1. About these Terms

Otute is an educational platform that connects Instructors and Academies with Learners and Parents. Courses, tutoring and other services are listed and sold by the people and organisations who provide them. Otute operates the platform, takes payment for what is sold through it, and holds that money until it falls due for release.

These Terms are addressed to every user of the platform. Because different sections affect different parties, each obligation names the role it applies to — Buyer, Learner, Parent, Instructor, Academy or Vendor — rather than assuming who is reading. Those roles are defined in section 2. A single person may hold more than one role, and the obligations of each apply independently.

Creating an account or making a purchase constitutes acceptance of these Terms. Anyone selling through the platform is additionally bound by the Vendor Agreement, which governs on matters of selling where the two differ.

2. Definitions

Platform

Otute, comprising the website, the applications, and the payment, messaging and notification services within them.

Vendor

Any party selling through the Platform. An Academy is a Vendor. An Instructor selling in their own name is a separate Vendor, even where the same individual owns the Academy. The two are distinct sellers with separate payout accounts, separate balances and separate standing, and funds are never moved between them.

Instructor

An individual who offers tutoring, teaching or a related service, whether independently or through an Academy.

Academy

An organisation that lists courses on the Platform and may host or employ Instructors.

Learner

The person who receives the service, whether they enrolled themselves or were enrolled by a Parent.

Parent

A person who manages one or more Learner accounts and is responsible for payment on their behalf.

Buyer

Whichever party actually pays for a service — a Learner paying for themselves, or a Parent paying for a Learner. Refunds, credits and money-related notices go to the Buyer.

Service Period

The span of time that a particular payment covers, stated on the invoice. It determines when the Vendor becomes eligible to be paid for that payment.

Held funds

Money paid by a Buyer that Otute holds and has not yet released to the Vendor. Held funds are owed either to the Buyer or to the Vendor depending on the outcome of the transaction, and are recorded separately from Otute's own funds.

Release

The transfer of held funds from Otute to the Vendor's payout account, after which they are the Vendor's money.

Coupon

Credit issued by a Vendor, redeemable only against services provided by that same Vendor.

Concern

A formal issue raised by a Buyer against a specific purchase through the Platform. Raising a Concern can pause a Release.

3. Accounts

An account is required to enrol, to sell, or to send messages through the Platform. Account holders must provide accurate registration details, keep them current, and are responsible for activity carried out under their account. Suspected unauthorised access should be reported to Otute promptly so the account can be secured.

A Parent account may create and manage Learner accounts for children in that Parent's care. Where a Parent has done so, the Parent is the Buyer for those Learners: the Parent is responsible for payment, receives all money-related notifications alongside the Learner, and is the party to whom any refund or credit is returned.

An account holder who pays for services must be of an age to enter into a contract in their jurisdiction. Learners below that age participate through a Parent account. Otute may require verification of a Parent relationship before permitting an account to be managed on a Learner's behalf.

Accounts are personal and may not be shared, sold or transferred. An Academy account may have multiple authorised users; the Academy remains responsible for the actions of each of them.

4. Responsibilities

Instructors and Academies

• Describe listed services accurately, including subject and level, who delivers the teaching, session length and frequency, the total duration, delivery mode, and the price.
• Deliver the service as advertised. Where a session must be moved or cancelled, notify affected Learners and Parents as far in advance as circumstances allow, and offer a replacement session or a refund of the affected portion.
• Hold a valid payout account before listing any service for sale, as set out in section 10.
• Maintain accurate delivery and attendance records where the service involves scheduled sessions.
• Respond to a Concern raised against a purchase within the period set out in section 9.
• Hold any qualification, registration or clearance required to provide the service in the relevant jurisdiction, including checks required to work with children where applicable.
• Not solicit or accept payment outside the Platform for a service listed on it. Doing so removes the Buyer's protections under sections 7 to 9 and is grounds for suspension under section 17.

Learners and Parents

• Provide accurate registration details, and accurate information about any Learner enrolled by a Parent.
• Attend booked sessions, or cancel with as much notice as the Vendor's published policy for that service requires.
• Pay invoices by the due date stated on them. Where a balance remains unpaid, access to the service may be suspended until it is settled, and the enrolment may be cancelled by the Vendor.
• Raise any problem with a service as a Concern on the Platform in the first instance, so that it can be addressed while the funds are still held.
• Treat Instructors, Academy staff and other users with respect, as set out in section 14.

5. Fees

Otute's revenue comes from a Platform fee charged to the Vendor on funds collected through the Platform. The default rate is 15% of the amount charged to the Buyer. A Vendor may be on a separately agreed rate; a Vendor's current rate is shown in their own settings at all times, and any change to it is notified to them in advance.

Card-processing costs are absorbed within the Platform fee. Vendors are not invoiced for them separately and Buyers never see them. The amount a Vendor receives on a sale is therefore the price paid by the Buyer, less the Vendor's Platform fee, and nothing further.

Payments arranged and recorded outside the Platform — cash, cheque, or a bank transfer arranged directly between a Buyer and a Vendor — carry no Platform fee, because Otute does not process those funds. Such payments also fall outside the refund, holding and Concern provisions in sections 7 to 9, for both parties.

A fee rate is fixed at the point a price is agreed. For a tutoring offer, the rate is locked when the Instructor sends the offer. For a contract, it is fixed when the contract is created. For an enrolment, it is fixed at enrolment. A subsequent change to a Vendor's rate does not apply retrospectively to work already agreed, in either direction.

6. Payments and invoicing

What is billed

• Academy courses. An invoice covers a stated Service Period and reflects the fees agreed at enrolment. Where a course is billed against sessions attended, the attendance recorded for that period determines the final amount, and the invoice shows the calculation.
• Tutoring. Billing follows the offer the Learner or Parent accepted — the hourly rate, the hours committed each week, and the mechanism by which those hours are confirmed.
• Advance payment is capped at one month. Regardless of a course's total length, a Buyer is not charged for more than one month of it at a time. A Vendor selects weekly, fortnightly or monthly billing, and that choice is shown to the Buyer before purchase.
• Additional charges such as materials or examination fees must be listed at the point of purchase. Charges not disclosed before purchase are not payable.

How payment is taken

• Card payments are processed by Stripe. Otute does not store card numbers. Where a Buyer saves a card for future use, it is held by Stripe, not by Otute.
• Reserving a place. Where a course has limited places, beginning payment reserves the Buyer's place for a limited period shown on screen. If payment is not completed within that period and the last place is taken by another Buyer, the card is not charged and the enrolment does not proceed.
• Automatic payments are given to one Vendor at a time. A Buyer may authorise a Vendor to charge their card automatically for that Vendor's invoices. The authorisation applies to the named Vendor only and extends to no other; each Vendor requires its own. Otute takes the payment on that Vendor's behalf, and the Vendor never receives or holds the card details.
• Not every Vendor may offer it. A Vendor must apply to Otute for automatic payments and be approved before the option is offered to any Buyer. Otute may decline an application, and may withdraw an approval already granted. Where approval is withdrawn, every authorisation held by that Vendor ends and their Buyers must authorise afresh if the approval is later restored.
• Which card is charged. Automatic payments use the default card on the Buyer's account. Because the authorisation is given to a Vendor rather than to a card, changing the default card changes the card used for every Vendor the Buyer has authorised. A default card cannot be removed while any automatic payment authorisation is in force.
• Notice before each charge. Otute emails the Buyer before every automatic charge, stating the amount, the Vendor and the date. The notice is sent before the charge date and offers the option to pay by hand instead, or to pause or withdraw the authorisation.
• Pausing, withdrawing and expiry. A Buyer may pause an authorisation, which stops charges without ending it, or withdraw it entirely. Either takes effect immediately, needs no agreement from the Vendor, and does not remove the saved card. Pausing or withdrawing does not cancel an invoice or waive an amount already due, and a Vendor may suspend the services they provide where an invoice goes unpaid. An authorisation lasts 24 months and then expires unless the Buyer renews it; Otute reminds the Buyer before it expires, and renewal is a single step from the Buyer's payment settings or at a checkout with that Vendor.
• Failed payments. Otute notifies the Buyer of a failed payment and reattempts it up to three times — one, three and seven days after the failure — telling the Buyer before each reattempt. After those attempts are exhausted the invoice is marked overdue, automatic attempts stop, and the amount must be paid by hand. A failed payment does not end an automatic payment authorisation. Access to the service may be suspended while a balance remains outstanding.
• Offline payments. A Vendor may record a payment received outside the Platform against an invoice. Recording such a payment is the Vendor's representation that the funds were received; Otute does not verify it and holds no funds in respect of it.

8. Holding and release of funds

Otute does not pass a Buyer's payment directly to the Vendor. Funds are held and released as the service is delivered. This is deliberate: it means a refund is a return of money Otute still holds, rather than an attempt to recover money from a Vendor who has already been paid.

• Services delivered over a period. Funds are held until the Service Period stated on the invoice has ended, plus a short buffer, and are then released to the Vendor.
• Digital items delivered immediately. Funds are held for seven days from the date of purchase, allowing the Buyer time to raise a Concern, and are released after that period. This window is set by Otute and applies uniformly to every Vendor.
• Tutoring contracts. Funds paid into a contract are held against that contract and released weekly, only in respect of hours the Learner or Parent has confirmed. Hours that have been queried are not released while the query remains open. Any balance not released is returned to the Buyer when the contract closes.
• A Concern pauses a Release. Where a Buyer raises a Concern before the funds for that purchase have been released, that amount remains held until the matter is resolved. Only the amount relating to the purchase in question is affected; the Vendor's other funds are released on schedule.

Held funds are recorded against the purchase they relate to and are not treated as Otute's own funds. Once released, funds sit in the Vendor's payout account, and from that point a refund must be recovered from the Vendor rather than simply returned to the Buyer.

Otute does not pay interest on held funds. Where a Release cannot be completed because a Vendor has no valid payout account, the funds remain held and the Vendor is notified.

7. Refunds and cancellation

Every Vendor selling on the Platform is required to handle refund requests. Selling on a no-refunds basis is not permitted.

How a refund is initiated

• By the Vendor. A Vendor may issue a refund directly, for example where a course is cancelled or a session cannot be delivered.
• By the Buyer. A Buyer may request a refund by raising a Concern against the purchase. The Vendor then accepts or declines the request. Where the Vendor accepts, the refund is processed. Where the Vendor declines or does not respond, section 9 applies.

How a refund is paid

Refunds are returned to the original payment method. A card payment is refunded to the card used, and the time taken for it to appear depends on the Buyer's bank. Where a Parent made the payment, the refund is returned to the Parent.

Card-processing costs are not recoverable from the payment provider once a payment has been taken. That cost is borne by the Vendor. It is not deducted from the Buyer's refund and is not borne by Otute.

Cancellation

Where a service has not yet begun, the Buyer is entitled to a full refund. Where a service is part-delivered, the amount refundable depends on the portion of the Service Period remaining and on the Vendor's published cancellation policy for that service, which is available to the Buyer before purchase. Because funds are held until a Service Period has been delivered, the portion relating to undelivered time is normally still held and can be returned without recovery from the Vendor.

Where a Vendor cancels a service that a Buyer has paid for and does not provide an agreed replacement, the Buyer is entitled to a full refund of the undelivered portion regardless of the Vendor's own policy.

9. Concerns and disputes

Where a service has not been delivered, or differs materially from its description, the Buyer should raise a Concern against that purchase on the Platform. Raising a Concern promptly matters: it is the only mechanism that pauses a Release, and once funds have been released the available remedies are narrower.

• Both parties have 30 days. Once a Concern is raised, the Buyer and the Vendor each have 30 days from that date to respond and reach an outcome between them. Reminders are sent to both parties during that period.
• Where one party does not respond, the matter resolves in favour of the other. If the Vendor does not respond within 30 days, the held amount is refunded to the Buyer. If the Buyer does not respond, the held amount is released to the Vendor. This rule exists so that funds are never held indefinitely because one party has disengaged.
• The process applies only to funds still held. Once an amount has been released, a Concern becomes a matter between the Buyer and the Vendor directly. Otute will assist where it is able to, and a pattern of Concerns affects a Vendor's standing under section 17.
• Outcomes are recorded. The Concern, the responses of both parties, and the resolution are retained as set out in section 15.

Both parties accept this process at the point of purchase and of sale respectively. That acceptance is what permits Otute to act on an unanswered Concern rather than hold funds indefinitely.

Nothing in this section removes any right a Buyer has under applicable consumer law, nor prevents a Buyer from contacting their bank. Buyers are asked to raise a Concern first, because it is usually faster and can be resolved while the funds remain recoverable.

10. Selling on Otute

This section summarises the position for Vendors. The full terms are set out in the Vendor Agreement, which every Vendor must accept before selling.

• A payout account is required before a Vendor may list any service for sale. Listings published before this requirement was introduced remain available, and those Vendors are asked to complete setup before publishing further.
• Payout accounts are provided by Stripe. Identity verification and bank details are collected by Stripe directly through their own process. Otute does not collect, receive or store a Vendor's identity documents or bank account details.
• An Academy and its owner are separate Vendors, each with its own payout account and balance. Funds earned by an Academy are paid to the Academy; funds earned by an Instructor selling in their own name are paid to that Instructor. The two are never combined or set off against one another.
• Withdrawals are initiated by the Vendor and are limited to the balance already released. Funds still held are not available for withdrawal.
• Amounts owed by a Vendor to Otute — including the processing cost of a refund and the cost of a payment reversed by a Buyer's bank — are deducted from that Vendor's next Release.

11. Coupons and credit

• Coupons are issued by Vendors and are redeemable only against that Vendor's own services. A Coupon issued by one Academy cannot be used at another, nor against an independent Instructor.
• A Coupon carries a balance. Where part of it is applied to a purchase, the remainder stays available for future use against the same Vendor. A Coupon balance does not expire.
• Coupons are credit, not money. They cannot be withdrawn, transferred between accounts or exchanged for cash, and any unused balance is forfeited if the account is closed.
• A Coupon is an obligation of the issuing Vendor, not of Otute. Where a Vendor ceases to trade on the Platform, outstanding Coupons issued by that Vendor cannot be redeemed.
• Existing wallet credit. Otute previously issued credit to an account wallet. No new wallet credit is issued. Balances already held remain usable and are being converted into Coupons with the Vendor to which they relate, on the terms above. No action is required from the account holder.

12. Tutoring offers and contracts

• A Learner or Parent may post a request describing the tuition required. Instructors may respond with offers setting out their rate and terms. Posting a request creates no obligation on either side.
• Accepting an offer creates a contract between the Learner or Parent and the Instructor. Otute is not a party to that contract, but does hold and release the funds for it under section 8.
• Where a contract commits to a number of hours each week, the first week is funded before work begins. The Instructor logs hours as they are worked and the Learner or Parent confirms them.
• A Learner or Parent may query an individual logged entry. A queried entry is not released while the query is open; the remainder of that week is unaffected and releases on schedule.
• Either party may close a contract. Any funded amount not released is returned to the Buyer, subject to any open query or Concern being resolved first.

13. Notifications

Otute sends notifications concerning enrolment, payments, Releases, refunds and Concerns, both within the application and by email. Where a Learner has a linked Parent, both are notified of anything involving money.

Notifications relating to money, account security and legal changes form part of the service and cannot be disabled, because they convey information the recipient needs. Marketing communications are separate, optional, and may be disabled at any time in account settings.

14. Acceptable use

Users of the Platform must not:

• Misrepresent their identity, qualifications, or the content of a service.
• Solicit or accept payment outside the Platform for services listed on it.
• Harass, abuse, threaten or discriminate against any other user.
• Post false or incentivised reviews, or otherwise attempt to manipulate ratings or search placement.
• Attempt to access accounts, data or systems belonging to others.
• Upload malicious code, or attempt to disrupt or reverse-engineer the Platform.
• Use the Platform for any unlawful purpose, or to provide services they are not permitted to provide.
• Use another user's contact details for any purpose other than delivering or receiving the service booked.

15. Records and data

What personal data is collected, how it is used, how long each category of record is kept, and what survives the closure of an account are all set out in the Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms.

Two points are noted here because they bear directly on the sections above. Financial records — invoices, payments, refunds and Releases — and records of which version of these Terms a party accepted are retained after an account closes, because Otute is obliged to keep them and because they may be needed to resolve a later dispute under section 9. Neither can be deleted on request.

16. Liability

Otute provides the Platform and handles payment for services sold through it. Otute takes payment as merchant of record, holds those funds until they fall due for Release, and operates the refund and Concern processes in sections 7 to 9. These are obligations Otute accepts and performs.

Otute does not deliver the educational services themselves. Otute does not guarantee the quality, suitability or outcome of any course or tutoring session, does not employ Instructors on behalf of Learners, and is not a party to the teaching arrangement between a Learner and a Vendor. Responsibility for the delivery and quality of a service rests with the Vendor providing it.

Where a service is not delivered or is materially not as described, the remedy available to the Buyer is the refund and Concern process in sections 7 and 9, applied to funds Otute still holds. Except where the law provides otherwise, Otute's liability to any party in connection with a service is limited to the amount paid through the Platform for that service.

Otute is not liable for interruptions to the Platform caused by circumstances outside its reasonable control, nor for the acts or omissions of a Vendor, a Buyer, or a third-party payment provider.

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes liability that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded, including liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for death or personal injury caused by negligence.

17. Suspension and closure

• Otute may suspend or close an account that breaches these Terms — including taking payment outside the Platform, misrepresenting a service, repeatedly failing to deliver, generating repeated payment reversals, or breaching section 14.
• Where the breach is capable of remedy, Otute will normally notify the account holder of the reason and allow an opportunity to remedy it before suspending. Immediate suspension may follow a breach that presents a risk to other users or to the Platform's payment processing.
• Suspension does not cancel amounts owed in either direction. Funds held in respect of services already delivered are resolved under sections 8 and 9 before an account is closed, and amounts owed to Otute remain payable.
• An account holder may close their account at any time. A released balance may be withdrawn first. An unused Coupon balance is forfeited on closure. Retention of records after closure is governed by section 15.

18. Changes to these Terms

Otute may update these Terms as the Platform develops. Where a change materially affects how money is handled — fees, refunds, or the timing of Releases — affected users are notified directly before it takes effect, rather than being expected to notice. The date shown at the top of this document always reflects the current version.

Each version of these Terms is retained, and a record is kept of which version each user accepted and when. Where a new version materially changes the obligations of a Vendor, that Vendor is required to accept the new version before continuing to sell.

Continued use of the Platform after a change takes effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

19. Contact

Questions about these Terms may be sent to support@otute.com. Questions concerning a specific purchase are usually resolved faster by raising a Concern against that purchase within the application, which notifies the Vendor at the same time and pauses the Release of the funds involved.