USER AGREEMENT
Welcome and thank you for using Sirkle™ and/or other Sirkle™ services and applications (“Apps”). When you use our products and services, you're agreeing to our terms, so please take a few minutes to read over the User Agreement, terms and conditions below. You will be referred to throughout as “you” or the “user.” Sirkle™ will be referred to as “Sirkle™”, “Us”, “We”, etc.
Sirkle is a social network and on-line platform for individuals, professionals, sole proprietors, and small businesses. Sirkle™ is a division of Healthy Media, Inc., a California corporation.
Sirkle allows businesses to create websites, promotions such as branded prepaid or promotional eGift Cards, eCoupons, and share them on their own social networks or via email, SMS, etc. The technology that we use requires no development, design, or marketing skills. Businesses can create websites, landing pages, eCoupons, eGift Cards, which are described more fully below.
More information on Sirkle website: www.sirkle.com
1.1. Purpose
Sirkle was born out of the need for an agency serving small businesses and sole proprietors, completely independent from the advertising sales process. We are not affiliated with any other on-line sales and marketing, allowing us to be truly objective in our approach to measurement and analysis of small business industries. Sirkle’s platform and related services are often referred to through this User Agreement as “Services” or “Products.”
Using Sirkle, you build your own exclusive network where you'll receive and share promotions from your favorite small businesses. Within Sirkle, you interact with small businesses, usually local, who could also be your friends, family, or fellow business owners in your community. Sirkle provides you, as an individual, incentives to grow your network by putting your favorite small business owners in your “Sirkle.” When you become a member of Sirkle and create a Community, you will drive traffic to grow and support your friends' and family's business by sharing their promotions within your own Sirkle. This Sirkle design encourages users to support local businesses. This results in a stronger sense of community. Individuals can refer any type of business to register on Sirkle. You will create value by “Sirkling” an exclusive network of businesses built on trust and business satisfaction. Business users of Sirkle have the ability to promote their products and services directly or indirectly through emails, texts (SMS), or mass e-mails to followers.
1.2. Agreement
When you use our Services, you are entering into a legal agreement and you agree to all of the terms outlined in this User Agreement.
You also agree to our Privacy Policy, which covers how we collect, use, share, and store your personal information.
You agree that by clicking “Register”, “Join Sirkle”, “Sign Up”, “Login” or anything similar, you are registering, accessing or using our services, our related mobile apps, developer platforms, premium services, or any content or information provided as part of these services, collectively, you are entering into a legally binding agreement (even if you are using our services on behalf of a company).
This “Agreement” includes this User Agreement and the Privacy Policy, as may be amended by Sirkle from time to time. If you do not agree to this Agreement, do NOT click “Register”, “Join Sirkle”, “Sign Up”, “Login” (or similar) and do not access or otherwise use any of our services.
Registered users of our Services are “Members” and unregistered users are “Visitors”. This Agreement applies to both.
“Followers” are defined and used by Sirkle to mean individuals who have signed up with Sirkle and follow one or more businesses on Sirkle (the same concept as “followers” on social media).
2.1. Service Eligibility
Here are some legally binding promises that you make to us in this Agreement and through the use of our services and products:
You're eligible to enter into this Agreement and you are at least our “Minimum Age.”
To use the services, you agree that: (1) you are the “Minimum Age” (defined below) or older; (2) you will only have one Sirkle account, which must be in your real and legal name; and (3) you are not already restricted by Sirkle from using the services.
“Minimum Age” means 13 years old. However, if law requires that you must be older in order for Sirkle to lawfully provide the services to you (including the collection, storage and use of your information) then the Minimum Age is such older age. The Services are not for use by anyone under the age of 13. For paid services, when using credit card services, you must be a minimum of 18 years.
2.2. Regarding Your Membership
You will keep your password a secret.
You will not share an account with anyone else and will follow our rules and the law.
As between you and others, your account belongs to you. You agree to: (1) try to choose a strong and secure password; (2) keep your password secure and confidential; (3) not transfer any part of your account (e.g., connections, groups) and (4) follow the law and the Dos and Don'ts outlined below. You are responsible for anything that happens through your account unless you close it or report misuse.
2.4. Notices and Service Messages
You agree that we will use our websites, mobile apps, and email to provide you with important notices. This Agreement applies to mobile applications as well. Also, you agree certain additional information can be shared with us.
If the contact information you provide is not up to date, you may miss out on these notices.
You agree that we may provide notices to you in an email sent to an address you provided during registration, or through other means including mobile number, or telephone. You agree to keep your email and/or contact information up to date.
2.5. Messages and Sharing
When you share information on any of our products’ platforms, others may see, copy, and use that information. Our services allow messaging and sharing of information. Information and content that you share or post may be seen by other individuals, businesses or, if public, by Visitors. Where we have made settings available, we will honor the choices you make about who can see content or information. Note that other activities, such as sending messages, are by default private, are only visible to the addressee(s).
We are not obligated to publish any information or content on our service and can remove it in our sole discretion, with or without notice. You are obligated to follow state or federal laws when sharing information including copyrights, trademarks, or intellectual property, etc. with friends or businesses and you take full responsibilities when sharing such information.
3.1. Your License to Sirkle
You own all of the content, feedback, and personal information you provide to us, but you also grant us a non-exclusive license to use it.
You promise to only provide information and content that you have the right to share, and that your Sirkle page will contain only information that is truthful.
As between you and Sirkle, you own the content and information that you submit or post on Sirkle, but you are granting Sirkle the rights to use, copy, modify, distribute, publish, and process, information and content that you provide through Sirkle, without any further consent, notice and/or compensation to you or others.
You agree that we may access, store and use any information that you provide in accordance with the terms of the privacy policy and your privacy settings.
By submitting suggestions or other feedback regarding our Services to Sirkle, you agree that Sirkle can use and share (but does not have to) such feedback for any purpose without compensation to you.
You agree to only provide content or information if that does not violate the law nor anyone's rights (e.g., without violating any intellectual property rights or breaching a contract). You also agree that your profile information will be truthful. Sirkle may be required by law to remove certain information or content in certain cases.
3.2. Service Availability
We may change or discontinue any of our services without notice. We cannot promise to store, present, or make available any information and content you have posted through the use of our products or services. Sirkle is not under any obligations to you to preserve, store, restore, or recovery your information or your profile. You agree that you will not be compensated due to data loss and Sirkle is not liable to recover data. Data may include, but not limited to, information you have provided to Sirkle such as posts, images, videos, photos, logos, or any other data stored by Sirkle.
We may change, suspend or end any service, or change and modify prices prospectively in our discretion. To the extent allowed under law, these changes may be effective upon notice provided to you.
Sirkle is not a storage service. You agree that we have no obligation to store, maintain or provide you a copy of any content or information that you or others provide, except to the extent required by applicable law.
3.3. Other Content, Sites and Apps
When you see, or use others' content and information posted on Sirkle, it's at your own risk.
Third parties may offer their own products and services through Sirkle, and we aren't responsible for those third-party activities, services, products, promotions, and methods of practices.
By using the services and products, you may encounter content or information that might be inaccurate, incomplete, delayed, misleading, illegal, offensive or otherwise harmful.
Sirkle generally does not review content provided by our Individuals or businesses. You agree that we are not responsible for contents posted by individuals or businesses or for any damages as result of your use of or reliance on it.
You are responsible for deciding if you want to access Sirkle using a third-party account such as Facebook©, Instagram©, LinkedIn©, Twitter©, Pinterest©, etc. Sirkle does not post or access your third-party apps or information unless approved by you or you decide to do so. Third-party apps and sites have their own legal terms and privacy policies, and you may be giving others permission to use your information in ways we would not. Except to the limited extent, it may be required by applicable law, Sirkle is not responsible for these other sites and apps – which you are using at your own risk.
3.4. Limits
We have the right to limit how you connect and interact with our services and products.
We're providing you notice about our intellectual property rights.
Sirkle reserves the right to limit your use of its services and products, including the number of your connections and your ability to contact other Individuals or businesses. Sirkle reserves the right to restrict, suspend, or terminate your account if Sirkle believes that you may be in breach of this agreement or law or are misusing Sirkle’s services (e.g. violating any Do and Don'ts).
Sirkle reserves all of its intellectual property rights in its services. For example, Sirkle trademarks, service marks, graphics, and logos used in connection with Sirkle are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sirkle, which is a division of Healthy Media, Inc. Other trademarks and logos used in connection with Sirkle’s services may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
4.1. No Warranty
This is our disclaimer of legal liability for the quality, safety, or reliability of our Services.
TO THE EXTENT ALLOWED UNDER LAW, SIRKLE (AND THOSE THAT SIRKLE WORKS WITH TO PROVIDE THE SERVICES) (A) DISCLAIM ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES AND REPRESENTATIONS (E.G. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ACCURACY OF DATA, AND NONINFRINGEMENT); (B) DO NOT GUARANTEE THAT THE SERVICES WILL FUNCTION WITHOUT INTERRUPTION OR ERRORS, AND (C) PROVIDE THE SERVICE (INCLUDING CONTENT AND INFORMATION) ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS.
SOME LAWS DO NOT ALLOW CERTAIN DISCLAIMERS, SO SOME OR ALL OF THESE DISCLAIMERS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
4.2. Exclusion of Liability
These are the limits of legal liability we may have to you.
TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER LAW (AND UNLESS SIRKLE HAS ENTERED INTO A SEPARATE WRITTEN AGREEMENT THAT SUPERSEDES THIS AGREEMENT), SIRKLE (AND THOSE THAT SIRKLE WORKS WITH TO PROVIDE THE SERVICES) SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU OR OTHERS FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF DATA, OPPORTUNITIES, REPUTATION, PROFITS OR REVENUES, RELATED TO THE SERVICES (E.G. OFFENSIVE OR DEFAMATORY STATEMENTS, DOWNTIME OR LOSS, USE OR CHANGES TO YOUR INFORMATION OR CONTENT).
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE LIABILITY OF SIRKLE (AND THOSE THAT SIRKLE WORKS WITH TO PROVIDE THE SERVICES) EXCEED, IN THE AGGREGATE FOR ALL CLAIMS, AN AMOUNT THAT IS THE LESSER OF (A) FIVE TIMES THE MOST RECENT MONTHLY OR YEARLY FEE THAT YOU PAID FOR A PREMIUM SERVICE, IF ANY, OR (B) US $1000.
THIS LIMITATION OF LIABILITY IS PART OF THE BASIS OF THE BARGAIN BETWEEN YOU AND SIRKLE AND SHALL APPLY TO ALL CLAIMS OF LIABILITY (E.G. WARRANTY, TORT, NEGLIGENCE, CONTRACT, LAW) AND EVEN IF SIRKLE HAS BEEN TOLD OF THE POSSIBILITY OF ANY SUCH DAMAGE, AND EVEN IF THESE REMEDIES FAIL THEIR ESSENTIAL PURPOSE.
SOME LAWS DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY, SO THESE LIMITS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
Force Majeure: The Software Services provided by Sirkle on its website may be unavailable in situations involving causes beyond Sirkle’s reasonable control such as security threat, virus alert, service attack, power outages or other outages related to third parties. In such circumstances, Sirkle may perform emergency maintenance and will notify you (to the extent possible) by email promptly upon Sirkle receiving knowledge of such event. Sirkle will inform You of the threat or problem, the response actions undertaken or proposed to be taken by Sirkle to react to such threat or problem, the estimated duration of the downtime (if known), as well as any recommended actions to be taken by You to minimize the impact of the threat or problem and/or identify and repair the problems caused by threat or problem."
We can each end this Agreement anytime and without any prior notice, authorization, or notification to you.
Sirkle or You may terminate this Agreement at any time with notice to the other. On termination, you lose the right to access or use Sirkle. You may contact us to close your Sirkle account permanently.
In the unlikely event, we end up in a legal dispute, it will take place in California courts, applying California law.
You agree that the laws of the State of California, U.S.A., excluding its conflict of laws rules, shall exclusively govern any dispute relating to this Agreement. We both agree that all of these claims can only be litigated in the federal or state courts of Orange County, California, USA, and we each agree to personal jurisdiction in those courts. If you do not agree to this clause, you are asked NOT to use Sirkle or its services. If you DO use Sirkle or its Services or Products, you agree to this clause.
Here are some important details about how to read the Agreement.
If a court with authority over this User Agreement finds any part of it not enforceable, you and Sirkle agree that the court should modify the terms to make that part enforceable while still achieving its intent. If the court cannot do that, you and we agree to ask the court to remove that unenforceable part and still enforce the rest of this User Agreement. To the extent allowed by law, the English version of this Agreement is binding and other translations are for convenience only. This Agreement (including additional terms that may be provided by us when you engage with a feature of the Services) is the only agreement between us regarding the services and related products and supersedes all prior agreements for the Services.
If we don't act to enforce a breach of this Agreement, that does not mean that Sirkle has waived its right to enforce this Agreement. You may not assign or transfer this Agreement (or your membership or use of services) to anyone without our consent. However, you agree that Sirkle may assign this Agreement to its affiliates or a party that buys it without your consent. There are no third-party beneficiaries to this Agreement.
We reserve the right to change the terms of this Agreement and will provide you notice when we do and we agree that changes cannot be retroactive. If you don't agree to these changes, you must stop using Sirkle and its services and products.
Sirkle offers a 30-day money back guarantee. Our services are offered on a month-to-month basis and without any contract. You have the option to downgrade from a premium service (paid) to a standard service (free) at any time without penalty. However, your monthly payments will NOT be prorated, that is, you will not receive a refund. For example, if you sign up on July 1st and cancel on August 2nd, your payment will not be prorated so you will be charged for two full months. You understand and agree that if you downgrade your premium account to a free account, you will lose all your features in Sirkle with no recovery option.
Online payments are accepted using major credit cards such as Visa, Master Card, and American Express. Premiums will be charged monthly and will be processed by our merchant processing center Elavon, a U.S. Bancorp company®. You may securely download, print, or save your invoices from the billing page in your account that is emailed to you per your request.
Sirkle has used its best efforts to deploy a secure website with 2048-bit secure Socket Layer (SSL) and enforced complex password security. Transactions, registrations, and all other credit card processing are encrypted between the client and the server. However, you must recognize that no transactions are 100% secure and no systems are hack-proof. Sirkle makes no warranty, express or implied, that the technology today is risk-free, and therefore, Sirkle shall not be liable for any consequential damages caused by any security breach that may be out of our control.
10.1. Dos. You agree that you will:
10.2. Don'ts. You agree that you will not:
We respect the intellectual property rights of others. We require that information posted by Individuals and Businesses be accurate and not in violation of the intellectual property rights or other rights of third parties.
If you want to send us notices or service of process, please contact us:
ONLINE at: www.sirkle.com
OR BY MAIL at:
Sirkle
A division of
Healthy Media, Inc.
PO Box 16864
Irvine, CA 92623
Privacy or share of information:
What Sirkle does NOT share:
Personal information provided by businesses or representative of those businesses, such as first name, last name, email address. However, Sirkle as part of its Services may allow individuals to search businesses based on owners’ first or last names without displaying or disclosing the names.
Credit card information and billing information associated with the credit card.
Personal phone numbers and personal email address.
Sirkle does not use personal information for any advertisements or any other services for financial reasons, however, Sirkle may use that information for news, updates, changes to the services, notifications, or updates to this User Agreement or other documents related to the services. If the particular news item, update, change, or notification has an option for you to opt out, you can opt out by updating user profile preferences or simply by deleting your account.
No mobile information will be shared with third parties/affiliates for marketing/promotional purposes. All the above categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.
What Sirkle DOES share:
Sirkle may use all other information not stated above only to expand its services or add additional features. Such features may include, but are not limited to, expanding business networks, user groups, survey results, site traffic monitoring, and statistics. The information shared may include geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavior information.
Sirkle is not responsible for any information that is uploaded, copied, used, downloaded, or shared by members or businesses and/or shared amongst businesses or members.
Privacy: We do not sell user information such as names, email address, or phone numbers. However, we may collect user location and we may drop cookies on user’s systems to keep sessions persistent or provide reliable services to users.
Should our policies change at any time you will be notified by email that you provide to us during your registration. You will have options to opt-out if necessary, however, if you remain a registered user with contact information, you will still receive necessary updates to our User Agreement and other legal notifications.
Members (Businesses):
Business website:
A one-page website where the business can choose from several pre-defined templates. The business can choose a specific “color theme,” but no changes can be done to the template. The business can share the URL on social media. The business must provide all contents of the website, including, but not limited to, contents, images, logos, photos, links, etc. Sirkle is not responsible for any of the above material.
Sirkle provides the Cloud Software Services (online website) as follows:
Business Landing Pages:
A Landing Page is where a visitor lands and is designed for a specific service or product. The business can create unlimited landing pages and share them on social media (share the URL to the landing page). The landing page can contain images, logos, contents, etc., all provided, edited and published by the business. Sirkle will not be responsible for the validity of the contents or any other material on the landing pages.
eCoupons & promotional eGift Cards:
Sirkle allows businesses to generate unlimited promotional eCoupons & eGift Cards. eCoupons & eGift Cards are an electronic payment method to provide discounts or free gift cards to customers. All transactions are done electronically; the promotions, therefore, have no code. Promotional eGift Cards and eCoupons are designed to be used through Sirkle and not to print and presented to the business in person. A business may produce a limited number of eCoupons or eGift Cards on a first-come, first-serve basis. Promotional eCoupons and eGift cards have an expiration date; they, therefore, cannot be used after the expiration date.
Sirkle is not responsible if a business refuses to honor those eGift Cad or eCoupons. Sirkle is not responsible if the business goes out of business before those promotion eGift Card or eCoupons are redeemed.
Prepaid eGift Cards:
Businesses can create "Prepaid" eGift Cards and share them on social media. Suppose a customer purchases a prepaid gift card. In that case, Sirkle will charge the individual's credit card, deducts a percentage for processing fees (currently 3.95%), and make the remainder available to the business account. The business can then withdraw the money to his/her credit card. However, if the customer disputes the charges or claims a refund due to Sirkle's "30-day money-back guarantee", the credit may be withdrawn (claim back) from the business account's current credit card on file. Sirkle is not responsible if a business refuses to honor those prepaid eGift Cad. Sirkle is not responsible if the business goes out of business before those prepaid eGift Cards are redeemed. According to state law, it is the business's responsibility to ensure prepaid eGift Cards are designed, sold, and redeemed. It is also the business's responsibility to understand the state law and return any unused portion of the prepaid eGift Cards to the customer according to the local law. Sirkle acts as a facilitator to allow businesses to promote their business. Sirkle does not act as a mediator or moderator between the business and its customers. Sirkle is not responsible if a business refuses to honor those prepaid eGift Cards. Sirkle is not responsible if the business goes out of business before those prepaid eGift Cards are redeemed.
Terms and conditions.
When generating prepaid eGift Cards, promotional eGift Cards, or eCoupons, Sirkle provides a sample of “Terms and Conditions” to each promotion. Those “Terms and Conditions” are designed to be examples for business reviews only. Therefore, the business must carefully read those “Terms and Conditions” and modify them as necessary. Sirkle will not be responsible if the business fails to provide services/products described in its “Terms and Conditions”.
Plans Sirkle Offers (all plans are fully described on Sirkle’s website: www.sirkle.com)
Standard Plan:
This plan offers a free website and allows businesses to add "followers" to the business. In this plan, Sirkle does not provide any support via email or phone to the businesses who signed up for this plan.
Premium Plan (DYI):
This plan allows businesses to take over and control promotions themselves. Sirkle provides them with the right tools such as features to create prepaid or promotions eGift Cards, eCoupons, and Landing Pages. Then, the business may share those promotions on any social media, by email, or SMS.
Sirkle provides technical support with email or Sirkle Internal Messaging system. The premium plan is a Do-It-Yourself plan in which the business takes full responsibility for promoting its own business. Sirkle takes no responsibility for the outcome of those advertising done by the business.
During COVID-19, Sirkle gives the businesses in Premium plan a credit of $1 for each follower they add to their circle, not exceeding their monthly dues. The credit will reset and will not roll-over to another month. Followers must have a valid email address and complete their account profile. This offer will be void if the business changes its plan or terminate the accounts. The rewards will be added to the business account as credit and withdrawn at any time using the original credit card used for signup. This offer is temporary and subject to change or cancellation without prior notice. This offer is applied to the Premium plan only.
VIP:
In the VIP plan, Sirkle manages all advertising for the business described in detail on Sirkle's website www.sirkle.com. In addition, Sirkle provides technical support and customer service via email and Internal Sirkle Messaging in the plan.
Termination of Business Plan
Businesses on any plan can terminate their account at any time without notice. If a business terminates its account, the business agrees that its profile will be removed immediately upon Sirkle’s receipt of the Member’s notice of termination. Business profiles may contain business followers, promotional eGift Cards, eCoupons, landing pages, logos, pictures, website, and any other information the business provided to set up the business profile. The business agrees that after account termination, the business profile will be permanently removed and cannot be restored. The business understands that it bears the risk of any customer, client, or individual Member’s promotional items including eGift Cards eCoupons that were generated by the business.
Business Members’ Responsibilities
Businesses are responsible for all postings and all postings shall abide by the following rules and guidelines:
Members (Individuals)
Following a Business
Business added by Individual Members and customers of Business Members:
An individual can add a business to his/her profile to “Businesses I Follow”. Once added, the business will be visible to the individual’s friends and maybe listed in Sirkle’s local business database. If so, the individual must agree to provide accurate information about the business and provide information about the business and not personal information about the business owner. The individual also agrees that it is his/her responsibility to inform the business directly before adding the information to Sirkle’s business directory. The added business also agree that Sirkle has no control over the information provided by the individual. Sirkle will not be liable for those communications between individuals and businesses. If the business does not agree with the listing, the business may have to contact the individual to “delete” the business from Sirkle’s local business database or contact Sirkle.
Availability of Promotional Items to Members.
The number of promotional eGift Cards or eCoupons may be limited when generated by a business, and they also carry an expiration date. Sirkle is not responsible if all eGift Cards or eCoupons are claimed, or the expiration date is reached. Individual Members, Sirkle Users, and/or Business Members’ customers/clients must understand all promotional eGift Cards and eCoupons are offered on a first-come-first-served basis.
Individual Members’ Responsibilities
