Table of Contents

User Agreement

Fee and ACH Authorization

Privacy Policy

Terms of Use

Cookie Policy

User Agreement

This User Agreement (“Agreement”) contains important information about your legal rights, remedies, and obligations, and is a legally binding agreement between you (“you” or “User”) and Aquifer PE Inc. (“Aquifer PE,” “we”, or “us”), governing your use of Aquifer PE’s Site and Services (collectively, “Services”).You understand that by using the Aquifer PE Site or Site Services (which generally means using in any way our work marketplace aquiferpe.com or our applications), and by clicking accept when prompted on the Site, you agree to be bound by all agreements which constitute Aquifer PE’s Terms of Service, and you agree that the “Terms of Service” means every agreement linked herein and includes the Fee and ACH Authorization Agreement, Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, and this User Agreement, including an arbitration agreement and class action waiver that applies to claims brought against Aquifer PE in the United States. You should read all of our terms carefully because you are promising not to break any agreements in the Terms of Service.

If you want to use our work marketplace or any of our services (which we refer to altogether as Services), whether just by looking around or by registering an account, you must first read and agree to this Agreement. If you don’t understand this Agreement or you don’t agree to all of its terms and conditions, you may not use our Services. If you do not understand or agree to this Agreement, do not click to accept this Agreement, “Sign Up”, “Create My Account”, or similar, and do not visit aquiferpe.com, use our mobile applications, or otherwise use our Services. If you are using our Services on behalf of a business or legal entity, you may only do so if you have authority to agree to the Terms of Service on behalf of that business or legal Entity.

1. Aquifer PE Accounts

1.1 Registration

You must register for an account to have full access to our Services , and your registration is subject to our approval.

You must register for an account with us (“Account”) to access and use certain portions of our Services. Registered users of our Services are “Users”, and unregistered users are “Site Visitors”.

Your Account registration is subject to approval by Aquifer PE. We reserve the right to decline a registration either to join Aquifer PE or to add an Account of any type, for any lawful reason, including supply and demand, cost to maintain data, or other business considerations.

1.2 Account Eligibility

Aquifer PE offers the Services for your business purposes only and not for personal or consumer use. By registering for an Account or by using our Services, you represent that you: (a) are doing business under your own name as a self-employed individual/sole proprietor or are an employee or agent of an independent business (such as a corporation, limited liability company, or other entity); (b) will use our Services for business purposes only; (c) will comply with any licensing, registration, or other requirements with respect to your business, or the business for which you are acting, and any offering or provision of Freelancer Services; (d) are either a legal entity or an individual who is at least 18 years old (or the age of majority in your country if the age of majority is over 18), and that you can form legally binding contracts; and (e) will comply with any and all applicable local, state, federal and/or international laws, regulations, and/or conventions in using our Site and Services.

1.3 Account Profile

To register for an Account to use our Services, you must complete a User profile (“Profile”), which you consent to be shown to other Users. You agree to provide accurate and complete information on your Profile—and on all registration and other forms you access while using our Services or provide to us—and you agree to keep that information current. You agree not to provide any false or misleading information about your identity or location, your business, the beneficial owner(s) of your business, your skills, or the services your business provides, and you agree to correct any information that is or becomes false or misleading. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate the Account, or access to our Services, of anyone who provides false, inaccurate, or incomplete information in creating, marketing, or maintaining a Profile or an Account.

1.4 Account Type

If you create an Account as an employee or agent on behalf of a company, you represent and warrant that you are authorized to enter into binding contracts, including the Terms of Service, on behalf of yourself and the company. More than one person can create an Account as an employee or agent on behalf of the same company.

1.4.1 Client Account

You can register for an Account or add an Account Type to use the Services as a Client (a “Client Account”).

1.4.2 Freelancer Account

Freelancer: You can register for an Account or add an Account Type to use the Services as a Freelancer (a “Freelancer Account”).

1.5 Usernames and Passwords

Each person who uses our Services must register for their own Account with a username and password or use a username and password of their LinkedInⓇ account through Single-Sign-On. You are responsible for safeguarding and maintaining the confidentiality of your username and password, and agree not to share your username or password with anyone. You are responsible for safeguarding your username and password and for any use of our Services with your username and password. You agree to notify us immediately if you suspect or become aware of any unauthorized use of your Account or any unauthorized access to your password. You further agree not to use the Account or log in with the username and password of another User.

2. Purpose of Aquifer PE

The Aquifer PE Site is a work marketplace where Clients and Freelancers can engage with each other to advertise, buy, and sell Freelancer Services online. Subject to the Terms of Service, Aquifer PE provides the Services to Users, including hosting and maintaining the Aquifer PE Site, facilitating the formation of Service Contracts, and assisting Users in resolving disputes which may arise in connection with those contracts. When a User enters a Service Contract, the User agrees to use the Services exclusively to invoice, receive, and pay any amounts owed under the Service Contract.

2.1 Relationship With Aquifer PE

Aquifer PE offers a platform that enables Users to find one another, enter into service relationships and agreements, receive and provide Freelancer Services, and make and receive payments. Aquifer PE neither performs nor employs individuals to perform Freelancer Services. You acknowledge and agree that Aquifer PE does not supervise, direct, control, or monitor Users in the performance of any contractual obligations they may have under a Service Contract and agree that: (a) Aquifer PE is not responsible for ensuring the accuracy or legality of any User Content, for which Users are solely responsible; (b) Aquifer PE is not responsible for the offering, performance, or procurement of Freelancer Services, (c) Aquifer PE does not make any representations about or guarantee any particular User’s offered services, and (d) nothing will create an employment, agency, or joint venture relationship between Aquifer PE and any User offering services.

You further acknowledge and agree that Users, and not Aquifer PE, are solely responsible for (a) evaluating and determining the suitability of any Project, Client, or Freelancer; (b) assessing whether to enter into a Service Contract with another User and for verifying any information about another User, including Composite Information; (c) deciding whether to enter into a Service Contract on Aquifer PE as well as the contract terms, and (d) negotiating, agreeing to, and executing any terms or conditions of the contracts and for performing and monitoring performance under them. All Service Contracts between Users are directly between the Users and Aquifer PE is not a party to those contracts.

Nothing in this Agreement is intended to or does prohibit or discourage any User from engaging in any other business activities or providing any services through any other channels they choose, provided, if applicable, Users comply with the Opt Out provisions described in Section 7. Users are free at all times to engage in such other business activities and services and are encouraged to do so.

As part of our constant effort to improve our Services for our customers, we may test or otherwise temporarily offer certain features and beta tools for your use. We will generally flag on the Site or in related customer forums when a particular tool is being tested and how the feature works, but we do not guarantee that the Site, or any of its tools or features, will be available at any given time.

2.2 Taxes and Benefits

Freelancer acknowledges and agrees that Freelancer is solely responsible for: (a) all tax liability associated with payments received from Freelancer’s Clients and through Aquifer PE, and (b) obtaining any liability, health, workers’ compensation, disability, unemployment, or other insurance needed or required by law, and that Freelancer is not covered by or eligible for any insurance from Aquifer PE; (c) determining and fulfilling Freelancer’s obligations under applicable laws and regulations with respect to invoicing and reporting, collecting, or remitting any applicable taxes or charges; and (d) if outside of the United States, determining if Aquifer PE is required by applicable law to withhold any amount of the Freelancer Fees and notifying Aquifer PE of any such requirement and indemnifying Aquifer PE for any requirement to pay any withholding amount to the appropriate authorities (including penalties and interest). Freelancer is responsible for paying all taxes arising in connection with any Service Agreement entered into on the Platform and this Agreement, without any offset or deduction to the fees paid to Aquifer PE.

In the event of an audit of Aquifer PE, Freelancer agrees to promptly cooperate with Aquifer PE and provide copies of Freelancer’s tax returns and other documents as may be reasonably requested for purposes of such audit, including but not limited to records showing Freelancer is engaging in an independent business as represented to Aquifer PE.

3. Contractual Relationship Between Client and Freelancer

3.1 Service Contracts

If a Client and a Freelancer decide to enter into a Service Contract, the contract is a contractual relationship directly between the Client and the Freelancer; Aquifer PE is not responsible for and is not a party to any Service Contract and under no circumstances will any such contract create an employment or any service relationship between Aquifer PE and any User. With respect to any Service Contract, Clients and Freelancers may enter into any agreements that they deem appropriate (e.g., confidentiality agreements, invention assignment agreements, assignment of rights, etc.), provided that those agreements do not conflict with, narrow, or expand Aquifer PE’s rights and obligations under the Terms of Service.

3.2 Disputes Among Users

For disputes arising between Clients and Freelancers, you agree to abide by the dispute resolution process that is explained in the Fee and ACH Authorization Agreement. If that process does not resolve your dispute, you may pursue your dispute independently, but you acknowledge and agree that Aquifer PE will not and is not obligated to provide any further dispute resolution assistance.

If Freelancer or Client seeks an order from an arbitrator or court that might direct Aquifer PE to take or refrain from taking any action with respect to Freelancer Fees, that party will (a) give us at least five (5) business days’ prior notice of the hearing on the order; (b) include in any such order a provision that, as a precondition to any obligation affecting Aquifer PE, we be paid in full for any amounts to which we would otherwise be entitled; and (c) include in any such order a provision that, as a precondition to any obligation affecting Aquifer PE, Aquifer PE be paid for the reasonable value of the services the order obligates us to undertake.

3.3 Confidential Information

Users may agree to any terms they deem appropriate with respect to confidentiality. If Users do not agree to their own confidentiality terms, this Section 3.3 (Confidential Information) applies.

To the extent a User provides Confidential Information to another User, the recipient will take reasonable steps to keep that information confidential. On a User’s written request, the party that received Confidential Information will promptly destroy or return the disclosing party’s Confidential Information and any copies of it contained in or on its premises, systems, or any other equipment otherwise under its control. Users specifically agree that this Section 3.3 applies to information exchanged for purposes relating to evaluating whether to enter into a Service Contract, even if such contract is never agreed to.

4. Worker Classification and Aquifer PE Payroll

4.1 Worker Classification

Client is solely responsible for and assumes all liability for determining whether Freelancers should be engaged as independent contractors or employees and engaging them accordingly. Client warrants its decisions regarding classification are correct and its manner of engaging Freelancers complies with applicable laws, regulations, and rules. Aquifer PE is not responsible for worker classification as between Client and Freelancer, and nothing in this Agreement is intended to or should be construed to create a partnership, joint venture, franchisor/franchisee or employer-employee relationship between Aquifer PE and a User.

5. Aquifer PE Fees

5.1 Fees For Freelancers

Service Fees. Freelancers agree to pay Aquifer PE a service fee for the use of the Services (including marketing, invoicing, reporting, payment, and dispute resolution services), as set forth in the Fee and ACH Authorization Agreement (the “Service Fees”). Freelancer is responsible for paying all Service Fees. When a Client pays a Freelancer for a Project, Aquifer PE will subtract and disburse to Aquifer PE the Service Fee, then pay the Freelancer for the remaining balance. Freelancer hereby irrevocably authorizes and instructs Aquifer PE to deduct the Service Fee from the Client payment and pay Aquifer PE on Freelancer’s behalf. If Freelancer chooses to withdraw funds in a currency other than U.S. dollars, Aquifer PE (or an affiliate) will impose a foreign currency conversion charge, and the rate may differ from rates that are in effect on the date of the payment. You may be able to obtain a better rate from your bank or financial institution.

5.2 Client Fees

Clients do not pay Aquifer PE a service fee for accessing Aquifer PE Sites and Services. If Clients choose to pay Freelancers outside Aquifer PE, Clients agree to pay Conversion Fee for each Aquifer PE Relationship, as outlined in section 7.3.

5.3 VAT and Other Taxes

Aquifer PE Fees are exclusive of taxes. Aquifer PE may be required by applicable law to collect or pay certain taxes or levies, including income tax or VAT (which some jurisdictions refer to as GST or local sales taxes). These collection and withholding requirements and rates may change based on changes to the law in your area. Any amounts Aquifer PE is required or permitted to collect or withhold for the payment of any such taxes shall be collected or withheld in addition to the fees owed to Aquifer PE under the Terms of Service.

6. Payment Terms

6.1 No Interest

You agree that you will not receive interest or other earnings on the funds held by Aquifer PE while processing payments for you.

6.2 Client Payments On Service Contracts

Hourly Contracts. Freelancer will invoice Client for Freelancer Fees directly no less frequently than once per week and Client will pay invoices consistent with the Fee and ACH Authorization Agreement. After Client approves an Invoice, Aquifer PE will send Client a payment request and Client becomes obligated to pay the full invoice amount to Aquifer PE immediately upon receiving the payment request.

Fixed-Price Contracts. Freelancer will invoice Client according to the terms of the Fixed-Price Contract, i.e. activating or completing a milestone, and Client will pay invoices consistent with the Fee and ACH Authorization Agreement. After Client approves an Invoice, Aquifer PE will send Client a payment request and Client becomes obligated to pay the full invoice amount to Aquifer PE immediately upon receiving the payment request.

6.3 Disbursements to Freelancers on Service Contracts

Aquifer PE disburses funds to Freelancers no later than following the expiration of the five-day security period and dispute period after receiving the invoice payments from Clients.

Except as expressly provided in the Terms of Service and as prohibited by applicable law, Aquifer PE may refuse to process, may hold the disbursement of the Freelancer Fees or any other amounts and offset amounts owed to us, or take such other actions as we deem appropriate in our sole discretion if: (a) we require additional information, such as Freelancer’s tax information, government-issued identification or other proof of identity, address, or date of birth; (b) we have reason to believe the Freelancer Fees may be subject to dispute or chargeback; (c) we suspect a User has committed or attempted to commit fraud or other illicit acts on or through the Site or is using the Site unlawfully; (d) we believe there are reasonable grounds for insecurity with respect to the performance of obligations under this Agreement or other Terms of Service; or (e) we deem it necessary in connection with any investigation, required by applicable law, or necessary due to circumstances outside of our control after a commercially reasonable effort has been made by us due to such circumstances. If, after investigation, we determine that the hold on the disbursement of the Freelancer Fees is no longer necessary, Aquifer PE will release the hold as soon as practicable.

In addition, except as expressly provided in the Terms of Service and to the extent permitted by applicable law, we reserve the right to seek reimbursement from you, and you will reimburse us, if we: (i) suspect fraud or criminal activity associated with your payment, withdrawal, or Project; (ii) discover erroneous or duplicate transactions; or (iii) have supplied our services in accordance with this Agreement yet we receive any chargeback from the Payment Method used by you or your Client despite our provision of the Services in accordance with this Agreement. You agree that we have the right to obtain such reimbursement by instructing Aquifer PE (and Aquifer PE will have the right) to charge your account(s), offset any amounts determined to be owing, deduct amounts from future payments or withdrawals, charge your Payment Method, or use other lawful means to obtain reimbursement from you. If we are unable to obtain such reimbursement, we may, in addition to any other remedies available under applicable law, temporarily or permanently revoke your access to the Services and close your Account.

6.4 Non-Payment or Default

If Client is in “default”, meaning the Client fails to pay the Freelancer Fees or any other amounts when due under the Terms of Service, or a written agreement for payment terms incorporating the Terms of Service (signed by an authorized representative of Aquifer PE), Aquifer PE will be entitled to the remedies described in this Section 6.4 in addition to such other remedies that may be available under applicable law or in such written agreement. For the avoidance of doubt, Client will be deemed to be in default on the earliest occurrence of any of the following: (a) Client fails to pay the Freelancer Fees when due; (b) Client fails to pay a balance that is due or to bring, within a reasonable period of time but no more than 30 days after accrual of the charge; (c) Client fails to pay an invoice issued to the Client by Aquifer PE within the time period agreed or, if no period is agreed, within 30 days; (d) Client initiates a chargeback with a bank or other financial institution resulting in a charge made by Aquifer PE for Freelancer Fees or such other amount due being reversed to the Client; or (e) Client takes other actions or fails to take any action that results in a negative or past-due balance on the Client’s account.

If Client is in default, we may, without notice, temporarily or permanently close Client’s Account and revoke Client’s access to the Services, including Client’s authority to use the Site to process any additional payments, enter into Service Contracts, or obtain any additional Freelancer Services from other Users through the Site. However, Client will remain responsible for any amounts that accrue on any open Projects at the time a limitation is put on the Client’s Account as a result of the default. Without limiting other available remedies, Client must pay Aquifer PE upon demand for any amounts owed, plus interest on the outstanding amount at the lesser of one and one-half percent (1.5%) per month or the maximum interest allowed by applicable law, plus attorneys’ fees and other costs of collection to the extent permitted by applicable law.

At our discretion and to the extent permitted by applicable law, Aquifer PE may, without notice, make appropriate reports to credit reporting agencies and law enforcement authorities; and cooperate with credit reporting agencies and law enforcement authorities in any investigation or prosecution.

Aquifer PE does not guarantee that Client is able to pay or will pay Freelancer Fees, and Aquifer PE is not liable for and may reverse Freelancer Fees if Client is in default or initiates a chargeback of funds with their financial institution. Freelancer may use the dispute process as described in Fee and ACH Authorization Agreement in order to recover funds from Client in the event of a default or may pursue such other remedies against Client as Freelancer chooses. If Aquifer PE recovers funds from a Client who initiated a chargeback or who is in default pursuant to this Section 6.4, Aquifer PE will disburse any portion attributable to Freelancer Fees to the applicable Freelancer to the extent not already paid by Client.

6.5 No Return of Funds and No Chargebacks

Client acknowledges and agrees that Aquifer PE may debit Client for the Freelancer Fees incurred as described in the Fee and ACH Authorization Agreement. Once Aquifer PE debits the Client’s designated Payment Method for the Freelancer Fees, the debit is non-refundable, except as provided in the Fee and ACH Authorization Agreement or as otherwise required by applicable law. Client also acknowledges and agrees that the Terms of Service provide a dispute resolution process as a way for Client to resolve disputes. To the extent permitted by applicable law, Client therefore agrees not to ask its credit card company, bank, or other Payment Method provider to charge back any Freelancer Fees or other fees charged pursuant to the Terms of Service for any reason. A chargeback in breach of this obligation is a material breach of the Terms of Service. If Client initiates a chargeback in violation of this Agreement, Client agrees that Aquifer PE may dispute or appeal the chargeback, institute collection action against Client, close Client’s account, and take such other action it deems appropriate.

6.6 Payment Methods

Aquifer PE requires Freelancers to provide their designated bank account information in order to credit their bank account with Freelancer Fees, as outlined in Fee and ACH Authorization Agreement.  Alternatively, Freelancers can request a check by mail by sending a request to emma@aquiferpe.com.

Aquifer PE is not liable to any User if Aquifer PE does not complete a transaction as a result of any limit by applicable law or your financial institution, or if a financial institution fails to honor any credit or debit to or from an account associated with such Payment Method. Aquifer PE will make commercially reasonable efforts to work with any such affected Users to resolve such transactions in a manner consistent with this Agreement.

6.7 U.S. Dollars and Foreign Currency Conversion

The Services operate in U.S. Dollars. If a User’s Payment Method is denominated in a currency other than U.S. Dollars and requires currency conversion to make or receive payments in U.S. Dollars, the Site will display foreign currency conversion rates that Aquifer PE currently makes available to convert supported foreign currencies to U.S. Dollars. These foreign currency conversion rates adjust regularly based on market conditions. Please note that the wholesale currency conversion rates at which we or our Affiliates obtain foreign currency will usually be different than the foreign currency conversion rates offered on the Site. Each User, at its sole discretion and risk, may authorize the charge, debit, or credit of its Payment Method in a supported foreign currency and the conversion of the payment to U.S. Dollars at the foreign currency conversion rate displayed on the Site. A list of supported foreign currencies is available on the Site. If foreign currency conversion is required to make a payment or disbursement in U.S. Dollars and Aquifer PE does not support the foreign currency or the User does not authorize the conversion of such payment at the foreign currency conversion rate displayed on the Site, Aquifer PE will charge, debit, or credit the User’s Payment Method in U.S. Dollars and the User’s Payment Method provider will convert the payment at a foreign currency conversion rate selected by the User’s Payment Method provider. The User’s Payment Method provider may also charge fees directly to the Payment Method even when no currency conversion is involved and any fees assessed by the User's provider will be the responsibility of the User. The User’s authorization of a payment using a foreign currency conversion rate displayed on the Site is at the User’s sole risk. Aquifer PE are not responsible for currency fluctuations that occur when billing or crediting a Payment Method denominated in a currency other than U.S. Dollars or for currency fluctuations that occur when receiving or sending payments.

7. Non-Circumvention

7.1 Making Payments Through Aquifer PE

You acknowledge and agree that a substantial portion of the compensation Aquifer PE receives for making the Site available to you is collected through the Service Fee and that in exchange a substantial value to you is the relationships you make with other Users identified through the Services (the “Aquifer PE Relationship”). Aquifer PE only receives the Service Fee when a Client and a Freelancer pay and receive payment through the Site. Therefore, for 24 months from the start of an Aquifer PE Relationship (the “Non-Circumvention Period”), you agree to use the Site as your exclusive method to request, make, and receive all payments for work directly or indirectly with that person or arising from that relationship and not to circumvent the Payment Methods offered on the Site unless you pay a fee to take the relationship off of the Site (the “Conversion Fee”). If you use the Site as an employee, agent, or representative of another business, then the Non-Circumvention Period applies to you and other employees, agents, or representatives of the business or its successor when acting in that capacity with respect to the other User. If you, or the business you represent, did not identify and were not identified by another person through the Site, such as if you and another User worked together before meeting on the Site, then the Non-Circumvention Period does not apply. Additionally, if you and another User choose to use a site or platform owned and operated by an affiliate of Aquifer PE, the Non-Circumvention Period does not apply. By way of example only, you agree that during the Non-Circumvention period you will not:

• Offer or solicit or accept any offer or solicitation from parties identified through the Site to contract, hire, invoice, pay, or receive payment in any manner other than through the Site.
• Invoice or report on the Site or in a Conversion Fee request an invoice or payment amount lower than that actually agreed, made, or received between Users.
• Refer a User you identified on the Site to a third party who is not a User of the Site for purposes of making or receiving payments other than through the Site.

You agree to notify Aquifer PE immediately if a person suggests making or receiving payments other than through the Site in violation of this Section 7 or if you receive unsolicited contact outside of the Site. If you are aware of a breach or potential breach of this non-circumvention agreement, please submit a confidential report to Aquifer PE here.

You acknowledge and agree that a violation of this Section 7.1 is a material breach of the Terms of Service, and may result in your Account being permanently suspended and charged the Conversion Fee (defined above). This Section still applies if you choose to cease using the Site, and you must pay the Conversion Fee for each other User you wish to continue working with after you cease using the Site.

7.2 Communicating Through the Site; Not Sharing Contact Details

Users agree to use the communication services available on the Site to communicate with other Users prior to entering into a Service Contract. You agree that prior to entering into a Service Contract, you (a) will use Aquifer PE as the sole manner to communicate with other Users; (b) will not provide your Means of Direct Contact (defined below) to any other User or another person that you identified or were identified by through the Site; (c) will not use Means of Direct Contact of another user to attempt to or to communicate with, solicit, contact, or find the contact information of a User outside of Aquifer PE; (d) will not ask for, provide, or attempt to identify through public means the contact information of another User; and (e) will not include any Means of Direct Contact or means by which your contact information could be discovered in any profile, proposal, job posting, invitation, or pre-hire communication through the Site’s communications services (including in each case in any attached file), except as otherwise provided on the Site.

For purposes of the Terms of Service, “Means of Direct Contact” means any information that would allow another person to contact you directly, including, without limitation, phone number, email address, physical address, a link to a contact form or form requesting contact information, any link to an applicant management system or means to submit a proposal or application outside of the Site, or any information that would enable a user to contact you on social media or other website or platform or application that includes a communications tool, such as Skype, Slack, Wechat, or Facebook. Information is a Means of Direct Contact if it would enable another user to identify any of the information above through other sources, such as going to a website that included an email address or identifying you through social media.

You acknowledge and agree that a violation of this Section 7.2 is a material breach of the Terms of Service and your Account may be permanently suspended for such violations.

7.3 Opting Out

You may opt out of the obligations in Section 7.1 with respect to each Aquifer PE Relationship only if the Client or Freelancer pays Aquifer PE a Conversion Fee which is a minimum of $1,000 USD and up to $50,000 USD for each Aquifer PE Relationship, unless Client and Freelancer have had an Aquifer PE Relationship for at least two (2) years.

To learn more about the Conversion Fee or how to pay it visit our Help Center here.

You understand and agree that if Aquifer PE determines that you have violated Section 7, it may (a) charge your Payment Method the Conversion Fee (including interest) if permitted by law or send you an invoice for the Conversion Fee (including interest), which you agree to pay within 30 days, (b) close your Account and revoke your authorization to use the Services, and (c) charge you for all losses and costs (including any and all time of Aquifer PE’s internal workforce) and reasonable expenses (including attorneys’ fees) related to investigating such breach and collecting such fees.

You agree that the Conversion Fee is 15% of the estimated earnings over a twelve (12) month period, which is calculated by taking the Hourly Rate (defined below) and multiplying it by 2,080. “Hourly Rate” means (a) the highest hourly rate charged by the Freelancer on any Service Contract with the Client, if any; or (b) if there is no hourly rate on a Service contract, the hourly rate in the Freelancer’s profile when the conversion is requested. The Conversion Fee includes all applicable taxes and is not subject to a client service fee. If Client and Freelancer have had an Aquifer PE Relationship for at least two (2) years, the Conversion Fee is a nominal $1 USD for administrative purposes. The Conversion Fee is not refundable. Aquifer PE will apply a discount on the Conversion Fee that is equal to the total amount of the client service fees that Client has paid to Aquifer PE in the preceding twelve (12) months on each marketplace Service Contract between the Client and the Freelancer. In no event shall the Conversion Fee be discounted below the minimum of $1,000 USD.

8. Records of Compliance

You are solely responsible for creation, storage, and backup of your business records. You agree that Aquifer PE has no obligation to store, maintain or provide you a copy of any content or information that you provide, except to the extent required by applicable law.

9. Warranty Disclaimer

Aquifer PE and its affiliates make no representation or warranty about the services, including that the services will be uninterrupted or error-free, and provide the Services (including content and information) on an “as is” and “as available” basis. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Aquifer PE and its affiliates disclaim any implied or statutory warranty, including any implied warranty of title, accuracy of data, non-infringement, merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

10. Limitation of Liability

Aquifer PE is not liable, and you agree not to hold us responsible, for any damages or losses arising out of or in connection with the Terms of Service, including, but not limited to: (i) your use of or your inability to use our Site or Site Services; (ii) delays or disruptions in our Site or Site Services; (iii) viruses or other malicious software obtained by accessing, or linking to, our Site or Site Services; (iv) glitches, bugs, errors, or inaccuracies of any kind in our Site or Site Services; (v) damage to your hardware device from the use of the Site or Site Services; (vi) the content, actions, or inactions of third parties’ use of the Site or Site Services; (vii) a suspension or other action taken with respect to your Account; (viii) your reliance on the quality, accuracy, or reliability of job postings, Profiles, ratings, recommendations, and feedback (including their content, order, and display), Composite Information, or metrics found on, used on, or made available through the Site; and (ix) your need to modify practices, content, or behavior or your loss of or inability to do business, as a result of changes to the Terms of Service.

Additionally, in no event will Aquifer PE, our affiliates, our licensors, or our third-party service providers be liable for any special, consequential, incidental, punitive, exemplary, or indirect costs or damages, including, but not limited to, litigation costs, installation and removal costs, or loss of data, production, profit, or business opportunities.

These limitations will apply to any liability, arising from any cause of action whatsoever arising out of or in connection with this Agreement or the other Terms of Service, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), strict liability, or otherwise, even if Aquifer PE has been advised of the possibility of such costs or damages and even if the limited remedies provided herein fail of their essential purpose.

Some states and jurisdictions do not allow for all of the foregoing exclusions and limitations, so to that extent, some or all of these limitations and exclusions may not apply to you.

11. Release

In recognition of the fact that Aquifer PE is not a party to any contract between Users, you hereby release Aquifer PE, our other Affiliates, and our respective officers, directors, agents, subsidiaries, joint ventures, employees and service providers from claims, demands, and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, arising out of or in any way connected with any dispute you have with another User, whether it be at law or in equity that exist as of the time you enter into this Agreement. This release includes, for example and without limitation, any disputes regarding the performance, functions, and quality of the Freelancer Services provided to Client by a Freelancer and requests for refunds based upon disputes. Procedures regarding the handling of certain disputes between Users are discussed in the Fee and ACH Authorization Agreement.

To the extent applicable, you hereby waive the protections of California Civil Code § 1542 (and any analogous law in any other applicable jurisdiction) which says: “A general release does not extend to claims that the creditor or releasing party does not know or suspect to exist in his or her favor at the time of executing the release and that, if known by him or her, would have materially affected his or her settlement with the debtor or released party.”

This release will not apply to a claim that Aquifer PE failed to meet our obligations under the Terms of Service.

12. Indemnification

You will indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Aquifer PE, our other Affiliates, and our respective directors, officers, employees, representatives, and agents (each an “Indemnified Party”) for all Indemnified Claims (defined below) and Indemnified Liabilities (defined below) relating to or arising out of: (a) your or your agents’ use of the Services, including any payment obligations or default (described in Section 6.4 (Non-Payment or Default)) incurred through use of the Services; (b) any Work Product or User Content related to your use of the Services; (c) any Service Contract entered into by you or your agents, including, but not limited to, the classification of a Freelancer as an independent contractor, any employment-related claims; (d) your or your agents’ failure to comply with the Terms of Service; (e) you or your agents’ failure to comply with applicable law; (f) negligence, willful misconduct, or fraud by you or your agents; and (g) you or your agents’ violation of any third-party right, including without limitation any right of privacy, publicity rights or Intellectual Property Rights. For purposes of this Section 12, your agents include any person who has apparent authority to access or use your account demonstrated by using your username and password.

“Indemnified Claim” means any and all claims, damages, liabilities, costs, losses, and expenses (including attorneys’ fees) arising from or relating to any claim, suit, proceeding, demand, or action brought by you or a third party or other User against an Indemnified Party.

“Indemnified Liability” means any and all claims, damages, liabilities, costs, losses, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees and all related costs and expenses) arising from or relating to any claim, suit, proceeding, demand, or action brought by an Indemnified Party against you or a third party or other User.

13. Agreement Term and Termination

13.1 Termination

Unless both you and Aquifer PE expressly agree otherwise in writing, either of us may terminate this Agreement in our sole discretion at any time, without explanation, upon written notice to the other, which will result in the termination of the other Terms of Service as well, except as otherwise provided in this Agreement. You may provide written notice to Aquifer PE via hello@aquiferpe.com. In the event you properly terminate this Agreement, your right to use the Services is automatically revoked, and your Account will be closed.

You agree that Aquifer PE is not a party to any Service Contract between Users. Consequently, you understand and acknowledge that termination of this Agreement (or attempt to terminate this Agreement) does not terminate or otherwise impact any Service Contract or Project entered into between Users. If you attempt to terminate this Agreement while having one or more open Projects, you agree that (a) you thereby instruct Aquifer PE to close any open contracts; (b) you will continue to be bound by this Agreement and the other Terms of Service until all such Projects have closed on the Site and your access to the Site has been terminated; (c) Aquifer PE will continue to perform those Services necessary to complete any open transaction between you and another User; and (d) you will continue to be obligated to pay any amounts accrued but unpaid as of the date of termination or as of the closure of any open Service Contracts, whichever is later, to Aquifer PE for any Services or such other amounts owed under the Terms of Service and to any Freelancers for any Freelancer Services.

Without limiting Aquifer PE’s other rights or remedies, we may revoke or limit access to the Services, deny your registration, or revoke your access to the Site and refuse to provide any or all Services to you if: (i) you breach any terms and conditions of this Agreement or any portion of the Terms of Service; (ii) we have reasonable reason to believe that you have provided false or misleading information to us; (iii) we conclude that your actions may cause legal liability for you or others; may be contrary to the interests of the Site or the User community; or may involve illicit or illegal activity; or (iv) we are required to by law, legal process, or law enforcement. If your Account is temporarily or permanently closed, you may not use the Site under the same Account or a different Account or re-register for a new Account without Aquifer PE’s prior written consent. If you attempt to use the Site under a different Account, we reserve the right to reclaim available funds in that Account and/or use an available Payment Method to pay for any amounts owed by you to the extent permitted by applicable law.

You acknowledge and agree that the value, reputation, and goodwill of the Site depend on transparency of Users’ Account status to all Users, including you and other Users who have entered into Service Contracts with you. You therefore agree that: if Aquifer PE decides to temporarily or permanently close your account, Aquifer PE has the right (but no obligation) where allowed by law to: (y) notify other users that have entered into Service Contracts with you of your closed account status, and (z) provide those users with a summary of the reasons for your account closure. You agree that Aquifer PE will have no liability arising from or relating to any notice that it may or may not provide to any user regarding closed account status or the reason(s) for the closure.

13.2 Account Data on Closure

Except as otherwise required by law, if your Account is closed, you will no longer have access to information or material you kept on the Site and any content stored in your Account may be deleted, for which Aquifer PE expressly disclaims liability. Aquifer PE may retain some or all of your Account information as permitted or required by law and the Privacy Policy.

13.3 Survival

After this Agreement terminates, the terms of this Agreement and the other Terms of Service that expressly or by their nature contemplate performance after this Agreement terminates or expires will survive and continue in full force and effect. For example, the provisions related to arbitration, audits, intellectual property, non-circumvention, indemnification, fees, reimbursements, and limitations of liability each contemplate performance or observance after this Agreement terminates. The termination of this Agreement for any reason will not release you or Aquifer PE from any obligations incurred prior to termination of this Agreement or other parts of the Terms of Service or that may accrue related to any act or omission prior to such termination.

14. Disputes Between You and Aquifer PE, Arbitration Agreement, Class Action Waiver

14.1 Dispute Process, Arbitration, and Scope

If a dispute arises between you and Aquifer PE or our Affiliates, our goal is to resolve the dispute quickly and cost-effectively. Accordingly, unless you opt out as provided in Section 14.4.4 below, you, Aquifer PE, and our Affiliates agree to resolve any and all claims, disputes, or controversies that arise at any time through binding arbitration on an individual basis in accordance with this Section 14 (sometimes referred to as the "Arbitration Agreement"). This includes any and all claims that arise out of or relate to this Agreement, the other Terms of Service, your relationship with Aquifer PE (including without limitation any claimed employment with Aquifer PE or one of our Affiliates or successors), the termination of your relationship with Aquifer PE, or the Services (each a “Claim” and collectively, “Claims”).

Claims that may not be subject to predispute arbitration agreement as provided by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Public Law 111-203), Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act (Public Law 117-90), or by generally applicable law are excluded from the coverage of this Arbitration Agreement.

By agreeing to arbitrate disputes under this Agreement, THE PARTIES ARE EXPRESSLY GIVING UP ANY AND ALL RIGHTS TO A JURY TRIAL OR COURT TRIAL BEFORE A JUDGE. The parties instead elect to have Claims resolved by individual arbitration. The arbitrator’s decision shall be final and binding on the parties, subject to review on the grounds set forth in the Federal Arbitration Act (9 U.S.C. §§ 1 et seq.).

14.2 Choice of Law

This Agreement, the Site Terms of Use, the other Terms of Service, and any Claim will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict of law provisions; provided, however, that any Claims made by any Freelancer located within the United States will be governed by the law of the state in which such Freelancer resided at the time the dispute arose.

However, notwithstanding the foregoing sentence, this Arbitration Provision is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act (9 U.S.C. §§ 1 et seq.) including its procedural provisions, and not state law, governs the interpretation and enforcement of this Arbitration Agreement.

14.3 Pre-Arbitration Informal Dispute Resolution Requirement

Before serving a demand for arbitration of a Claim, you and Aquifer PE agree to first notify each other of the Claim. You agree to notify Aquifer PE of the Claim by email to emma@aquiferpe.com, and Aquifer PE agrees to provide to you a notice at your email address on file (in each case, a “Notice”). Any Notice must include sufficient information to provide fair notice of the claimant’s identity, the claims being asserted, and the factual allegations on which they are based, including proof that the claimant is a party to this Arbitration Agreement and, if the claimant is a User, proof that the claimant is the owner of the account associated with the claim, so that you or Aquifer PE, as applicable, may evaluate the Claim and attempt to informally resolve it. Such proof may include relevant account information, and/or other information sufficient to verify the identity of the claimant. The failure to provide such information shall result in dismissal of any related arbitration demand. The parties agree that the arbitrator shall have authority to enforce this provision and that any disputes regarding this provision shall be resolved exclusively by the arbitrator.

Both you and Aquifer PE will have 60 days from the date of the receipt of the Notice to informally resolve the other party’s Claim and avoid the need for further action. During that 60-day period, either you or Aquifer PE may request an individualized discussion, by telephone or videoconference, regarding resolution of the dispute (“Informal Settlement Discussion”). If either you or Aquifer PE request an Informal Settlement Discussion, you and a representative of Aquifer PE must both personally participate in the Informal Settlement Discussion in a good-faith effort to resolve only the dispute between us. If you are represented by counsel, your counsel may participate in the Informal Settlement Discussion, but you must also personally participate.

If we do not resolve the dispute between us within 60 calendar days after the Notice is received, and both parties have personally participated in any requested Informal Settlement Discussion, you or Aquifer PE may then commence an arbitration in accordance with this Arbitration Agreement. To facilitate good-faith efforts to resolve any dispute, you and Aquifer PE both agree not to disclose the amount of any settlement offer made by Aquifer PE or by you during the Informal Settlement Discussion in any subsequent arbitration. You and Aquifer PE both agree that a court may enter injunctive relief to enforce the pre-filing requirements of this section, including an injunction to stay an arbitration that has been commenced in violation of this section.

14.4 Binding Arbitration And Class Action/Jury Trial Waiver (Does Not Apply To Users Located Outside The United States And Its Territories)

This Arbitration Agreement applies to all Users located in or who reside in the United States and its Territories. In the unlikely event the parties are unable to resolve a Claim within 60 days of the receipt of the applicable Notice, you, Aquifer PE, and our Affiliates agree to resolve the Claim by final and binding individual arbitration before an arbitrator from JAMS, instead of a court or jury. JAMS may be contacted at www.jamsadr.com.

14.4.1 Scope of Arbitration Agreement and Conduct of Arbitration

Scope: This Arbitration Agreement applies to any Claim (defined above) the parties may have, whether based on past, present, or future events, and includes all claims and disputes that arose between the parties before the effective date of this Agreement, and survives after your relationship with Aquifer PE ends. This Arbitration Agreement is intended to apply to the resolution of disputes that otherwise would be resolved in a court of law or before a forum other than arbitration. If for any reason JAMS will not administer the arbitration, either party may apply to a court of competent jurisdiction with authority over the location where the arbitration will be conducted for appointment of a neutral arbitrator.

Individual Arbitration: Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, one neutral arbitration will be selected and will conduct any individual arbitration in Los Angeles County, California in accordance with the JAMS Comprehensive Arbitration Rules and Procedures’ Optional Expedited Arbitration Procedures then in effect (available at www.jamsadr.com). Any individual arbitration of a claim by a Freelancer that alleges employment or worker classification disputes will be conducted in the state and within 25 miles of where Freelancer is located in accordance with the JAMS Employment Arbitration Rules and Procedures then in effect. Notwithstanding the foregoing, you and Aquifer PE agree that the arbitrator in any individual arbitration shall be selected from among all JAMS neutrals available to travel to Los Angeles County, California. Any party will have the right to appear at the arbitration by telephone and/or video rather than in person.

Mass Arbitration: If 25 or more individuals (inclusive of both sole proprietors and any other form of business entity under the laws of any State) who are represented by the same law firm or by law firms acting in coordination seek to file arbitrations raising similar claims against the same party or related parties, regardless of when the claims are filed, you and Aquifer PE each agree that the JAMS Mass Arbitration Procedures and Guidelines (available at www.jamsadr.com) shall apply to all such claims. The JAMS Mass Arbitration Procedures and Guidelines are specially designed to facilitate the fair, expeditious, and efficient resolution of mass arbitrations., any conflicting procedures in this Section notwithstanding. For purposes of Section 1(c) of the JAMS Mass Arbitration Procedures and Guidelines, you and Aquifer PE each agree that a Mass Arbitration is defined as 25 or more similar demands for Arbitration.

If seventy five (75) or more individuals who are represented by the same law firm or by law firms acting in coordination seek to file arbitrations raising similar claims against the same party or related parties, regardless of when the claims are filed (“Mass Claimants”), you and Aquifer PE each agree that the JAMS Mass arbitration Procedures and Guidelines shall apply to all such claims, and also agree to the following Mediation and Bellwether Process:

• The Mass Claimants’ counsel and Aquifer PE will each select five (5) “Bellwether Cases” (ten (10) cases total) to be resolved individually by different arbitrators in accordance with the JAMS Expedited Procedures. The selection of arbitrators shall be conducted pursuant to the process set forth in Rule 15 of the JAMS Comprehensive Arbitration Rules & Procedures (https:/ /www.jamsadr.com/rules-comprehensive-arbitration/#Rule-15). If either the Mass Claimants’ counsel or Aquifer PE do not select their five (5) Bellwether Cases in a reasonable time, the Process Administrator, as defined in Procedure 3 of the JAMS Mass Arbitration Procedures and Guidelines, shall select the outstanding Bellwether Cases.
• Until all of the Bellwether Cases are resolved, none of the non-bellwether claimants represented by the Mass Claimants’ counsel may proceed to arbitration, and neither you nor us will be responsible for or cause JAMS to issue invoices for any filing, case management, arbitrators’ services, or other fee(s) for such claimants’ claims. Stage One shall be deemed complete upon final resolution of all Bellwether Cases.
• After all of the Bellwether Cases are resolved, and within 90 days, Aquifer PE and Mass Claimants’ counsel shall participate in a single mediation of all remaining non-bellwether cases, before a mutually-agreed mediator. Aquifer PE will pay the mediation fee. If the parties cannot agree on how to resolve the remaining cases after mediation, the Mass Arbitration may proceed in accordance with the JAMS Rules and JAMS Mass Arbitration Procedures and Guidelines.
• You and Aquifer PE agree that, from the date of submission of the Mass Claimants’ claims to JAMS until fourteen (14) days after the date of the above-described mediation shall be a Tolling Period. You and Aquifer PE agree that the Tolling Period shall not be included in calculating any statute of limitations, statute of repose, or other time-related defense, whether statutory, contractual or otherwise, and whether at law in equity or otherwise that might be applicable to the Mass Claimants’ claims or to Aquifer PE’s defenses.

The Bellwether Process and Tolling Agreement may be modified in whole or in part by mutual, written agreement of you and Aquifer PE. The Process Administrator shall resolve any disputes about the interpretation, applicability or enforceability of the Bellwether Process.

Confidentiality: All aspects of any arbitration under this Section 14.4.1, and any ruling, decision, or award by the arbitrator in any such arbitration, will be strictly confidential for the benefit of all parties.

Arbitration Fees and Costs: Because all Users agree to access and use the Aquifer PE platform for business purposes only and not for personal or consumer use, as provided in Section 1.2 above, Users are not “consumers” under the JAMS Consumer Minimum Standards of Procedural Fairness (https:/ /www.jamsadr.com/consumer-minimum-standards/) or the California Arbitration Act, Cal. Code Civ. Proc. §§ 1280 et seq. You and Aquifer PE therefore agree that arbitration fees and costs shall be allocated pursuant to the JAMS Comprehensive Arbitration Rules, including without limitation Comprehensive Rules 5, 24, and 31. Consistent with Rule 5, the arbitration shall not commence until each party has paid its pro rata share of JAMS fees and expenses as set forth in the JAMS fee schedule in effect at the time of the commencement of the arbitration. The arbitrator shall follow applicable law and may award only those remedies that would have applied had the matter been heard in court. Judgment may be entered on the arbitrator’s decision in any court having jurisdiction.

To the extent permitted by law, a claimant must pay all reasonable costs and fees incurred by the responding party or parties—including arbitration fees, attorney fees, and expert fees—if an arbitrator or court determines that any Claim (i) was not warranted by existing law or by a nonfrivolous argument or (ii) was filed in arbitration for any improper purpose, including to harass the responding party, cause unnecessary delay, or increase the cost of dispute resolution.

JAMS Rules Disputes: Pursuant to JAMS Comprehensive Arbitration Rule 1(c), any dispute regarding the applicability of a particular set of JAMS rules as set forth in this Section 14 shall be resolved exclusively by the JAMS National Arbitration Committee (NAC), based upon a written report and recommendation by a member of the NAC, prior to the commencement of any arbitration.

Offers of Settlement: You, Aquifer PE, and our Affiliates agree that, at least fourteen (14) calendar days before the date set for an arbitration hearing with respect to any Claim, any party may, but is not obligated to, make a written offer of judgment on the other party to allow judgment on specified terms.

If the offer is accepted, the offer with proof of acceptance shall be submitted to the arbitrator, who shall enter judgment accordingly. If the offer is not accepted prior to the arbitration hearing or within thirty (30) calendar days after it is made, which is first, it shall be deemed withdrawn and may not be submitted as evidence in the arbitration. If an offer made by one party is not accepted by the other party, and the other party fails to obtain a more favorable award in the arbitration, the other party shall not recover their post-offer costs and, to the extent permitted by law, shall pay all reasonable costs and fees—including arbitration fees—incurred by the offering party from the time of the written offer.

Exceptions: This Arbitration Agreement does not apply to litigation between Aquifer PE and you that is or was already pending in a state or federal court or arbitration before the expiration of the opt-out period set forth in Section 14.4.4 below. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, no amendment to this Arbitration Agreement will apply to any matter pending in an arbitration proceeding brought under this Section 14 unless all parties to that arbitration consent in writing to that amendment.

This Arbitration Agreement also does not apply to claims for workers compensation, state disability insurance, or unemployment insurance benefits.

Nothing in this Arbitration Agreement prevents you from making a report to or filing a claim or charge with a government agency, including without limitation the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, National Labor Relations Board, or Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. Nothing in this Arbitration Agreement prevents the investigation by a government agency of any report, claim or charge otherwise covered by this Arbitration Agreement. This Arbitration Agreement also does not prevent federal administrative agencies from adjudicating claims and awarding remedies based on those claims, even if the claims would otherwise be covered by this Arbitration Provision. Nothing in this Arbitration Agreement prevents or excuses a party from satisfying any conditions precedent or exhausting administrative remedies under applicable law before bringing a claim in arbitration. Aquifer PE will not retaliate against you for filing a claim with an administrative agency or for exercising rights (individually or in concert with others) under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act.

14.4.2 Interpretation And Enforcement of This Arbitration Provision

This Arbitration Agreement is the full and complete agreement relating to the formal resolution of Claims. The parties agree that the arbitrator shall have exclusive jurisdiction to decide all disputes arising out of or relating to the arbitrability of a Claim or the interpretation, enforcement, or application of this Arbitration Agreement, including the enforceability, revocability, scope, breach, or validity of the Arbitration Agreement or any portion of the Arbitration Agreement, except as expressly provided below.

All such matters shall be decided by an arbitrator and not by a court. The parties expressly agree that, except as provided by the Class and Collective Waiver section below, the arbitrator and not a court will decide any question of whether the parties agreed to arbitrate, including but not limited to any claim that all or part of this Arbitration Provision, this Agreement, or any other part of the Terms of Service is void or voidable.

Nothing in this Section shall be interpreted to limit the authority or jurisdiction of a Process Administrator under the JAMS Mass Arbitration Procedures and Guidelines.

In the event any portion of this Arbitration Agreement is deemed unenforceable, the remainder of this Arbitration Agreement will be enforceable, except as set forth in Section 14.4.3 below.

14.4.3 Class and Collective Waiver

Private attorney general representative actions under the California Labor Code are not arbitrable, not within the scope of this Arbitration Agreement and may be maintained in a court of law. However, this Arbitration Agreement affects your ability to participate in class or collective actions. Both you and Aquifer PE agree to bring any dispute in arbitration on an individual basis only, and not on a class or collective basis on behalf of others. There will be no right or authority for any dispute to be brought, heard or arbitrated as a class or collective action, or as a member in any such class or collective proceeding (“Class Action Waiver”). Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement or the JAMS rules, disputes regarding the enforceability, revocability, scope, validity, or breach of the Class Action Waiver may be resolved only by a civil court of competent jurisdiction and not by an arbitrator. If there is a final judicial determination that all or part of the Class Action Waiver is unenforceable or that an arbitration can proceed on a class basis, then the arbitration provision herein shall be considered null and void in its entirety and the class or collective action to that extent must be litigated in a civil court of competent jurisdiction. Other than as provided for by the JAMS Mass Arbitration Procedures and Guidelines, no arbitration or proceeding will be combined with another without the prior written consent of all parties to all affected arbitrations or proceedings. You and Aquifer PE agree that you will not be retaliated against as a result of your filing or participating in a class or collective action in any forum.

However, Aquifer PE may lawfully seek enforcement of this Arbitration Agreement and the Class Action Waiver under the Federal Arbitration Act and seek dismissal of such class or collective actions or claims.

14.4.4 Right to Opt Out of The Arbitration Provision

You may opt out of the Arbitration Agreement contained in this Section 14 by notifying Aquifer PE in writing within 30 days of the date you first registered for the Site or within 30 days of future changes to this Arbitration Agreement, as applicable. To opt out, you must send a written notification to Aquifer PE via hello@aquiferpe.com that includes (a) your Account username, (b) your name, (c) your address, (d) your telephone number, (e) your email address, and (f) a statement indicating that you wish to opt out of the Arbitration Agreement.

Opting out of this Arbitration Agreement will not affect any other terms of this Agreement.

If you do not opt out as provided in this Section 14.4.4, continuing your relationship with Aquifer PE constitutes mutual acceptance of the terms of this Arbitration Agreement by you and Aquifer PE. You have the right to consult with counsel of your choice concerning this Agreement and the Arbitration Provision.

14.4.5 Enforcement of this Arbitration Agreement

This Arbitration Agreement replaces all prior agreements regarding the arbitration of disputes and is the full and complete agreement relating to the formal resolution of disputes covered by this Arbitration Agreement. In the event any portion of this Arbitration Agreement is deemed unenforceable, the remainder of this Arbitration Agreement will be enforceable.

15. General

15.1 Entire Agreement

This Agreement, together with the other Terms of Service, is the only agreement between you and us regarding the Services and supersedes all prior agreements for the Services and supersedes any prior agreements between us for actions occurring after the effective date of this Agreement.

15.2 Modifications; Waiver

Subject to the conditions set forth herein, Aquifer PE may amend this Agreement and any of the other agreements that comprise the Terms of Service at any time by posting a revised version on the Site. Aquifer PE will provide reasonable advance notice of any amendment that includes a Substantial Change (defined below), by posting the updated Terms of Service on the Site and providing notice on the Site or by email. If the Substantial Change includes an increase to Fees charged by Aquifer PE, Aquifer PE will provide at least 30 days’ advance notice of the change, but may not provide any advance notice for changes resulting in a reduction in Fees, any temporary or promotional Fee change, or changes that do not constitute a Substantial Change. Any revisions to the Terms of Service will take effect on the noted effective date. No modification or amendment to the Terms of Service will be binding upon Aquifer PE unless they are agreed in a written instrument signed by a duly authorized representative of Aquifer PE or posted on the Site by Aquifer PE. Email will not constitute a written instrument as contemplated by this Section 15.2.

Our failure to act with respect to a breach by you or others does not waive our right to act with respect to subsequent or similar breaches. We do not guarantee we will take action against all breaches of this User Agreement.

15.3 Assignability

These Terms of Service and any rights or obligations hereunder may not be transferred or assigned by you unless you follow the provisions in this Section.

In order to assign the Terms of Service or your Account to a successor after an acquisition of your company or substantially all of your assets, a merger, or another change in majority ownership of your company, you must provide written notice to Aquifer PE via email to Aquifer PE via hello@aquiferpe.com that includes (a) your Account username, (b) your name, (c) your address, (d) your telephone number, (e) your email address, (f) a statement indicating the manner in which your company was acquired, (g) the name and contact information of the acquiror, and (h) the effective date of such change in ownership. If Aquifer PE does not object via email within 5 business days of sending of an email or 7 business days of the mailing of a written notice, then the assignment is permissible, provided in both cases that such notice is properly addressed.

No other assignments are valid without Aquifer PE’s prior written consent, which can be requested via email or letter at the above addresses. Any other attempted transfer or assignment will be null and void.

15.4 Severability; Interpretation

If any provision of this Agreement is invalid or unenforceable under applicable law, then it will be changed and interpreted to accomplish the objectives of such provision to the greatest extent possible under applicable law, and the remaining provisions of this Agreement will continue in full force and effect. To the extent any provision of this Agreement or the other Terms of Service is held illegal, invalid, or unenforceable in whole or in part under applicable law, such provision or such portion thereof will be ineffective as to the jurisdiction in which it is illegal, invalid, or unenforceable to the extent of its illegality, invalidity, or unenforceability and will be deemed modified to the extent necessary to conform to applicable law so as to give the maximum effect to the intent of the parties. The illegality, invalidity, or unenforceability of such provision in one jurisdiction will not in any way affect the legality, validity, or enforceability of that or any other provision in any other jurisdiction.

15.5 Force Majeure

The parties to this Agreement will not be responsible for any delay or failure to perform any obligation under this Agreement for a reasonable period due to labor disturbances, accidents, fires, floods, pandemics, telecommunications or Internet failures, strikes, wars, riots, rebellions, terrorism, blockades, acts of government, governmental requirements and regulations or restrictions imposed by law or any other similar event beyond the parties’ reasonable control.

15.6 Prevailing Language And Location

The English language version of the Terms of Service will be controlling in all respects and will prevail in case of any inconsistencies with translated versions, if any. The Site is controlled and operated from our facilities in the United States.

15.7 Access of The Site Outside The United States

Aquifer PE makes no representations that the Site or Services are appropriate or available for use outside of the United States. Those who access or use the Site from other jurisdictions do so at their own risk and are entirely responsible for compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, both in the United States and abroad, including export and import regulations (e.g., the Export Administration Regulations maintained by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the sanctions programs maintained by the U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control). You must not directly or indirectly sell, export, re-export, transfer, divert, or otherwise dispose of any software or service to any end user without obtaining any and all required authorizations from the appropriate government authorities. You also warrant that you are not prohibited from receiving U.S. origin products, including services or software.

In order to access or use the Services, you must and hereby represent that neither you, any company you represent, nor any beneficial owner of you or your company are: (a) a citizen or resident of a geographic area in which access to or use of the Site or Site Services is prohibited by applicable law, decree, regulation, treaty, or administrative act; (b) a citizen or resident of, or located in, a geographic area that is subject to U.S. or other sovereign country sanctions or embargoes; or (c) an individual, or an individual employed by or associated with an entity, identified on the U.S. Department of Commerce Denied Persons or Entity List, the U.S. Department of Treasury Specially Designated Nationals or Blocked Persons Lists, or the U.S. Department of State Debarred Parties List or otherwise ineligible to receive items subject to U.S. export control laws and regulations or other economic sanction rules of any sovereign nation. You agree that if your country of residence or other circumstances change such that the above representations are no longer accurate, that you will immediately cease using the Services and your license to use the Services will be immediately revoked.

15.8 Consent to Use Electronic Records

Aquifer PE and its Affiliates may need to provide you with certain communications, notices, agreements, statements or disclosures in writing regarding our Services. You consent to receive these records electronically from Aquifer PE and its Affiliates rather than in paper form.

16. Definitions

"Affiliate" means anyone or anything that in any way manages, is managed by, or shares management with us.

“Client” means any authorized User of the Site or Site Services, including Direct Contract Services, to seek or obtain Freelancer Services, including from another User.

“Confidential Information” means any material or information provided to, or created by, a User to evaluate a Project or the suitability of another User for the Project, or provided in connection with a Project, regardless of whether the information is in tangible, electronic, verbal, graphic, visual, or other form. Confidential Information does not include material or information that: (a) is generally known by third parties as a result of no act or omission of Freelancer or Client; (b) was lawfully received by User without restriction from a third party having the right to disseminate the information; (c) was already known by User prior to receiving it from the other party and was not received from a third party in breach of that third party’s obligations of confidentiality; or (d) was independently developed by User without use of another person’s Confidential Information.

“Fixed-Price Contract” means a Service Contract for which Client is charged a fixed fee agreed between a Client and a Freelancer, prior to the commencement of a Service Contract, for the completion of all Freelancer Services contracted by Client for such Service Contract.

“Freelancer” means any authorized User of the Site or Site Services, that utilizes the Site to advertise, provide, or receive payment for the provision of Freelancer Services to Clients.

“Freelancer Fees” means: (a) for an Hourly Contract, the amount reflected in the Hourly Invoice (the number of hours invoiced by Freelancer, multiplied by the hourly rate charged by Freelancer); (b) for a Fixed-Price Contract, the fixed fee agreed between a Client and a Freelancer; and (c) any bonuses or other payments made by a Client to a Freelancer.

“Freelancer Services” means all services performed for or delivered to Clients by Freelancers.

“Hourly Contract” means a Service Contract for which Client is charged based on the hourly rate charged by Freelancer.

“Hourly Invoice” means the report of hours invoiced for a stated period by a Freelancer for Freelancer Services performed for a Client.

The term “including” as used herein means including without limitation.

“Intellectual Property Rights” means all patent rights, copyright rights, mask work rights, moral rights, rights of publicity, trademark, trade dress and service mark rights, goodwill, trade secret rights and other intellectual property rights as may now exist or hereafter come into existence, and all applications therefore and registrations, renewals and extensions thereof, in each case, under the laws of any state, country, territory or other jurisdiction.

“Payment Method” means a valid credit card issued by a bank acceptable to Aquifer PE, a bank account linked to your Account, a PayPal account, a debit card, or such other method of payment as Aquifer PE may accept from time to time in our sole discretion.

“Project” means an engagement for Freelancer Services that a Freelancer provides to a Client under a Service Contract on the Site.

“Service Contract” means the contractual provisions between Client and a Freelancer governing the Freelancer Services to be performed by a Freelancer for Client for a Project.

“Substantial Change” means a change to the terms of the Terms of Service that materially reduces your rights or increases your responsibilities.

“User Content” means any comments, remarks, data, feedback, content, text, photographs, images, video, music, or other content or information that you or any Site Visitor or User post to any part of the Site or provide to Aquifer PE, including such content or information that is originally generated through the use of generative AI tools or as a result of questions.

“Work Product” means any tangible or intangible results or deliverables that Freelancer agrees to create for, or actually delivers to, Client as a result of performing the Freelancer Services, including, but not limited to, configurations, computer programs, or other information, or customized hardware, and any intellectual property developed in connection therewith.

Fee and ACH Authorization Agreement

This Fee and ACH Authorization Agreement (this “Agreement”) is between you and Aquifer PE as described below in Section 1 (Parties). This Agreement provides information on the fees Aquifer PE charges for use of the Site’s communication, invoicing, dispute resolution and payment services, and includes eligible Users’  authorization for debits and credits from and to their designated bank accounts via the automated clearing house network (“ACH”). This Agreement is part of the Terms of Service. Capitalized terms not defined in this Agreement are defined in the User Agreement, Site Terms of Use, or elsewhere in the Terms of Service.

By clicking to accept the Terms of Service on the Site or by continuing to use the Site or the Site Services on or after the effective date noted above, you accept and agree to this Agreement. To the extent permitted by applicable law and except as otherwise provided in the Terms of Service, we may modify this Agreement without prior notice to you, and any revisions to this Agreement will take effect when posted on the Site unless otherwise stated. However, we will provide advance notice of any increase in prices or fees affecting current Users. Please check the Site often for updates.

1. PARTIES

You are entering into this Agreement with Aquifer PE (also referred to as “we” and “us”).

2. FEES CHARGED TO FREELANCERS

Pursuant to the User Agreement, we charge Freelancers a Service Fee on the amounts of Freelancer Fees invoiced by the Freelancer to their Client on a Service Contract. The Freelancer Service Fee is described below in Section 2.1. Where applicable, Aquifer PE may also collect taxes (such as value added tax (“VAT”) in Europe) on Service Fees.

Additionally, the use of various Payment Methods offered through the Site and the Site Services may incur added fees or charges. All Payment Methods will be posted on the Site along with any associated fees or charges, which we may update from time to time at our sole discretion. By selecting a Service subject to additional fees or charges, you thereby authorize us to charge to you and to collect from you (consistent with this Agreement, the User Agreement, or elsewhere in the Terms of Service) any fees, charges, or taxes described in this Section 2.

2.1 FREELANCER SERVICE FEE

We will charge you a Freelancer Service Fee based on the total Freelancer Fees invoiced by you to your Client (less any refunds or reversals) for each Service Contract you enter into with a Client. The Freelancer Service Fee will be a flat 10% of the total Freelancer Fees.

2.2 Disburse Freelancer Fees

Freelancers agree to provide their designated bank account’s information to Aquifer PE and the payment processor selected by Aquifer PE in order to receive their Freelancer Fees via ACH. Freelancers should proactively update their designated bank account’s information to minimize any disruptions to receiving Freelancer Fees.

3. FEES CHARGED TO CLIENTS

Clients do not pay Aquifer PE a service fee for accessing Aquifer PE Sites and Services. If Clients choose to pay Freelancers outside Aquifer PE, Clients agree to pay Conversion Fee for each Aquifer PE Relationship, as outlined in section 7.3 of Term of Services.

4. AUTHORIZATION FOR ACH DEBITS AND CREDITS AND OTHER TRANSACTIONS

If and to the extent permitted by Aquifer PE in its sole discretion, Users may pay Freelancer Fees, Conversion Fees, and other fees owed under the Terms of Service from their designated bank accounts. Subject to Aquifer PE’s eligibility requirements, if you elect to pay Freelancer Fees or any other amounts owed under the Terms of Service via ACH transfers from your designated bank account, you hereby authorize us to electronically debit and, if necessary, electronically credit your designated bank account via ACH for such amounts pursuant to the Terms of Service, and you agree to comply with the ACH rules issued by the National Automated Clearing House (“NACHA”) and all applicable laws, including, but not limited to, the federal Bank Secrecy Act, the U.S.A. Patriot Act, and economic sanctions overseen by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Your authorization for ACH transfers contained in this Section 4 will remain in full force and effect until you notify us that you wish to revoke your authorization by contacting Customer Support via emma@aquiferpe.com. You understand that we require at least one (1) business day’s prior notice in order to cancel your authorization for ACH transfers contained in this Section 4.

You must notify us of any change in your designated bank account’s information at least five (5) business days before any such change by contacting Customer Support via emma@aquiferpe.com. If we do not receive notice at least five (5) days before any such change, we may attempt, in our sole discretion, to implement such change prior to any ACH debit or credit transfer performed pursuant to your authorization provided in this Section 4. However, we assume no responsibility for our failure to do so.

You may view a history of your Account transactions by logging in to the Site. You are solely responsible for promptly reconciling your Account transaction history with the transaction records for your bank account. You must notify us of any errors or discrepancies in your Account transaction history (each, an “Error”) within 30 days of when the Error could be viewed in your Account transaction history on the Site. If you do not notify us of an Error within 30 days of when the Error could be viewed in your Account transaction history on the Site, you will forfeit the right to contest the Error, except to the extent such forfeiture is prohibited by applicable law or the NACHA rules.

Subject to the foregoing notice requirement: (a) if and to the extent an Error is caused by us, we will correct the Error and (b) if an Error is caused by you, we may, but are under no obligation to, attempt to correct the Error and will offset any costs we incur from any funds returned to your bank account, as applicable. If an Error results in your receipt of more funds than you are entitled, we may recover the extra funds from you.

5. DISPUTE RESOLUTION

1. Dispute Mediation Deadline: Dispute Mediation must be initiated within 30 calendar days of the date that the Client has approved the invoice.
2. Initiate Dispute Mediation: Clients may initiate a Dispute Mediation for disputes over invoice payments by sending a refund request to emma@aquiferpe.com.
3. Notice of Dispute Mediation: Once a dispute has been initiated, the Aquifer PE Dispute Mediation team (“Dispute Mediation T eam”) will notify Client and Freelancer of the Dispute Mediation in writing and request information and supporting documentation from the parties (“Notice of Dispute Mediation”). Client and Freelancer must respond to the Notice of Dispute Mediation within 5 calendar days.
4. Non-Binding Assistance: Once both Client and Freelancer respond to the Notice of Dispute Mediation, the Dispute Mediation Team will review the documentation submitted and any information available on the Site that pertains to the dispute. The Dispute Mediation Team will facilitate communication between the parties and help assess whether mutual resolution is possible. The Dispute Mediation Team does not evaluate the quality or functionality of work and cannot render binding judgment or determination as to the parties’ respective rights to the disputed funds.
5. Resolution of Dispute Mediation: If the Dispute Mediation Team is able to facilitate a resolution between Client and Freelancer, and if Client and Freelancer agree in writing to the resolution, the Dispute Mediation Team will send the applicable party instructions on transferring payment, if any, to their designated Account. This will result in the closure of the Dispute Mediation ticket.
6. No Resolution: If no resolution of the dispute has been reached within 14 calendar days of the Notice of Dispute Mediation, or if the Dispute Mediation Team determines in its sole discretion that no resolution between the parties is possible through the Dispute Assistance Program, the Dispute Mediation Team will issue a “Notice of Non-Resolution”. Clients and Freelancers can seek to resolve their disputes through other means such as arbitration.

Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how and why Aquifer PE collects, uses, and shares personal information when you interact with or use our Site or Service. It also includes any information Aquifer PE collects offline in connection with the Service, which we may combine with information from the Site and Service.

When we say “Aquifer PE”, we mean Aquifer PE Inc. When we say “Site”, we mean www.aquiferpe.com, and when we say “Service”, we mean the Site plus any websites, features, applications, widgets, or online services owned or controlled by Aquifer PE.

As part of the Service, Aquifer PE provides a marketplace which results in platform information pertaining to different parties to an interaction. Users of the Service may be Clients, Freelancers, Site Visitors (as each is defined in the User Agreement). This Privacy Policy applies to Aquifer PE’s processing of personal information of Users where Aquifer PE determines the purposes and means of processing. It does not apply to processing of information by Users themselves, who may be controllers of the personal information they access through the Service. For information about how Users process your personal information, please contact them directly.

1. INFORMATION COLLECTION

a. Information You Provide to Us

When you use the Service, you may provide us with information about you. This may include your name and contact information, financial information to make or receive payment for services obtained through the Aquifer PE platform, or information to help us fill out tax forms. When you use the Service, we may also collect information related to your use of the Service and aggregate this with information about other users. This helps us improve our Services for you. You may also provide us with information about your contacts or friends if, for example, you’d like to add those contacts to a message room.

Depending upon our relationship with you, we may collect the following categories and types of personal information from and about you:

b. Non-Identifying Information and De-Identified Information

Non-Identifying Information/Usernames: We also may collect other information that does not identify you directly, such as zip codes, demographic data, information about your use of the Service, and general project-related data (“Non-Identifying Information”). We may combine information collected from Aquifer PE users, whether they are registered or not (“Aquifer PE Users”). In some cases, we may render Personal Information (generally, email address) into a form of Non Identifying Information referred to in this Privacy Policy as “Hashed Information.” This is typically accomplished using a mathematical process (commonly known as a hash function) to convert information into a code. While the code does not identify you directly, it may be used by Aquifer PE’s partners to connect your activity and interests.

Combination of Personal and Non-Identifying Information: We may combine your Personal Information with Non-Identifying Information, but Aquifer PE will treat the combined information as Personal Information.

De-Identified Information: We may also de-identify or aggregate information and convert it into non-personal information so that it can no longer reasonably be used to identify you (“De Identified Information”). We may use De-Identified Information for any of the purposes described in the “We Use Information We Collect” section below. We will maintain and use De-Identified Information in de-identified form and will not attempt to reidentify the information, except to confirm our de-identification processes or unless required by law.

c. Information Collected Automatically

Like other online companies, we receive technical information when you use our Services. We use these technologies to analyze how people use the Service, to improve how our Site functions, to save your log in information for future sessions, and to serve you with advertisements that may interest you.

Aquifer PE and its partners use cookies or similar technologies to analyze trends, administer the website, track users’ movement around the website, the desktop app, and the mobile app, and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole. The technology used to collect information automatically from Aquifer PE Users may include cookies, web beacons, and embedded scripts. In addition, we and our marketing partners, affiliates, analytics, and service providers may use a variety of other technologies (such as tags) that collect similar information for security and fraud detection purposes and we may use third parties to perform these services on our behalf.

For further information on cookies and how they are used for the Service, please visit our Cookie Policy.

d. Analytics Providers, Ad Servers and Similar Third Parties

We may work with advertising agencies and vendors who use technology to help us understand how people use our Site. These vendors may use technologies to serve you advertisements that may interest you. You can choose to opt out of receiving certain interest-based advertising.

Aquifer PE works with ad networks, ad agencies, analytics service providers and other vendors to provide us with information regarding traffic on the Service, including pages viewed and the actions taken when visiting the Service; to serve our advertisements on other websites, within mobile apps and elsewhere online; and to provide us with information regarding the use of the Service and the effectiveness of our advertisements. Our service providers may collect certain information about your visits to and activity on the Service as well as other websites or services, they may set and access their own tracking technologies on your device (including cookies and web beacons), and may use that information to show you targeted advertisements. Some of these parties may collect Personal Information when you visit the Service or other online websites and services. We may also share certain Non-Identifying Information with these parties, including Hashed Information, in connection with the services they provide to us. If you wish to opt out of interest-based advertising from participating companies, click here (or if located in the European Union, click here). You must opt out on each device and each browser where you want your choice to apply. If you choose to opt out, please note you will continue to receive advertisements, but they may be less relevant to you.

While we may use a variety of service providers to perform advertising services, some of these companies are members of the Network Advertising Initiative (“NAI”) or the Digital Advertising Alliance (“DAA”) Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising. You may want to visit http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp, which provides information regarding targeted advertising and the “opt-out” procedures of NAI members. You may also want to visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/, which provides information regarding targeted advertising and offers an “opt-out” by participating companies in the DAA Self-Regulatory Program.

e. Do Not Track Signals and GPC

Please note that your browser setting may allow you to automatically transmit a “Do Not Track” signal to websites and online services you visit. Aquifer PE does not generally alter its practices when it receives a “Do Not Track” signal from a visitor’s browser. To find out more about “Do Not Track,” please visit http://www.allaboutdnt.com.

Global Privacy Control (GPC) is a technical specification that you can use to inform websites of your privacy preferences regarding ad trackers. If you do choose to set up GPC, it may impact the functionality of the Site, but we honor the GPC signal on a per-browser basis automatically in your cookie preferences.

f. Children

The Service is general audience and intended for users 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from anyone younger than age 18. If we become aware that a child younger than 18 has provided us with Personal Information, we will use commercially reasonable efforts to delete such information from our files. If you are the parent or legal guardian of a child younger than age 18 and believe that Aquifer PE has collected Personal Information from your child, please contact us at emma@aquiferpe.com.

2. USE OF INFORMATION

We use information collected through the Service to provide and improve the Service, develop new Services and products, process your requests, prevent fraud, provide you with information and advertising that may interest you, comply with the law, and as otherwise permitted with your consent.

a. We Use Information We Collect:

To develop, provide, and improve the Service, complete your transactions, address your inquiries, process your registration, verify the information you provide is valid, and for compliance and internal business purposes.

To contact you with administrative communications and Aquifer PE newsletters, marketing or promotional materials (on behalf of Aquifer PE or third parties) and other information that may be of interest to you. If you decide at any time that you no longer wish to receive such communications from us, please follow the instructions in the Your Choices and Rights section, below.

To tailor content we display to you and offers we may present to you, both on the Service and elsewhere online.

To administer and develop our business relationship with you and, if applicable, the corporation or other legal entity you represent.

To assess your proposal to perform a freelance project on Aquifer PE and prepare related governmental and internal statistics reports.

To enforce and comply with the law, including to conduct an investigation, to protect the property and rights of Aquifer PE or a third party, to protect the safety of the public or any person, or to prevent or stop activity we may consider to be, or to pose a risk of being, illegal, fraudulent, unethical or legally actionable activity. We may also use Device Identifiers to identify Aquifer PE Users.

For the purposes disclosed at the time you provide your information, with your consent, and as further described in this Privacy Policy.

To Honor Our Contractual Commitments to You. Much of our processing of Personal Information is to meet our contractual obligations to our investors, or to take steps at Users' request in anticipation of entering into a contract with them.

For Our Legitimate Interests. In many cases, we handle Personal Information on the grounds that it furthers our legitimate interests in commercial activities, such as the following, in ways that are not overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the affected individuals:

• Providing our Site and Service.
• Detecting security incidents, protecting against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent or illegal activity, and prosecuting those responsible for that activity.
• Measuring interest and engagement in our Services.
• Short-term, transient use, such as contextual customization of ads.
• Improving, upgrading or enhancing our Services.
• Developing new products and services.
• Ensuring internal quality control and safety.
• Authenticating and verifying individual identities.
• Debugging to identify and repair errors with our Services.
• Auditing relating to interactions, transactions and other compliance activities.
• Enforcing our agreements and policies.
• Analyzing and improving our business.
• Communications, including marketing and responding to your inquiries about our services. Addressing information security needs and protecting our Users, Aquifer PE, and others. Managing legal issues.

To Comply with Legal Obligations. We need to use and disclose Personal Information in certain ways to comply with our legal obligations.

3. DATA RETENTION

Unless you request that we delete certain information (see Your Choices and Rights below), we will only retain your personal information for as long as is necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, accounting, or reporting requirements, as well as ongoing fraud prevention, backup, and business continuity purposes.

4. INFORMATION SHARING AND DISCLOSURE

We do not sell your Personal Information for monetary consideration, and we do not share your Personal Information with third parties for those third parties’ marketing purposes unless we first provide you with the opportunity to opt-in to or opt-out of such sharing. However, we may use technologies on our Site for the purposes of advertising or marketing to you and understanding how you interact with our ads. This may be considered a “sale” or “sharing” of personal information for targeted advertising under applicable data protection laws. We may also share information we have collected about you, including Personal Information, as disclosed at the time you provide your information, with your consent, as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy, or for the following business or commercial purposes:

5. YOUR CHOICES AND RIGHTS

You may have certain choices and rights associated with your personal information, including opting out of targeted advertising or other disclosures to third parties. Residents of certain locations may have the right to have an authorized agent submit requests on your behalf. You or your authorized agent may request that Aquifer PE honor these rights by contacting us as outlined in the “Contact Us” section below. Depending on your location, you may also opt out of targeted advertising here.

Non-Discrimination: You will not receive any discriminatory treatment by us for the exercise of your privacy rights.

Verifying Your Request: Only you, or a person that you authorized to act on your behalf, may make a request related to your personal information. In the case of access and deletion, your request must be verifiable before we can fulfill such request. Verifying your request will require you to provide sufficient information for us to reasonably verify that you are the person about whom we collected personal information or a person authorized to act on your behalf. We will only use the personal information that you have provided in a verifiable request in order to verify your request. We cannot respond to your request or provide you with personal information if we cannot verify your identity or authority. Please note that we may charge a reasonable fee or refuse to act on a request if such request is excessive, repetitive or manifestly unfounded.

For Individuals Located in the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom (UK) or Switzerland:

You have a number of rights under applicable data protection laws in relation to your personal information. Under certain circumstances, you have the right to:

• Have access to your personal information by submitting a request to us;
• Have your personal information deleted;
• Have your personal information corrected if it is wrong;
• Have the processing of your personal information restricted;
• Object to further processing of your personal information, including to object to marketing from us;
• Make a data portability request;
• Withdraw any consent you have provided to us;
• Restrict any automatic processing of your personal information; and
• Complain to the appropriate Supervisory Authority.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us as outlined in the “Contact Us” section below.

Notice for California Residents

“Shine the Light” and “Eraser” Laws: Residents of the State of California may request a list of all third parties to which we have disclosed certain information during the preceding year for those third parties’ direct marketing purposes.

California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)/California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA): The CCPA, as amended by the CPRA, provides California residents and/or their authorized agents with specific rights regarding the collection and processing of their personal information.

Your Right to Know: California residents have the right to request that we disclose the following information to you about our collection and use of your personal information over the past twelve (12) months. We may ask you to provide certain information to identify yourself so that we may compare it with our records in order to verify your request. Upon verification, we will disclose to you:

1. The categories of personal information we have collected about you.
2. The categories of sources for the personal information we have collected about you.
3. The specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you.
4. Our business or commercial purpose for collecting or “selling” your personal information as defined by the CCPA.
5. The categories of third parties to whom we have sold or shared your personal information, if any, and the categories of personal information that we have shared with each third-party recipient.

Your Right to Opt-Out of “Sale” or “Sharing” of Personal Information: California residents have the right to opt-out of the “sale” or “sharing” of their personal information as defined by the CCPA by clicking here or by contacting us using the information in the “Contact Us” section below.

Please note that we do not knowingly “sell” the personal information of any individuals under the age of 18.

Where we are “sharing” your personal information with third parties for the purposes of cross-context behavioral advertising or profiling, you may opt-out of such sharing at any time by submitting a request as directed on the homepage of our website or by contacting us using the information in the “Contact Us” section below.

Your Right to Limit Use of Sensitive Personal Information: California residents may have the right to request that businesses limit the use of any sensitive personal information to those uses which are necessary to perform the Services or for other specifically-enumerated business purposes under the CCPA, as amended by the CPRA. Please note that we do not use sensitive personal information other than as necessary to perform the Services or as specifically permitted under the CCPA.

Your Right to Delete: California residents have the right to request that we delete any of the personal information collected from you and retained by us, subject to certain exceptions. We may ask you to provide certain information to identify yourself so that we may compare it with our records in order to verify your request. Once your request is verified and we have determined that we are required to delete the requested personal information in accordance with the CCPA, we will delete, and direct our service providers to delete your personal information from their records. Your request to delete personal

information that we have collected may be denied if we conclude it is necessary for us to retain such personal information under one or more of the exceptions listed in the CCPA.

Your Right to Correct: Under the CCPA, as amended by the CPRA, California residents have the right to request that we correct any inaccurate personal information we maintain about you, taking into account the nature of the personal information and the purposes for which we are processing such personal information. We will use commercially reasonable efforts to correct such inaccurate personal information about you.

Non-Discrimination: You will not receive any discriminatory treatment by us for the exercise of your privacy rights conferred by the CCPA.

Notice for Nevada Residents

Under Nevada law, certain Nevada residents may opt out of the sale of “personally identifiable information” for monetary consideration to a person for that person to license or sell such information to additional persons. “Personally identifiable information” includes first and last name, address, email address, phone number, Social Security Number, or an identifier that allows a specific person to be contacted either physically or online.

We do not engage in such activity; however, if you are a Nevada resident who has purchased or leased goods or services from us, you may submit a request to opt out of any potential future sales under Nevada law by emailing emma@aquiferpe.com. Please note we will take reasonable steps to verify your identity and the authenticity of the request. Once verified, we will maintain your request in the event our practices change.

Notice for Residents of Certain Other States

The laws of your state of residence (“Applicable State Law”) may provide you with certain rights, including the following:

Your Right to Confirm and Access: You have the right to confirm whether we are processing personal information about you and access the personal information we process about you.

Your Right to Portability: You have the right to obtain a copy of the personal information we maintain and process about you in a portable and, to the extent technically feasible, readily-usable format.

Your Right to Delete: You have the right to request that we delete the personal information we maintain or process about you.

Your Right to Correct: You have the right to request that we correct inaccuracies in the personal information we maintain or process about you, taking into consideration the nature and purpose of such processing.

Your Rights to Opt-Out: You have the right to opt-out of certain types of processing of personal information, including:

• Opt-Out of the “sale” of personal information as defined by Applicable State Law; Opt-Out of targeted advertising by us;
• Opt-Out of automated profiling for the purposes of making decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects.

Please note, as explained above, we do not “sell” personal information as that word is traditionally defined. However, we may share personal information with third parties to provide you with personalized advertising from us and to better understand how you interact with our Services. Through the use of cookies, we may also make available certain personal information to third parties for targeted advertising. You may opt-out from any of these disclosures under Applicable State Law by contacting us via emma@aquiferpe.com.

Appeals Process & Other Concerns

Certain information may be exempt from the rights described above under applicable law. If we deny your request in whole or in part, you may have the right to appeal the decision. In such circumstances, we will provide you with information regarding the appeals process. Depending on your location, you may also email emma@aquiferpe.com with the subject “Data Privacy Request Appeal” to provide us with details about why you are appealing the decision.

If you have an unresolved privacy or data use concern that we have not addressed to your satisfaction, please contact our U.S.-based third-party dispute resolution provider free at https://feedbackform.truste.com/watchdog/request.

6. SECURITY

We take a number of steps to protect your data, but no security is guaranteed.

Aquifer PE takes reasonable steps to help protect and secure the information it collects and stores about Aquifer PE Users. We maintain reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information that we receive against accidental, unlawful, or unauthorized destruction, loss, alteration, access, disclosure or use.

7. CROSS-BORDER DATA TRANSFERS

Because we are a U.S. company, we process and store your information in the United States and our service providers may process and store it elsewhere.

Aquifer PE may transfer your personal information to a third party that is located in a jurisdiction other than the one from which we collected your personal information, including to countries that have not been deemed to have an adequate level of protection for the rights and freedoms of data subjects. If we do transfer your personal information to another jurisdiction, we will do so following due diligence and provided that the data recipient is subject to contractual agreements imposing obligations on it to ensure appropriate technical and organizational are implemented and maintained at all times to prevent the unauthorized and unlawful processing of personal information, and the accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal information, consistent with our obligations under applicable data protection laws.

We will use appropriate legal transfer mechanisms, including Standard Contractual Clauses, where required by law. In addition, Aquifer PE is self-certified under the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Data Privacy Framework, as described below. Personal information from EU, Swiss, and UK residents will be treated in accordance with the Data Privacy Framework Principles. To exercise any legal right to see copies of the data transfer mechanism documents that Aquifer PE uses to transfer data to third parties, please contact us.

Data Privacy Framework Notice

Aquifer PE complies with the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (EU-U.S. DPF) and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (Swiss-U.S. DPF) as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce. When Aquifer PE receives Personal Information under the DPF and then transfers it to a third party service provider acting as an agent on their behalf, Aquifer PE may have certain responsibilities under the DPF if both (i) the agent processes the information in a manner inconsistent with the DPF and (ii) Aquifer PE or its affiliate is responsible for the event giving rise to the damage.

Covered European residents should contact Aquifer PE at the contact information below regarding Aquifer PE’s compliance with the DPF. Aquifer PE will attempt to answer your questions and satisfy your concerns in a timely and complete manner as soon as possible. If, after discussing the matter with Aquifer PE, your issue or complaint is not resolved, Aquifer PE has agreed to participate in the DPF independent dispute resolution mechanisms listed below, free of charge to you. Please Contact Aquifer PE First.

For other Personal Information Aquifer PE receives under the DPF, we have committed to refer unresolved privacy complaints under the DPF Principles to an independent dispute resolution mechanism, JAMS Data Privacy Framework Dispute Resolution, operated by JAMS. If you do not receive timely acknowledgment of your complaint, or if your complaint is not satisfactorily addressed, please visit https://www.jamsadr.com/dpf-dispute-resolution for more information and to file a complaint.

If your complaint still is not resolved through these channels, under limited circumstances, an additional binding arbitration option may be available before a DPF panel, as described at https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/s/. Every individual also has a right to lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority.

The Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction over Aquifer PE’s compliance with the EU-U.S. DPF and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF and the Swiss-U.S. DPF. In cases of onward transfers to third parties, Aquifer PE has responsibility for the processing of personal information we receive under the DPF Principles and subsequently transfers to a third party acting as an agent on our behalf. To the extent required by the DPF, Aquifer PE shall remain liable under the DPF Principles if our agent processes such personal information in a manner inconsistent with the DPF Principles, unless we are able to prove that we are not responsible for the event giving rise to the damage.

8. LINKS TO OTHER SITES

Our Service contains links to other websites. If you choose to click on a third-party link, you will be directed to that third party’s website. The fact that we link to a website is not an endorsement, authorization or representation of our affiliation with that third party, nor is it an endorsement of their privacy or information security policies or practices. We do not exercise control over third party websites. These other websites may place their own cookies or other files on your computer, collect data or solicit Personal Information from you. We encourage you to read the privacy policies or statements of the other websites you visit.

9. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

We may change this Privacy Policy. If we make substantial changes, we will provide notice.

This Privacy Policy is effective as of the date stated at the top of this page. Aquifer PE may update this Privacy Policy at any time and any changes will be effective upon posting. By accessing or using the Service after we notify you of such changes to this Privacy Policy, you are deemed to have accepted such changes. Please refer back to this Privacy Policy on a regular basis.

10. CONTACT US

To request that Aquifer PE honor any of the rights described in this Policy submit a request to emma@aquiferpe.com.

Terms of Use

1. About licenses and third party content

1.1 We let you use our site and services

Technically, we’re giving you a ‘limited license’ to the site. Here’s what that means.

We’re happy for you to access our website and services (known as the services). You’re free to have this access (or limited license) as long as you follow these terms of use and all of our other Terms of Service as they apply to you.

We’ll do our best to make sure our services are safe and working as they should, but we can’t guarantee you’ll have access continuously. In fact, we might even stop providing certain features or the services completely, and don’t have to give notice if we do.

1.2 We can stop letting you use our services

We can take away your right to use our services at any time.

If you violate our Terms of Use or other parts of our Terms of Service, we can take away your access to Aquifer PE. Officially, this is called terminating your license, and if it happens, we’ll tell you and you must stop using our services immediately.

1.3 We keep the rights to our intellectual property

Using our services doesn’t mean you can use any of our trademarks or other intellectual property, like copyrights and patents. We keep all of our rights to our intellectual property, even though we let you use our services.

Our logos and names are our trademarks and registered in certain jurisdictions. Any other product or company names, logos or similar marks and symbols you see on Aquifer PE may be trademarked by our partners or other users like you.

1.4 You can use Aquifer PE to share your content with the world

1.4.1 You’re responsible for what you post

You’re responsible for how you use our site and anything you post on it. If someone makes a claim against us because of anything you put on the site, you agree to compensate us for our legal fees and expenses (the lawyers call this, ‘indemnification’).

When you post content on (or through) our site or give us content for posting, you agree that you’re completely responsible for that content and we’re not. You also agree to only post or give us content that:

• you have the right to post
• is legal
• doesn’t violate anyone’s rights, including intellectual property rights.

You acknowledge and agree that whoever posts content is responsible for any harm caused to anyone by that content – not Aquifer PE – and that you’ll compensate and defend us, our partners, employees and representatives against any costs or legal or government action we have because of your content.

1.4.2 Other people have some rights to what you post

By posting content on the site, you give other people some rights to that content.

Whenever you post content on our site, you give us and our affiliates a permanent right (called an ‘irrevocable and non-exclusive worldwide license’) to use, edit and share that content – across the world and without paying royalties. If your name, voice and image appear in content you post, we also might use those on the site or in our day-to-day business. For example, if you’re a freelancer, we might share your profile with clients we think could be a good match.

You also give each user and site visitor the right to access and use your content through the site. They also have the right to use, copy and share your content – as long as they do it through the site, and follow both our Terms of Service and the law.

We might show ads near your content and information, without compensating you. Depending on choices you make in your profile, we might also include your name or photo when promoting one of our features.

1.4.3 We’re open to your ideas

We’d love to hear your thoughts on improving Aquifer PE. Here’s what happens when you share them.

You can send us comments and suggestions about our services and ways to improve them. If you do, you’re agreeing your ideas are free and unsolicited, and you don’t expect or ask anything in return, unless we’ve specifically asked you for your ideas and offered something in return (we like to keep our word).

You agree we’re free to use, change and share the idea as we like, without being obligated to to give you anything for it. And if you do send us an idea, you also agree that this doesn’t affect our right to use similar or related ideas – including those we already have or get from others.

1.5 Third parties post on Aquifer PE, too

Anyone else who uses our site is responsible for what they post or link on Aquifer PE.

We’re not responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any content shared by other people on our site, unless they’re officially working for us when they share or post the content. Any content represents the views of the person sharing it, not Aquifer PE.

Our site might also contain links or other access to third-party websites and applications. These sites and applications are owned and run by other parties, not Aquifer PE. If we use a link or application that goes to

a third-party website, it doesn’t mean that we endorse it and you agree that you use it without our endorsement.

1.6 You can make a copyright complaint

If you think content on our site infringes your rights, you can ask to have it removed.

We’re committed to following U.S. copyright and related laws and need site visitors and users to follow them as well. That means you can’t use our site to store or share anything that infringes anyone’s intellectual property rights, including their rights under U.S. copyright law.

If you own copyrighted work and think your rights under U.S. copyright law have been infringed by anything on our site, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act means you can ask us to take it down by contacting emma@aquiferpe.com.

2. What you’re allowed to do on Aquifer PE

Our site and services were made to be used for business, not for personal or consumer use. We run our marketplace to help users find each other, build working relationships, and make and receive payments for that work.

You can also use some of our services to get information we think might be interesting and useful for our site visitors and users – like our Aquifer PE blog. While we do our best to make sure that this information is timely and accurate, there might sometimes be mistakes. We don’t make any guarantees about information posted on our site, so never use it as tax or legal advice. And you should always double check the information for yourself.

3. What you’re not allowed to do on Aquifer PE

3.1 Posting unacceptable content

You can’t offer, share, support or try to find anything that:

• is illegal or defamatory
• is violent, discriminatory or harassing, either generally or towards a specific person or group (or encourages others to be), including anyone who is part of a legally protected group
• is sexually explicit or related to sex work or escort services
• is in any way related to child exploitation
• would infringe on any intellectual property rights, including copyrights
• would violate our Terms of Service, another website’s terms of service, or any similar contract
• would go against professional or academic standards or policies – including improperly submitting someone else’s work as your own, or by ghost-writing essays, tests, or certifications
• involves purchasing or requesting a fake review or is connected in any way to making or sharing misleading content (like ‘deep fakes’ or ‘fake news’) which is intended to deceive others.

3.2 Acting in a misleading or fraudulent way

On Aquifer PE, you can’t do anything that’s dishonest or meant to fool others.

You can’t misrepresent yourself, your experience, skills or professional qualifications, or that of others. This includes:

• lying about your experience, skills or professional qualifications
• using generative AI or other tools to substantially bolster your job proposals or work product if such use is restricted by your client or violates any third-party's rights
• passing off any part of someone else’s profile or identity as your own
• using a profile picture that isn’t you, misrepresents your identity or is someone else
• impersonating or falsely attributing statements to any person or entity, including an Aquifer PE representative or forum leader
• falsely claiming or implying you’re connected to a person or organization (including Aquifer PE) – for example, you can’t say you work for a particular company when you don’t, and agencies can’t use a freelancer’s profile if they’ve stopped working together.

Similarly, you must always be honest about who’s doing the work. That means you can’t:

• allow someone else to use your account, which misleads other users or
• falsely claim one freelancer will do a job when another will actually do it – including submitting a proposal on behalf of a freelancer who can’t or won’t do the work.

We’re particularly invested in avoiding fraud and misrepresentations when it comes to payments.

This means:

Freelancers can’t fraudulently charge a client in any way, including by:

• reporting or billing time you haven’t actually worked
• reporting time worked by someone else and claiming you did the work
• demanding bribes or other payments without the intention of or without actually providing services in exchange for the payment.

Clients can’t engage in fraud related to payments, including by:

• posting jobs with payment terms that are objectively unreasonable or disproportionate to the scope of services requested
• hiring themselves as freelancers and paying themselves
• demanding services without the intention of or without actually providing payment in exchange for the services.

3.3 Treating others unfairly

Everyone should be treated fairly and legally on Aquifer PE.

You can’t use Aquifer PE to:

• express an unlawful preference in a job post or proposal
• unlawfully discriminate against someone
• incite or encourage violence
• post personal identifying information or other sensitive, private data about another person
• spam other users with proposals or invites. This includes posting the same job several times at once and contacting people you connected with on Aquifer PE outside of Aquifer PE without their permission
• make or demand bribes or payments for anything other than the work
• ask for or demand free work – you can’t ask freelancers to submit work for little or no payment as part of a proposal bid or competition
• request a fee in order to submit a proposal
• request or provide services that primarily concern making purchases on behalf of another, including the purchase of cryptocurrency or NFTs.

3.4 Abusing our feedback system

You must use our feedback system honestly and fairly.

That means you can’t:

• withhold payment or work until you’ve been given positive feedback
• swap payment (or anything of value) for feedback, including with third parties
• coerce another user by threatening negative feedback
• use the system to share unrelated views (like about politics or religion)
• offer or accept fake services to improve your feedback or rating score, which is called feedback building
• hire and rate yourself.

3.5 Other uses that aren’t allowed

Aquifer PE relies on technology and trust – here’s how we maintain those things.

• You can’t copy, share or give away your account. You can’t have multiple accounts and you can’t sell, trade or give your account to anyone else without our permission.
• You can’t go around us. In particular, you can’t talk to another user or ask for or share a way to get in touch - a means of direct contact - outside of Aquifer PE before you’ve agreed to a service contract. This means you can’t add your contact details to a job post, your profile, communications or other content. (There are exceptions to this for Enterprise clients.)
• You can’t promote other organizations – including advertising any other websites, products or services. You also can’t use our site to recruit freelancers or clients to join another agency, website or company, unless you pay us a fee to do so. For more information, take a look at Section 7 of our User Agreement.
• You can't be a current or recent Lifted employee and use our site. By using our site, you confirm that you are not currently employed by Lifted Solutions, LLC or any of its subsidiaries, and that you have not been employed by them at any time during this calendar year or within the past six months.
• You can’t interfere with our technology or tamper with our site or services. That means you can’t:

• bypass any security features we’ve put in place to restrict how you use the site – you’re not allowed to try and get around restrictions on copying content
• interfere with or compromise our systems, server security, or transmissions
• use a robot, spider, scraper, or similar mechanisms on our site without written permission
• copy, distribute, or otherwise use any information you found on Aquifer PE, if whether directly or through third parties (like search engines), without our consent (no scraping allowed)
• collect or use identifiable information, including account names)
• overwhelm the site with an unreasonable or large amount of information
• introduce any malware or any other code or viruses that could harm us, our customers, or our services
• access our services through any technology other than our interface
• frame or link to the services without our written permission
• use our services to build a similar service, identify or poach our users or publish any performance or benchmark analysis relating to the site
• reverse engineer, decipher, modify, or take source code from our site that is not open source without our written permission.

4. Enforcing our terms of use

4.1 We enforce these rules

We have the right to look into any potential violations of these terms of use, and might decide to pause, change or take away any content on our site when we do.

We can’t guarantee that we’ll take action against every potential violation, but just because we don’t take action against one breach doesn’t waive our right to take action against any future breaches, whether they’re related to the first breach or not.

If we do suspect rule-breaking, we can stop you using our site at any time. You may not be able to use any of our services if we disable or close your account, but you will still be responsible to pay for all services used before your account was closed. In addition, these things will continue:

• our rights to use and share your content and feedback (Section 1.4.2)
• our users’ and visitors' rights to share your content (Section 1.4.2)
• your agreement to all the rules outlined in Section 3 on this page.

4.2 Tell us if you see someone breaking these rules

What to do if you become aware of a violation of our Terms of Use.

If you believe anyone is breaking any of our terms of use, please let our customer service team know. If we follow up on the breach, you agree to help with our investigation and take reasonable steps to help us fix the problem.

5. Definitions

An affiliate is anyone or anything that in any way manages, is managed by, or shares management with us.

A client is someone using our site to find freelancer services from another user.

A deep fake is a video or image that has been changed to replace one person with another in a deliberately misleading way, without asking the person whose face has been used.

A freelancer is an individual or agency using our site to offer their services to clients. Freelancer services refer to the work freelancers do on Aquifer PE.

A means of direct contact is information that would let someone get in touch with you directly (or find the information to do that) so you can bypass our site. For example, phone numbers, email and physical addresses, social media accounts, and personal websites with contact information are means of direct contact.

Site services are all services, applications and products – apart from freelancer services – that people can access through Aquifer PE.

Content is what users post to Aquifer PE themselves, like comments, profiles, feedback, images, or other information. It includes anything posted by you even if elements of the content were originally generated by generative AI or other tools, or in response to questions posed to you by Aquifer PE or other users or Aquifer PE.

Cookie Policy

This cookie policy (“Cookie Policy”) describes how Aquifer PE, our service providers, and other third parties uses cookies and other related technologies such as web beacons (pixels), log files, and SDKs (collectively referred to as “tracking technologies”) when you interact with us through the Site. When we say “Site”, we mean http://www.aquiferpe.com.

You can update certain tracking technology preferences by changing the settings in your browser (more information on how to do this is provided below) or adjusting the settings by clicking the link labeled “Cookie Settings” at the bottom of the homepage.

We may modify this Cookie Policy from time to time, so please check back often for updates.

What are tracking technologies?

Below we describe the different types of tracking technologies we may use. Each of these tracking technologies could be a first-party or third-party technology. A tracking technology that is created by Aquifer PE is a first-party tracking technology. The data a first-party tracking technology collects/stores is only directly accessible to Aquifer PE. Third-party tracking technologies are created by domains (i.e. website) separate from Aquifer PE. The data a third-party tracking technology collects/stores is accessible by a third-party, someone other than Aquifer PE.

Cookies

Cookies are text files, containing small amounts of information, which are downloaded to your browsing device (such as a computer or smartphone) when you visit a website. Cookies can be recognized by the website that downloaded them, or by other websites that use the same cookies.

Web Beacons

Web beacons, tags, and tracking pixels are small pieces of code (such as JavaScript in a tag manager) or tiny 1x1 transparent images embedded in a website. They are used to enable certain Service functionality —like design elements—or to monitor user behavior across different websites and devices. These tools are often linked to social media features, such as a “like” button.

SDKs

A Software Development Kit or “SDK” represents a consolidated package of pre-existing code, enhancement tools, and guidance documents that can be installed and used to develop applications for a particular website.

Log Files

Log files are software-generated files containing data about the operations, activities, and usage patterns of an application, server, or IT system, such as what was done and at what time.

What are tracking technologies used for?

Our Service uses first-party and third-party tracking technologies for several purposes including helping us understand how the Service is being used, improving user experience such as letting you navigate

between pages efficiently and remembering your preferences, keeping our Service secure, providing advertisements that are relevant to you, enhancing our marketing efforts, and generally improving your browsing experience.

What types of cookies does Aquifer PE use?

Aquifer PE categorizes its tracking technologies based on the use case. The categories are as follows: Strictly Necessary, Performance, Functional, and Targeting.

Strictly Necessary

These tracking technologies are essential, as they enable you to move around the Site and use its features, such as accessing secure areas. Without these tracking technologies, some components of the services you have asked for such as payment submission can’t be provided. These tracking technologies cannot be switched off in our systems, because they are necessary for functionality. While you can set your browser to block or alert you about these tracking technologies, if you block them, some or all parts of the Site may not function.

Performance

These tracking technologies collect information about how you use the Site, for example which pages you go to most often and if you get error messages from certain pages.

Functionality

These cookies allow the Site to remember choices you make (such as your username or the region you’re in). For instance, the Site uses functional cookies to remember your language preference. These cookies can also be used to remember changes you’ve made to text size, font and other parts of pages that you can customize. They may also be used to provide services you’ve asked for such as watching a video or commenting on a blog. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.

Targeting

These tracking technologies are used to deliver advertisements that are more relevant to you and your interests. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement as well as help measure the effectiveness of an advertising campaign. They remember that you have visited a website and this information may be shared with other organizations such as advertisers. This means after you have accessed our Service Site you may see some advertisements about our services elsewhere on the Internet.

How long will tracking technologies stay on my browsing device?

If a tracking technology is stored on your device (e.g. a cookie), the length of time a tracking technology will stay on your browsing device depends on whether it is a “persistent” or “session” tracking technology. Tracking technologies with a “session” duration will only stay on your device until you stop browsing. Tracking technologies with a “persistent” duration will stay on your browsing device until they expire or are deleted.

How to control and delete certain tracking technologies through your browser

The browser you are using to view the Site may have the functionality to enable, disable or delete certain tracking technologies such as a cookie. To do this, follow the instructions provided by your browser (usually located within the “Help,” “Tools'' or “Edit” functions). Please note that if you set your browser to disable these tracking technologies, you may not be able to access certain parts of the Site ( e.g. to apply for a job or post a job. Other parts of the Site may also not work properly. You can find out more information about how to change your browser cookie settings at www.allaboutcookies.org.

Managing Tracking Technology Preferences

Removing Tracking Technologies From Your Device

If a tracking technology is stored on your device (e.g. a cookie), you may be able to delete them by clearing the browsing history of your browser. This will remove from your device all tracking technologies from all websites you have visited. Be aware though that you may also lose some saved data (e.g. saved login details, website preferences).

Generally Blocking Tracking Technologies

Most modern browsers provide settings which allow you to prevent tracking technologies from being placed on your device. If you decide to use these settings, please be aware that you may have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a website and our Service, and some services and functionalities of a website may not work properly at all such as login pages.

In addition, listed below are the links to the support documents on how to manage and delete cookies from the major web browsers. To note, we do not control these third-party cookies preferences and are not responsible for any choices you make using these programs or links or their continued availability or accuracy. If you are using any other web browser, please visit your browser’s official support documents.

Chrome: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32050

Safari: https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/safari/sfri11471/mac

Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/clear-cookies-and-site-data-firefox?redirectslug=delete cookies-remove-info-websites-stored&redirectlocale=en-US

Internet Explorer: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-to-delete-cookie-files-in-internet explorer-bca9446f-d873-78de-77ba-d42645fa52fc

Managing Service-Specific Tracking Technologies

You may update your tracking technology preferences on Aquifer PE by clicking the “Cookie Settings” button at the bottom of the Site’s homepage.

Contacting Us

If you have any questions about this Cookie Policy, please contact us at emma@aquiferpe.com