Terms of Service

1. Accounts

1.1 Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account on Litskill. If you are under 18, you may only use the Services with the involvement and consent of a parent or guardian.

1.2 Account Security

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and account. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your account.

1.3 One Account Per User

You may not maintain multiple accounts to abuse referral systems or platform features.

1.4 Electronic Communications

By using the Services, you consent to receive electronic communications from us (for example, emails, in-app notifications, and notices posted in your dashboard) relating to your account, purchases, payouts, and platform updates.

1.5 Privacy Policy

Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect and use personal data. By using the Services, you acknowledge that you have read it.

2. Instructor Terms

These terms apply to all users who sign up to publish courses ("Instructors").

2.1 License to Litskill

You retain all ownership rights to the content you upload. However, by submitting content, you grant Litskill a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, market, distribute, and sub-license your content to students.

2.2 Revenue Share & Commissions

Litskill operates on a dynamic revenue-share model based on the source of the sale:

• Organic Sales (Platform-Driven): For sales where the student finds your course through Litskill's marketing or search, you receive 50% of the Net Amount, and Litskill retains 50%.
• Instructor Referral Sales (Self-Marketing): For sales where the student purchases via your unique referral link/coupon, you receive 85% of the Net Amount, and Litskill retains 15% (which covers transaction and hosting fees).
• Founding Instructor First-Year Bonus: Approved founding instructors receive 90% of the Net Amount on every sale for their first 12 months from signup. After this first-year period ends, earnings automatically revert to the standard commission rates above.

2.2.2 Transaction Fees & Net Amount

Students pay through our payment partners. Before we calculate the revenue share between you and Litskill, the payment partner transaction fees are deducted from the student’s gross payment to arrive at the Net Amount.

• Pesapal (Kenya payments): transaction fee is 3.5% of the gross sale amount.
• Lemon Squeezy (non-Kenya payments): transaction fee is 5% of the gross sale amount plus a $0.50 fixed fee per transaction.

After the transaction fees are deducted, the resulting Net Amount is split according to the applicable commission rate (for example, 85% to you for instructor referral sales).

2.2.3 Premium Featured Course Fees

When you purchase a Featured Course premium placement, the payment partner transaction fees are deducted first, then Litskill retains the remaining Net Amount (the instructor receives 0% for featured placements).

2.2.1 Free Course Certification Fees

For free courses published at a USD 0.00 base price, students may audit the video content at no cost. However, a "Verified Professional Certificate" and access to the "Milestone Project" require a one-time upgrade fee of $8 USD. For these final project upgrade and certificate transactions, transaction fees are deducted first to arrive at the Net Amount, then the Instructor receives 30% commission of the Net Amount and Litskill retains 70% to cover infrastructure and AI verification costs.

2.3 Pricing

You are responsible for setting the base price of your course. Litskill reserves the right to include your course in site-wide promotional sales unless you opt-out in your dashboard settings.

2.4 Instructor Payments

Instructors earn revenue from course sales and certificate fees as per our revenue sharing model. Payouts are processed monthly for eligible accounts.

• Minimum Payout: Your balance must reach at least USD 10 to be eligible for payout.
• Payout Schedule: Payouts are processed on the 28th of every month.
• Refund Hold Window: For payout safety, recent sales may be held for up to 7 days to account for eligible refund requests before they become payoutable.
• Withholding Tax: A 5% Withholding Tax (WHT) is deducted where required by applicable law.
• Payout Processing Fee (Kenya): A flat fee (USD equivalent, converted at payout time) is charged per payout transaction for Kenyan instructors.
• Payout Processing Fee (Rest of World): Fees vary by payout provider, destination country, and payment rail, and may be deducted from the payout amount.

2.5 Appointment as Limited Payment Collection Agent

2.6 Payment Security & Payouts

• Safe Storage: All funds paid by students for your courses are received and held by our payment partner, Pesapal. As a CBK-regulated entity, Pesapal helps ensure funds are handled in a secure, compliant environment.
• Processing Payouts: Payouts are processed through our supported payout rails and providers based on your country and selected method.
• Minimum Threshold: A minimum balance of USD 10 is required to initiate a payout. Balances below this amount roll over to the next cycle.
• Kenya Fee: Kenyan instructor payouts are charged a flat (USD equivalent, converted at payout time) processing fee per payout transaction.
• International Fees: Payout fees for instructors outside Kenya vary depending on provider and destination and will be applied accordingly.

2.7 Practical-First Teaching Guidelines

Litskill is a practical-first learning platform. All courses must prioritize hands-on teaching over theory. As an instructor, you are required to follow these guidelines:

• Real, Practical Demonstrations: Every course must include real, practical demonstrations (screen recordings, walkthroughs, case studies, or real projects).
• Real-World Projects: Each course should have at least 1–3 real-world projects or assignments that students can complete.
• Minimal Theory: Theory should be minimal — focus on actionable steps, examples, templates, and demonstrations.
• Downloadable Resources: Instructors must provide downloadable resources like templates, worksheets, project files, or code.
• Learn-by-Doing Approach: All lessons must follow a "learn-by-doing" approach.

Failure to adhere to these practical-first guidelines may result in course rejection or removal from the platform.

2.8 Quality Control & Category Limits

• Initial Limit: New instructors are limited to 2 distinct subject categories by default. This means you can create unlimited courses within your authorized categories, but you cannot teach in more than 2 different categories simultaneously.
• Category Expansion: If you wish to teach in additional categories beyond your initial limit, you must submit a "Category Expansion Request" through your course creation dashboard. You will be required to provide proof of expertise, including:
  • Relevant work experience or professional background
  • Educational qualifications or certifications
  • Portfolio or examples of your work in that category
  • Any other evidence demonstrating your expertise
• Admin Review: All category expansion requests are reviewed by Litskill administrators. Approval is at our sole discretion based on the quality and relevance of your expertise demonstration.
• Verified Experts: Instructors who demonstrate exceptional expertise across multiple categories may be granted "Verified Expert" status, which allows them to teach in unlimited categories without restriction.
• Enforcement: Attempting to create courses in categories beyond your authorized limit will result in the course creation being blocked. You will receive a notification directing you to submit a category expansion request if you wish to teach in that category.
• Purpose: This policy ensures that students receive high-quality instruction from instructors who have genuine expertise in their chosen subject areas, preventing low-quality course spam across unrelated categories.

Example: If you teach courses in "Technology" and "Business" (2 categories), you cannot create a course in "Health & Fitness" until you submit and receive approval for a category expansion request.

2.9 Project Verification & AI Mentorship

Litskill uses proprietary AI technology (including third-party APIs like Groq) to review and provide feedback on "Milestone Projects."

• Review Queue: You acknowledge that project verification is not instantaneous and is subject to a mandatory professional review queue (typically 1 hour).
• Non-Human Review: You agree that initial project validation and feedback are generated by AI. While we strive for accuracy, Litskill does not guarantee the AI feedback is error-free or equivalent to human professional advice.
• Final Authority: Litskill reserves the right to manually override AI decisions regarding project passing or failure.

3. Student Terms

These terms apply to all users who enroll in courses ("Students").

3.1 License to View

When you buy a course, you get a license to view it via the Litskill Services. You do not own the video file. You may not resell, redistribute, or illegally download the content.

3.2 Lifetime Access

Litskill grants you lifetime access to purchased courses, provided the content is not removed for legal reasons.

3.3 Refunds

Litskill offers refunds on eligible course purchases under the following conditions:

• Refund Window: students may request a refund within 7 days of the original purchase date. Refund requests submitted after this period will not be accepted.
• Course Completion Requirement: refunds are granted only if the student has completed less than 30% of the course. Course progress is tracked automatically by the platform.
• One Refund Per Course: each student may request a refund for a particular course only once. Multiple refund requests for the same course are not permitted.
• Payment Method Rules: refunds are processed using the original payment method. Mobile payments (e.g., PesaPal M‑Pesa) may only support full refunds, while card or online payments may support partial or full refunds as allowed by the provider.
• Processing Time: refunds may take up to 5 business days to appear in the student’s bank or mobile wallet statement, depending on the payment provider.
• Exceptions & Manual Review: Litskill reserves the right to deny a refund if more than 30% of the course has been completed, or if there is evidence of abuse (such as completing most of the content and then requesting a refund). In cases involving technical issues or disputes, refunds may be reviewed and processed manually at Litskill’s discretion.
• Platform Fees & Instructor Earnings: when a refund is approved, the refund amount returned to the student is the amount they paid. Instructor earnings and platform fees for that transaction are automatically adjusted in Litskill’s internal ledger to reflect the refund.

3.4 Digital Verification

Every Litskill "Verified Professional Certificate" is issued with a unique Identification Number and a QR Code. You grant Litskill permission to host a public verification page for your credential. This allows third-party employers to verify your achievement. Litskill is not responsible for any employment decisions made based on these certificates.

3.5 Payments, Chargebacks & Taxes

• Payment Processing: Payments are processed through third-party payment providers. We do not store your full card details.
• Chargebacks/Disputes: If you initiate a chargeback or payment dispute, we may suspend access to the related purchase while the dispute is being investigated, and we may request additional information from you.
• Taxes/Fees: Prices may include or exclude applicable taxes, levies, or processing fees depending on your payment method and location. Any bank/mobile money provider fees are your responsibility unless we explicitly state otherwise.

4. Prohibited Content & Behavior

You agree not to upload or post content that:

• Promotes illegal activities, hate speech, violence, or discrimination.
• Infringes on the intellectual property rights of others (No piracy).
• Contains sexually explicit material.
• Attempts to circumvent the platform (e.g., posting links asking students to pay you directly via M-Pesa outside of Litskill).
• Attempts to probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of our systems, or bypass any security or access controls.
• Uses automated means (bots/scrapers) to access the Services in a way that materially impacts platform performance or violates applicable law.

Violation of these rules will result in immediate account termination and forfeiture of any unpaid earnings.

4.2 Academic Integrity & Anti-Fraud

Litskill maintains a zero-tolerance policy for fraudulent project submissions (e.g., uploading blank files, unrelated documents, or plagiarized work).

• The Three-Strike Rule: If a student submits non-compliant materials, they will receive two (2) warnings.
• Temporary Suspension: Upon a third (3rd) non-compliant submission for a single course, the student's access to that specific course project will be suspended for 48 hours.
• Revocation: Litskill reserves the right to revoke any certificate if subsequent audits reveal the project submission was fraudulent, even after the certificate was issued.

4.3 Intellectual Property (IP) & Takedowns

You may only upload content that is yours (or that you have permission to use).

Do not copy or re-upload videos, audio, text, images, or course materials from other platforms (for example YouTube or other websites) unless you have a valid license or written permission.

If you upload copyrighted content without rights, you are responsible. We may remove the content and suspend or terminate accounts when needed.

If you believe content on the Services infringes your copyright or other IP rights, contact us at support@litskill.com with sufficient information for us to investigate and, where appropriate, remove the content.

4.4 User Content & Permissions

“User Content” includes course materials, assignments, project submissions, reviews, comments, profile information, and other content you upload or submit. You retain ownership of your User Content, but you grant Litskill the permissions necessary to operate the Services, including to host, store, reproduce, distribute, display, and process User Content for platform functionality (such as course delivery, certificate verification, integrity checks, and providing feedback features).

5. Disclaimers & Limitation of Liability

5.1 "As Is" Service

The Services are provided on an "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" basis. We do not guarantee that the platform will be available at all times or error-free.

5.2 No Earnings Guarantee

Litskill makes no guarantee that Instructors will earn any specific amount of money.

5.3 Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Litskill shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages (including loss of data or profits) arising out of your use of the Service.

6. Governing Law & Dispute Resolution

6.1 Jurisdiction

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Kenya.

6.2 Dispute Resolution

Any dispute arising under these Terms shall be resolved through amicable negotiation. If negotiation fails, the dispute shall be referred to arbitration in Nairobi, Kenya.

7. Changes to Terms

We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time. If we make material changes (e.g., changing the commission rate), we will notify you via email or a prominent notice on the Dashboard. Continued use of the Service after changes constitutes acceptance.

8. Termination

We may suspend or terminate access to the Services if we believe you have violated these Terms, abused the platform, or created risk for Litskill, other users, or third parties. You may stop using the Services at any time. Certain provisions of these Terms survive termination, including intellectual property, disclaimers, limitation of liability, and dispute resolution.

9. Contact Us