Terms of service

These terms govern your use of PayMyTeacher (the "Service", "we", "us"). By creating an account or using the Service you agree to them. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.

1. What the Service does

PayMyTeacher lets supporters set aside part of their income, on a recurring schedule or as a one-time payment, as gifts to individual teachers they choose. We collect payments through Stripe and pass each teacher's share to that teacher's own Stripe Express account. We are a platform that facilitates personal gifts between individuals; we are not a charity, a bank, a payroll provider or a party to the gift itself.

We do not take custody of your money. A payment is only collected when the recipient teacher already has a verified account able to receive it, and each teacher's share is transferred to their own account as part of settling that payment. We do not hold balances on behalf of supporters or teachers, and we do not accept money for a teacher who cannot yet be paid.

2. Accounts

You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter a binding agreement to use the Service. Keep your password confidential and tell us promptly if you believe your account has been accessed without permission. You are responsible for activity under your account. Provide accurate information and keep it up to date. We may suspend or close accounts that break these terms.

3. Gifts are voluntary personal gifts

Every payment you make through the Service is a voluntary personal gift to the individual teacher(s) you select. Gifts are not charitable donations, are not made to any school or district, and are not tax-deductible. You receive nothing in exchange for a gift, and a teacher is under no obligation to you because of one. Teachers are responsible for any taxes on gifts they receive. We do not provide tax, legal or financial advice.

4. Fees

We charge a platform fee of 1% of each gift. Payment processing fees charged by Stripe also apply; by default the supporter covers them in addition to the gift, and a supporter may choose instead to have them deducted from the gift. The full breakdown is shown before every charge and on every receipt. Fee rates may change; changes apply to charges made after the change and are shown on the Service.

5. Recurring charges and cancellation

When you activate a plan you authorize us, through Stripe, to charge your chosen payment method on each scheduled payday for the amount your plan specifies (a flat amount, or a percentage of the paycheck amount you entered) until you pause or cancel. You may change, pause or cancel your plan at any time from your dashboard; changes take effect from the next scheduled charge. Charges already completed are not reversed by cancelling. If a charge fails we may retry it and will pause the plan after repeated failures.

6. Teacher verification and eligibility

To receive gifts, a teacher must claim the profile, verify their identity and teaching role by a method we accept, and complete Stripe's onboarding, including any identity and tax information Stripe requires. We may approve, reject or revoke verification at our discretion, and may remove profiles we believe are inaccurate or fraudulent. Creating or claiming a profile for someone you are not is prohibited.

Teachers are responsible for their own eligibility to accept gifts. Many school districts and states restrict or prohibit public employees accepting gifts connected to their employment. We cannot determine which rules apply to you, and nothing on the Service is legal advice. By accepting gifts you confirm that doing so does not breach any rule, policy or law that applies to you. Tell us if your employer objects and we will close your profile.

7. Promised gifts to teachers who have not joined

You cannot pay a teacher who has no account, because there is no account to pay. Instead you may record a promised gift: the amount, whether you cover processing fees, your note, and whether to stay anonymous. A promised gift is a saved intention and nothing more. No payment is made, no payment method is collected or stored for it, and nothing is held by us or by anyone else.

When the teacher completes verification and becomes able to receive payouts, we email you. Making the gift is then up to you: you return to the Service and pay through the same hosted checkout as any other one-time gift, with what you saved already filled in. We never charge a payment method without you present to approve it. The reminder stands for 30 days after the teacher joins, after which the promise lapses; you may still give from the teacher's profile at any time, and you may cancel a promise at any time before then.

A single payment cannot be split between teachers who can and cannot be paid.

8. Payouts through Stripe Connect

Payouts to teachers are made through Stripe Connect. By claiming a profile and setting up payouts, a teacher agrees to the Stripe Connected Account Agreement, including the Stripe Terms of Service, and authorizes us to share information with Stripe and to initiate transfers to their connected account. Payout timing depends on Stripe and the teacher's bank. Stripe may require additional information or restrict an account under its own policies, which we do not control.

Agent of the teacher. By claiming a profile and setting up payouts, a teacher appoints PayMyTeacher as their agent for the limited purpose of receiving gifts from supporters on the teacher's behalf and directing those funds to the teacher's connected account. A supporter's payment to PayMyTeacher, as the teacher's agent, is payment to the teacher and fully satisfies the supporter's obligation in respect of that gift. PayMyTeacher does not act as the supporter's agent, does not hold funds on its own account, and does not offer to transmit money for any other purpose.

9. Refunds

Because gifts are voluntary, they are generally final. If you believe you were charged in error, contact us within 30 days of the charge and we will look into it. Each teacher's share is normally transferred to them as part of settling the payment, so in most cases the money is already theirs and we cannot recover it; where that is so we will refund our own platform fee. A promised gift that never settled was never charged, so there is nothing to refund.

10. Prohibited conduct

• Impersonating a teacher or any other person, or claiming a profile that is not yours.
• Using the Service to launder money, evade taxes, pay for goods or services, or move funds for any purpose other than a personal gift.
• Coercing, soliciting or pressuring anyone to give, or offering anything in exchange for gifts.
• Harassing teachers or supporters, including through notes attached to gifts.
• Scraping, probing or interfering with the Service, or attempting to access other users' data.
• Any use that is unlawful where you or the recipient are located.

11. Content

You are responsible for the profile details, photos, bios and notes you submit. You grant us a licence to display them on the Service for the purpose of operating it. We may remove content that breaks these terms. Do not include anyone's private information in a note or profile.

12. Profiles created by someone else

A supporter may create a profile naming a teacher in order to invite them. A profile created this way is not published: it does not appear in our directory, in search on the Service or on any ranking, and we ask search engines not to index it. It is reachable only by someone given the link or who already knows the teacher's name and email address.

Whether a profile appears publicly is the named teacher's decision alone, made when they claim it, and reversible by them at any time. If you are named in a profile you did not create, you may have it removed by writing to hello@paymyteacher.com from any address. You do not need an account to ask, and we will not require you to create one. We will also remove or correct a profile that misstates who you are or where you taught.

13. Email we send you

We email account holders about their account, and we email teachers who have been named in a profile to invite them to claim or remove it. Every message carries a one-click unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing stops all such mail to that address.

Unsubscribing does not stop messages we consider necessary: receipts for charges, notices that a payment failed, and messages about the security of your account. If you do not want those, close your account.

14. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE". TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. We do not guarantee that any teacher will claim a profile, that any gift will be accepted, or that the Service will be uninterrupted or error-free. We do not verify the accuracy of every profile detail and are not responsible for the conduct of supporters or teachers. Nothing on the Service is legal, tax or financial advice.

15. Limitation of liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, PAYMYTEACHER AND ITS OPERATORS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, REVENUE OR DATA, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE, HOWEVER CAUSED AND UNDER ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY.

OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THE SERVICE, TAKEN TOGETHER, IS LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF (A) THE PLATFORM FEES YOU PAID US IN THE TWELVE MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM AROSE AND (B) ONE HUNDRED UNITED STATES DOLLARS (US$100).

These limits do not apply where the law does not allow them to, and they do not limit liability for fraud, gross negligence or willful misconduct, or for death or personal injury caused by negligence. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so some of the above may not apply to you.

16. Changes to the Service or these terms

We may change the Service or these terms. If a change is material we will notify account holders by email or through the Service before it takes effect. Continuing to use the Service after a change means you accept the updated terms.

17. Termination

You may close your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate access for breach of these terms or where required by law. Sections that by their nature should survive termination, including the sections on gifts, liability and disclaimers, do so.

18. Governing law and venue

These terms, and any dispute arising out of or relating to them or to the Service, are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. Any such dispute will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Illinois, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts, except where applicable consumer law gives you the right to bring a claim where you live.

19. Class action waiver

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, YOU AND PAYMYTEACHER EACH AGREE THAT ANY DISPUTE WILL BE BROUGHT ONLY IN AN INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS, COLLECTIVE, CONSOLIDATED OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING. NEITHER PARTY MAY BRING, JOIN OR PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION AGAINST THE OTHER, AND NO COURT MAY CONSOLIDATE ONE PERSON'S CLAIM WITH ANOTHER'S OR AWARD RELIEF ON BEHALF OF ANYONE OTHER THAN THE INDIVIDUAL CLAIMANT.

If this waiver is found unenforceable as to a particular claim or request for relief, that claim or request will be severed and decided in court, and the waiver will continue to apply to everything else. This waiver is mutual and survives termination of these terms.

20. Contact

Questions about these terms: hello@paymyteacher.com.