Terms and Conditions

These Terms and Conditions ("Terms") form a binding agreement between you and Qollectiv, Inc. ("Qollectiv", "we", "us", or "our"), a Delaware corporation, governing your access to and use of the Qollectiv research technology platform, websites, applications, and related services (collectively, the "Platform").

By creating an account, accessing, or using the Platform, you agree to these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Platform. If you use the Platform on behalf of an organization, you represent that you have authority to bind that organization.

For convenience in these Terms:

• "Researcher" means a user who creates, manages, or commissions studies or surveys on the Platform.
• "Organization" means an institutional or organizational account and its authorized members.
• "Organization Administrator" means a user with administrative permissions for an Organization.
• "Respondent" or "Research Participant" means a user or guest who answers surveys or otherwise participates in research.
• "Data Collector" means an authorized field researcher or interviewer who collects responses on behalf of a Researcher or Organization.
• "Study" or "Survey" means a research project, questionnaire, or related research activity conducted through the Platform.
• "Verification" means Platform processes used to confirm identity, phone, education, employment, organization status, or related attributes, resulting in a Verification Level or status.
• "Token" or "Credit" means the Platform unit used for research spending, AI feature charges, incentives, allocations, and related ledger activity. "Wallet" means the balance record associated with a user or Organization.
• "Incentive" means a reward, credit, payout, raffle opportunity, or similar benefit offered for eligible participation or work.
• "Research Data" means study responses, attachments, interview materials, and related study-specific information submitted through the Platform.
• "Personal Information" and "Sensitive Personal Information" have the meanings described in our Privacy Policy and under applicable law.
• "AI" means artificial intelligence or automated systems that assist with Platform features.

You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract under applicable law to create an ordinary Platform account or use the Platform as a Researcher, Respondent, Data Collector, or Organization Administrator.

If you use the Platform on behalf of an Organization, you represent that you have authority to bind that Organization to these Terms. Researchers remain responsible for any specially authorized research involving minors that they lawfully conduct under separate safeguards; the general Platform is not directed to individuals under 18.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for activity under your account. You must provide accurate information and keep it reasonably up to date. Notify us promptly of any unauthorized use of your account or security incident affecting your credentials or devices.

You may hold multiple Platform roles where permitted. You agree not to create or use multiple accounts to evade restrictions, obtain duplicate Incentives, or otherwise abuse the Platform, unless we expressly permit multiple accounts for a legitimate reason.

The Platform supports roles that may include Researchers, Respondents / Research Participants, Data Collectors, and Organization Administrators. Features, permissions, Tokens/Credits, Verification requirements, and responsibilities vary by role, account type, and Organization membership.

You agree to use role-specific features only as permitted for your account and assigned permissions, and to comply with any additional role acknowledgments or agreements presented in the Platform (for example, respondent or collector data-ownership acknowledgments).

Researchers and Organizations are responsible for the research they conduct through the Platform. Without limiting that responsibility, you represent and agree that you are responsible for:

• Lawful research purposes and lawful use of the Platform.
• The questions, stimuli, uploads, and other content you create or distribute.
• Eligibility criteria and targeting rules you set.
• Study-specific participant disclosures and required consent.
• Collection of Sensitive Personal Information and related safeguards.
• Ethical approvals, IRB or institutional review, and research-governance requirements where applicable.
• Establishing and documenting a lawful basis for processing under applicable privacy law.
• Compliance with applicable privacy, research, consumer, advertising, and employment laws.
• The accuracy of representations made to participants and Data Collectors.
• Use, storage, export, and downstream handling of Study data you receive.
• Intellectual-property rights in content you upload.
• Incentive conditions, budgets, and study funding you establish.

Qollectiv may review, restrict, reject, suspend, or remove Studies that appear to violate Platform rules, law, participant safety, privacy, research integrity, or these Terms. Platform review does not constitute legal, ethical, or scientific approval of your research.

Respondents agree to:

• Provide accurate account and profile information.
• Answer Study questions honestly to the best of their ability.
• Comply with Study eligibility rules and participation instructions.
• Maintain one legitimate account unless expressly permitted otherwise.
• Refrain from manipulating eligibility, impersonating another person, or submitting fraudulent or duplicate responses.
• Comply with Incentive rules, Verification requirements, and quality or integrity checks disclosed for a Study.

Participation alone does not guarantee an Incentive if disclosed eligibility, completion, quality, Verification, or fraud conditions have not been satisfied.

Data Collectors must:

• Use collected information only for authorized research and Platform purposes.
• Obtain or provide required participant disclosures and consent steps applicable to their assignments.
• Not fabricate responses, invent interviews, or improperly duplicate interviews.
• Protect devices, credentials, and any offline or local Research Data.
• Not copy, export, share, or retain information except as authorized by the Researcher, Organization, Platform workflows, or law.
• Synchronize collected responses as reasonably required and delete or clear local copies when required after successful synchronization or assignment completion where supported.
• Immediately report loss, compromise, or unauthorized access affecting devices or Research Data.
• Comply with Researcher instructions, Qollectiv policies, training requirements, and applicable law.

Qollectiv does not, by these Terms alone, promise specific device-encryption or remote-wipe controls beyond features actually made available in the Platform.

Organization Administrators are responsible for managing membership, roles, billing or wallet activity within their permissions, and ensuring that Organization users comply with these Terms. Administrators must not grant access to unauthorized persons and must promptly remove access when a member should no longer use the Organization account.

Organizations are responsible for the acts and omissions of their members and invited users acting within the Organization's account, to the extent permitted by applicable law.

All users must use the Platform in a manner consistent with applicable law, these Terms, and research integrity. Researchers and Organizations remain responsible for ethical research design, participant welfare, required approvals, and lawful processing. Respondents and Data Collectors must not undermine research quality through deception, fabrication, or collusion.

Qollectiv provides technology infrastructure and related services. Unless expressly agreed in writing, Qollectiv does not act as an ethics board, IRB, legal counsel, or scientific guarantor for any Study.

Studies may require additional disclosures, acknowledgments, consent recordings, or agreements beyond these Terms. Researchers and Organizations are responsible for providing accurate study-specific information and obtaining any consent required by law or research ethics.

Platform features such as survey introduction text, respondent or collector agreements, or verbal-consent recording (where enabled) may support, but do not automatically satisfy, every consent or disclosure obligation that may apply to a Study.

If a Study requests Sensitive Personal Information, the Researcher or Organization must ensure there is an appropriate purpose, lawful basis or required consent, minimization, and safeguards under applicable law. Participants should review study disclosures carefully before providing sensitive answers.

Qollectiv may restrict or remove Studies that appear to collect sensitive information unlawfully, deceptively, or without adequate disclosures.

You may not use the Platform to conduct or facilitate research or data collection that involves, where applicable:

• Illegal activity.
• Phishing, password or credential harvesting, or malware distribution.
• Unlawful surveillance, doxxing, harassment, or threats.
• Deceptive recruitment or misrepresentation of research purpose.
• Unlawful discrimination.
• Unauthorized collection of financial account credentials or payment-card data.
• Unnecessary collection of highly sensitive identifiers without a legitimate research need and lawful basis.
• Intellectual-property infringement.
• Fraudulent, fabricated, or exploitative Studies.
• Collection or use of Personal Information without appropriate authority or consent.
• Attempts to circumvent Platform protections, Verification, eligibility, or integrity controls.

Qollectiv may review high-risk Studies and may refuse, suspend, or remove them.

Respondents must meet disclosed eligibility criteria and must not misrepresent demographics, Verification status, location, or other attributes to gain access to Studies or Incentives. Screening answers and profile data used for matching must be truthful to the best of the Respondent's knowledge.

Qollectiv and Researchers may invalidate participation, withhold or reverse improperly obtained Incentives where legally and technically permitted, and restrict accounts that repeatedly violate eligibility rules.

We may require phone, identity, education, employment, organization, or other Verification for certain features, Studies, claims, payouts, raffles, or roles. Verification may use automated extraction, AI-assisted review, and human review. Verification outcomes and Verification Levels may affect eligibility and Incentive access.

You must not submit fake, altered, borrowed, or another person's documents, or otherwise circumvent Verification. Automated Verification is not guaranteed to be error-free. We may request reverification when reasonably necessary. Raw Verification documents are not provided to Researchers by default; Researchers may receive Verification status or level where relevant.

To protect research quality and Platform integrity, the following are prohibited:

• Creating or using multiple accounts to obtain duplicate Incentives.
• Identity sharing or impersonation.
• Fake, altered, or fraudulent Verification documents.
• Circumventing Verification, eligibility, or security controls.
• Location manipulation intended to defeat Study restrictions.
• Using a VPN, proxy, or similar tool specifically to evade Study, geographic, or integrity restrictions.
• Bots, automated fraudulent survey completion, or AI-generated fraudulent responses.
• Duplicate participation, collusion, Incentive farming, or fabricated field interviews.
• Manipulation of Verification, device, or integrity signals.

Subject to applicable law, Qollectiv may investigate suspected abuse; require reverification; temporarily restrict accounts or features; delay or withhold disputed or suspected fraudulent Incentives; reverse improperly obtained Credits or Incentives where legally and technically permitted; link or investigate related accounts using appropriate fraud signals; preserve relevant records; suspend or terminate accounts; and report unlawful activity where required or appropriate.

If you believe an integrity action was taken in error, you may contact us to request a reasonable review. We will consider relevant information you provide, but we are not required to restore access or Incentives where evidence reasonably supports a policy violation or legal risk.

The Platform uses Tokens and Credits (used interchangeably in product interfaces) as ledger units for research spending, AI-related charges, Incentives, organizational allocations, commissions, and related activity. Wallet balances may be associated with an individual account or an Organization.

Token value and redemption mechanics are as disclosed on the Platform and may vary by market and payment rail. For example, in Ethiopia Tokens may correspond to Ethiopian Birr equivalents for supported Telebirr top-up and payout flows, while in other markets Tokens may correspond to a stated USD or other currency equivalent for supported Stripe, PayPal, or similar flows. Exact rates, fees, thresholds, and available methods are shown in the Platform and may change.

Unless we expressly state otherwise:

• Tokens/Credits are Platform units subject to these Terms and are not a bank deposit, securities product, or stored-value instrument beyond the redemption and use rights we expressly provide.
• Tokens/Credits are generally not transferable between unrelated users, except for Organization-internal allocations or other transfers we expressly enable.
• Purchased Tokens/Credits and funded study budgets are subject to Platform pricing, approval workflows, and usage rules (including any starter or promotional Credits that may be restricted, expire, or be clawed back as disclosed).
• Claimable earnings and payout eligibility may depend on Verification Level, minimum thresholds, account status, and review workflows.

Participation in a Study or assignment does not by itself create an unrestricted cash entitlement beyond the Incentive rules disclosed for that activity.

Incentives may include survey Credits, collector payouts, Verification bonuses, referral rewards, raffles where legally permitted and offered, or other disclosed benefits. Incentive amounts, conditions, and claim or payout steps are shown before or during the relevant activity where practicable.

Qollectiv may require Verification (commonly including identity Verification at a stated level), completion of quality checks, and approval workflows before Credits become claimable or before cash payouts are released. Payment-provider delays, banking or telecom network issues, and compliance reviews may affect timing.

We will not arbitrarily deny legitimately earned Incentives that satisfy disclosed eligibility, completion, quality, Verification, and anti-fraud conditions. We may delay, withhold, adjust, or reverse Incentives that were obtained through error, ineligibility, quality failure, cancellation of a Study under disclosed rules, or suspected or confirmed fraud, where legally and technically permitted.

Unless required by law or expressly stated in a Platform policy or written agreement, purchases of Tokens/Credits and study funding are generally non-refundable once processed.

Reversals, clawbacks, adjustments, or refunds may occur in limited cases, including starter or promotional Credit expiry or clawback as disclosed; correction of billing or ledger errors; collector or Incentive clawbacks tied to quality, duplication, or policy violations; canceled or ineligible Studies under disclosed rules; or chargebacks and payment-provider actions.

If a payment provider reverses a top-up or payout, we may adjust Wallet balances and related Study funding accordingly.

You are responsible for any taxes, duties, or reporting obligations that apply to your use of the Platform, Incentives, or payouts, except where Qollectiv is legally required to withhold or report. Payment and payout providers (such as card processors, mobile-money providers, or payout networks) are third parties with their own terms. Qollectiv is not responsible for provider outages, freezes, KYC decisions, or delays outside our reasonable control, though we will take reasonable steps to help investigate Platform-side issues.

Researchers and Organizations are solely responsible for Study content they create, upload, or distribute, including questions, media, eligibility logic, and participant instructions. Content must comply with these Terms, applicable law, and third-party rights.

Qollectiv may remove or restrict content that appears unlawful, harmful, deceptive, infringing, or otherwise in violation of these Terms.

Qollectiv and its licensors own the Platform, software, interfaces, algorithms, branding, documentation, and proprietary technology. These Terms do not transfer Platform ownership to you.

Researchers and Organizations retain ownership of original Study materials they create, subject to the licenses needed for Qollectiv to operate the Platform. Users retain applicable rights in content they submit, subject to Study disclosures, these Terms, and any role-specific agreements.

You grant Qollectiv a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, process, transmit, display, analyze, store, and otherwise use your content as needed to operate the Platform, provide requested services, maintain integrity and security, comply with law, and improve Platform features (including through aggregated or de-identified uses described in the Privacy Policy).

Research Data submitted for a Study may be used by the commissioning Researcher or Organization according to study disclosures, participant consent or acknowledgments, these Terms, the Privacy Policy, and applicable law. Qollectiv may also process Research Data to operate the Platform, perform quality and fraud checks, provide analysis features, administer Incentives, and create aggregated or de-identified insights.

Respondents and Data Collectors should assume that Research Data may be exported, analyzed, and retained by the Researcher or Organization according to that party's practices once lawfully received through the Platform.

The Platform may offer AI-assisted features for questionnaire generation, study design, analysis, summarization, classification, insights, Verification assistance, collector matching, support tooling, and similar functions. Third-party AI services may be involved, subject to our Privacy Policy and applicable agreements.

AI outputs can be inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading. Users must exercise independent judgment. Researchers remain responsible for research methodology, question quality, interpretation, and decisions based on AI outputs. AI outputs are not guaranteed to be scientifically or statistically valid and should not automatically be treated as professional legal, medical, financial, or other regulated advice.

Consistent with the Privacy Policy, Qollectiv may create and use aggregated, statistical, anonymized, or appropriately de-identified datasets and insights for analytics, benchmarking, product development, reporting, and commercial research products where individuals are not reasonably identifiable and where permitted by law and contractual commitments. Qollectiv retains ownership of its aggregated and de-identified products and methodologies, without claiming ownership of a Researcher's identifiable Study materials contrary to Section 22.

The Platform may integrate or interoperate with third-party services, including authentication, payments, communications, hosting, analytics, AI, and verification providers. Your use of those services may be subject to their own terms and privacy policies. Qollectiv is not responsible for third-party services except to the extent required by applicable law or a separate written agreement.

The Platform may experience interruptions, maintenance windows, feature changes, degraded performance, or outages caused by us, users, or third-party infrastructure. We do not guarantee continuous, uninterrupted, or error-free availability. We may modify, suspend, or discontinue features with or without notice, except where applicable law requires otherwise.

We may suspend, restrict, or terminate access to accounts, Studies, Wallets, or features if you violate these Terms, create legal or security risk, engage in fraud or abuse, or if needed to protect the Platform or other users. We may investigate suspected violations and preserve relevant records.

You may deactivate or delete your account through available account settings, subject to retention, recovery, financial, Verification, and legal requirements described in the Privacy Policy. Suspension or termination does not limit our right to pursue remedies for violations that occurred before termination.

Unless separately agreed in writing, Qollectiv does not guarantee:

• Respondent truthfulness.
• Sample representativeness or market representativeness.
• Statistical significance, completeness, or methodological quality.
• Eligibility accuracy in all cases.
• Researcher or AI conclusions.
• Particular research outcomes or business results.

Researchers remain responsible for methodology, interpretation, validation, and decisions based on research conducted through the Platform.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE PLATFORM IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. We do not warrant that the Platform will be secure, timely, uninterrupted, or free of errors or harmful components.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, Qollectiv and its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, and agents will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost revenue, lost data, or loss of goodwill, arising out of or related to the Platform or these Terms, whether based in contract, tort, or any other theory, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, our total aggregate liability for any claim relating to the Platform or these Terms will not exceed the greater of (a) the amounts you paid to Qollectiv for the Platform services giving rise to the claim during the twelve (12) months before the claim or (b) one hundred U.S. dollars (USD $100).

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot legally be excluded or limited, including mandatory consumer-protection or data-protection rights that apply in your jurisdiction.

If you are a Researcher, Organization, Organization Administrator, or Data Collector, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless Qollectiv and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against claims, damages, losses, and reasonable expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to: your content; unlawful research; privacy violations; failure to obtain required consent or approvals; intellectual-property infringement; misrepresentation; unauthorized data collection or use; fraud; violation of law; or material breach of these Terms — in each case to the extent caused by you or those acting on your behalf.

If you are an individual Respondent using the Platform in a personal capacity, you agree not to misuse the Platform and to be responsible for losses you cause through fraud, impersonation, deliberate falsehoods, or willful violation of these Terms. We do not impose broad enterprise-style indemnity obligations on ordinary individual Respondents beyond responsibility for your own unlawful or abusive conduct, except where permitted by applicable law and proportionate to the conduct at issue.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware and applicable United States federal law, without regard to conflict-of-law principles that would require application of another jurisdiction's laws as the general contractual framework.

This governing-law clause does not displace mandatory rights that cannot be waived under the laws of your country or state of residence, including mandatory Ethiopian consumer, employment, or data-protection protections that apply to you by law. Subject to those mandatory rights, disputes shall be resolved in the state or federal courts located in the State of Delaware, except where mandatory law requires another forum.

Qollectiv is not liable for failure or delay in performing obligations under these Terms to the extent caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including internet or telecommunications failures; cloud-provider or payment-network failures; government actions or restrictions; natural disasters; war or civil unrest; labor disruptions; epidemics; major cyber incidents beyond reasonable control; or comparable events.

Force majeure does not excuse obligations that applicable law does not allow to be excused, including obligations relating to personal-data rights where those obligations continue to apply.

You may not assign or transfer these Terms or your rights hereunder without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, corporate reorganization, or sale of assets, or to an affiliate, provided the assignee assumes our obligations. These Terms bind permitted successors and assigns.

If any provision of these Terms is held unenforceable, that provision will be enforced to the maximum extent permitted, and the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.

Our failure to enforce any provision of these Terms is not a waiver of our right to enforce that provision or any other provision later. Any waiver must be in writing to be effective.

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any additional role-specific or study-specific agreements you expressly accept in the Platform, constitute the entire agreement between you and Qollectiv regarding the Platform and supersede prior or contemporaneous agreements on that subject, except that separately executed contracts (such as an enterprise agreement or DPA) control to the extent of a conflict for the parties to that contract.

Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, joint venture, employment, or agency relationship between you and Qollectiv, except that Data Collectors and Researchers remain responsible for their own employment, contractor, or institutional relationships with one another where applicable. You and Qollectiv are independent parties.

You consent to receive electronic communications from us related to the Platform, including notices about these Terms, the Privacy Policy, security, Verification, payments, and account administration. Notices may be provided by email, in-app message, or posting on the Platform. It is your responsibility to keep your email address current.

Legal notices to Qollectiv regarding these Terms may be sent to legal@qollectiv.app. Privacy inquiries should be sent to privacy@qollectiv.app.

Provisions that by their nature should survive termination will survive, including ownership, licenses granted to operate completed research and Platform integrity functions, aggregated/de-identified data rights, disclaimers, limitations of liability, indemnification, governing law, and this survival clause.

We may modify these Terms from time to time. We will post the revised Terms on this page and update the "Last updated" date. For material changes, we may provide reasonable notice through the Platform, by email, or by other reasonable means where required by law. Where applicable law requires affirmative consent, we will seek that consent rather than relying solely on continued use.

Questions about these Terms may be sent to legal@qollectiv.app. Privacy questions should be sent to privacy@qollectiv.app.