General User Obligations

Acknowledge the Marketplace

oDesk has created a marketplace to connect Buyers and Providers of Services using our tools. We are not a service company and we do not employ any Providers. We build tools and processes to deliver an exceptional marketplace experience - but do not manage individual Services or individual Providers or their work, in any manner.

Password and Account Use

You agree to be solely responsible for ensuring and maintaining the secrecy and security of your oDesk password. You agree not to disclose this password to any third party and shall be solely responsible for any use of or action taken through the use of such password on oDesk. You further agree that you will not allow third parties to perform any action, including but not limited to, posting jobs, bidding for or performing Services under your oDesk account. Every individual must have their own User Account, and each individual may only have one User Account.

Accurate, Up-to-Date Information

oDesk does not guarantee the truth, accuracy, validity, or legality of information contained on the public areas of the oDesk website. You agree that you will be solely responsible for ensuring the accuracy of and promptly notifying oDesk of any changes to, all information provided to, or requested by oDesk in relation to you, your account and your associated Assignments and posted on oDesk.

Bill Rate

User shall determine in its sole discretion its Bill Rate as a Provider, provided only that the Bill Rate so determined must be specified in U.S. Dollars. The User's Profile Bill Rate does not determine, and is not determined by the User's actual Assignment Bill Rates, or any submitted candidacy Bill Rates. In the event that User wishes to change its Profile Bill Rate, User shall make a change rate request on the oDesk website. User acknowledges that the revised Profile Bill Rate shall not effect any Assignments currently in progress. For Assignments progress, only the Buyer may raise the Bill Rate, and only the Provider may lower the Bill Rate. Either may be done at any time and without the prior knowledge of the other party.

Working on oDesk

oDesk expects a consistent and high level of courtesy, respect and professionalism from all of our Users toward each other and we reserve the right to expel any User from our network at any time. You agree to use good judgment when posting information, comments, feedback or other content regarding other Users, oDesk or any other third party anywhere within the oDesk Marketplace. You understand that you may be held legally responsible for damages suffered by other Users, oDesk or any third party as a result of legally actionable or defamatory comments, remarks or other information or content which you post to the oDesk Marketplace. Under federal law, oDesk is not legally responsible for any remarks, information or other content posted or made available on the oDesk Marketplace by any User or third party, even if such information or content is defamatory or otherwise legally actionable. oDesk is not responsible for and does not monitor or censor content for accuracy or reliability. However, oDesk reserves the right to remove or restrict access to any information or content posted or made available on the oDesk Marketplace if ordered to do so by a court, or if oDesk considers such information or content to be in violation of the Marketplace User Agreement or oDesk Policies.

Moreover, you agree NOT to

• Post any Assignment, submit any bid or proposal, or otherwise use oDesk to transmit any content or conduct any transaction that would violate any law or regulation.
• Post any Assignments that are fake, posted without the intention to award or complete the project or posted only to receive pricing information.
• Post any Assignment, bid, proposal, deliverable or transmit any content that infringes a third party's intellectual property rights, license rights, the terms and conditions of use of such third party’s Web site or copyrighted materials or such third party’s rights of publicity or privacy.
• Post advertisements, solicitations or offers of employment. Hiring a Provider on oDesk as a contract worker does not constitute employment.
• Post false or misleading information about a product, Service or Service request.
• Post or transmit any content that is profane, vulgar, racist, offensive, threatening, harmful, abusive, defamatory or disparaging.
• Suggest or solicit another User to contact you directly in order to buy or sell Services outside of oDesk.
• Access, tamper with or use non-public or non-authorized areas of the oDesk Marketplace.
• Solicit or gather any User's information available from the oDesk Marketplace, such as other Usernames and email addresses, for any commercial or business purposes or to transmit any unsolicited advertising, junk mail, spam or chain letters.
• Do anything which would create or impose an unreasonable or disproportionately large burden or load on the oDesk Marketplace.
• Use robots, spiders, scrapers or other automated means to access information in the oDesk Marketplace for any purpose without express written permission from oDesk.
• Post Assignments that violate the Terms and Conditions of other companies.
• Impersonate or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity.
• Fail to respond to an email from oDesk regarding violation, dispute or complaint within two business days.
• Use the oDesk Marketplace if you are not able to form legally binding contracts, are under age or are temporarily or indefinitely suspended from our oDesk Marketplace.
• Take any action that may undermine the feedback or ratings systems (such as importing or exporting feedback information off the oDesk Marketplace, or using feedback as an extortion mechanism).
• Copy, modify or distribute content from the oDesk Marketplace, except for your own information and use, without the prior express written permission from oDesk.
• Select a Buyer or Provider on the basis of religion, sex or race.
• Violate all other oDesk terms, conditions, policies, and values listed on our site.

Violation of these guidelines may result in suspension or termination of your account. If you are aware of a potential violation, please submit a help ticket.

(subject to the oDesk Marketplace User Agreement)