Researcher purchase and refund terms

• You add credit to your FeFe balance by card. Payments are processed by Stripe. FeFe never sees or stores your full card number.
• Credit is in pounds sterling, does not expire, and cannot be transferred to another account.
• Credit has no cash value outside the platform and is not a deposit or e-money product.

• The FeFe platform fee is 66.7% for corporate organisations and 42.9% for academic and non-profit organisations, charged on top of the participant rewards.
• The academic rate depends on eligibility. See the academic and student terms.
• Participants receive 100% of the stated reward. The fee is what FeFe charges you for recruitment, screening, quality checks and payment handling.
• We may change fee rates on 30 days notice. Credit already bought keeps its value.

When you launch a study, the full cost, meaning rewards for every place plus the platform fee, is reserved from your balance. Reserved funds are not available for other studies. You cannot launch a study you cannot fully fund.

• Closing a study early refunds the unfilled places and their share of the platform fee back to your FeFe balance, automatically and pro rata.
• Rejecting a submission for a valid reason returns that place, so it can be refilled or refunded on close.
• Approved submissions are not refundable. The participant has done the work and has been paid.
• Refunds go to your FeFe balance rather than your card. If you want unused credit returned to your card, email marianatmatthews@gmail.com and we will refund the unspent, unreserved amount to the original payment method within 14 days, less any amount already paid out to participants.

If a card payment is reversed, disputed or fails after credit was added, the corresponding amount is deducted from your balance. If your balance is insufficient because studies have already run, the shortfall is a debt due to FeFe and we may suspend your account until it is settled.

• A receipt is issued for every top-up. Email marianatmatthews@gmail.com if your institution needs an invoice in a particular format or with a purchase order reference.
• FeFe currently operates as a sole trader in the United Kingdom and is not VAT registered, so no VAT is charged and no VAT can be reclaimed on FeFe fees. We will update this page if that changes.
• You are responsible for your own tax position and for any approvals your organisation requires before you spend on FeFe.

Researcher accounts are business accounts. You confirm you are acting for purposes related to your trade, profession or research work, so consumer cancellation rights under the Consumer Contracts Regulations do not apply. The refund terms above apply instead. Where you contract on behalf of an organisation, you confirm you are authorised to do so.

We may suspend spending, hold a balance while we investigate a dispute, or close an account that breaches our terms of service or acceptable use policy. On lawful closure we return the unspent, unreserved balance. Disputes follow our complaints process and are governed by the laws of England and Wales.