We are theLEAP Marketplace, trading as Applyplus Ltd (“theLEAP”) incorporated in the UK under company number 10814770. These are our terms and conditions. They tell you what we do and how we do it.
By using our site, you indicate that you accept these terms and conditions, and the referenced policies, and that you agree to abide by them.
T&Cs last modified: 4 January, 2022
theLEAP operates a platform linking Freelancers to Buyers.
Services are offered on theLEAP through either Offers, which are fixed price services; or custom projects, which can be fixed price, price per hour or price per item. Services delivered in these ways on theLEAP are collectively referred to in these terms as “projects”.Whether or not a project is offered and/or accepted is entirely at the discretion of the Freelancer/Buyer. theLEAP has no control over this process. Services are provided by Freelancers directly to Buyers, who determine the deliverables, price and all other requirements.
On Commencement of a project the Buyer pays funds into the Escrow Account, and the Buyer must confirm their requirements upfront in the WorkStream.
The Freelancer must provide regular progress updates and respond within one (1) working day to all messages from the Buyer, in the WorkStream.
Freelancers must deliver work within the delivery times either defined in their Offer, or agreed with the Buyer upfront in the WorkStream for custom projects. Freelancers’ rankings will be penalised for late delivery.
Freelancers must fulfill their projects and Buyers agree to pay for work delivered. Users will be penalised for cancellations or refunds caused by them, without just reason. Freelancers must provide, and be given the opportunity by the Buyer to provide, at least two further iterations on the work delivered if the Buyer is not initially satisfied.
Once the project has been completed the Freelancer will raise a request to receive payment, including the release of funds held in the Escrow Account. Freelancers must not request payment upfront before work has been completed. Buyers must pay within the 7 day payment terms.
theLEAP IS NOT A BANK and only holds funds for the purposes of settling the provision of services and specific invoices of Freelancers. We strongly recommend that all users do not hold dormant balances on the platform. No user is permitted to hold a dormant balance on the platform for more than 30 days. theLEAP reserves the right to apply Admin Fees or write downs to dormant balances until they are withdrawn or become zeroed. Funds held by theLEAP on the platform are not insured nor covered by any Financial Services Compensation Scheme or any other government agency. theLEAP hold the funds in a separate client account.
theLEAP acts as an Agent of Payment between the Buyer and Freelancer. In return for full invoice payment by the Buyer for the project, theLEAP agrees to discharge the Buyers obligations relating to debts owed to the Freelancer under this agreement. theLEAP agrees to make such funds available to the Freelancer, subject to our fraud and AML procedures. Freelancers are then able to withdraw those funds following a clearance period, subject to the setting up of a valid withdrawal account. theLEAP takes its obligations to prevent fraud and money laundering seriously and reserves the right to delay payments to Freelancers if fraud or money laundering is suspected. All payments for work completed must go via theLEAP unless theLEAP has given its express written permission otherwise in relation to a specific payment or invoice; attempts to pay outside of theLEAP will lead to sanctions not limited to immediate account suspension. Users must immediately report to theLEAP any offers to pay outside of theLEAP made by their Buyer or Freelancer.
Once payment has been made, Buyers are granted all rights for the delivered work.
For purposes of service messages, notices, offers and news about theLEAP, Users receive alerts on certain pages and emails to the email addresses associated with their accounts. If you do not want to receive newsletters, announcements, or other communications and/or services from our Site, please do not opt-in for those communications or services at the time of registration. If you have opted-in and, at a later time, wish to opt-out, please click on the relevant link inserted in our communications. In every Interesting and Important e-mail communication sent to you, we provide you the opportunity to discontinue receiving future communications (i.e., unsubscribe). Simply follow the unsubscribe process or directions provided in these emails. For the orderly operation of the platform, users cannot opt-out from Essential emails such as when receiving an invoice or when a buyer requests a refund.
To access the full theLEAP Marketplace site, Users have to register for an account, provide accurate and complete information, and keep their account information updated. Both Buyers and Freelancers undergo the same account registration process.
Each account must be a personal account, but Users may trade as a sole trader, company or any other legal entity (whether incorporated or unincorporated).
Users cannot register for more than one account.
The information that Users supply in the public profile of their account must comply with theLEAP profile policies.
theLEAP reserve the right to restrict your access, temporarily or indefinitely block your account, stop any projects you have in progress, warn other Buyers and Freelancers of your actions or issue you a warning if:
Users are solely responsible for any activity that occurs on their account, unless it is a result of actions beyond their control (such as hacking or if someone steals their password when they have taken reasonable steps to keep it secure). Users may never use another person’s user account or registration information for the Website.
You confirm that you are not economically barred/limited under sanctions rules of any country worldwide. If your circumstances change to be included in such lists, please cease using theLEAP immediately.
As per UK AML regulation, theLEAP is unable to support users from North Korea, Iran, Syria, Sudan (Republic of Sudan or North Sudan), South Sudan (Republic of South Sudan) and Region of Crimea.
On purchase of an Offer the Buyer’s funds will be held in the Escrow Account.
The Buyer will then need to provide their requirements (as specified in the Offers description page) in the WorkStream so that the Freelancer can get started.
Once the requirements are provided in the WorkStream by the Buyer, the Freelancer must:
All direct communication between Buyer and Freelancer must go via the WorkStream to keep both parties protected in case of a Dispute.
Once the Offer has been completed the Freelancer will raise an invoice and:
The Freelancer’s payment for custom projects are either agreed as fixed price, price per item or as a per hour rate project:
On acceptance of a Proposal the Buyer will pay into the Escrow Account the agreed deposit amount.
The Buyer must then provide their detailed requirements in the WorkStream so that the Freelancer can get started. These requirements should include (but not be limited to):
Once requirements have been received from the Buyer, the Freelancer must:
All direct communication between Buyer and Freelancer should go via the WorkStream to keep both parties protected in case of a Dispute.
When the Custom project is completed (or an agreed milestone has been reached) the Freelancer will raise an Invoice:
The Freelancer’s payment for Per Hour Contracts is set as a per hour rate project using the per hour rate as stated on the Freelancer’s profile at the time of the Per Hour Contract setup. The Buyer agrees to pay the Freelancer based on the time spent, not on the real or perceived quality of any deliverables provided.
On acceptance of a Per Hour Proposal and on hire request, the Buyer must place a valid payment method on file and gives authorization to theLEAP to charge it repeatedly per theLEAP’s Terms and Conditions.
Every seven (7) days an invoice will be automatically raised by the system on behalf of the Freelancer according to the number of hours tracked by the Freelancer during the last seven (7) days and the per hour rate of the Per Hour Contract.
Upon invoice raise:
In the rare event that a Buyer refuses payment for legitimate services performed by a Freelancer, theLEAP will provide limited payment protection to the Freelancer as mentioned below (“Per Hour Payment Protection”). Per Hour Payment Protection will be provided only if all of the following criteria are met:
Per Hour Payment Protection is available with a maximum rate per hour protected by theLEAP to Freelancer the lesser of
theLEAP will adjust the invoice to Buyer for work that is not clearly related to either the project requirements or Buyer instructions in the Workstream and within the hours authorized for the week, subject to and conditioned on the following terms:
All Freelancers on theLEAP must strive to deliver a high standard of work, appropriately meeting their Buyer’s needs.
Specifically, Freelancers must ensure that all deliverables are:
The Buyer and Freelancer decide on the type of project, Hourly, custom or fixed price. They determine the terms and conditions of “projects”, including deliverables, any specific requirements, and for “projects” the price, directly between them. The Buyer and Freelancer create a direct service contract between themselves and theLEAP are not party to that contract (‘the Service Contract’).
Subject to this being varied as part of the Service Contract, ownership in and to any materials and or deliverables arising from a project and any intellectual property rights therein, will be assigned to the Buyer upon successful payment to the Freelancer. If the Buyer and Freelancer wish to include any special terms of the contract (for example, in relation to the ownership of the work produced, ownership of intellectual property rights or special rights of termination), the Buyer and Freelancer should negotiate and document these terms in the project WorkStream.
Subject to variation in the Service Contract, the terms and conditions of each project shall be deemed to incorporate a term that in consideration of the fee paid for the project the Freelancer thereby assigns to the Buyer absolutely with full title guarantee the following rights throughout the world:
in each case for the whole term including any renewals, reversions, revivals and extensions and together with all related rights and powers arising or accrued, including the right to bring, make, oppose, defend, appeal and obtain relief (and to retain any damages recovered) in respect of any infringement, or any other cause of action arising from ownership, of any of these assigned rights, whether occurring before, on, or after the date of Commencement of the project.
You promise that:
Using historical data, our Data Science team have created machine learning models that try to predict which proposals a buyer will most likely want to accept. We can therefore organise proposals into different categories:
PeoplePerHour only predicts the probability of a Recommended proposal being accepted. If a refund is processed, PeoplePerHour is not liable for the outcome.
Payments are made as described in Section 3, for a project agreed by the Buyer as successfully completed. The payment terms are seven (7) days except for Per Hour Contracts which is three (3) days.
For projects, the Freelancer must not request a release of funds from the Escrow Account prior to project completion; the purpose of funds being held in the Escrow Account is to provide the Freelancer with the security needed for them to undertake the work. Buyers must report such cases immediately. In such cases the Freelancer’s account may be temporarily or permanently suspended.
Regular payments may be made utilising the Auto Pay feature or Per Hour Contracts. theLEAP provides this facility solely to simplify the payment process. Use of this facility does not alter the nature of the relationship between theLEAP and its Users or between Buyers and Freelancers.
All payments between Buyer and Freelancer must be processed through theLEAP as described in Section 3, both for work sourced on theLEAP and for any follow on work between the Buyer and Freelancer, either for the same project or another project. A Freelancer may seek express written permission from theLEAP to allow payment by alternative means for a specific invoice or payment if the Freelancer intends to issue proceedings or pursue legal action against the Buyer.
Payment (or attempt of) outside of theLEAP is a breach of these terms and conditions unless the prior express written consent of theLEAP has been obtained. Such payment (or attempt of) and will lead to temporary and/ or permanent suspension of the Buyer and/ or Freelancer’s account. The Freelancer will be liable for any loss of business and legal expenses that theLEAP may incur in recovering it. theLEAP reserve the right to sanction funds held in the Freelancer’s Account in order to recover lost fees. Moreover, theLEAP will not mediate any Disputes or be liable to either the Buyer or Freelancer’s loss of business as a result of violation of this clause. Users must report attempts or offers to make payment outside of theLEAP by their Buyer or Freelancer to theLEAP immediately.
Payments by Buyers are routinely checked by theLEAP for fraud prevention purposes, before any payments are released to the Freelancer. Funds are only made available for withdrawal following a clearance period of fourteen (14) days after the invoice has been approved by the Buyer. Freelancers with total invoices paid in the last two (2) calendar months (“Recent Income”) of between £2,000 and £6,000 (or equivalent if converted) are eligible to withdraw funds following a safety clearance period of seven (7) days after the invoice has been approved by the Buyer. Freelancers with a Recent Income of more than £6,000 (or equivalent if converted) are eligible to withdraw funds following a safety clearance period of three (3) days after the invoice has been approved by the Buyer.
To withdraw funds from their theLEAP User Account a Freelancer needs to request a withdrawal on an authorized withdrawal account. An authorized withdrawal account can be either:
theLEAP process payments daily and will send the money to the Freelancer via their selected payment preference. Once theLEAP has processed payments, they are then subject to timescales imposed by the banking clearing system (BACS in the UK).
For security reasons, theLEAP reserves the right to request additional information from Buyers and Freelancers, including original documents, and to verify documents with issuing institutions. Therefore, we reserve the right to request the following proofs of identity:
For PayPal users:
For international Bank transfers, credit to the beneficiary may be delayed by factors such as local bank holidays, delays by an intermediary bank or other local conditions. Please note that some countries have been designated as “slow-to-pay” countries, and transfers made to those countries may take several days or even weeks in crediting the receiving account.
In using the Escrow Account theLEAP act, subject to these terms and conditions, on the User’s behalf. theLEAP hold the funds in a separate client account. theLEAP IS NOT A BANK and only holds funds for the purposes of settling the provision of services and specific invoices of Freelancers. We strongly recommend that all users do not hold balances on the platform. Funds held by theLEAP on the platform are not insured nor covered by any Financial Services Compensation Scheme or any other government agency. Users will not receive interest or other earnings on the funds in their Escrow Account or theLEAP User Account. theLEAP will endeavour to ensure that the funds in the Escrow Account or theLEAP User Account are available to the User in accordance with these Terms and Conditions but do not guarantee that they will be available to the User in circumstances which are unforeseen or beyond our control.
If theLEAP has to return funds to the Buyer due to the Buyer (contrary to these Terms and Conditions) filing a dispute or requesting a payment be reversed through its credit card provider, bank or Paypal then theLEAP will be entitled to recover any such amount from the Freelancer’s theLEAP User Account (and if insufficient monies are in the Freelancer’s Account), credit card or other previously made payment method if available. If theLEAP is unable to recover the amount returned to the Buyer from the Freelancer in full then the Freelancer agrees to pay to theLEAP any outstanding sums within 48 hours of theLEAP making a request.
To prevent funds being held indefinitely in the Escrow Account, theLEAP will notify the Freelancer in the event of funds being held in an Escrow Account for a project that i) does not have an unpaid Invoice nor an open Dispute; and ii) has not had any activity in the WorkStream for a period of one (1) calendar month or longer. Activity is defined as any action by the Buyer or Freelancer in the WorkStream such as: a message posted, an Invoice is raised, a deposit into the Escrow Account made or a Refund Request raised.
theLEAP uses third-party service providers Paypal to process payments by Buyers and to transfer funds to Freelancers. These third-party payment service providers are regulated and authorised to provide payment services in the countries where they operate. theLEAP may share your personal or transactional information with third-party payment service providers when it is necessary to process payments.
When the project is completed and the Freelancer has been paid by the Buyer, both parties are asked to provide both qualitative feedback and a rating from 1-5 for the other party. This rating influences each User’s ranking on theLEAP. In order for a user to read a received review, they have to submit their feedback as well. A review (feedback) is published on the member profile page when both parties (Buyer and Freelancer) leave their feedback within the first 60 days since invoice payment (funds released / amount paid). In case 60 days have passed, any submitted review is disclosed and users that haven’t left any review will no longer be able to do so.
Both parties should complete the feedback honestly. Users must not falsify feedback, manipulate or coerce another User by threatening negative feedback or offer incentives in exchange for feedback. Any attempts of this nature should be reported immediately to theLEAP.
Feedback comments that are reported to us as defamatory, abusive or offensive will be reviewed and may be removed at our discretion.
After the Commencement of a project, the Buyer may request a cancellation:
If there are funds in the Escrow Account and the Buyer believes they are entitled to a refund, the Buyer can notify theLEAP of the cancellation by requesting a refund using the “Request Refund” action on the WorkStream.
A Buyer is entitled to receive a refund of funds held in the Escrow Account under the following circumstances:
Buyer and Freelancer may mutually agree to a refund for reasons other than the previous clause however authorization of such refunds will be subject to a review by theLEAP, as defined in Section 6.2.1 .
Refunds are only applicable to funds held in the Escrow Account. As per Section 3, funds should only be paid out of the Escrow Account once the Buyer is satisfied that the project (or any agreed milestone deliverables) has been completed. By releasing funds from the Escrow Account the Buyer accepts that this money is non-refundable.
Buyers must avoid filing a dispute or reversing payment through their credit card holder, Bank or PayPal. Attempts to seek a refund in this way will lead to the Buyer’s account being automatically suspended.
A Buyer can request a refund of the funds held in the Escrow Account using the “Request Refund” action in the WorkStream and specifying a reason for their request.
theLEAP will process refund requests subject to a review of the refund reason and circumstances to ensure that both parties have complied with these terms and conditions, and that the purpose of the refund is not to avoid any of the parties’ obligations under these terms and conditions. If theLEAP reasonably believes that the parties have not complied with these terms and conditions or are seeking to avoid any such obligations theLEAP shall not be obliged to make the refund.
Users are strictly discouraged from causing cancellations and refunds. Refunds will impact Users standing in the theLEAP marketplace as follows:
theLEAP encourage our Freelancers and Buyers to try and resolve any disagreements between themselves. However should that not be possible theLEAP Customer Services can provide Dispute resolution.
A Dispute can be raised:
To raise a dispute, the Freelancer is required to pay a non-refundable fee as per section 8.2
Disputes are available to Freelancers that have qualified as trusted members of the theLEAP community.
For Invoice Disputes specifically, the amounts taken into consideration for the Dispute are the lower of the escrow balance or invoice amount.
If the amount disputed is £100 (or €130 or USD $160) or above, theLEAP may reach out to both parties in order to mediate and try and bring the Dispute to resolution.
theLEAP will aim to make a resolution decision on behalf of both parties within seven (7) days. If a mutual resolution has already been agreed between both parties on the workstream, then the dispute will either be cancelled or resolved in line with the mutual agreement.
In the event of having to make a resolution decision, theLEAP will use only the communication in the WorkStream as sole evidence, and consider:
Users agree and accept that any payments and/or other actions made by theLEAP in accordance with the resolution decision of a Dispute are made in good faith and Users shall have no cause of action against theLEAP (whether in contract, tort or otherwise) in respect of the resolution decision or any such actions or payments made pursuant to it. Users further agree and accept that they have no right to seek to hold theLEAP liable for a Buyer or Freelancer’s alleged actions or failures.
The Buyer fees are for the use of theLEAP as an intermediate platform, they do not reflect the outcome of any Freelancer collaboration and will not be refunded. Buyer fees are broken down as follows:
| Payment method | Service Fee |
| Paypal | £0.6 + 10% |
We may make changes to our service fees from time to time. These changes will be reflected in updated terms issued by us, which will apply to any transactions which take place after the updated fees come into force.
There is an optional listing fee of £29 where a Buyer may choose to mark a project listing as ‘urgent’ with a prominent symbol that will make it stand out.
theLEAP shall make available upon an optional fee of £29 , a Featured project Upgrade. Said fee will not be refundable and includes the time and effort spent by our team to review these projects, ensure they’re suitable to be featured and given high levels of exposure on PeoplePerHour.
theLEAP guarantee no level of success from featuring a project, in terms of any metric associated with a project – including but not limited to: proposals received, views received, likes the project received, and awarding the project to a Freelancer.
theLEAP reserves the right to charge Freelancers a Service Fee in accordance with the Service Fee Structure they are assigned to. Currently theLEAP is not charging freelancers to use the platform.
All Users are provided with a statement at the end of each month showing their net effective commission fee in their ‘Payments’ section on the Website.
When a Freelancer withdraws funds from their theLEAP User Account, theLEAP pass on any fees incurred to process the payment by third parties as a withdrawal fee, as follows:
| Withdrawal Currency | Withdrawal Method | Fee |
| GBP | UK bank transfer | No charge |
| GBP | SEPA/Local Currency* | £1.99 |
| GBP | India bank transfer | £14.99 |
| GBP | International bank transfer | £19.99 |
| USD | US bank transfer (ACH) | No charge |
| USD | SEPA/Local Currency* | $2.99 |
| USD | India bank transfer | $23.99 |
| USD | International bank transfer | $29.99 |
| EUR | SEPA/Local Currency* | €1.99 |
| EUR | India bank transfer | €14.99 |
| EUR | International bank transfer | €19.99 |
| GBP | USD | EUR | Paypal | 1.9% |
| GBP | Payoneer | £2 |
| USD | Payoneer | $3 |
| EUR | Payoneer | €2.5 |
If a Freelancer decides to purchase optional features to further increase their chances of winning work on theLEAP they will pay a feature fee.
If Freelancer decides to raise a dispute as per section 7, they are required to pay a non-refundable fee equal to 10% of the invoice or refund amount, subject to a minimum charge of £ 5 (or € 7 or $ 8) per dispute.
theLEAP IS NOT A BANK and only holds funds for the purposes of settling the provision of services and specific invoices of Freelancers. We strongly recommend that all users do not hold dormant balances on the platform. No user is permitted to hold a dormant balance on the platform for more than 30 days. If a User has held dormant funds in their theLEAP User Account for a period of sixty (60) days or more then theLEAP reserves the right to charge a monthly administration fee of [£6.70/€9.33/$9.95] (excl. VAT) for holding those funds on behalf of the User. This fee will be automatically collected each month from the funds in the User’s theLEAP User Account starting from the sixty first (61st) calendar day. The collection of this fee will end when either i) funds held are less than 60 days old, ii) the balance is cleared.
If you require a transaction within the theLEAP site which involves a currency conversion, it will be completed at a foreign exchange rate determined by an official institution, which is adjusted on a regular base. Exchange rates fluctuations are not under theLEAP control.
A Currency Conversion Fee of 2.5% will be applied every time theLEAP performs a currency conversion. When a currency conversion is available by theLEAP, you will be shown the exchange rate that will be applied to the transaction before you proceed with authorising the payment transaction. By accepting this transaction, you also agree to the exchange rate currency conversion terms.
The theLEAP terms of website use define how Users may make use of theLEAP whether as a guest or a registered user. They contain the heavy but important stuff so please read them carefully.
By proceeding to use the theLEAP service, Users consent that theLEAP may process the personal data (including sensitive personal data) that theLEAP collects from them in accordance with the theLEAP Privacy Policy and the terms of the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679.
theLEAP may use your personal data to gather feedback regarding your experience you may have with our platform. This helps our business grow by assembling useful information from our end-users.
theLEAP is not a party to any Service Contract between Buyer and Freelancer. Any Service Contract between a Buyer and Freelancer shall be in accordance with such Freelancer’s privacy policy and the terms of the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679.
These terms and conditions and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them or their subject matter or formation (including non-contractual disputes or claims) shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales shall have non-exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute or claim that arises out of or in connection with these terms and conditions or their subject matter or formation (including non-contractual disputes or claims).
The following policies are part of these terms and conditions and should be read carefully:
In these terms and conditions:
