Terms and Conditions
Last updated: [DATE]
DRAFT — NOT YET REVIEWED BY COUNSEL. The liability, arbitration, and
assumption-of-risk provisions below are the most important in this document
and carry real legal consequences. They must be reviewed by a qualified
attorney before publication. Bracketed items need completing.
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1. Agreement
These Terms are a contract between you and Flare Inc., a Wyoming corporation
("Flare", "we", "us"). By creating an account or using Flare you agree to
them. If you do not agree, do not use Flare.
**Section 15 contains a binding arbitration agreement and a class action
waiver. It affects how disputes between you and Flare are resolved. Please
read it.**
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2. Who can use Flare
You must be 18 or over. This is not a formality, and we verify your date of
birth at signup. If we find that you are under 18 we will terminate your
account.
You must be able to enter a binding contract, and you must not be barred from
using Flare under the laws that apply to you.
One account per person. Do not create an account for someone else or let
someone else use yours.
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3. What Flare is, and what it is not
Flare lets people organise and join real-world meetups called quests. Someone
posts a plan, other people commit, and if enough people commit before the
timer expires, it happens.
Flare is a platform. We are not a party to any quest. We do not organise,
supervise, attend, control, vet, or take responsibility for what happens at a
quest. We do not employ hosts. Hosts are not our agents or representatives.
We provide software that helps people find each other. What happens when you
meet is between you and the people you meet.
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4. Your account
Keep your password secure and tell us promptly if you think someone else has
access to your account. You are responsible for activity under your account.
Provide accurate information. Your name and date of birth must be truthful.
Providing false information is a breach of these Terms and may be grounds for
termination.
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5. Identity verification for public quests
Before hosting or joining a public quest you must complete identity
verification through our third-party provider.
Verification is not required for quests between friends, because those people
already know each other.
Your verified name and the address on your document are recorded against your
account. Because the address must match your verified document, you cannot
change it yourself. Contact support if it needs updating.
We do not receive or store your identity document. See our Privacy Policy.
Completing verification does not mean Flare vouches for that person, endorses
them, or has assessed whether they are safe to meet. It means a third party
confirmed their document appeared genuine and matched them. **You are still
responsible for your own judgement about who you meet.**
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6. Quests: your responsibilities
If you host
You decide the plan, the place, who can see it, and who can join. You are
responsible for what you organise.
Describe your quest accurately. Do not advertise one thing and deliver
another.
Do not host anything illegal, dangerous, or that would put attendees at risk.
You can remove someone from your quest and must select a reason. Do not use
removal to harass, retaliate against, or discriminate against anyone.
You are responsible for complying with any law that applies to what you are
organising, including any permit, licence, or permission a venue or activity
requires.
If you join
Showing up is a commitment to other people. Repeatedly failing to appear
affects your visible reliability.
You are responsible for getting yourself to and from a quest safely, and for
your own conduct.
Use your own judgement. Look at who is hosting, look at their history, and do
not go to anything you are not comfortable with. You can leave at any time.
Everyone
Treat other people with respect. Harassment, threats, abuse, discrimination,
unwanted sexual attention, and violence are not tolerated and will result in
removal from Flare. **Where behaviour warrants it, we will report it to law
enforcement and take legal action.**
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7. Offline conduct, assumption of risk, and release
This section is important. Read it carefully.
Quests happen in the physical world, between people who may not know each
other. That carries real risk, including risk of injury, illness, property
damage, theft, harassment, assault, and death.
You attend quests entirely at your own risk. You are solely responsible
for your own safety and your own conduct, and for any harm you cause to
another person or their property.
Flare is not responsible for what happens offline. We do not supervise
quests, we are not present at them, and we have no ability to control what
people do once they meet. Our role ends at the software.
**To the fullest extent permitted by law, you release Flare, its officers,
directors, employees, and agents from any claim, demand, damage, or liability
of any kind arising out of or connected to:**
You waive any law that limits the effect of a release to claims you know about
at the time, including California Civil Code section 1542 and equivalent
provisions elsewhere.
Assistance with identification. If a serious incident occurs and lawful
process is provided, we will assist authorities with the information we hold,
as described in our Privacy Policy. This does not make us responsible for the
incident.
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8. Prohibited conduct
Do not:
it
of Flare
security or access controls
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9. Your content
You keep ownership of what you post: your photos, video, messages, and quest
descriptions.
You grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store,
display, reproduce, and distribute your content solely to operate and provide
Flare. This licence ends when you delete the content or your account, except
where the content is retained under section 12 or our Privacy Policy, and
except for copies retained in backups for a limited period.
Quest media. Photos you add to a quest's shared pool can be seen by
everyone who was at that quest, and any of them can select your photo as their
own spotlight photo, which displays it on their public profile. Do not add
photos to a quest pool unless you are comfortable with that.
If you delete a photo that another user has selected as their spotlight photo,
it is removed from their profile as well, and they are warned before you
confirm.
You are responsible for having the right to post what you post, including
where other people appear in it.
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10. Reputation and visibility
Flare calculates a show-up rate and reliability badge from your actual
activity. These are visible to other users, because people deciding
whether to meet a stranger deserve to see whether that person turns up.
Being removed from a quest for failing to attend affects your reliability.
Removal for other reasons does not.
We may change how reputation is calculated. We do not guarantee any particular
standing, badge, or status, and we may revoke Superhost, Verified Creator, or
similar status at our discretion.
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11. Payments
Tips
People who attended a quest can tip the host.
The host receives 70 percent of the tip. Flare retains 30 percent. That 30
percent covers payment processing fees and, on in-app purchases, app store
commission. What we send to a host is exactly their 70 percent. We do not
control what a host's own bank may charge to receive it.
Flare+ subscribers receive a reduced rate: they retain 75 percent.
**To receive tips you must complete onboarding with Stripe and accept
Stripe's own agreement.** Stripe handles payouts. We are not a bank and do not
provide money transmission services.
Tip balances are subject to a holding period before withdrawal, and
withdrawals are subject to review.
Flare+
Flare+ costs $4.99 per month and renews automatically until cancelled.
Cancelling stops the next renewal. You keep your benefits until the end of the
period you have already paid for.
We may change the price. Existing subscribers will be given notice before any
increase applies to them.
Extended Archive
Extended Archive is a one-off purchase applying to a single quest, bought by
its host.
All purchases are final
**Tips, Flare+ subscriptions, and Extended Archive purchases are
non-refundable.** Cancelling Flare+ stops future renewals rather than
refunding the current period.
Purchases made through the Apple App Store or Google Play may also be subject
to those stores' own refund policies.
Taxes
You are responsible for any tax on money you earn through Flare.
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12. Reporting, suspension, and termination
Reporting
You can report a user or a quest. Give an accurate reason. Deliberately false
reports are themselves a breach of these Terms.
**Safety reports and their evidence are retained even after an account is
deleted**, as described in our Privacy Policy, so that a serious allegation
cannot be erased by closing an account.
Our rights
We may suspend or terminate your account, remove content, or restrict features
if you break these Terms, if we believe you present a risk to other users, or
if we are required to by law. Where reasonable we will tell you why.
Your rights
Delete your account from Settings at any time. It becomes invisible to others
immediately and is permanently deleted after 180 days. Logging in during that
period restores it.
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13. Disclaimers
Flare is provided "as is" and "as available". To the fullest extent
permitted by law we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including
merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.
We do not warrant that Flare will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free,
that quests will activate, that anyone will attend, or that any user is who
they claim to be or is safe to meet.
We do not vet users. Identity verification confirms a document, not a
character.
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14. Limitation of liability
**To the fullest extent permitted by law, Flare will not be liable for any
indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages,
or for any loss of profits, data, goodwill, or business opportunity, arising
out of or connected to your use of Flare.**
**Our total liability to you for all claims will not exceed the greater of one
hundred US dollars, or the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the
claim arose.**
These limits apply regardless of the legal theory, and even if we were told
that such damages were possible.
Some jurisdictions do not allow certain exclusions. Where that applies, the
exclusions above apply only to the extent permitted, and you may have rights
that these Terms cannot limit.
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15. Disputes, arbitration, and class action waiver
Please read this section carefully. It affects your legal rights.
Talk to us first
Before starting formal proceedings, contact us at [LEGAL EMAIL ADDRESS] and
describe the problem. Most issues can be resolved this way. Give us 30 days.
Arbitration
If we cannot resolve it, **you and Flare agree that any dispute will be
resolved by binding individual arbitration**, rather than in court, except as
stated below.
Arbitration will be administered by [ARBITRATION PROVIDER] under its rules,
and will take place in [VENUE] or by videoconference. The arbitrator's
decision is final and enforceable in any court.
Class action waiver
**You and Flare each waive the right to bring or participate in a class,
collective, consolidated, or representative action.** The arbitrator may award
relief only to the individual party seeking it.
If this waiver is found unenforceable, the arbitration agreement is void as to
that claim and it proceeds in court.
Exceptions
Either party may bring an individual claim in small claims court, and either
party may seek injunctive relief to protect intellectual property or prevent
unauthorised access.
Opting out
You can opt out of arbitration by emailing [LEGAL EMAIL ADDRESS] within 30
days of first accepting these Terms, stating your name, username, and that you
are opting out. Opting out does not affect anything else in these Terms.
Governing law
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Wyoming, without regard
to conflict of law rules. Where arbitration does not apply, the courts of
[COUNTY], Wyoming have exclusive jurisdiction, and you consent to that.
Nothing here removes a consumer protection right that the law of your own
country gives you and does not allow you to waive.
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16. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Flare, its officers, directors,
employees, and agents from any claim, damage, loss, liability, cost, or
expense, including reasonable legal fees, arising out of your use of Flare,
your content, your conduct at or in connection with a quest, your breach of
these Terms, or your violation of any law or the rights of another person.
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17. Changes
We may update these Terms. If a change is material we will tell you in the app
or by email before it takes effect. Continuing to use Flare after that means
you accept the updated Terms. If you do not accept them, delete your account.
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18. General
Entire agreement. These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the whole
agreement between you and Flare about Flare.
Severability. If any provision is unenforceable, the rest remains in
effect.
No waiver. If we do not enforce a provision, that is not a waiver of it.
Assignment. You may not assign these Terms. We may assign them in
connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
Force majeure. We are not liable for failures caused by events beyond our
reasonable control.
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19. Contact
[LEGAL EMAIL ADDRESS]
Flare Inc., [REGISTERED ADDRESS]