Last Modified: 9/30/2024
This Talker Payment Policy forms part of the User Agreement and is incorporated by reference therein. Capitalized terms not defined herein will have the meanings set forth in the User Agreement and related policies.
1. Cougars.com’s payment responsibilities for Talker Services you provide are subject to restrictions and limitations. The User who initiates a Transaction with a Talker through the Site is solely responsible for payment of any and all fees for the Transaction. Cougars.com shall not be obligated to pay any Talker fees for which Cougars.com has not been fully paid by the User or User’s credit card issuer or bank, as applicable. You hereby authorize Cougars.com to collect payments from Users on your behalf for any and all Transactions that you conduct. Cougars.com will credit to your User account the fees collected by Cougars.com less Cougars.com's connection charges and commissions set forth below, any tax withholdings required by law, and any refunds, discounts, chargebacks and chargeback fees payable by Cougars.com (the “Net Fees”).
1.1. Live Calls. As a Talker, you may charge Users a price-per-minute fee as part of the listed rate. Cougars.com may collect a percentage of the per minute rate as a connection fee. Cougars.com will retain connection charges for each call in the amount of Cougars.com’s then current connection percentage rate—which is currently 65% (sixty-five percent) of the per-minute rate. Cougars.com reserves the right to change the amount of connection percentage retained by Cougars.com at any time.
1.2. Paid Mail. As a Talker, you may charge a fee for responding to the Paid Mail requests that you receive. You must clearly state the fee for responding to Paid Mail in your Mail response. Cougars.com will receive a commission stated in our agreement with you of the Gross Mail Fees. The “Gross Mail Fees” means the fees collected by Cougars.com for each Paid Mail sent from your Talker address that is accepted by a User. The current Gross Mail Fee for a caller to send a Mail message is $0.25 (twenty-five cents), of which the paid commission is 35% (thirty-five percent). You may increase the rates for mail responses with or without an attachment up to $5.00 (five dollars) of which the paid commission is 35% (thirty-five percent) of the Gross Mail Fee charges on the message. The Gross Mail Fee for messages sent by You will be paid to your account once the message and fee has been accepted and charged to the caller.
1.3. Web Chat. As a Talker, you may charge Users a price-per-minute fee as part of the listed rate. Cougars.com may collect a percentage of the per minute rate as a connection fee. Cougars.com will retain connection charges for each web chat in the amount of Cougars.com’s then current connection percentage rate—which is currently 50% (fifty percent) of the per-minute rate. Cougars.com reserves the right to change the amount of connection percentage retained by Cougars.com at any time. Talkers will only turn on availability for web chats when they are able and willing to have a conversation through the web chat service.
1.4. Text Messaging. As a Talker, you will be paid for every text message that a caller sends to you. The Fee for a caller to send a text message is $0.50 (fifty cents), of which the paid commission is 35% (thirty-five percent). You will not be paid for any return messages to the caller sent through the paid chat message box. Talkers will only turn on availability for texting when they are able and willing to have a conversation through the texting service.
1.5. Paid Products. As a Talker, you may charge a fee for products you sell through your profile. Products can include audio recordings, photos, documents, videos, and webcam sessions. You must clearly state the price for each product in your User listing(s) of which the paid commission is 35% (thirty-five percent) of the Gross Product Fees. The “Gross Product Fees” means the fees collected by Cougars.com for each Paid Product sent from your Talker account that is accepted by a User. You will absorb all costs incurred for charge-back, and bear all risk of non-payment.You will indemnify, defend, and hold Cougars.com harmless of and from any and all liability associated with products you sell.
1.6. Bonuses. As a Talker, you may receive bonuses from callers that may or may not include a message from them. Cougars.com will receive a commission equal to 40% of the Gross Bonus for all bonuses below $50, 30% of the Gross Bonuses between $50 - $99.99, and 20% of the Gross Bonus for all bonuses $100 and over. The “Gross Bonus” means the full amount collected by Cougars.com for each Paid Bonus sent to your Talker account from a Caller. You will absorb all costs incurred for charge-back, and bear all risk of non-payment. As a Talker, you may not accept bonuses from callers on the Site in return for services provided outside of the site, or for physical or virtual products provided to the customer. Such use of the bonus system is against our Terms and Conditions and will lead to possible termination of your Talker Services Account.
1.7. Special Programs. Cougars.com may, at its option, invite you to participate as a Talker in special offerings that may include reduced pricing, promotional rates, custom branding, qualifications verification, and/or targeted promotion. You do not have any obligation to accept such invitations; however, if you do accept such an invitation, you agree to be bound by the terms set forth in the invitation in addition to the terms and conditions of the User Agreement and the policies incorporated therein.
2. Talker Fee Remittance.
Cougars.com will distribute Talker fees to you from your User account. Cougars.com makes payments only in U.S. dollar denominations.2.1. If you are enrolled in weekly payments by check, Cougars.com will deduct and retain a fee of Two ($2.00) Dollars for each check issued to you. If fees that are due to you for any week are less than Fifty ($50.00) dollars, Cougars.com will hold the payment until the amount due to the Talker at the end of any week is at least Fifty ($50.00) dollars. Cougars.com will send fees by check mailed to the address you specify via the U.S. Postal Service weekly on Wednesday, to arrive to you within 3 to 10 business days. Lost checks that are requested by the Talker to be reprinted and mailed again will incur a $30.00 check cancellation charge to be removed from the Talker payout balance prior to the balance being repaid. Only Talkers located within the United States of America and Canada are eligible for check payouts.
2.1.1. Lost or returned checks may require a $30 reprocessing fee to be resent. Lost or returned checks may require a completed, signed, and notarized form before being returned to your account confirming the loss of the check. If the payroll company requests the notarized form or lost check fee, Cougars.com cannot proceed with resending your check payout until those conditions are met.
2.2. You may register to receive fees by direct deposit via ACH if you have a registered U.S. bank account that is eligible for ACH transfers and otherwise meet the direct deposit requirements. If you are enrolled in direct deposit and are eligible to receive funds weekly by ACH, Cougars.com will send fees weekly through ACH to your U.S.-based bank account. Cougars.com reserves the right to terminate a User account’s ability to receive funds by ACH at any time without reason or notice. If fees that are due to you for any week are less than Fifty ($50.00) dollars, Cougars.com will hold the payment until the amount due to the Talker at the end of any week is at least Fifty ($50.00) dollars. Talker payout fees that are returned due to invalid account information will be charged a $2.50 penalty removed from the Talker account prior to the funds being repaid to updated bank account information.
2.2.1 If you are located in an EU country, you must select payment via SEPA. SEPA minimum payout is $100 (One-Hundred US Dollars). SEPA payouts will be sent in Euros. Talker payout fees that are returned due to invalid account information will be charged a $5.00 penalty removed from the Talker account prior to the funds being repaid to updated SEPA bank account information.
2.3. You can select to receive your payouts through third party payout vendors, currently, Paxum is available to international Talker outside the US, Canada, and EU. Cougars.com is not responsible for any fees you may incur while using the third party payout vendors. Paxum minimum payout is $100 (one-hundred US Dollars).
2.4. You are solely responsible for (i) all hardware, software, and other costs incurred in using the Site, and (ii) determining, collecting, reporting, and paying any applicable state and federal sales, income, or other taxes. Cougars.com may withhold taxes from amounts issued to Talkers as required by law.
2.5. Cougars.com reserves the right in its sole discretion to institute a chargeback policy as Cougars.com deems appropriate. Cougars.com reserves the right to withhold issuing payment for your fees without notice on any transaction which in our sole discretion suggests that the User or User’s bank may not fulfill his or her payment obligation. Cougars.com reserves the right to hold funds beyond the normal distribution periods for transactions it deems suspicious to ensure integrity of the funds.
2.6. Cougars.com reserves the right to close a User account at any time without reason, including, but not limited to, a violation of this Payment Policy, upon notice to the Talker and payment to the Talker of any unrestricted funds held in custody.
2.6.a. Cougars.com reserves the right to not pay any closed account funds that have been received to a Talkers account that total less than $20. $20 is the absolute minimum that will be paid out on any account via any payout method.
2.7. Cougars.com reserves the right to withhold payments from any Talker account that does not provide accurate Payee Name and matching Social Security Number or Tax ID information within the My Account page. Payee Name and Social Security or Tax ID number are compared to the IRS Name Database to verify valid information has been provided.
2.8. Cougars.com reserves the right to restrict payments from a User account for any of the following reasons. If your User account is identified for review, you will be notified by email and requested to provide information relevant to your User account. Cougars.com will use reasonable efforts to promptly investigate the matter and/or reach a final decision on the restriction. If the investigation result is in your favor, Cougars.com will unrestrict your User account. If the investigation result is not in your favor, Cougars.com may return funds to the User and unrestrict the remainder of your User account, will continue the restriction for up to 60 days as to funds necessary to protect Cougars.com against the risk of chargebacks, or may close your User account by giving you notice and mailing a check for any funds in your User account that are not in dispute to the address that you have provided. If you are later determined to be entitled to any disputed funds, Cougars.com will make an additional payment of those funds to you. Reasons may include, but are not limited to, the following:
- reports of unauthorized or unusual credit card use associated with the User account including, but not limited to, notice by the card issuing bank;
- reports of unauthorized or unusual bank account use associated with the User account;
- receipt of potentially fraudulent funds;
- excessive disputes or chargebacks;
- refusal to cooperate in an investigation or provide confirmation of identity when requested;
- sending unsolicited email or posting referral links on websites where they are not permitted;
- opening multiple User accounts under different names to facilitate fraudulent activity;
- Suspected violations of the User Agreement;
- name on the bank account associated with the User account does not match the name on the User account;
- return of an incoming Electronic Funds Transfer for insufficient funds in the bank account, incorrect bank routing number or incorrect bank account number;
- use of an anonymizing proxy; and
- any other circumstances which cause Cougars.com to believe that a User account may be being used for fraudulent purposes.
