Why no 'Terms of Service' when ordering from professional freelance writers?

My problem is that more and more academic writers conclude that following the established laws or standards are what only companies should worry about. And being a freelance writer means no laws or standards need to be followed.

"...Do you want to improve your grade? Choose a freelance writer who can write a great essay for you and will even instruct you how not to get caught when you submit it as your own."

In the long term it's not good for either side.

Like companies don't promise customers grades.

That's what I'm talking about: your "problem." As a newbie to this site, I was unaware of your "problem," and didn't think it was appropriate or necessary to contextualize my entirely innocuous question as you did.

As I see it, we're all just trying to get by, do some writing, and make some money (those of us who are legitimate, capable writers, anyway). If you think I as an individual freelancer could or should adhere to certain precepts, by all means, feel free to discuss those matters with me. I also welcome any advice you or anyone else might have about which companies operate in the most principled manner, so that I can apply to work for them.

As I noted, I am new here, and until a few days ago I have never had a chance to engage with others who write academic papers, either as freelancers or for essay services. I welcome any and all thoughtful advice and guidance, and welcome open, friendly discussion and debate on issues of importance to writers and to the industry as a whole.

What I find off-putting is the sense that I'm being questioned, challenged, or even insulted before I've even made it all the way in the door and had a chance to hang up my coat.

My "problem" is seeing a bigger picture. I see the example academic research industry as a public beach. I don't have a "problem" with people (ie. writers) who visit the beach and pick up their own litter. But when there are more and more of those who don't do that and assume it's not their responsibility to keep the beach clean, then it's probably not something worth promoting.

Sticking with your analogy, I see this as a public beach where there are local surfers, non-local surfers, and also some genuine dirtbags trolling the beach to steal the wallets from all of our beach towels and who give the whole beach such a bad reputation that the beachgoers we all hope will come to watch us surf might just abandon the beach altogether. The local surfers are all the undisclosed legit essay company reps, employees, and principals; the non-local surfers are all the legit freelance writers; and the genuine dirtbags are all the scam essay companies and "writers" looking to rip off customers.

The local surfers are endlessly picking fights with and trying to embarrass the non-local surfers under totally manufactured excuses and justifications when their only real motivation is simple territoriality and resentment that anybody else just wants to share "their" public beach and surf. What makes it even more ridiculous is that in at least some cases, the locals here know some of the non-locals quite well, because they actually employ them during the week and yet still want to fight them just for surfing "their" waters on the weekends.

Meanwhile, it's the thieving dirtbags who are the ones really ruining this beach for all of us. In my opinion, there's plenty of room on this beach and in these waters for all of us surfers to get along without any conflict and if there's a worthwhile fight to have, it should be against the thieves on the beach and not one another.

Indeed, they do, but I have never seen an American company/site do so.

Your improved analogy is good too..

The analogy is very well expanded and says it all without any bias. Good job FLW! :)

Folks like FLW and ProfessorVerb are the masters of this business. I often enjoy their contributions, and I find them very helpful. They are always very fair-minded and objective, too. I can't tell you how much I have benefitted from their narratives.

I believe a contrary opinion is in order here.

In my book, PV is okay; he contributes based on his experiences as a writer, and also posts based on what this site (think of its name) is supposed to be all about. Also, he has a sense of humor.

FW, on the other hand, contributes his humorless, tedious adver-posts based on a calculated profit margin, derived from poaching confused "clients-to-be" looking for answers on an anti-scam site.

Also, not to reopen old wounds, but I believe only one of these two contributors has been admonished by the site's mods, and is here on a tenuous, conditional basis (hint: this person is also not really a lawyer).

On EssayChat, PV recently referred to me as the only writer he considers possibly better than him. I disagreed, but I'd trust his opinion about me over yours any day. In actuality, I do no more "self-promotion" than anybody else who contributed to this thread and I advertise much less frequently on these types of forums than most writers, including PV, and by a long shot. Your rationale for distinguishing him from me in that regard is ludicrous and just betrays your animosity and very obvious agenda.


I wouldn't call it a "wound"; it's just the same old deliberately false implication that comes outta you, kind of like a psychological "tic" anytime too many other forum members say something positive about me. Ironically, speaking of "wounds," your animosity toward me all started (and continues 2+ years later) in an old thread where someone asked writers for the dumbest essay they were ever asked to write. I mentioned having to write why lowering the drinking age would be a good thing. You responded to that post by arguing that driving drunk is a "skill" best learned early and that I must be "jealous" of people with that skill. Some fun ensued at your expense that (apparently) embarrassed you so much that you've hated me and manufactured opportunities to insult me ever since, despite the fact that I never refer to you in posts or ever quote you except in my responses to your periodic unprovoked attacks. You also called me "grandma" despite the fact that I'm a dude with no kids.

The facts, for anybody interested, are that in 2010, I received an email from the mods indicating that my account was scheduled for termination the next day because they thought I might be here for the sole purpose of defending one particular essay company. I responded that this was not true and that I'd only been defending them because I knew, first-hand, that various accusations were absolutely false, and I said that I had no problem at all agreeing never to discuss that website. The mods actually said that they considered me a valuable contributor to the forum (but I forget the exact phrase they used), and I have never discussed any specific essay company since that day or violated any other TOS. My continued membership here is no more "tenuous" or "conditional" than yours.


I never represented myself as a lawyer. I mentioned having a law degree (in the context of trusting me to know what's a good or bad analogy) and someone else accused me of lying about my degree. So I scanned and posted documentation from NYLS. Enough people here know my name to check with the Alumni Affairs Office at NYLS for themselves (Main # 212-431-2100). I also have a History degree but never claimed to be a historian, either.

One thing I am sure everyone would agree here with is that FLW doesn't talk nonsense. He is focused and committed to his work. His clarity of thought adds to his narrative. He is a man upright.

Another thing that's obvious is that Editor75 hangs on here only to pick fights. He doesn't have any respect for a human being and his character. He only wants cheap attention, and for this purpose he can go to any length whatsoever.

Haha, grandma, I forgot about that. It's because of your style, FW... it's just like when grandma used to use the whole postcard.

Thanks for the memories! If PV did indeed call you a better writer than himself, I am assuming that it was either out of a sense of polite modesty, or booze.

Your laughter above endorses my statement about you; I guess probably the readers would agree to it.

Second, since you've also disgraced PV above, so easily, there is no doubt that your non-serious attitude here is so very evident.

As for my work, I am a true freelance writer; I do not need to seek work with any company because I have plenty of work coming my way regularly, even in the low season -- I don't know about you though. I guess you're still employed with that essay-selling mill you so ardently make references here so regularly, right?

High season, low season, whatever. You always have some excuse.

As for PV, he can answer me himself quite well, if he so chooses-- it would certainly be more appropriate for him to do so than you, as he appears to have grown up in post-Prohibition America, where drinking is appropriately valued as one of civilization's great customs. There's little disgrace or shame about it here, traditionally, as long as things don't get out of hand.

From what I understand about where you're from, saying someone is drinking is tantamount to calling them a bad Muslim. But PV isn't a Muslim at all, and neither am I. Next time, maybe you'll stop and think before you stupidly assume everyone shares your habits and practices.

(waving left hand) Good bye!

Looks like I hit you in the face. Oops! :p

Yes, sniveling ineptitude always makes me sneer.

I think the reason that there isn't a TOS between independent writers and their clients is because the negotiations are done directly with regards to the price of the order, number and duration of possible revision requests, and any other concerns that the students may have. Independent writers cannot have a cookie cutter template for their TOS as their work requirements are more of a case to case basis instead of a uniform need. Therefore, writing an all encompassing TOS would not be appropriate. Besides, independent writers are easier to deal with than the writing companies because the middle man (the company) is eliminated. With that factor missing, negotiating for the paper requirements on both sides becomes easier. It also makes the revision requests (which is usually what the TOS is for) more reasonable as the students know that they will get the best paper possible the first time out and there is no opportunity for them to make money off the same paper through alternative means ( requesting for a revision so that the paper can be sold to a friend or classmate) as the writing company does (they encourage revision requests and financially reward the clients that do so because of the "after sales" benefits). An independent writer creates the perfect paper the first time out. So the TOS isn't really necessary in those cases.

Ok but then no TOS = a lot more risks for a student (buyer) because a freelancer may change their 'terms' on the fly and case by case basis. Basically, if a freelancer plagiarized, he or she may claim that it is now part of the TOS and plagiarizing is allowed etc. Not a good deal if that really happens...

Smiley, after you decided to bring this thread from its grave, you should've at least checked if it was still pertinent. As far as I know, the main actors of this thread DO have a TOS. That includes most writers/companies.

TOS is a good thing to have, necessary even. It tells the customer you understand the process and know where they are coming from. It's also a good way to avoid litigation, isn't it?

First, the TOS of most essay companies don't protect the rights or expectations of the customer as much as they spell out the rights of the essay company; some of them ONLY spell out the rights of the company and none of the rights of customers. Typical essay-company TOS emphasize what the customer may NOT do and what rights the essay company has AGAINST the customer; and most (if not all of them) specify that the essay company owns the copyright in the work (not the customer) and that the essay company can resell the work after a certain amount of time. Some essay-company TOS promise not to disclose the customers identity to third parties or send spam, which no reputable freelancer does, either. As always, the only fair comparison is between "reputable" companies and "reputable" freelancers, not between reputable companies and all freelancers. Major, don't the TOS of your essay company specifically say that your company retains the copyright to all work purchased by your customers?

Second, as far as the issue of "changing terms on the fly" goes, an essay company can change its TOS just as easily as any freelancer by simply editing its TOS. Further, whether it's company TOS or freelance TOS, they can't directly contradict everything expressly warranted on the rest of the website. So, a freelancer whose website promises and refers to providing only original custom writing couldn't use the TOS to contradict that in fine print; and a freelancer would have to do nothing more and nothing less than an essay company to change the TOS to say that plagiarism is "allowed"; so that's just silly to suggest.

Third, as far as typical essay-company TOS go, they actually DISCLAIM any responsibility for plagiarism, which is the exact opposite of "guaranteeing" that the work won't be plagiarized. No need to take my word on any of this, as readers can simply pick any essay company they choose and go read their TOS for themselves. They'll usually find all kinds of language about how all of their work is actually produced by independently-contracted FREELANCE WRITERS and that the essay company provides NO warranty whatsoever that such work is accurate or useful or up to any academic-grade standard, and that the company doesn't give refunds under ANY circumstances and isn't responsible or liable for ANY consequence or harm of any kind suffered by customers from using the product, including late receipt of the product. So it's fascinating that undisclosed essay-company reps actually try to suggest here that essay companies -- that ONLY sell work written by freelance writers in the first place -- are "safer" than some of those same freelance writers whose work they sell because the companies maintain "TOS" that primarily protect the rights of the company and that specifically disclaim any obligations or responsibility to customers. In fact, some of them expressly limit customers' rights in the product to READING the work and "learning" from it and to making no other use of the product whatsoever. Some of them do reference revisions and refunds, but they also typically include extensive language in those clauses that ultimately gives the company the exclusive right to determine whether or not any complaint about the work qualifies for any revision or refund.

Fourth, essay-company TOS usually say that the customer is absolutely prohibited from submitting their work for academic credit and that they may not use the work for any purpose (other than reading and "learning" from it) without explicitly citing the company as a "source," as though any customer would ever pay $40 or more per page just for the right to include "citations" in a paper indicating that an online essay company was the "source" of information cited in the paper. Some of them even go so far as to say that the customer may never claim to anybody to have written the essay, which, of course, is all just part of their effort to create what lawyers call "plausible deniability" that the company is in the business of selling essays that they (obviously) know customers purchase for the sole purpose of doing exactly what their "TOS" prohibit. Customers have professors and assigned textbooks to "read and learn" from; nobody's purchasing a custom-written essay to "read and learn" from what some contracted freelance writer provides to an essay company and then sells to the customer. "Terms of Service" that suggest otherwise insult the intelligence of anybody reading them.

Finally, agreements between customers and writers don't have to be titled "TOS" to protect customers. For example, a simple FAQs page that promises a minimum (or average) word count per page, or original, non-plagiarized work, and free revisions for mistakes serves the exact same function as anything titled "TOS." Reputable freelancers often warrant exactly those things on their websites and I've never known any freelancer who retains the copyright to the work instead of transferring them to the customer or who resells any custom-written essays. In my experience, only essay companies use their TOS to deny the transfer of copyrights of commissioned work and only essay companies use their TOS to limit what their customers may do with the work they provide.

That's why I originally made my own FAQ, to inform clients about what they will get from me, what they can do with the work. Essentially, my TOS is that once the work leaves my computer I am in no way liable for what it's done with it. I didn't go so far as to say what customers cannot do with the work though. You're a lawyer, is that sufficient?

@wordsies
I'm not a practicing lawyer; I just have the degree. My understanding is that simply disclaiming liability like that for what's done with the project is not really sufficient to absolve any of us of legal responsibility, because the applicable standard is whether we "know or should know" that the only real purpose of a custom-written academic essay is to submit it for credit if any prosecutor ever decides that it's an important enough issue to dedicate public resources to pursue. If they did, they probably wouldn't waste their time on the small-time, sole proprietorships of individual writers; they'd probably go after large companies incorporated in their states and taking in multi-millions annually.

There are other more subtle legal reasons that their lawyers make sure they do their best to create plausible deniability; but ultimately, if it ever became an issue in a case, those efforts really stretch the limits of plausibility and credulity when they take thousands of orders every year whose specs make explicit references to what grades their customers expect on their work and equally-explicit requests (often in very broken English) not to write the projects so well that their professors will realize they didn't write their essays. They actually include these types of things in their orders quite regularly, as well as rewrite requests because their essays were written "too well" for anybody to believe they were written by the customer. In those cases, the writer usually responds that the only way to get a rewrite on that basis is to pay for it and they simply place a new order for the same project written less well. When those customers insist on a free rewrite, customer service reps usually step in and back up the writer and if the customer wants to pay for it, they just process the new order like any other order. I never saw one of those orders get rejected because the customer made it inescapably obvious that the work was intended for submission for academic credit. However, what I have seen is company reps reject unpaid demands for rewrites by telling the customer that the request admitted to TOS violations (such as where the customer complained about a bad grade on the essay); but I've never seen it become an issue except where the customer insisted on an unpaid rewrite.

While I have general terms, like most freelancers, I make it a practice to make what is and is not included in a order clear with my clients. A reiteration, I find, is helpful. And most clients don't read all the TOS or FAQ, so this reiteration protects us both... for the most part. ;)

@FreelanceWriter
Thank you for the clarification

Professional writers often have some sort of TOS that they have the client electronically agree to. Clients often ask for the TOS when they cannot find it on the website or, if the writer is a direct hire without a site to refer to. I personally send out the TOS to the client when he asks for a quote on his paper. It is better to inform the student before hand about the agreement. If necessary, I adjust the TOS to suit the student's needs. By doing so, I prove that I am out to protect his interests and not just mine. They often appreciate having an adjustable TOS because it allows both sides to come for a more flexible agreement, which, I have found, both sides work hard to uphold.

Professional freelance writers do not normally publish their terms of service publicly because they prefer to create that on a case to case basis. It will depend upon their negotiations with the client and what the halfway point for both parties are. It is not something that falls under the one size fits all description when the deal is done between an independent writer and a student. It is best to ask the writer to negotiate the terms of service before agreeing to hire him then.

My website has a TOS page, but irrespective of anything specifically under the "TOS" heading, everything represented anywhere on any business website automatically constitutes an element of the applicable TOS, whether or not it's referred to that way. If there's anything unique about a particular project neither covered by the TOS nor addressed elsewhere on the website, that would normally be detailed in the invoice for that project, which (also) automatically becomes part of the TOS. For example, sometimes, there's an agreement to provide an outline, first, and then wait for approval of that outline (or topic choice) before proceeding to the project, itself; other times, the payment might be for a page range rather than for a specific number of pages, with an understanding that a credit (or partial refund) will be owed if the project comes out any shorter than the maximum number of paid pages within that range. Technically, anything in emails also constitutes part of the TOS for a project, but that's only helpful if the payment processor or credit card considers the content of emails in adjudicating disputes, which isn't necessarily the case. Conversely, all payment processors and credit cards will always consider anything and everything represented anywhere on the website and/or in the invoice as part of the TOS for any transaction.