Bet You Didn’t Read These: Circle.so’s Membership Terms of Service
AND HOW TO GET AROUND THEM WITH YOUR OWN MEMBERSHIP LEGAL TERMS
Over at my other business, Soulward, we’re prepping for our first-ever in-person event. And part of that event experience is creating a virtual community.
We agreed that Circle would be the perfect platform, but as I was building it out I noticed…
Circle has a Legal Terms template it puts in there for you. (Without asking. Rude.)
And it has a lot of terms that you agree to if there’s a dispute between you and any of your community members.
Honestly… it surprised me.
So today I’m going to pull back the curtain and tell you about
a) the most surprising legal terms in those we-did-it-for-you membership terms Circle created; and
b) how to get around them and establish your own terms.
I’m Maria Spear Ollis, aka The Lunar Lawyer, and I’m going to shine some light on Circle.so’s legal terms for its memberships.
Surprising Thing 1: You’re bound to New York law
Even if you’re not headquartered there.
Even if you don’t live there.
Even if your members don’t live there.
Per these legal terms between you and your members, you’re bound to New York state law.
(Why doesn’t Circle ask you where you’re located before doing this? Not sure.)
So, we’ve gotta change that. (I’ll tell you how in a minute.)
Surprising Thing 2: Your members can cancel anytime
And I quote, your members may cancel anytime ““by using the mechanism designated in the Community or contacting customer service.”
This may not be a big deal to you if you want your members to be able to cancel anytime.
But what if they’ve paid in full for a year, and you have a “no refunds” policy?
What if they’re on a payment plan, and they cancel per Circle’s terms, but they still have a few installment payments left?
And what if you haven’t designated your “mechanism” anywhere in your community? (“Mechanism?” Why “mechanism”?)
This term won’t do at all. You want a cancellation policy that speaks to your unique business and your payment structure.
Surprising Thing 3: Ready to go to arbitration and pay some big bucks?
Yep. Circle’s template requries you to go to arbitration if there’s a dispute between you and a member. (So, no trial by jury for you.)
AND it requires you to pay $10,000 to your member if (and bear with me here)…
the arbitrator awards [the member] an amount higher than the last written settlement amount offered by [you] before an arbitrator was selected.
(If the arbitrator’s amount was higher than $10k, you have to pay that higher amount.)
WOOF.
Surprising Thing 4: These legal terms aren’t easy to find
I’ll say it again to be clear: I love Circle. To me, it’s a lot easier to get around than Mighty Networks.
But I don’t like that they’ve added these legal terms without very clearly saying so. This is a document between YOU and your MEMBERS; not a document between you and Circle!
Your members will be prompted to check the box and agree when they sign in, but you might have a heck of a time finding them.
Never fear — The Lunar Lawyer is here!
How to find the Terms of Service in Circle
First, when logged in as an admin, you’ll go to “Settings” on the lefthand menu.
Then, you’ll scroll down to “legal,” where you’ll have the option to add terms as Exhibit A.
As far as what to put in that “Additional terms to the terms of service” field? You’re getting a little sneak peek here. But my madlibs-style, mess-up-proof Membership Terms and Conditions template does all of the thinking for you. (It even plugs in Circle or Mighty Networks or even Facebook-specific terms for you.)
Conclusion
Memberships are an incredible way to scale your business. And Circle is so easy to navigate. But if you’re going to rely on a platform’s template, I urge you to a) read that template and/or b) replace it with Membership Legal Terms that are customized to you and the way you do business. (Like these.)