Buddy terms

Last updated:

Draft: not yet reviewed by a lawyer. This document describes how Lissn is actually built and intended to operate, so it is a realistic starting point rather than boilerplate. It still must be reviewed and finalised by qualified counsel, and every [SQUARE BRACKET] placeholder filled in with the real operating-entity details, before Lissn is offered to the public.

These terms apply if you listen on Lissn as a Buddy. They're in addition to the Terms of Service and Community Guidelines.

1. You are an independent contractor

You are not an employee of Lissn. There is no salary, no guaranteed volume of sessions, and no employment benefits. You decide when you're available, which sessions you accept, and what you charge (within the platform's range). You are responsible for your own taxes.

2. Becoming a Buddy

Before you can take a session you must: be 18 or older, pass the empathy screening, complete the training module, and accept the code of conduct. Lissn reviews and approves each application and may decline one without being obliged to give a detailed reason.

3. What you are and are not doing

You are offering peer emotional support: listening, and sharing your own lived experience where it helps.

You are not providing therapy, counselling, diagnosis, or medical advice, and you must not present yourself as qualified to. If someone needs clinical care, direct them to the professional-help resources in the app.

4. Money

You set your per-session rate within the platform's permitted range.
Lissn retains a 25% commission on the session price.
Tips are yours in full. Lissn takes 0% of tips.
A Seeker gets one free intro session on Lissn in total, not one with every Buddy who offers them. Somebody who has already used theirs pays your normal rate, and your profile will not advertise a free session to them. A free intro is always 15 minutes, whatever length the Seeker picks.
You set how many free sessions you will give in a day, and the default is two. Once you have given that many, you stay bookable at your usual rate for the rest of the day and we stop showing you as free. Sessions that were cancelled do not count against it. Your time is yours to give, and it is not ours to give away on your behalf.
If you offer a free intro session, it is at ₹0, a choice you make to attract first-time Seekers, and Lissn does not reimburse it.
Earnings accrue per completed session and are paid out on the schedule shown in your dashboard, to the account you register. You are responsible for the accuracy of those details.
Where a Seeker is refunded for a session under the Refunds policy, the corresponding earning is reversed. Where the refund is because of Lissn's technical failure, it is not.

5. Confidentiality

What you hear in a session stays in the session. You may not repeat, publish, or share it, including anonymised, outside the platform. The exceptions are: escalating a safety concern through Lissn, and where the law requires disclosure. This is a contractual duty; it is not the legal privilege a licensed therapist has, and you should not describe it to a Seeker as if it were.

6. Safety obligations

Follow the crisis protocol when it is triggered. Share the helplines. Do not attempt to manage an acute crisis yourself.
Report concerning behaviour, including where you are the one being harmed.
Never arrange to meet a Seeker in person or move the conversation off-platform.
Take yourself offline when you are not in a state to listen well. You will not be penalised in ranking for doing so.

7. Ratings and visibility

Seekers rate sessions. Ratings affect where you appear in discovery. New Buddies get a "New & Rising" boost for their first few sessions so a cold start doesn't make it impossible to get going. Attempting to manipulate ratings, whether by self-booking, coordinated reviews, or pressuring a Seeker for a rating, leads to removal.

8. Deactivation

You may stop at any time by setting yourself unavailable or deleting your account. Lissn may deactivate a Buddy account for breach of these terms, the Community Guidelines, or a substantiated safety report. Earnings already accrued for completed sessions are still paid out, except where they relate to fraud. You may appeal via Contact & Grievances.

9. Your own wellbeing

Listening to people in distress has a cost. You are not obliged to accept any session, to stay in one that is harming you, or to be available at any particular time. Ending a session you cannot hold safely is the correct decision, not a failure.