1. Agreement and platform role
These Terms govern your access to and use of ExpertDesk, including our website, account features, Flash Q&A, quote requests, intake forms, payment flows and related communications. By using ExpertDesk, creating an account, submitting a matter, buying credits, accepting a quote or paying an invoice, you agree to these Terms.
ExpertDesk is the operating name of a cross-border information services and expert coordination platform. The applicable contracting entity, payee, reviewer or expert may be identified in the relevant checkout record, invoice, quote, statement of work or engagement confirmation.
ExpertDesk is an information-services and professional-coordination platform. It is not a law practice, tax agent, accounting firm, financial adviser, fund manager or other regulated professional-services provider. Unless a separate written engagement letter states otherwise and is signed by an appropriately qualified professional, use of the platform does not create a lawyer-client, tax adviser-client, accountant-client, financial adviser-client or fiduciary relationship, and does not create attorney-client privilege.
2. Service model
ExpertDesk currently provides three categories of service:
- Tier 1: Flash Q&A Credits.Quick, AI-assisted general guidance for cross-border China legal, tax, finance, data, IP, trade and HR questions. Flash Q&A is intended for orientation and issue spotting. It is not a legal opinion, tax opinion, document review or substitute for professional advice.
- Tier 2: Scoped Services. Bounded tasks submitted for preliminary scope review. We may ask clarifying questions and then provide a quote that states the fee, expected deliverable, timeline, assumptions, exclusions and review route.
- Tier 3: Matter Engagements. Custom matters that may require a call, milestone plan, retainer, capped fee, escrow-like milestone funding or additional professional coordination. Work begins only after the agreed engagement structure is accepted.
3. Quote-first professional work
Scoped Services and Matter Engagements are quote-first. A submission, chat message, intake form or uploaded document is a request for review; it is not an acceptance of professional work. We may decline, reclassify or pause a matter if the facts are incomplete, the scope is unsuitable for the platform, the deadline is unrealistic, the issue creates a conflict, or the matter requires counsel outside our available network.
A quote is binding only after you accept it and complete any required payment, retainer, milestone funding or written confirmation. If the facts materially change, if new documents are added, or if the requested output expands, we may revise the quote before continuing work.
4. Flash Q&A credits
Flash Q&A credits are prepaid access credits for substantive AI-assisted answers. Unless stated otherwise at checkout, one substantive answer to one user question uses one credit. Simple clarification on the same answer may be included at our discretion; a new question, new fact pattern, document review request, drafting request, filing request, negotiation support request or professional opinion request may require a new credit or be routed to quote review.
Credits are not stored monetary value, deposit accounts, electronic money or general account balances. Credits are not transferable, not redeemable for cash and not usable outside ExpertDesk. Credits expire 12 months after purchase unless a checkout page, promotional offer or written quote states a different period.
5. User responsibilities
You are responsible for:
- providing accurate, complete and lawful information;
- removing unnecessary personal data or confidential third-party information before upload;
- confirming that you have authority to submit documents and personal data;
- reviewing deadlines, filing dates and limitation periods independently;
- obtaining local counsel where your home jurisdiction requires legal, tax or regulatory advice; and
- using the platform in a lawful, non-abusive and non-circumventing manner.
You must not use ExpertDesk to submit unlawful, infringing, deceptive, malicious or sanction-restricted content, to obtain advice for evading law enforcement or regulatory supervision, to reverse engineer platform logic, or to overload, scrape or interfere with the service.
6. Intake, confidentiality and de-identification
We treat user submissions as confidential business information, subject to these Terms, the Privacy Policy, applicable law and any quote or engagement terms. For scoped and matter work, we may use Singapore-first intake, minimisation, redaction, de-identification, anonymised expert briefs and access controls to reduce exposure of raw client information.
You acknowledge that some tasks require disclosure to reviewers, professional experts, payment processors, email providers, hosting providers, security tooling, AI assistance services or other service providers. We use reasonable measures to limit access to what is necessary for the relevant purpose.
7. AI-assisted features and external sources
ExpertDesk uses AI-assisted workflows for research support, drafting, translation, classification, citation extraction, summarisation and structured output generation. AI systems may be inaccurate, incomplete or out of date. We may use external legal, regulatory, commercial and public sources where relevant, but availability and coverage can vary by topic.
Flash Q&A responses are not manually reviewed for every answer. Scoped Services and Matter Engagements may include human review where the accepted quote expressly includes that review. You should not rely on any AI-assisted output as final legal, tax, accounting, investment, compliance or filing advice unless the accepted engagement clearly provides for that level of review and the final deliverable says so.
8. Professional reviewers and third-party experts
We may coordinate with independent lawyers, accountants, tax advisers, IP agents, compliance professionals, translators, analysts or other experts. Their role, review level, jurisdiction, qualifications and responsibility are governed by the accepted quote, engagement confirmation or separate engagement letter. ExpertDesk does not guarantee that a particular expert will be available for any matter.
9. Fees, payment and refunds
Fees are generally denominated in USD unless stated otherwise. Online payments may be processed by Stripe or another payment provider. Larger or custom matters may be paid by invoice, retainer, milestone funding or another structure stated in the quote.
- Flash Q&A. Unused credits are generally non-refundable except where required by law, where a duplicate payment occurred, or where we confirm a platform error prevented use.
- Scoped Services. Refund rules are stated in the quote. If no refund rule is stated, fees are generally non-refundable once work has started.
- Matter Engagements. Refunds, retainers, milestones and release conditions are governed by the accepted engagement structure.
10. Deliverables and intellectual property
Subject to full payment and any restrictions in the quote, you may use final deliverables for your internal business purpose and for the matter described. You may not resell, publish, benchmark, train models on, or redistribute deliverables as a separate product without written permission.
We retain ownership of the platform, software, workflows, prompts, templates, taxonomies, internal methods, know-how and generalised learnings that do not identify you or disclose your confidential information. You retain ownership of your submitted materials.
11. Anti-circumvention
If ExpertDesk introduces you to an expert, reviewer, partner, vendor or service provider, you agree not to bypass the platform to obtain substantially similar services from that person or organisation for the same or related matter during the engagement and for 12 months afterward, unless we give written consent. This clause does not restrict relationships that existed independently before the introduction.
12. Suspension and termination
We may suspend or terminate access if you breach these Terms, create security or legal risk, fail to pay amounts due, misuse credits, submit unlawful content, attempt to circumvent experts, or use the platform in a way that could harm other users or our service providers. You may stop using the platform at any time.
13. Disclaimers and limitation of liability
The platform is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, accuracy, availability and error-free operation.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, our aggregate liability for a claim is capped at the amount you paid to ExpertDesk for the specific service giving rise to the claim during the six months before the event. We are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, lost profits, lost opportunity, loss of goodwill, business interruption or loss of data.
14. Governing law and dispute resolution
These Terms are governed by Singapore law, excluding conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the platform will be finally resolved by arbitration administered by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre under the SIAC Rules then in force. The seat of arbitration is Singapore, the language is English and the tribunal will consist of one arbitrator unless the parties agree otherwise.
15. Changes and contact
We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be notified to active users where reasonably practicable. Continued use after the effective date means you accept the updated Terms.
Questions about these Terms: contact our team.