish or cancel those projects first.
• You must not use the Service if you are prohibited from receiving services under the laws of England and Wales, or under applicable UK, EU, or US sanctions or export-control rules. You must not use the Service for prohibited industries or activities that our payment provider or card networks disallow.

4. Buyer responsibilities

• You may create projects, assign or invite developers, post open listings, negotiate price, and fund projects only when you have authority to do so.
• When you fund a project through checkout, your card is authorised for the full agreed project price at that time. The free-cancel cooling-off window starts on successful authorisation (when the project becomes funded) and lasts the period shown in the Service for that project (default 24 hours). You may cancel free during that window. After the window ends without cancel or developer decline, Velcio captures the payment and work may start. Accepting delivery completes handoff. It does not charge you again. Refunds and termination fees follow Section 6.
• You own and manage production secrets (for example API tokens and bot credentials). Velcio stores secrets encrypted for deployment but does not take ownership of your intellectual property or third-party credentials.
• When you accept a project delivery or an accepted revision through the Service, you receive full ownership of the delivered source code and related work product for that project, to the extent the developer had rights to assign. You may download the delivery archive (ZIP), modify the code and host it outside Velcio.
• You must review deployed delivery during the review period and accept or dispute in good faith. You may also open an in-app dispute earlier (after work has started and before or during review) when you cannot continue in good faith, for example non-performance, instead of paying a termination fee. Admin response times on disputes are operational targets only and do not guarantee a particular outcome or timeline. If you neither accept nor open a valid in-app dispute before the review deadline shown in the Service (default 7 days), Velcio will automatically accept the delivery: ownership transfers under Section 9, developer payout is scheduled and the free review runtime may stop. Restarting a paused preview does not extend the review deadline. Auto-accept does not run while an in-app dispute is open.
• During review, you may test the live delivery on Velcio infrastructure at no extra charge (for example process logs and health, or a preview URL where offered). Developer verification deploys before review use the same continuous session cap. Each continuous preview session is time-capped (default 120 minutes, as shown in the Service). When the cap is reached the runtime pauses. You may restart preview from the project page where the Service allows. Confirming delivery into review starts a fresh buyer review window. See our Pricing page for plan limits and related fees.
• You may cancel a project for free while it is a draft, or while it is funded before payment capture (cooling-off). After capture, including while the project is in progress or submitted and before buyer review starts, cancelling charges a termination fee as described in Section 6. Once the project is in review, use accept or dispute instead of cancellation.

5. Developer responsibilities

• After funding, do not start work during the buyer's free-cancel cooling-off window (default 24 hours from fund authorisation, as shown on the project). You may decline during that window to release the buyer's uncaptured authorisation. After cooling-off ends and payment is captured, the project moves to in progress and you should deliver as agreed.
• When work starts, Velcio may set a delivery deadline on the project (from listing dates or Service defaults). That is an indicative deadline unless the project page says otherwise. Missing it does not automatically cancel payment, but late or non-delivery may support a buyer in-app dispute under Section 6.
• You deliver work off-platform and submit a compliant delivery through Velcio (for example ZIP upload or a connected source-control snapshot). You represent that you have the rights to deliver the submitted code and that it does not knowingly violate applicable law or third-party terms.
• When a buyer accepts your delivery, you assign full ownership of that delivered source code and related work product to the buyer, to the extent you have rights to assign. You retain no right to reuse, copy, distribute, or sublicence that code for other clients or projects unless the buyer agrees separately in writing outside Velcio.
• You must complete payment-provider connected-account onboarding before receiving payouts. Payouts are available only where our payment provider supports connected accounts for your account. Payout timing and holds follow Section 6. Velcio transfers your net share (agreed price minus Velcio's platform fee) to your connected balance. The payment provider may charge its own fees when funds are paid out to your bank. Tax forms and payout identity checks are handled by the payment provider under its terms.
• You must not attempt to access buyer production secrets unless explicitly permitted by the buyer in the Service.
• If you opt into the developer marketplace or submit proposals on open listings, your public profile fields and proposal content must be accurate and not misleading.
• Disputes and remediation. If Velcio issues remediation terms on an open dispute, you may accept them within the accept window shown in the Service (default 7 days) to resume work at the prior project stage. If you do not accept in time, Velcio may remove you from the dispute: your delivery, upload, log, and messaging controls may be frozen while older discussion and files remain readable as evidence. After removal, Velcio may refund the buyer and cancel the project, or take over delivery, as described in Section 6. Completing handoff under admin takeover (including buyer accept of a takeover delivery) does not schedule a developer transfer for that project amount. Velcio retains the captured project payment on the platform. You remain listed as the assigned developer for record-keeping until access is revoked at handoff.

6. Payments, fees and hosting

Unless stated otherwise, time periods and fee percentages in this Section are Velcio defaults. The values shown in the Service at the time of the relevant action (for example checkout, cancel, or project page) control for that action. Changes apply to new checkouts and new projects only, unless law requires otherwise.

• Project payments are processed by our payment provider (currently Stripe). Velcio may charge a platform fee on captured project payments. The platform fee rate shown at checkout for that payment controls over older pages or docs. Fee rates may change. We will provide notice through the Service before a changed rate applies to new checkouts.
• You must not circumvent Velcio fees by arranging payment outside the Service for the same project that was created, assigned, listed, or proposed through Velcio, except where we expressly permit it in writing.
• Cooling-off and capture. Project payments are authorised in full at checkout when you fund the project (manual-capture hold onto the Velcio platform account). That hold is not an escrow or trust arrangement. The free-cancel cooling-off window starts on successful authorisation and ends at the capture time shown for the project (default 24 hours), or earlier if you cancel or the developer declines. After the window ends without cancel or decline, Velcio captures the payment and work may start. Accepting delivery or auto-accept completes handoff and schedules the developer payout. It does not charge the project price again. Free cancellation during cooling-off releases the uncaptured authorisation (subject to payment-provider processing times). If you cancel after capture and before review starts (including in progress or submitted), Velcio retains a termination fee of 25% of the agreed project price (default, as shown in the Service at cancel time) and refunds the remainder. That 25% is calculated on the total agreed price, not on the amount remaining after card processing fees. Velcio retains its ordinary platform fee percentage on that termination fee. The rest of the fee is paid to the developer subject to payout holds under these Terms. Projects in review cannot be cancelled this way. Use accept or dispute.
• Payment-provider processing fees on refunds. When Velcio issues a refund of a captured project payment (including the remainder after a termination fee, a buyer-win in-app dispute, or a legacy payment that was already captured at fund), you receive a refund of the charged project amount under those rules. The payment provider generally does not return its processing fee on a captured charge to Velcio, so that fee remains a platform cost. Free cancel during cooling-off releases an uncaptured hold and does not incur that capture-time processing fee. Completing an admin-takeover handoff that retains the project amount on Velcio is not a buyer refund. Card-network chargebacks and related recovery remain separate and may involve additional follow-up.
• Optional hosting subscriptions are billed separately through our payment provider on a recurring basis for self-serve plans. Trial terms, plan limits and cancellation behaviour are described on our Pricing page and in the product UI. Higher compute tiers may not be available as self-serve checkout. When a hosting subscription ends or is cancelled, or becomes past due beyond the payment grace period shown in the Service (default 3 days), Velcio may stop the managed deployment (including public preview URLs where applicable). Unused subscription time is generally non-refundable except where required by law or expressly stated otherwise. Delivery archives and encrypted secrets may be retained according to our Privacy Policy and operational needs. Stopping hosting does not delete your account or project history by itself.
• Communications. We send transactional emails needed to operate your account and projects (for example invites, funding, delivery and hosting status). You may control some of those categories in Account settings. Optional platform-updates email (significant features and changes) and optional marketing email (offers and promotions) are sent only if you opt in to each, and you may withdraw that consent at any time in Account settings. See our Privacy Policy.
• In-app project disputes. Buyers may open a dispute after work has started (during in_progress or submitted, for example non-performance instead of paying a termination fee) and during review when delivery is unsatisfactory. An open dispute pauses handoff and developer payout and may keep a managed preview running under the same continuous session cap as review. Resolution is by buyer/developer agreement or by Velcio admin in Velcio's reasonable discretion based on evidence in the dispute and project records, which may include closing the dispute to resume work, resolving for the buyer (refund and cancel), releasing to the developer (handoff and scheduled payout, typically for review-originated disputes), issuing remediation terms with a time-limited accept window (default 7 days, as shown in the Service), removing the developer after that window (access frozen. Older messages and files remain readable), and admin takeover, under which Velcio may deliver on the disputed project and complete handoff while retaining the full captured project amount on the platform (no developer transfer for that handoff). Buyer accept of a running takeover delivery has the same payment effect. Velcio is not an escrow or trust agent and does not arbitrate the underlying freelance contract between buyer and developer. Admin decisions on in-app disputes are final for the platform payment flow (refund, release, forfeit, and related payout holds). They do not decide ownership disputes outside the Service or replace court or consumer remedies where those apply.
• Card-network chargebacks. Bank or card-network disputes initiated after the project payment was charged are separate from in-app disputes. They are handled under payment-provider and card-network rules and may trigger payout holds, transfer reversals, or admin follow-up under these Terms. Where permitted by law, you remain responsible for chargeback fees and related losses attributable to your use of the Service. Repeated or abusive chargebacks may lead to suspension.
• Developer payouts. Developer project earnings are paid through our payment provider's connected accounts only where available for that developer's account. Velcio's platform fee is the rate shown at checkout for that payment. The payment provider may also charge connected-account or bank payout fees under its pricing. Those fees are charged by the provider to the connected account and are outside Velcio's platform fee percentage. Velcio may delay, withhold, set off, or reverse payouts where reasonably needed for disputes, chargebacks, fraud, remediation, fee circumvention, or legal compliance.
• Revisions. Buyers may fund paid revision jobs on completed projects. Revision payments are charged in full at fund (upfront capture). There is no free-cancel cooling-off window on revisions. Refunds follow the rules for captured payments in this Section. When a buyer accepts a revision delivery, ownership of the updated code transfers to the buyer on the same terms as the original handoff. The developer assigns rights to that revision work and may not reuse it elsewhere without separate buyer consent.

7. Acceptable use, content and moderation

You agree not to:

• Use the Service for unlawful, fraudulent, or abusive purposes.
• Deploy malware, phishing, credential theft, spam, or apps that violate third-party platform terms (including any integrated third-party services) or that harm users or infrastructure.
• Use Velcio infrastructure for cryptocurrency mining, bulk unsolicited messaging, or similar resource abuse.
• Attempt to bypass security, escape isolation boundaries, access other users' data or co-tenant workloads, or interfere with Velcio workers, build systems, or hosting infrastructure.
• Reverse engineer or scrape the Service except where permitted by law.
• Post false, harassing, or infringing marketplace profiles, reviews, proposals, open listings, or project messages.

We may publish additional acceptable-use, security, or hosting rules in the Service. When linked from the Service as part of your agreement, those rules form part of these Terms. We may remove or restrict user content (including profiles, avatars, reviews, messages, listings and proposals), suspend or terminate access, or take other moderation actions for violations, suspected fraud, lawful requests, or risk to the platform or other users. Users may report content through the Service. Reports are reviewed by Velcio staff and do not guarantee a particular outcome. You may also block other users where the product provides that control. Blocking limits certain interactions but does not erase historical project records.

8. Service availability and changes

We aim to keep the Service available but do not guarantee uninterrupted access, builds, or hosting. Maintenance, outages, third-party failures (including payment, identity, source-control, cloud, registry, email, or other providers, or platforms your app connects to), and events beyond our reasonable control may affect the Service. Except as required by law and subject to Section 12, Velcio is not liable for downtime or delayed deploys arising from such events.

We may change, add, limit, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service, including features, platforms, runtimes, build options, delivery methods, limits, regions, and integrations, at any time. We do not promise that any particular feature or stack will remain available. Changes that are material to fees, cooling-off, cancellation, ownership handoff, dispute outcomes, or limitation of liability follow Section 13. Other product and operational changes may take effect when shown in the Service.

Features marked as beta, preview, or early access may change or end without a material Terms update. We may refuse service, refuse a delivery, or stop a workload as described in Section 2.

9. Intellectual property

Velcio retains ownership of the Service, branding and platform software. Velcio does not claim ownership of delivered project source code.

Handoff. When a buyer accepts a project delivery through the Service (including by auto-accept under Section 4, by admin release to the developer after an in-app dispute, or by buyer accept / admin complete under admin takeover), the buyer receives full ownership of the delivered source code and related work product, to the extent the developer (or Velcio acting under takeover) had rights to assign. The developer assigns those rights to the buyer as of acceptance and retains no licence to use, copy, distribute, or sublicence that delivered code for other clients or projects unless the buyer agrees separately in writing outside Velcio. Under admin takeover, Velcio may supply delivery artifacts solely to complete the Service. Ownership still transfers to the buyer on handoff as described here.

Revisions. Work submitted and accepted under a funded revision job is treated the same way: upon buyer acceptance, the buyer owns the resulting code and the developer's assignment rights for that revision delivery end.

You grant Velcio a limited licence to host, build, deploy and process delivery artifacts and related metadata solely to operate the Service.

10. Indemnity

To the extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless Velcio LTD and its officers, directors and agents from and against claims, losses, damages, and reasonable costs (including legal fees) arising out of or related to: (a) your content, delivery archives or deployed code, (b) your breach of these Terms or of third-party platform or service terms, (c) infringement of intellectual property or other rights in materials you submit, (d) misuse of secrets or credentials, (e) personal data about end users of your deployed app that you cause to be processed through Velcio, or (f) unlawful or abusive use of the Service. This indemnity does not apply to the extent a claim is caused by Velcio's wilful misconduct or where UK law prohibits such an indemnity against a consumer.

11. Disclaimers

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits any rights you have as a consumer that cannot be excluded or limited under UK law, including under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 where it applies. If you use the Service as a business or for commercial purposes, those consumer protections may not apply to you.

SUBJECT TO THE PREVIOUS PARAGRAPH, THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT GUARANTEE UNINTERRUPTED HOSTING, ERROR-FREE BUILDS, OR SPECIFIC WORKER OR WEB APP UPTIME. WE DO NOT GUARANTEE DEVELOPER QUALITY, MATCH OUTCOMES, OR THAT ANY PARTICULAR PROJECT WILL SUCCEED.

12. Limitation of liability

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded or limited under UK law (including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud).

SUBJECT TO THE PREVIOUS PARAGRAPH AND TO MANDATORY CONSUMER RIGHTS (WHERE THEY APPLY), VELCIO LTD WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, DATA, OR GOODWILL, ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM RELATING TO THE SERVICE IS LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF (A) AMOUNTS YOU PAID TO VELCIO LTD FOR THE SERVICE IN THE TWELVE MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM OR (B) ONE HUNDRED POUNDS STERLING (GBP 100).

13. Changes and termination

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will post the revised Terms on this page and update the "Last updated" date. For material changes (for example changes to fees, cooling-off, cancellation, ownership handoff, dispute outcomes, or limitation of liability), we will provide notice through the Service (and by email where appropriate) before the updated Terms take effect. We may also require you to re-accept the updated Terms in the Service before you continue using authenticated features. By continuing to use the Service after that notice (or by confirming re-acceptance in the Service), you agree to the updated Terms. If you do not agree to material changes, you should stop using the Service and contact us to close your account. Non-material updates (clarifications, formatting, product descriptions, or changes required by law) take effect when posted. Product and feature changes under Section 8 are not by themselves material Terms changes unless they alter the fee, ownership, dispute, or liability subjects listed above.

You may stop using the Service at any time. To delete your account, schedule deletion in Account settings (default 30-day grace period, subject to finishing or cancelling open projects as described in Section 3) or email support@velcio.dev. We may suspend or terminate your account if you breach these Terms or if required for legal, security, or operational reasons.

14. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales, without regard to conflict of law principles. Courts in England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction, subject to mandatory consumer protections in your country of residence where applicable.

15. Third-party services

The Service depends on third-party providers, including our payment provider (currently Stripe), identity provider and optional source-control integrations. Your use of those providers is also subject to their terms and privacy policies. Velcio is not responsible for third-party outages, account decisions, or fee schedules except as these Terms expressly state. We may change providers without amending these Terms, except where a change is material under Section 13.

16. No agency or partnership

Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, joint venture, employment, or agency relationship between you and Velcio, or between buyer and developer through Velcio, except that Velcio acts as marketplace operator for platform payment flows described in Section 6. Developers are independent contractors relative to buyers unless you agree otherwise outside Velcio.

17. Assignment

You may not assign or transfer these Terms or your account without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms or our rights and obligations to an affiliate or in connection with a merger, acquisition, corporate reorganisation, or sale of assets.

18. Entire agreement and severability

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any in-product notices that expressly form part of your agreement for a specific purchase (for example fee rates shown at checkout), and any acceptable-use or hosting rules linked from the Service as part of your agreement, are the entire agreement between you and Velcio LTD regarding the Service and supersede prior agreements on the same subject. If a court finds any provision unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in effect.

19. Survival

Sections that by their nature should survive termination or account deletion continue to apply, including intellectual property handoff, fees already incurred, indemnity, disclaimers, limitation of liability, governing law and this survival clause.

20. Contact

Questions about these Terms: support@velcio.dev

Velcio LTD is the contracting party for the Service. Registered address: Office 6995, 58 Peregrine Road, Hainault, Ilford, Essex, IG6 3SZ. Company number: 17327605.