Payment Policy

Introduction

This Payment Policy describes how Maven compensates you for successful participation in (or referral to) a completed consulting interaction on the Maven platform. All references to “day” refer to a business day in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA.

Your Consulting Rate

Maven will compensate you for consulting work performed on Maven. You may set your own consulting rate by editing your Maven profile (Profile > Account > Participation). Any rate change you make will apply to any invitations (and resulting interactions, if any) that you receive after the rate change; active invitations at the time of the change will not be affected.

Ineligible for Compensation

Maven will not compensate you if you are in breach of the legal obligations that you have to Maven. We will not compensate you for any consulting work that was not arranged, administered and billed through Maven.

Maven will not pay for consulting work that is fraudulent or committed in bad faith. For example, we will not compensate you for In-Depth Interviews or other consulting interactions in which you misrepresented your ability to address the subject of the interaction.

Maven will only compensate you for original work you produce yourself. For example, we will not compensate you for a Survey response that contains material that is plagiarized from another source or generated by an artificial intelligence application or “bot”, unless you are specifically instructed or authorized to do so by Maven. 

Maven specializes in brief knowledge sharing interactions in which you discuss subjects with which you are very familiar, not subjects that you must research first. Generally, we do not pay for advanced preparation time, unless we otherwise agree in writing before the consulting engagement begins. 

Your payment for consulting interactions with Maven customers will be determined by one of the following methods, as specified in the invitation you receive to a specific engagement:

1. Your hourly rate upon your acceptance, for the time you actually spend speaking with the customer, measured down to the minute. We do not accommodate requests for minimum Interview times or compensation amounts.
   
   You will not be paid for an unsuccessful Interview – for example if your connection fails or if a language barrier exists. Unless otherwise agreed by Maven in advance in writing, you will not be paid for Interviews that take place external to Maven’s conferencing system. Surveys must be completed within allotted time limits; we do not pay for Surveys for which you do not qualify, or which are incomplete, or where you have misrepresented your identity, your qualifications, your geographical location, or similar information.

    

2. An adjusted hourly rate in keeping with market rates for specific areas of inquiry, topics, or types of expertise.

    

3. A flat rate for participation in a specific exercise (e.g. Survey), determined in advance by Maven.

Referral Compensation

Unless otherwise specified in writing by Maven, Maven will compensate you with a 10% referral commission for consulting work performed on Maven by those persons whom you first introduce to Maven during the first year after the date such invitee registers with Maven. To be credited, your invitee must be invited using Maven’s automated invitation system, and must accept your Maven invitation accordingly. This includes our email invitation system as well as the personal referral link we have assigned you. Your invitee must click through on your invitation for you to be credited. You will not be compensated for persons who were invited by others or who are already Maven users.

Maven Credit

In the case of Interviews, compensation is deemed to occur when Maven credits your Maven account for the activity, which normally posts within 3 days after the consulting work is performed. In the case of Survey or Virtual Ideation Panel (VIP) participation, your payment will post to your Maven account within 10 business days after the date of completion, pending a comprehensive quality assurance review by Maven Staff, during which Maven will review your consulting work for disqualification issues (such as plagiarism). Credit on your Maven account can be used for purchasing Maven products or services, for which we will offer you a 50% additional credit as a thank you for using our service, or you can request a cash payment of your Maven credit as described herein. Credit will continue to accrue in your Maven account, without interest, until you use it on Maven or until you request a payment. Maven credits remain in your account for 3 years after the date they are credited to your account; however, after 3 years Maven credits expire and can no longer be paid out in cash or redeemed. To use your Maven credits for Maven products and services, submit a request for expertise. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, you will not be automatically paid your Maven credit; you must both request that a payment be generated as set forth above and elect a payment method as set forth below in order to be paid.

Cash Payment Requests

You may request payment from your Maven Profile (Profile > Stats > Current Balance > Request Payment). When you request payment, you will be redirected to a webpage which will allow you to request the funds you would like to withdraw from your Maven Account. You must have a balance of $10 USD or more to receive payment. Your request will be queued for processing within the next payment period. Your available payment method options (as well as the time of expected payment delivery, as discussed below) depend on your country of residency and the amount available for withdrawal. See Appendix I below for additional details on available payment methods.

Payments are processed weekly. In general, payments are processed within 1 week from the time you request payment from Maven, but in any case allow at least 2 weeks from the time of your request until when your payment is received.

Maven reserves the right to make changes to its payments process and policy at any time; Maven may change this payment policy, its method of payments and any assessed associated fees at its sole discretion at any time.

Tax Matters

If you are a United States Person and you earn $600 or more in a calendar year from Maven, you must complete an IRS form W-9 to be eligible to receive a cash payment, because we are legally required to report your earnings to the IRS using Form 1099. If during a calendar year you exceed $600 in Maven earnings, we may request that you complete a W-9 for reporting purposes; if you refuse to complete a W-9 before the end of the applicable calendar year, you will be deemed to have forfeited and waived any payment due to you in excess of $600.

As part of legal compliance protocol, you may be required to provide your W-9 or similar information prior to being able to obtain any Maven payment, without regard to the amount. If you fail to provide the required information, Maven cannot process your payment.

According to the IRS, for federal tax purposes, you are considered a United States Person if you are: an individual who is a United States citizen or resident alien; a partnership, corporation, company, or association created or organized in the United States or under the laws of the United States; an estate (other than a foreign estate); or domestic trust (as defined in Regulations section 301.7701-7).

If you are not a United States person, to receive a cash payment you must certify that fact to Maven and that you will address any tax implications applicable to your situation in your tax jurisdiction. By requesting payment from Maven as a non-U.S. person, you understand that you are certifying to Maven that you are not a United States person and that you will address any tax implications applicable to your situation in your tax jurisdiction and indemnify Maven against any damages incurred by your failure to do so and/or your breach of applicable law.

Maven does not withhold taxes from any compensation it pays you. You are responsible for paying all required taxes, including income taxes, on your Maven earnings.

Cash Payment Assignment

You may request that Maven disburse your cash payment to another person (such as your business entity or your employer). Notwithstanding anything to the contrary on the site, Maven no longer automatically directs charity payments on your behalf. You should consult with your tax advisor concerning any tax implications of such a request.

rev. April 11, 2023

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