Payment Terms (Author)
The following terms (these “Payment Terms”) govern payments you make or receive through novelo.com (the “Site”), operated by Novelo Ltd.
Novelo Limited processes card payments using Payment, Inc (the "Payment Service Provider").
Please read these Payment Terms carefully before publishing Paid Stories or receiving payments through the Site. By publishing Paid Stories or receiving payments through the Site, you accept and agree, on behalf of yourself or on behalf of your employer or any other entity (if applicable), to be bound and abide by these Payment Terms. These Terms are supplemental to Novelo’s Terms and Conditions accessible here Terms of Service.
Content refers to text, video, photographs and audio submitted by authors for purchase by readers for a fee which where the context permits are referred to as Paid Stories. Please read this section carefully, as it will contain important information regarding your rights as a seller of Content:
- Only authors registered on our site may submit Content for purchase by customers.
- Authors may only sell their stories once their have linked their Paypal account to Novelo.
- If Novelo, for any reason, suspects the author's Paypal account linked to Novelo does not belong to the author or illegal activity has been conducted on that Paypal account, we reserve the right to disallow that author from selling on Novelo.
- Once linked, the author will then be able to choose the story they want to convert into a Paid Story and will be required to select preview chapters (if any) and a listing price.
- For security concerns, Novelo may temporarily disable a author's ability to withdraw revenue to prevent fraudulent or illicit activity. This may come as a result of security issues or improper/illegal behavior reported by other users.
Receiving Payments
- In order to be able to receive payments, you must link their Paypal account to Novelo.
- Novelo offers two levels of royalties: authors will receive 35% royalty for stories priced between $0.99 and $1.99 and 80% for stories priced above $1.99.
- For authors that are subscribed to Novelo Premium, this increases to 40% for stories priced between $0.99 and $1.99 and 85% for stories priced above $1.99.
- Each story sold will be credited to the Author's PayPal account where Paypal will take their fee of 2.9% + 30¢ (Paypal might also charge a fee for cross-border transactions and/or currency conversion). Novelo will also take fees from the transaction (20% if story is priced above $1.99 and 65% if priced at $1.99 or below).
- All transactions will be held for up to 28 days so that readers have the opportunity to request a refund in accordance to rules outlined in the Payment Terms (Consumer) section.
- Authors are responsible for paying any direct or indirect taxes, including any GST, VAT or income tax, which may apply to them depending on residency, location or otherwise, under provisions of their jurisdiction. Authors represent and warrant that they comply, and will comply at all times, with their obligations under income tax provisions in their jurisdiction.
Referrals
- Referrals refer to registered members of Novelo whom you have referred. Details on how to refer members can be found here.
- For the first 90 days of the person you referred, you will earn 5% of the story's listing price (Referral Fee) when they purchase a Paid Story on Novelo. After 90 days, you will no longer receive a Referral Fee for purchases made by this member.
- The Referral Fee will be recorded in Novelo's database and scheduled to be paid out to your Paypal account in the next Payout.
- If a technical issue arises where Referral Fees are not being automatically paid, a Novelo admin will manually make the payment.
- In order to receive the Referral Fee, you must link their Paypal account to Novelo.
- If 24 hours has passed since a Referral Fee should have been paid to you but it has not, please contact hello@novelo.com and request a manual payment.
Payment Terms (Consumer)
The following terms (these “Payment Terms”) govern payments you make or receive through novelo.com (the “Site”), operated by Novelo Ltd.
Novelo Limited processes card payments using Paypal, Inc (the "Payment Service Provider").
Please read these Payment Terms carefully before making or receiving payments through the Site. By making or receiving payments through the Site, you accept and agree, on behalf of yourself or on behalf of your employer or any other entity (if applicable), to be bound and abide by these Payment Terms. These Terms are supplemental to Novelo’s Terms and Conditions accessible here Terms of Service.
Only registered Customers may purchase Content from our Site. Content refers to text, video, photographs and audio submitted by authors for purchase by customers for a fee.
As a buyer, you have the right to request a refund for any Content you have purchased so long as it is within 14 calendar days of the purchase and you have not accessed or read any chapter that has not been marked as a free preview chapter. If the story does not provide any preview chapters, you will be entitled to a refund if you have only accessed at maximum two paid chapters or a maximum of 10% of the story. This will be verified by a Novelo admin before processing the refund. You can request a refund by emailing hello@novelo.com.
Purchasing
- Buyers purchasing a Content will pay the author through the Payment Service Provider. By clicking on a link or button to purchase a Content, you agree to be redirected to a payment page hosted by Payment Service Provider.
- You may not offer authors to pay, or make payment, for a Content on Novelo using any other method other than that through Novelo and the Payment Service Provider.
- Purchases of the Content made through locations or websites outside of Novelo does not entitle you to access of that Content on Novelo.
- Novelo operates exclusively in USD. If the payment method you used to pay does not operate in USD, the financial institution associated with your payment method might charge you a fee to convert to USD.
- After the purchase has been completed, you will be redirected to the story page where a transaction will be recorded against your Novelo account denoting that you have purchased the Content. Afterwards, chapters that were locked to you will be unlocked.
- Payments made through Novelo via the Payment Service Provider go through a risk evaluation. If this evaluation fails, your purchase will not be completed.
- By using any payment method and/or providing payment details for making purchases on Novelo, you represent and warrant that: (a) you are legally authorised to provide such information; (b) you are legally authorised or have permission to make payments using the payment method(s); (c) if you are an employee or agent of a company or person that owns the payment method, you are authorised by that company or person to use the payment method to make payments on Novelo; and (d) such actions do not violate any applicable law.
Refunds
- As a buyer, you have the ability to request a refund for any Content you have purchased so long as it is within 14 calendar days of the purchase and you have not accessed or read any chapter that has not been marked as a free preview chapter. If the story does not provide any preview chapters, you will be entitled to a refund if you have only accessed at maximum two paid chapters or a maximum of 10% of the story. This will be verified by a Novelo admin before processing the refund. You can request a refund by emailing hello@novelo.com.
Taxes
- Novelo may be required by applicable laws to charge users with indirect taxes (such as Sales Tax, VAT or GST) or to withhold taxes. Any amount Novelo will be required to collect will be in addition to the listing price and any other fees payable by the purchaser, and any amount Novelo will be required to withhold will be deducted from the author’s revenue, as required by applicable laws.
- Indirect taxes are in addition to the price shown on the Site, and in any event, any such taxes will always be displayed to the Buyer before payment.
- Users are responsible for paying any direct or indirect taxes, including any GST, VAT, or income tax, which may apply to them depending on residency, location or otherwise, under provisions of their jurisdiction.
General Terms
- Novelo may make changes to these Payment Terms from time to time. When these changes are made, Novelo will make a new copy of the terms available on this page.
- You understand and agree that if you use Novelo after the date on which the Payment Terms have changed, Novelo will treat your use as acceptance of the updated Payment Terms.
Payment Terms (Marketplace Seller)
The following terms (these “Payment Terms”) govern payments you make or receive through novelo.com (the “Site”), operated by Novelo Ltd.
Novelo Limited processes card payments using Paypal, Inc (the "Payment Service Provider").
Please read these Payment Terms carefully before making or receiving payments through the Site. By making or receiving payments through the Site, you accept and agree, on behalf of yourself or on behalf of your employer or any other entity (if applicable), to be bound and abide by these Payment Terms. These Terms are supplemental to Novelo’s Terms and Conditions accessible here Terms of Service.
Eligibility and PayPal Integration
To offer services on the Marketplace, freelancers must:
- Be a registered Novelo user.
- Connect a valid PayPal account to their Novelo profile.
Pricing and Fees
- Service Pricing: Freelancers determine the price of each service listed.
- Customer Service Fee: Novelo adds a 5.5% + 30¢ service fee on top of the freelancer’s listed price. This is paid by the customer at checkout.
- Platform Commission: Novelo deducts a 10% commission from the freelancer’s listed price on all completed orders.
As an example, a service priced at $100:
- Customer pays: $105.80
- Freelancer receives: $90
- Novelo collects: $10.00
- PayPal collects: $5.80 (5.5% + 30¢ service fee to cover PayPal fees + 10% commission)
Payment Processing
- Order Acceptance: Customers are only charged once the freelancer accepts the order.
- Authorisation: After the order is accepted, the payment is authorised to be made and the authorisation will be valid for 28 days. If the project is not complete before 28 days, then the customer is required to re-authorise before being able to view and download deliverable files.
- Completion: Funds are the authorised payment is released to the freelancer. If the customer does not respond within five days of deliverables being sent to them, the order will be automtically marked as complete and funds will be released to the freelancer.
Refunds
Customers may request a refund under the following circumstances:
- Unresponsiveness: If the freelancer does not accept or respond to the order within five days of submission.
- Order Rejection: If the freelancer explicitly rejects the order before acceptance, the customer is not charged.
- Quality Disputes: If, after using all available revision requests, the customer believes the delivered work is of poor quality, they may escalate the issue to Novelo for review. Novelo will evaluate the situation and, if it determines that the freelancer did not meet the service description or reasonable expectations, a refund may be issued.
- AI Misrepresentation: If a freelancer claims not to use AI and is later found to have used it in the delivery of their service, the customer will be eligible for a full refund. Similarly, if a freelancer uses AI in a way not disclosed in the “AI Usage” section of their service listing, a refund may also be granted following investigation.
Taxes
Freelancers are solely responsible for calculating, reporting, and paying all applicable taxes (including VAT, GST, or income tax) related to their earnings. Novelo does not withhold any taxes on behalf of freelancers.
This document was last updated on the 1st November, 2024.