Terms of Service

Last updated: 26 June 2026

Terms of Service

Effective date: 13 May 2026 Last updated: 13 May 2026 Version: 3.3

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of Σmind, the platform at sumofmind.co.uk. They are a legally binding agreement between you and Σmind ("we", "us", "our").

By creating an account or using the platform you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use Σmind.

This document is the master terms. Some activities have their own terms which sit alongside these:

If a sub-document conflicts with these master Terms on a topic the sub-document covers, the sub-document wins.

1. Who we are and how to contact us

Σmind is the trading name of a UK-based platform at sumofmind.co.uk (and sumofmind.com, which mirrors the same service).

Trader: Sum of Mind Ltd, a private limited company registered in England and Wales. Company number: 17217848 Place of registration: England and Wales

Registered office and trading address: SUM OF MIND LTD 124 City Road London EC1V 2NX United Kingdom

VAT registration number: [to be added once company VAT registration is in place]

For… Email
Anything, including billing, account questions, refund requests support@sumofmind.co.uk
Privacy and data subject rights support@sumofmind.co.uk
Copyright takedowns dmca@sumofmind.co.uk

We also operate info@sumofmind.co.uk, sales@sumofmind.co.uk and admin@sumofmind.co.uk for general operational mail. The mailboxes above are the canonical points of contact for legal and data-protection enquiries.

2. Service availability and early-stage notice

Σmind launched publicly in May 2026. The product is mature enough that we charge for it, but the surface is still evolving and bugs do occur.

We provide the platform on an "as is and as available" basis, except where consumer law gives you a higher protection (which it usually does in the UK — see below). We make reasonable efforts to:

  • keep the platform online;
  • fix bugs and security issues promptly;
  • give notice before significant feature changes.

We do not promise:

  • uninterrupted availability or a specific uptime;
  • that every feature works on every device, browser or screen size;
  • that the platform is suitable for every possible use you have in mind.

Where you use Σmind to earn income (tips, paid content, or otherwise), you accept that the platform's availability is not guaranteed and that any earnings you make are inherently variable. Section 15.3 sets out the loss categories we exclude in relation to availability and earnings.

Nothing in this section limits your statutory rights as a consumer or our duties under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. See section 14.

3. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old to register. By using Σmind you confirm:

  • you are 18 or over;
  • you have the legal capacity to enter into these Terms;
  • you are not banned from using the platform under applicable law (e.g. UK / UN sanctions lists).

We rely on your self-declaration and may suspend an account where there is reasonable cause to doubt eligibility.

4. Your account

4.1 Creating and securing your account

When you register, you agree to:

  • give accurate and current information;
  • choose a strong password and keep it secret;
  • use two-factor authentication where it is available, especially if you use the Creator Monetisation features;
  • keep your contact email up to date;
  • be responsible for everything done with your account.

We will never ask for your password by email.

4.2 Authentication options

We support email + password, social sign-in (Google, Facebook — where enabled), email-based two-factor codes, authenticator-app TOTP, and hardware security keys / passkeys. Administrative accounts have a third factor.

4.3 Closing your account

You can close your account from settings at any time. We hold the account in a 30-day grace period before destroying personal data. See Privacy Policy §10 for what is kept and why.

We can suspend or close your account if you materially breach these Terms, the Acceptable Use Policy, or if we are required to by law. Where it is reasonable, we will give you notice and a chance to fix the problem first.

5. Acceptable use

The full rules are in our Acceptable Use Policy. At a high level:

  • Be honest: don't impersonate others, don't pretend to be a Σmind staff member, don't use the platform for fraud.
  • Respect rights: don't post things you don't have the right to post (copyright, trade marks, personal data of others, defamation).
  • Be safe: no harassment, no targeted abuse, no incitement of violence, no content that sexualises children. We comply with the Online Safety Act 2023 — see our Online Safety Compliance Statement.
  • Don't break the platform: no scraping, no automated abuse, no exploiting bugs, no bypassing rate limits.

We can remove content or accounts that breach the rules, normally with notice. Where the breach is illegal or causes immediate harm, we may act first and explain after.

6. Your content

6.1 You own it

You keep the copyright in everything you post (posts, shorts, comments, book reviews, images, surveys, etc.).

6.2 The licence you give us

To run the service, by posting content you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, transmit, adapt, sublicense (to our service providers), and display your content on Σmind, in our marketing of Σmind, and in features that interact with your content (e.g. excerpts in feeds, thumbnails, RSS, search results, the OG image renderer).

The licence ends when you delete the content or your account, except for:

  • copies that other users have already received (e.g. quoted in a comment);
  • backup copies, until they cycle out (typically within 35 days);
  • copies retained for legal compliance, dispute resolution, or to defend legal claims;
  • where another user has already paid to access content you authored — in that case the buyer keeps access, and we keep enough of a record to honour their purchase, until the content is removed by you (in which case existing buyers retain a non-revocable historic-access record).

6.3 Moral rights and authorship

We respect your moral rights of authorship under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (UK CDPA 1988). When you publish, you can assert your right of paternity and right of integrity; we display the assertion in the reading view.

6.4 Originality and attribution

When you publish a post or short, you confirm that the content is your original work or that you have the right to publish it. You agree not to mis-attribute someone else's work as your own.

6.5 Our removal rights

We can take down content that:

  • breaches these Terms, the Acceptable Use Policy, or the law;
  • is the subject of a valid takedown notice (see our Copyright takedown procedure);
  • poses immediate risk to users, our platform, or third parties.

We will normally notify the author. We give a counter-notice route for valid takedowns.

7. Our intellectual property

The Σmind name, "Σ" symbol, logo, the platform's user interface, code, copy, and any branding we use are owned by us or licensed to us.

You can quote, reference and link to Σmind. You can't use our name or branding to imply we endorse you, your content or your business without our written agreement. You can't copy our code or our content (other than your own contributions) for republication.

8. Memberships

Paid memberships are governed by the Membership Terms.

Highlights:

  • Two paid tiers: Fellow and Scholar (see Membership Terms for current prices and benefits).
  • Auto-renewing monthly or annual.
  • 14-day cooling-off period with full refund.
  • Annual plans get a pro-rata refund on early cancellation.
  • 7-day and 1-day renewal reminder notices before each charge.

If anything in this section conflicts with the Membership Terms, the Membership Terms control.

9. Shop and merchandise

Shop purchases are governed by the Shop Terms and the Refunds & Returns Policy.

Highlights:

  • All shop products are made to order by Printful, our print-on-demand fulfilment partner. We are the seller; Printful manufactures and ships.
  • You contact us, not Printful, with any issue.
  • 30-day claim window for damaged, defective, misprinted or wrong-item orders, with photo evidence.
  • Made-to-order items are not subject to the 14-day "change of mind" cancellation right under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, but your statutory right to receive goods that match the description and are of satisfactory quality (Consumer Rights Act 2015) is unaffected.

10. Tipping and paid content (Creator Monetisation)

Σmind enables creators to receive tips and sell paid content through Stripe Connect.

10.1 Our role — agency, not principal

When you tip a creator or buy paid content, the contract for that transaction is between you and the creator. Σmind acts as the creator's commercial agent for the limited purpose of collecting the payment on the creator's behalf and remitting the creator's share through Stripe Connect. Σmind is not the seller of the paid content and is not a party to the tip. The creator is the supplier for the purposes of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 in respect of the content itself.

10.2 What Σmind charges

Σmind's commission is 10% of each tip and 15% of each paid-content sale. The creator's share (90% / 85% respectively, less Stripe's processing fees on the creator side) is routed by Stripe Connect directly to the creator's connected account and is never received by Σmind. Σmind's only revenue from these transactions is the commission.

10.3 Creator obligations

Creators must complete Stripe Connect Express onboarding, verify their identity through Stripe, be at least 18 and able to lawfully receive payment in their jurisdiction, and are solely responsible for declaring their earnings to HMRC (or the equivalent authority where they live) and paying any tax due. Σmind does not withhold tax on creator earnings.

10.4 Toggles and availability

Both features sit behind admin-controlled toggles and may be disabled or paused, in whole or for a specific creator, at our discretion. Where we delay rolling them out at launch, an in-app banner will say so.

The standard buyer↔creator transaction terms — what the buyer gets, the standard licence, the refund and chargeback mechanics, the choice of law for buyer–creator disputes — are set out in the Creator Marketplace Terms. Creators accept these at Stripe Connect onboarding; buyers accept them at first paid-content purchase. Detailed pricing rules and Σmind-facing refund handling are set out in Membership Terms §8.

11. Crypto donations

You can send a one-off donation in a supported cryptocurrency (BTC, ETH, USDT, USDC, LTC, BCH, DOGE, XMR, SOL, ADA, BNB) via NOWPayments. Donations are voluntary, support Σmind directly, and unlock no specific feature or membership tier.

Crypto donations are not refundable once received and confirmed on the relevant blockchain — we have no technical means to reverse a confirmed transaction.

12. Founding Member programme

The launch period uses an invitation-only model. The full rules are in the Founding Member Programme Terms.

Highlights:

  • Some users have invitation codes that grant a 90-day Scholar trial and 5 personal codes.
  • After the trial, the account auto-downgrades to Free unless you start a paid membership.
  • Lifetime "Founding Member" cosmetic badge.
  • 1 month of additional trial for every 5 redemptions of your personal codes.
  • No lifetime free tier and no recurring rewards.

13. Communications

We send transactional emails that are necessary to provide the service: account verification, security alerts, password resets, receipts, refund notifications, renewal reminders, takedown notices, and similar. You cannot opt out of transactional emails while you have an active account, because they are necessary to perform our contract with you.

We do not auto-subscribe you to marketing newsletters. If we introduce one, we will ask for your specific opt-in.

14. Your statutory rights as a consumer

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes statutory rights you have as a consumer in the UK (or in the EU/EEA where local law applies). Specifically:

  • Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA 2015) — physical merchandise must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose, and as described. Digital content must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose, and as described. Services must be performed with reasonable care and skill.
  • Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (CCR 2013) — you have a 14-day right of withdrawal for distance contracts, with the exceptions for digital content (where you have asked for immediate access and acknowledged the loss of the right) and for personalised / made-to-order goods.
  • Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA 2024) — auto-renewing subscriptions get pre-renewal reminders and easy-out cancellation; we comply.

The Refunds & Returns Policy maps each statutory right to the practical steps for claiming it.

15. Liability

15.1 What we never exclude

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability for:

  • death or personal injury caused by our negligence;
  • fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation;
  • breach of the implied terms in sections 9–11, 13–14 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (goods and digital content);
  • breach of the implied term in section 49 CRA 2015 (services performed with reasonable care and skill);
  • breach of section 12 Sale of Goods Act 1979 (title and quiet possession), where applicable;
  • defective products under the Consumer Protection Act 1987;
  • any other liability that cannot be excluded under English law.

15.2 What we limit (to the extent the law permits)

Subject to section 15.1, our total liability to you for any claim arising under or in connection with these Terms is capped at the greater of:

  • £100; or
  • the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim; or
  • the amount of the specific transaction in dispute.

15.3 What we exclude (to the extent the law permits)

Subject to section 15.1, we are not liable to you — whether you use Σmind as a reader, member, creator, or in any other capacity — for any of the following, however arising (including in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise):

  • loss of profits, sales, revenue, business, or anticipated earnings (including tips and paid-content sales that would have occurred but for the event complained of);
  • business interruption, anticipated savings, or wasted expenditure;
  • loss of opportunity, goodwill, audience, followers, or reputation;
  • any indirect, special or consequential loss;
  • any loss arising from: platform downtime, degraded performance, scheduled or unscheduled maintenance, feature changes or removal, content takedowns or account actions taken in good faith under these Terms or the Acceptable Use Policy, third-party service failures (including Stripe, Stripe Connect payout schedules and holds, hosting, CDN or email providers), or events covered by section 20.6 (force majeure).

15.4 Reasonableness

Our liability cap reflects:

  • the price you pay (including features that are free of charge);
  • that you can keep your own back-up copies of content you create;
  • the availability of insurance;
  • that we operate as a small UK business.

16. Indemnity (your conduct)

You agree to indemnify Σmind, its directors, employees and contractors against any claims, losses, damages and reasonable legal costs that arise from:

  • your breach of these Terms or the Acceptable Use Policy;
  • your content (including infringement of third-party IP or defamation);
  • tax obligations on income you earn through Σmind's Creator Monetisation features.

This indemnity does not apply to claims caused by our own breach or negligence.

17. Suspension and termination

17.1 By you

Cancel a membership and / or close your account from settings, at any time. See section 4.3 above and the Membership Terms.

17.2 By us

We may suspend or close your account where:

  • you materially breach these Terms or the Acceptable Use Policy;
  • you engage in fraud or chargeback abuse;
  • we are required by law to do so;
  • continuing the relationship presents an unacceptable risk to other users or to us.

Where it is reasonable, we will give you notice and a chance to remedy. For serious or urgent breaches we may act immediately and explain afterwards.

17.3 Effect of termination

After termination:

  • your right to use the platform ends;
  • pending creator earnings are paid out per Stripe's normal schedule;
  • order, payment and tax records are retained as set out in the Data Retention Schedule;
  • your personal data is deleted at the end of the deletion grace period (see Privacy Policy §10);
  • the sections that should survive (IP, liability, indemnity, dispute resolution, governing law) survive.

18. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time:

  • We update the "Last updated" date and version number at the top.
  • For material changes, we email registered users in advance and may require you to re-accept the Terms before continuing to use the platform.
  • Continued use of the platform after a non-material change is taken to be acceptance of the change.

We keep historical versions on file and can send you the version that was in force on a particular date if you ask.

19. Disputes

19.1 First, talk to us

If you have a problem, please contact us first:

  • support@sumofmind.co.uk for billing, refund or general issues;
  • the Complaints Procedure for a formal complaint.

We acknowledge complaints within 5 working days and aim to resolve within 30 days.

19.2 Alternative dispute resolution

If we cannot resolve your complaint internally, you may:

  • bring the matter to a court (see section 19.3); or
  • use an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) provider. We will tell you in our final response which UK-certified ADR providers we are willing to use, but ADR is voluntary.

We will not deny you the option of going to court — ADR is in addition to, not instead of, your right to litigate.

19.3 Court and governing law

These Terms and any dispute relating to them are governed by the law of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction.

If you are a consumer resident in another part of the United Kingdom, you may bring proceedings in the courts of that part. If you are a consumer resident in the EU/EEA, you may also bring proceedings in the courts of your country of residence, and the consumer-protection laws of that country apply where they give you a higher protection than English law.

19.4 Time limits

Most contract claims under English law must be brought within 6 years of the breach (Limitation Act 1980).

20. Other terms

20.1 Whole agreement

These Terms, plus the sub-documents listed at the top, are the whole agreement between you and Σmind on their subject matter, and replace any earlier discussions or drafts. We have not relied on any statement that is not in these documents, except for fraudulent misrepresentation.

20.2 Severability

If a court finds any part of these Terms unenforceable, the rest stays in force.

20.3 No waiver

If we don't enforce a right under these Terms straight away, we don't lose it.

20.4 Assignment

You can't transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms without our written agreement. We can transfer ours — for example, to a successor or affiliate as part of a corporate transaction — without affecting your rights under these Terms.

20.5 No partnership

These Terms don't create a partnership, joint venture, agency or employment relationship.

20.6 Force majeure

Neither party is liable for any delay or failure to perform caused by events beyond its reasonable control, including (without limitation) internet, hosting or CDN outages; payment processor failure, hold or suspension (including Stripe and Stripe Connect); cyber-attack or DDoS; failure of upstream AI providers; power or telecoms failure; epidemic or pandemic; industrial action; natural disasters; war, terrorism or civil disturbance; and changes in law or regulator action. Where the force-majeure event continues for more than 30 days, either party may terminate on written notice.

20.7 Notices

We can give you notice by email to your registered address, by in-app banner or notification, or (in unusual cases) by post.

You can give us notice by email to support@sumofmind.co.uk.

20.8 Survival

Sections that by their nature should survive termination — including IP, liability, indemnity, governing law, dispute resolution, and the data-protection obligations in the Privacy Policy — survive.

21. Summary

This is a short summary for convenience. The full text above controls.

  • You must be 18+ to use Σmind.
  • You own your content; we have a licence to display it on the platform.
  • We sell memberships (Stripe) and merchandise (Stripe / PayPal, fulfilled by Printful).
  • You have UK statutory consumer rights — including 14 days to cancel a membership and statutory remedies for faulty goods.
  • We don't sell your personal data.
  • We're based in the UK; English law applies.
  • Talk to us first when something goes wrong: support@sumofmind.co.uk.