Terms of Service

1. Agreement to Terms

By accessing or using Tolkie, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. If you don't agree, please don't use our service. These terms apply to all users, including free and paid accounts.

Tolkie is operated by Yevhen Balabai, a sole proprietor registered in Ukraine.

2. Using Tolkie

Who Can Use Tolkie

You must be at least 16 years old to use Tolkie. By using our service, you confirm that you meet this age requirement.

Your Account

You're responsible for:

• • Keeping your password secure
• • All activity that happens under your account
• • Notifying us if you suspect unauthorized access

One person or legal entity per account. Shared logins are not allowed.

3. Your Content

You Own Your Translations

Any translations, projects, glossaries, or other content you create using Tolkie belongs to you. We don't claim any ownership over your content.

What We Can Do With Your Content

You give us permission to store, display, and transmit your content — but only to provide the service to you. We won't use your content for anything else.

We Don't Train AI on Your Data

Your translations will never be used to train AI models. When you use AI-assisted translation features, your content is sent to third-party AI providers (OpenAI, Anthropic) for processing only — not for training.

4. Our Intellectual Property

Tolkie — including its name, logo, design, code, features, and documentation — is our intellectual property. You may not:

• • Copy, modify, or create derivative works of our service
• • Reverse-engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract our source code
• • Remove or alter any copyright or trademark notices
• • Use our branding in a way that suggests endorsement without permission

We grant you a limited, non-exclusive license to use Tolkie for its intended purpose while you have an active account.

5. Acceptable Use

You agree not to use Tolkie for:

• ✗ Anything illegal in your jurisdiction or ours
• ✗ Distributing malware or harmful content
• ✗ Harassment, hate speech, or abusive behavior
• ✗ Infringing on others' intellectual property
• ✗ Attempting to access other users' accounts or data
• ✗ Overloading our infrastructure (DoS attacks, excessive API calls)

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms.

6. Payments & Refunds

Payment Processing

Our order process is conducted by our online reseller Paddle.com. Paddle.com is the Merchant of Record for all our orders. Paddle provides all customer service inquiries and handles returns.

This means Paddle handles billing, taxes (VAT/GST), and payment security on our behalf. We never see or store your credit card details.

Subscription & Auto-Renewal

Paid plans are billed on a recurring basis (monthly or annually). Your subscription will automatically renew unless you cancel before the next billing period.

Refund Policy

We offer a 30-day refund on paid plans. If you're not satisfied, contact us within 30 days of your payment for a full refund.

Refunds are processed by Paddle and typically take 5-10 business days to appear.

Price Changes

We may change our pricing, but we'll give you at least 30 days notice before any price increase affects your account. Early adopters with grandfathered pricing will keep their locked-in rates.

7. Service Availability

We work hard to keep Tolkie running smoothly, but we can't promise 100% uptime. Things break sometimes.

• • Free plans: No uptime guarantee
• • Paid plans: We target 99.9% uptime (but it's not a contractual SLA)

We'll do our best to notify you of scheduled maintenance in advance.

8. Termination

By You

You can cancel your account at any time from your account settings. You can export all your data before canceling.

When you delete your account, we use "soft deletion" — your data is kept for 90 days in case you change your mind. After 90 days, it's permanently erased. If you want immediate permanent deletion, email us at hello@tolkie.io.

By Us

We may suspend or terminate your account if you:

• • Violate these terms
• • Don't pay for your subscription
• • Create risk or legal exposure for us

We'll try to give you reasonable notice and a chance to export your data, unless the violation is severe.

9. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law:

• We provide Tolkie "as is" — without warranties of any kind, express or implied.
• We're not liable for indirect damages — including lost profits, data loss, or business interruption.
• Our total liability is limited — to the amount you've paid us in the past 12 months (or $100, whichever is greater).

Some jurisdictions don't allow these limitations. If that's you, some of these may not apply.

10. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Tolkie and its operators from any claims, damages, losses, or expenses (including legal fees) arising from:

• • Your use of the service
• • Your violation of these terms
• • Your violation of any third-party rights
• • Content you submit or transmit through Tolkie

This doesn't apply if the claim arises solely from our negligence or willful misconduct.

11. Force Majeure

We're not liable for delays or failures due to circumstances beyond our reasonable control, including:

• • Natural disasters, war, terrorism, or pandemics
• • Government actions or regulations
• • Internet or infrastructure failures
• • Third-party service outages

We'll make reasonable efforts to resume service as soon as possible.

12. Governing Law

These terms are governed by the laws of Ukraine. However, if you're a consumer in the European Union, you retain your rights under EU consumer protection laws, and nothing in these terms affects those rights.

Any disputes will be resolved through good-faith negotiation first. If that doesn't work, disputes will be settled in the courts of Ukraine, except where local law gives you the right to use your local courts.

13. Changes to These Terms

We may update these terms from time to time. For significant changes, we'll give you at least 30 days notice via email or a prominent notice on our website.

Continued use of Tolkie after changes take effect means you accept the new terms. If you disagree, you can close your account.

14. Contact Us

Questions about these terms? We're happy to clarify.

15. Complaints & Dispute Resolution

How to File a Complaint

Email us at hello@tolkie.io with subject line "Complaint" including:

• • Your account email address
• • Description of the issue
• • Any relevant screenshots or details

Response Times

• • Acknowledgment: Within 48 hours
• • Initial response: Within 5 business days
• • Resolution target: Within 14 business days

If We Can't Resolve Your Complaint

• • Payment issues: Contact Paddle directly at paddle.com
• • EU customers: You may use the EU Online Dispute Resolution platform at ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr