Expert terms

Buylined (also “the Platform”)

the platform accessible at buylined.com, owned and operated by Iguane Media Inc., a corporation constituted under the federal laws of Canada, registered in the Québec enterprise register under NEQ 1165016511, with its head office at 916, av. Aimé-Bibeau, Laval (Québec), Canada. Any right or obligation attributed to Buylined means Iguane Media Inc.

Expert

the natural person, acting in their own name or through an entity they control, who registers on the Platform to offer Services.

Publisher

the client who acquires the Services through the Platform.

Content

the article or text submitted by a Publisher or, for an Article interview, the questions submitted by the Publisher and the Expert’s Answers.

Services

the services described in article 4.

Validation

the professional review of Content, followed by its express approval. For an Article interview, the sending of the Answers together with the Expert’s consent to their publication.

Certification

the document issued by Buylined attesting that Content has been Validated by an identified Expert, on a specified date. For an Article interview, the Certification covers the Answers.

Attribution

the public mention of the Expert’s name associated with Content, in one of the forms in article 5, including the mention of the Expert as the interviewed person.

Contribution

any original editorial element provided by the Expert for inclusion in the Content, including their Answers. Validation alone, or acceptance of an Attribution alone, is not a Contribution.

Answers

the written answers provided by the Expert to a Publisher’s questions as part of an Article interview or a Mini-interview.

Author Kit

the materials made available to the Publisher after Validation, including the Expert’s portrait, biographies, and social profile URLs.

TRUSTEXPERT

Buylined’s confidence index.

These terms set out the conditions under which the Expert provides Services and Buylined markets them to Publishers.

Buylined acts as principal contractor, and not as the Expert’s commercial agent. This does not affect the limited self-billing mandate in article 16. Buylined acquires the Services from the Expert and resells them in its own name to Publishers. The Expert has no direct contractual relationship with the Publisher, except under a separate agreement.

The Expert is an independent contractor. These terms create no employment contract, employment relationship, partnership, joint venture, or mandate, subject to article 16.

The Expert organizes their work freely, chooses their hours and methods, sets the price of their offers, and remains free to accept or refuse any request. They alone assume their tax, social, and professional obligations, and any insurance required by their profession, if applicable.

Every order is based on one of the following three services:

1. a)review of Content, any comments or requests for correction, and approval for an Attribution “Relu et validé par” (“Reviewed and validated by”);
2. b)review of Content already written, any comments or requests for correction, adoption of the Content by the Expert, and approval for an Attribution “Écrit par” (“Written by”);
3. c)written answers by the Expert to ten to fifteen questions submitted by the Publisher, and consent to the publication of those Answers under an Attribution “Expert interviewé” (“Interviewed expert”) (“Article interview”). The Expert is not named as the author of the Content so formed.

The following may be added, and only as add-ons:

1. d)an original Contribution included in the Content (“Expert anecdote”), with services a) and b) only;
2. e)written answers to five questions submitted by the Publisher, published at the end of the Content (“Mini-interview”), with service a) only;
3. f)distribution of the Content on the social account or accounts indicated in the offer (“Social share”), with any service.

No Expert anecdote, no Mini-interview, and no Social share is offered or ordered on its own. The Mini-interview may be combined with the Expert anecdote.

Each order specifies the Services, the form of Attribution, the Content or the questions, the authorized site, and the price.

Where the Service includes an Attribution, the Expert authorizes Buylined to allow the identified Publisher to display the Expert’s name, portrait, biography, and other Author Kit elements solely in connection with the Content and on the site indicated in the order. This authorization is limited to the agreed publication. It confers on Buylined and on the Publisher no general, independent, or transferable right to exploit the Expert’s name, image, biography, or reputation.

For each offer, the Expert chooses the form or forms of Attribution and the add-ons they accept.

“Relu et validé par” (“Reviewed and validated by”) — the Expert attests that they have reviewed the Content and approve it in light of their expertise. They are not its author.

“Écrit par” (“Written by”) — after review and, if needed, correction, the Expert may approve the final version and agree to be publicly named as its author. They are not required to have written the original text and remain free to accept, to request changes, or to refuse. This Attribution is an agreed public designation; it does not transfer copyright in the pre-existing Content.

“Expert interviewé” (“Interviewed expert”) — the Expert answers, in writing and in their working language, the questions submitted by the Publisher. Their Answers may form all or part of the published Content. The Expert is presented as the interviewed person; they are not named as author. Their Validation covers their Answers only: it does not extend to the title, introduction, subheadings, boxes, or any other element the Publisher adds to the Content. After the Answers are sent, the Publisher may request, through the Platform and with a reason, a change to an Answer; the Expert remains free to act on it, in whole or in part, or to maintain their Answer. The Publisher does not rewrite the Answers, subject to the minor changes of form in article 11.

“Expert anecdote” — add-on: the Expert provides an original Contribution within their expertise, included in the Content. The Publisher may adapt its form without changing its meaning. This Contribution is part of the validated text and is not a separate Attribution. The Expert’s public role for the Content as a whole remains that of the main offer.

“Mini-interview” — add-on to the “Relu et validé par” Attribution only: the Expert answers, in writing, exactly five questions submitted by the Publisher. Their Answers are inserted, with the questions, at the end of the validated Content. They are a Contribution and do not constitute a separate Attribution. The Expert’s public role for the Content as a whole remains that of the main offer. The Mini-interview may be combined with the Expert anecdote.

“Social share” — add-on: sharing of the Content on the account or accounts indicated in the offer, on the terms of that offer.

The Expert may at any time withdraw a form of Attribution or an add-on from future offers, with no effect on Services already performed or on Attributions already granted, subject to article 9.

No Attribution may be applied without the Expert’s express, specific, and prior consent for the Content concerned. Consent is collected by the Platform and time-stamped. For an Article interview, consent covers the publication of the Answers and the display of the Expert’s name, portrait, and biography as the interviewed expert.

The Expert is never required to validate Content or to answer questions. They may refuse the order, condition Validation on corrections, or withdraw before approval. A refusal entails no penalty, no reduction of their confidence index, and no consequence for their offers.

The Publisher and Buylined are prohibited from applying pressure to obtain a Validation or an Attribution. The Expert may report any such attempt and abandon the request without penalty.

The price of each offer is a fixed lump sum, set freely by the Expert in their wallet currency. It constitutes the remuneration due to the Expert. The price shown to the Publisher is increased by twenty percent (20%) in favour of Buylined. That increase does not affect the price due to the Expert.

The price does not depend on any performance indicator of the Content, the site, or the Publisher. No variable remuneration or results-based commission may be agreed.

Orders are paid by the Publisher using prepaid credits. On order, Buylined reserves the corresponding credits until the remuneration becomes due to the Expert or the credits are re-credited to the Publisher’s account.

Remuneration becomes due when the Expert expressly approves the Content or, for an Article interview, when they send their Answers with their consent. That act triggers issuance of the Certification and the immediate release of the amounts to the Expert’s wallet. Remuneration remains earned by the Expert even if the Publisher does not publish the Content. A request to change an Answer made after that sending does not affect remuneration already due.

Where the order includes a Social share, the portion corresponding to that service alone is not due upon approval of the Content. It becomes due seventy-two (72) hours after the Expert has made the share and provided its URL, if the Publisher has not filed a claim within that period. Failure to claim within that period constitutes acceptance. A claim opens a dispute; that portion is then due only if Buylined decides in favour of the Expert. That share requires the Publisher to have provided the URL of the published Content; failing that within thirty days of Certification, that portion is not due. Once the URL has been provided, the Expert has seven days to share; failing that, that portion is not due.

Review followed by a refusal gives rise to no remuneration.

The Expert is not subject to any exclusivity. They remain free to provide identical or similar services to any third party, including competing platforms or Publishers, or directly.

No amount paid remunerates a non-compete, an abstention, or a limitation of their professional activity. This article does not affect article 9 or the anti-circumvention prohibition in article 13.

On expiry of that period, the Expert may request its withdrawal without cause. Buylined forwards the request to the Publisher within seven business days and, in accordance with the terms accepted by the Publisher, asks the Publisher to remove the Attribution from the Content and from any republication under the Publisher’s control within thirty days.

The Expert keeps the remuneration received. Withdrawal is not retroactive and gives the Publisher no right to a refund.

Serious causes include, in particular: a substantial change that distorts the Validation; the attribution of statements, opinions, or recommendations that were not approved; a serious attack on reputation, honour, or privacy; Content that has become manifestly inaccurate, misleading, or unlawful; publication on an unauthorized site or medium; use of the name, portrait, or biography outside the order; a court order or a legally founded request for cessation, de-indexing, or withdrawal of consent.

Buylined reviews the request and may require reasonably necessary information. If the request appears well-founded or if withdrawal is required by law, Buylined suspends the Certification and asks the Publisher to remove the Attribution as soon as possible, and no later than the deadline it indicates.

The Expert retains copyright in their Contribution, including their Answers.

They grant Buylined, for the provision of the Service to the identified Publisher, a non-exclusive licence to reproduce, present, format, faithfully translate, and integrate the Contribution into the Content. Buylined may grant that Publisher a sublicence limited to the rights strictly necessary for the agreed publication and exploitation. For an Article interview, this licence allows publication of the Answers, in whole or in part, together with the corresponding questions and without altering their meaning.

This licence is limited to exploiting the Contribution as part of the Content, on the site identified in the order, and in archives and republications directly controlled by the Publisher. It does not authorize separate exploitation of the Contribution (another article, advertising, a commercial testimonial, promotion of a product or service) without a new authorization.

Withdrawal of the Attribution entails withdrawal of the name, portrait, and biography. It does not automatically entail withdrawal of a Contribution already included, unless keeping it would infringe the Expert’s rights or create a misleading attribution.

The Publisher remains the owner of the Content they submitted. The Expert may mention their contribution in their portfolio and professional communications.

To the extent permitted by applicable law, and solely to allow the agreed publication, the Expert waives the exercise of their right to the integrity of the work in respect of minor changes of form (correction, layout, adaptation to the medium) that do not alter the meaning, scope, or accuracy of their Contribution.

This limited waiver remains applicable to any Contribution that remains lawfully included after withdrawal of the Attribution. It does not authorize any substantial change or any use suggesting that the Expert continues to approve the Content after that withdrawal.

No amount paid specifically remunerates this waiver.

The Expert represents and warrants that they hold the titles, qualifications, diplomas, and experience stated on their profile and will provide proof on request, that performing the Services does not breach any contractual, ethical, or statutory obligation to which they are bound, that they perform the Services personally and do not subcontract them, that any original Contribution — Expert anecdote or Answers — is of their creation and does not infringe any third-party right, and that they do not use a generative artificial-intelligence tool to produce a Contribution presented as their own, without prejudice to declared assistance.

The Expert updates their profile without delay if a change affects their qualifications.

The following are prohibited, including: validating Content without actually having reviewed it; validating Content outside their competence; concealing a conflict of interest with the Publisher or the subject; monetizing a Validation off the Platform by circumventing it after an introduction; creating multiple accounts or impersonating another person; manipulating the confidence index.

Buylined verifies the Expert’s identity and profile information, including their field of expertise, years of experience, ownership of their social profiles, and associated audience data, according to the methodology published on the Platform. It assigns a TRUSTEXPERT index on objective criteria, including seniority, volume of Validations, speed of response to requests, and reports received.

TRUSTEXPERT is an information tool; it is neither a professional certification nor a guarantee of competence. Buylined may revise it. The Expert may contest its calculation by filing a claim.

Amounts due are credited to the wallet in the chosen currency. That currency is locked from the first movement.

Withdrawals (Wise bank transfer or PayPal) may be requested once the minimum threshold indicated on the Platform for the billing currency is reached. Only one withdrawal may be requested per calendar month (America/Toronto). Withdrawals are paid between the 1st and the 10th of the month following the request.

Each withdrawal incurs a platform fee of 10% of the amount withdrawn, deducted from the balance at the time of the request.

A 2.5% surcharge applies when the Expert chooses to be paid by PayPal. A bank transfer via Wise carries no surcharge.

The invoice or statement issued for the withdrawal covers the amount paid by Buylined after deduction of these fees.

The amount withdrawn, the applicable fees, and the amount paid by Buylined are displayed before the withdrawal is confirmed. The payment provider may apply its own fees, withholdings, or conversion rates, over which Buylined has no control: the amount actually received by the Expert may be lower than the amount paid.

A credit transfer to the publisher account on the same user is not a withdrawal. It is immediate, fee-free, without a document, and does not count toward the one-withdrawal-per-month quota.

Payments are made subject to any withholdings that the law would make mandatory. Where applicable, Buylined informs the Expert and provides the corresponding certificate.

The Expert authorizes Buylined to issue, according to the declared status and applicable rules, an invoice in the Expert’s name or a supplier payment statement. A document is issued for each withdrawal and covers the amount paid by Buylined, after deduction of the applicable fees. This mandate is the subject of a separate acceptance. The declared status (individual or company) and the mandate are reconfirmed for each document. Each document is made available to the Expert before final issuance. The Expert remains solely responsible for their filing obligations.

Buylined may withhold a payment in the event of a reasonable suspicion of fraud, a third-party claim, or a legal obligation, informing the Expert of the reasons.

The Expert performs their Validation with the care and diligence reasonably expected of a person with the experience and qualifications on their profile. Their Validation covers the elements within their expertise and within the limits of the ordered Service. It does not constitute an absolute or exhaustive guarantee of the accuracy of the Content. The Expert nevertheless reports any error, misleading statement, or material inaccuracy they identify.

For an Expert anecdote, a Mini-interview, or an Article interview, their liability is limited to the authenticity and reasonable accuracy of their Contribution and Answers. They are not liable for elements of the Content they did not write and that the Publisher adds around their Answers. A Social share does not constitute a Validation.

Buylined’s liability to the Expert, on all heads combined, is limited to the amounts paid or due to the Expert during the twelve months preceding the event giving rise to the claim. Buylined is not liable for the acts of Publishers.

The Expert indemnifies Buylined against claims arising from an inaccurate declaration, a breach of article 12, or an infringement of a third party’s rights attributable to their Contribution.

Buylined processes the Expert’s data in accordance with its privacy policy. Identity, qualification, and billing data are retained for the duration of the relationship and applicable legal periods.

When the Expert accepts an Attribution, including as the interviewed expert, they authorize the display of their name, title, portrait, biography, and professional links included in the Author Kit, solely for the Content, the site, and the form of Attribution identified in the order.

These terms apply for as long as the account is active.

The Expert may close their account at any time. Closure does not affect Validations already granted, subject to article 9, or obligations that arose earlier.

Buylined may suspend or terminate the account immediately, without notice, in the event of a serious breach, a false declaration, or prohibited conduct. It states the reason. Amounts regularly due for services already performed are paid in the usual way, after deduction, where applicable, of refunds granted to Publishers because of the facts alleged.

Any substantial change is notified by email with thirty days’ notice and requires a new acceptance. An Expert who refuses may close their account without penalty. Minor changes are notified without notice.

The version applicable to each service is the version in force on the date of Validation.

These terms are governed by the law of the province of Québec and the laws of Canada applicable there.

The parties attempt to resolve any dispute amicably within thirty days. Failing that, the courts of the judicial district of Montréal have exclusive jurisdiction, subject to mandatory rules of jurisdiction that cannot be waived.