Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (the “Terms”) are a legal agreement between you and Microskills (“Microskills”, “we”, “us”, “our”), which operates the online skills marketplace at microskills.io and its related services (the “Platform”). Microskills is based in Kenya.

By creating an account, booking or buying a lesson, publishing a lesson, sending a proposal, or otherwise using the Platform, you agree to these Terms and confirm that you have read our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Platform. If you use the Platform on behalf of a business or other organisation, you confirm that you are authorised to accept these Terms for it, and “you” includes that organisation.

• Learner: a user who books or buys lessons, posts tutor requests, or accepts proposals.
• Trainer (also “instructor”): a user who publishes lessons or answers tutor requests. Trainers are independent providers.
• Lesson: a short skills session of up to 60 minutes listed by a trainer, delivered as a self-paced video, a live online session, or an in-person session.
• Tutor request: a request posted by a learner describing a skill they want to learn, which trainers can answer with a proposal (a price and plan for the training).
• Lesson fee: the price a trainer sets for a lesson, or the training amount agreed in an accepted proposal.
• Service fee: the learner fee added on top of the lesson fee when a lesson is bought in the app.
• Facilitation fee: the learner fee added on top of the agreed training amount when a tutor request is paid in the app.
• Coins: the Platform’s in-app balance, where 1 coin equals 1 US cent.
• Wallet credit: credit added to a learner’s Microskills wallet, for example as the result of a dispute.
• Content: anything users upload or post, including lessons, videos, images, profiles, reviews, messages, and files.

• You must be at least 18 years old, or the age of majority where you live if that is higher, to create an account. Lessons for children must be arranged by a parent or guardian through their own account (see “Lessons for children” below).
• Learners and trainers from any country are welcome, provided you can lawfully use the Platform and, for trainers, lawfully offer your services and receive payouts where you live.
• Give accurate, current information when you sign up and keep it up to date. We verify your email address before your account is activated.
• Keep your password, two-factor authentication codes, and recovery answers secure. You are responsible for activity on your account. Tell us straight away at support@microskills.io if you think your account has been compromised.
• One person per account. Do not share your account, impersonate anyone, or create an account to get around a suspension.
• You may be able to switch between learner and trainer modes on the same account. These Terms apply to you in whichever role you are using.
• Some features use optional verification, such as phone, identity document, or location verification. Verification adds trust badges to profiles; it is not an endorsement or a guarantee of anyone’s identity, skills, or conduct.

Microskills provides an online marketplace that connects learners with independent trainers. Unless we clearly say otherwise, lessons, sessions, and tutoring are offered and delivered by trainers, not by Microskills. When you book a lesson or accept a proposal, the agreement to deliver that training is between the learner and the trainer.

Trainers are independent providers. They are not our employees, workers, agents, or partners, and nothing in these Terms creates an employment, agency, partnership, or joint-venture relationship between Microskills and any trainer. Trainers decide how they teach, set their own prices, and are responsible for the training they deliver.

We do provide the tools that make the marketplace work: listings, search, messaging, scheduling, payment processing through our payment providers, delivery confirmation, reviews, and the dispute process described in these Terms. We review new lessons before they go live and may act on reports, but we do not supervise sessions and we cannot guarantee the quality, safety, legality, or outcome of any lesson.

Lesson formats

• Self-paced video: pre-recorded lessons you can access in the app straight after purchase.
• Live online: real-time sessions with the trainer. The trainer provides the session details (for example a meeting link) for your booking.
• In person: sessions at a physical location. The listing shows whether the trainer or the learner hosts the venue and the general area.

Each lesson is designed to teach one practical skill in 60 minutes or less. Trainers choose the format, the price, whether a session is one-to-one or for a group, and any requirements, and show these on the listing.

Tutor requests

If you cannot find the lesson you need, you can post a tutor request for free. Trainers can view requests and send proposals; some trainers use coins to unlock the full details of a request or to be offered as a preferred tutor. You choose which proposal, if any, to accept. You can pay for an accepted proposal in the app, which adds the facilitation fee and brings the payment under our dispute process, or arrange payment directly with the trainer, in which case the payment is not handled or protected by Microskills.

• Read the lesson listing or proposal before you pay, including the format, duration, price, requirements, and any location details.
• For live and in-person sessions, agree a time with the trainer through the Platform, be on time, and have anything the listing says you need.
• Treat trainers and other participants with respect, and follow any reasonable safety guidance for in-person sessions.
• When a trainer marks a live or in-person lesson as delivered, please confirm delivery in your dashboard, or open a dispute if something went wrong, within the time limits in section 10.
• Lessons you buy are for your own personal learning. Do not record, copy, resell, or share lesson content unless the trainer has given you permission.
• Reviews must reflect your genuine experience of a lesson you took.

Listings and quality

• Only offer skills you are qualified and legally allowed to teach. Describe your lessons, credentials, experience, and expected outcomes accurately, and keep listings up to date.
• New lessons are reviewed by our team before they are published. We may ask for changes, decline a lesson, or unpublish it later if it does not meet these Terms or our quality standards.
• Do not list lessons that are misleading, unsafe, unlawful, or that infringe anyone else’s rights, and do not use your listing to advertise services outside the Platform.
• While learners have training in progress on a lesson, you may not be able to edit it until that training is complete.

Delivery and conduct

• Deliver what you sell: attend booked sessions on time, provide the session details learners need, deliver the agreed content, and respond to learners within a reasonable time.
• Mark training as delivered only once it has actually been delivered.
• Behave professionally and safely, especially in in-person sessions and with any child participant, and comply with all laws that apply to your teaching, including any licensing, safeguarding, and insurance requirements.
• If a learner opens a dispute about a tutor request, respond within 48 hours. If you do not, the dispute can be decided on the learner’s evidence alone.

Fees and payouts

• You set your own prices and keep 100% of your lesson fee. Microskills does not take a commission from it. Learner-paid service and facilitation fees are added on top of your price and belong to Microskills.
• Creating a trainer account and publishing lessons is free. Optional paid features, such as unlocking tutor requests or direct-pick packages, are paid with coins at the prices shown before you buy.
• Earnings become available for payout once the payment is released: at purchase for video lessons; when the learner confirms delivery, or automatically 7 days after you mark the lesson delivered, for live and in-person lessons; and, for tutor requests paid in the app, once delivery is confirmed by the learner or automatically 72 hours after you mark it complete, provided no dispute is open.
• You request payouts from your dashboard during the payout request periods shown there. Our team reviews each request and sends approved payouts to the payout method you choose (PayPal, bank transfer, or Stripe), then marks the request as paid. Keep your payout details accurate; we are not responsible for payments sent to details you provided.
• Payments that are disputed, refunded, or under review are excluded from payouts until the matter is resolved, and we may withhold payouts connected to suspected fraud or a serious breach of these Terms. Your payment provider or bank may charge its own fees for receiving funds.

Independent status and taxes

You act as an independent business. You are solely responsible for your own taxes (including income tax and any VAT, GST, or similar taxes on your services), social-security contributions, registrations, licences, and insurance. Microskills does not withhold taxes from your payouts unless the law requires us to.

Licence to display your content

You keep ownership of the lessons, videos, images, and materials you upload. You grant Microskills a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, format, display, distribute, and promote that content, and your name, photo, and profile, on the Platform and in marketing for the Platform (including on social media and in ads), for as long as it is listed and for a reasonable time afterwards so that learners who already bought a lesson can still access it. You confirm that you own or have all rights needed for everything you upload, including the right to grant this licence.

• Payments are processed by our payment providers, Stripe and PayPal, under their own terms. We do not receive or store your full card number.
• In the app you can pay with a card through Stripe, with PayPal where it is offered, with coins, and with any wallet credit you have. Available wallet credit is applied automatically at checkout before any other payment method.
• When you buy a lesson in the app, a learner service fee is added on top of the lesson fee. When you pay for a tutor request in the app, a facilitation fee is added on top of the agreed training amount. A payment processing fee may apply to coin purchases. Current rates are on our Pricing page.
• Every fee is shown to you before you pay, and the total shown at checkout is the amount you are charged. We may change fees in the future; changes do not affect payments already made.
• Prices are shown in the currency of the listing, usually US dollars. If your card or account uses a different currency, your bank or payment provider may apply its own exchange rate and fees.
• Any taxes that apply to a purchase are calculated and shown at checkout where required.
• A booking or purchase is confirmed once payment succeeds. If a payment fails or is reversed, the booking or access may be cancelled.

• Coins are an in-app balance. 1 coin equals 1 US cent. You can buy coins in the packs or amounts shown in your dashboard, subject to the minimum and maximum purchase shown there.
• Coins can be used to pay for lessons and tutor requests and, for trainers, for optional features such as unlocking tutor requests and direct-pick packages.
• Coins are a licence to use Platform features, not money, a deposit, or a stored-value account. They have no cash value, cannot be transferred to another account, and cannot be exchanged for cash, except where the law requires otherwise.
• Unused picks in a direct-pick package expire at the end of each pick period, as shown when you buy the package.
• Wallet credit (for example from a dispute refund) is applied automatically to your next in-app purchase. It cannot be withdrawn as cash except where the law requires otherwise.
• We may correct balances that were credited by mistake or obtained through fraud or abuse of the Platform.

Cancellations and rescheduling

The Platform does not offer self-service cancellation of a paid booking. If you need to change the time of a live or in-person session, message the other party through the Platform as early as possible and agree a new time. If a session cannot go ahead or does not take place, use the dispute process below or contact us at support@microskills.io.

Delivery confirmation and release of payment

• Self-paced video lessons: you get access straight after purchase, and the payment is released to the trainer at purchase.
• Live online and in-person lessons: the payment is held until the trainer marks the lesson delivered and you confirm delivery. If you do not confirm or open a dispute, it is released automatically 7 days after the trainer marks it delivered.
• Tutor requests paid in the app (the “guarantee”): the payment is held until the trainer marks delivery complete and you confirm it. If you do not confirm, delivery is confirmed automatically 72 hours after the trainer marks it complete.

Opening a dispute

• Live online and in-person lessons: open a dispute from your dashboard within 72 hours of purchase and before the payment has been released. These disputes go directly to our team for review.
• Tutor requests paid in the app: open a dispute from the request page within 7 days of the trainer marking delivery complete. The trainer has 48 hours to respond; after that, or once both sides have given their evidence, our team reviews the case. Disputes are not available for tutor requests made for a child.
• Self-paced video lessons: because access is immediate and the payment is released at purchase, the in-app dispute process is not available. If you cannot access a lesson you paid for or were charged incorrectly, contact us at support@microskills.io.
• Valid reasons include the trainer not showing up, agreed content not being delivered, only partial delivery, quality well below what was advertised or agreed, the wrong skill level, or significant technical problems. You need to describe what happened and can say what outcome you would like.
• Only one open dispute is allowed per purchase or request. Both sides can add evidence and messages, and our team may ask for more information.

Outcomes

• Full refund of the lesson fee or agreed training amount. For a lesson purchase, access to the lesson ends.
• Partial refund of a percentage of the lesson fee or training amount; the trainer keeps the rest.
• Re-delivery (tutor requests): the trainer must deliver the training again, and the payment stays held until you confirm delivery.
• No refund, or dismissal of the dispute: the payment is released to the trainer.

Refunds are returned to your original payment method where possible (card refunds usually appear within 5–10 business days, depending on your bank) or credited to your Microskills wallet, as stated in the decision. The service fee and the facilitation fee are not refundable, except where the law requires otherwise. Our decision on a dispute is final as far as the Platform is concerned, but it does not stop you from using any legal rights or remedies you have against the other party.

Payments outside the app

Payments arranged directly between learners and trainers are not processed by us and are not covered by the guarantee, refunds, or the dispute process. You make them at your own risk.

Nothing in this section limits any rights you have under consumer-protection laws that cannot be excluded by contract.

• Accounts are for adults. A parent or legal guardian can post a tutor request for a child (aged 3 to 17) from their own account and is responsible for the booking.
• The parent or guardian must decide whether a trainer and lesson are suitable, arrange appropriate supervision, and make sure a responsible adult is present or reachable during sessions, especially in-person sessions.
• Only share the information about a child that is needed to arrange the lesson.
• The in-app dispute process is not available for tutor requests made for a child. If something goes wrong, contact us and we will look into it.
• Trainers who teach children must follow all child-protection and safeguarding laws that apply where they teach.

In-person sessions take place away from the Platform and we do not supervise them. Meet in safe, appropriate places, share only the personal details you need to, and keep communication on the Platform where possible. If you feel unsafe, leave the session and contact local authorities if needed, then report the issue to us. Trainers are responsible for having any permits, insurance, or venue permissions their sessions need.

• You are responsible for the content you post. You keep ownership of it and give us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, display, and use it to operate, improve, and promote the Platform.
• Reviews can be left only by learners who bought the lesson, once the purchase is completed or delivery has been confirmed. Ratings are from 1 to 5. Do not post fake or incentivised reviews, review your own lessons, or pressure anyone to change a review.
• Messages between learners, trainers, and our support team are stored on the Platform. Our team may review messages and files where needed to provide support, investigate a report or dispute, or keep the Platform safe.
• We may remove or hide content, including reviews, that breaks these Terms or the law, but we are not obliged to monitor content.

When using the Platform, you must not:

• break any law, or help anyone else do so;
• harass, threaten, abuse, discriminate against, stalk, or endanger anyone, online or in person;
• post content that is false or misleading, defamatory, sexually explicit, hateful, violent, or harmful to children;
• upload content you do not have the rights to, or infringe anyone’s intellectual property, privacy, or other rights;
• send spam, chain messages, or unsolicited advertising, or collect other users’ contact details for marketing;
• upload malware, interfere with the Platform’s security or operation, probe for vulnerabilities without permission, or try to access accounts, data, or areas you are not authorised to access;
• scrape, crawl, or copy the Platform or its content by automated means (search engines indexing public pages are fine);
• manipulate reviews, rankings, search, coins, or payments, or use the Platform for fraud, money laundering, or to process payments unrelated to genuine lessons;
• open accounts in someone else’s name, buy or sell accounts, or misrepresent your identity, qualifications, or affiliation;
• reverse engineer the Platform, or use it to build a competing service.

The Platform, including its software, design, text, graphics, and the Microskills name and logo, belongs to Microskills or its licensors and is protected by intellectual-property laws. We grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the Platform as these Terms allow. Learners receive a personal, non-transferable licence to access the lessons they buy for their own learning. You may not use our name or logo without our written permission, except to link to your own Microskills profile or lessons.

If you believe content on the Platform infringes your copyright or other intellectual-property rights, email support@microskills.io with the subject “Takedown notice” and include:

• your name and contact details, and the rights you own (or are authorised to act for);
• a description of the work you say is infringed;
• the link(s) to the content on the Platform;
• a statement that you believe in good faith the use is not authorised by the owner, its agent, or the law, and that the information in your notice is accurate;
• your physical or electronic signature.

We may remove or disable the content, tell the user who posted it, and pass your notice to them. If your content was removed and you believe this was a mistake, you can reply with an explanation and supporting information. We may suspend or close the accounts of users who repeatedly infringe others’ rights. Please do not send false notices.

The Platform relies on third-party services, such as Stripe and PayPal for payments, video-conferencing and meeting tools chosen by trainers for live sessions, and map services for in-person locations. Your use of those services is governed by their own terms and privacy policies, and we are not responsible for them. Links to other websites are provided for convenience; we do not control or endorse them.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and share personal data, including the information learners and trainers see about each other when they book or teach. By using the Platform you acknowledge that we will process your personal data as described there. When you receive another user’s personal data through the Platform, use it only to arrange and deliver the lesson and handle it in line with applicable data-protection law.

You can stop using the Platform at any time. To close your account, contact us at support@microskills.io. Before closing, finish or resolve any bookings, disputes, and payouts in progress, and spend any coins or wallet credit first: as explained in section 9, they have no cash value.

We may suspend, restrict, or close your account, unpublish your lessons, remove content, or withhold payouts linked to suspected fraud if you break these Terms, if we reasonably suspect fraud, abuse, or a risk to other users, or if the law requires us to. Where it is reasonable and lawful, we will tell you why and give you a chance to respond.

Sections that by their nature should continue after your account closes (including payment obligations, content licences needed for past purchases, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnity, and governing law) survive termination.

We work hard to keep the Platform available, secure, and accurate, but it is provided “as is” and “as available”. To the extent permitted by law, we make no warranties, express or implied, including about merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement, and we do not guarantee that the Platform will be uninterrupted or error-free. We do not guarantee any learning, career, certification, or earnings outcome. Certificates of completion confirm that a lesson was completed on the Platform; they are not an accredited qualification. Trainers and learners are responsible for their own conduct and content, and we are not responsible for them except as required by law.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Microskills and its owners, staff, and service providers are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive losses, or for loss of profits, revenue, business, goodwill, or data, arising from or related to the Platform or these Terms, even if we were told such losses were possible.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total liability for all claims relating to the Platform or these Terms is limited to the greater of (a) the fees you paid to Microskills (service, facilitation, and processing fees, and coin features) in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim, and (b) USD 100.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded or limited by law, such as liability for fraud, or for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or your rights under mandatory consumer-protection law.

To the extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless Microskills and its owners, staff, and service providers from any claims, losses, liabilities, and reasonable costs (including legal fees) arising from your content, the lessons you deliver or take, your breach of these Terms, or your violation of any law or the rights of another person. This does not apply to the extent a loss was caused by our own breach or negligence.

We are not responsible for any delay or failure to perform caused by events beyond our reasonable control, such as natural disasters, epidemics, war, civil unrest, government action, power or internet failures, failures of payment or hosting providers, or cyber-attacks. We will take reasonable steps to limit the impact on you.

These Terms, and any dispute or claim arising from them or your use of the Platform, are governed by the laws of the Republic of Kenya. Subject to the next paragraph, the courts of Kenya have exclusive jurisdiction.

If you are a consumer, you also keep the protection of any mandatory laws of the country where you live, and you may bring a claim in the courts of that country if its law gives you that right.

Before starting legal proceedings, please contact us at support@microskills.io so we can try to resolve the issue informally. Disputes between learners and trainers about a lesson should first go through the in-app dispute process where it is available.

We may update these Terms as the Platform, the law, or our business changes. We will post the new version on this page with a new “Last updated” date and, for material changes, give signed-in users reasonable notice by email or in the app before the changes take effect. If you keep using the Platform after the changes take effect, you accept the updated Terms. If you do not agree, stop using the Platform and close your account.

• Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any terms shown to you at checkout, are the whole agreement between you and Microskills about the Platform.
• Severability. If any part of these Terms is found invalid or unenforceable, the rest stays in effect, and the invalid part is applied as closely as the law allows to what was intended.
• Assignment. You may not transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms without our written consent. We may transfer ours as part of a merger, acquisition, reorganisation, or sale of assets, or to an affiliate, as long as your rights are not reduced.
• No waiver. If we do not enforce a right straight away, we have not given it up.
• Notices. We may send notices to the email address on your account or show them in the app. You can send notices to us at support@microskills.io.
• Language. These Terms are written in English. If we provide a translation, the English version prevails where the law allows.

Questions about these Terms? Email support@microskills.io or visit our Contact page. Microskills is based in Kenya. See also our Privacy Policy, Pricing, and FAQ.