Terms and conditions of sale

TalkXp is a marketplace published by NOVODEV. It connects clients with independent experts, collects the price on those experts’ behalf, and pays them their share.

The service contract is concluded between you and the expert. NOVODEV is not a party to that contract: it is neither the author nor the guarantor of the advice given. It acts as a technical intermediary and as collector on the expert’s behalf.

A session is a video conversation of a fixed length, chosen at booking from 15, 30 or 60 minutes.

You choose an expert, a duration and a time slot, then briefly describe what you need. An account is only requested at the point of payment: nothing is asked of you before you have seen the price and the slot.

The request is then put to the expert, who has two hours to accept it. Past that, the request expires and the payment authorisation is released without any sum being taken.

You must be at least 18 to book a session. Confirming your email address is not required to book, but it determines whether you receive session reminders and your invoices.

The prices shown are those set by the expert. They are inclusive of all taxes: the amount displayed is the amount debited, with no surcharge at booking.

Payment happens in two stages. When you book, your card is authorised, meaning the amount is held without being taken. It is only actually debited once the expert has accepted the request. If the expert declines, or does not answer within two hours, the authorisation is released.

Your bank may require strong authentication, known as 3-D Secure. It is imposed by European regulation, not by TalkXp.

An invoice is issued for every session paid for and remains available from your account area. It is made out in the expert’s name, who is your service provider; TalkXp’s commission is not invoiced to you, it is deducted from the expert’s share.

The route by which you arrived changes nothing in what you pay. An expert may circulate a personal link to their profile; where they have, the share TalkXp takes out of their pay is reduced. That concerns only the split between the expert and the platform: the price displayed, the amount debited and your invoice are identical whether you came through that link, through the site’s search, or from a search engine.

As a consumer, you normally have fourteen days to withdraw from a distance contract, without having to give a reason.

An advice session is almost always held before that period expires. That is why, when booking, you are asked to expressly request that the service begin before the end of the period and to acknowledge that you then lose your right of withdrawal once the session has been fully performed. That request is collected through a tick box, and the date of your agreement is kept.

Until the session has taken place, the cancellation rules in the following article apply, and they are often more favourable to you than withdrawal.

If you would rather not waive that right, do not accept a slot within the fourteen days: write to us at contact@talkxp.com.

Each expert chooses one of the three policies below. The one that applies is shown on their profile and repeated before payment.

• Flexible: full refund up to one hour before the appointment. Less than an hour before, half the price is refunded to you.
• Moderate: full refund up to 24 hours before. Between 24 hours and 2 hours before, half. Less than two hours before, no refund.
• Strict: full refund up to 48 hours before. After that, no refund.

The expert may propose another slot. You have two hours to accept or decline it.

If you accept, the session is moved at no cost and the payment stands. If you decline, the session stays at the original slot. If you do not answer within two hours, the session is cancelled and refunded in full: silence costs you nothing.

The session is held by video call, from the app or from a browser. The expert is the one who starts the call. The countdown of the time sold only begins once the connection is actually established between the two of you: the ringing is not charged to you.

The server keeps the actual conversation duration to the second. Time sold is nevertheless used by each minute started after the answer: 9 seconds use 1 minute, and 2 minutes 5 seconds use 3. The remaining time shown to the client and expert comes from this same server calculation.

You are warned when three minutes, two minutes, one minute, then thirty seconds remain. At the end of the time sold, the call ends.

If the connection drops and paid time remains, the expert can call you back, and you can let them know you are available, until thirty minutes after the scheduled end: the agreed time, or the payment confirmation if it came later, plus the duration purchased, extensions included. These thirty minutes do not extend the session: the expert decides whether to call back. After that the session is closed, even if the last call ended shortly before, and unused time is not refunded, except for an incident attributable to the service. A call still in progress at that moment is not interrupted.

Calls are never recorded by TalkXp. By default, a watermark bearing your name and that of the person you are speaking with is displayed during the call: it discourages sharing a screenshot and makes it possible to trace its origin. The expert may turn it off for a given call; the picture then carries no name. Recording or capturing the screen without the other party’s agreement is forbidden, and the other party is warned when the system detects it.

Only you can decide on an extension, and only during the call. The durations offered are the same as those of sessions: 15, 30 or 60 minutes, within what the expert’s calendar allows.

The price is calculated pro rata to the rate of your session: there is no second price list. The amount is announced to you before you confirm, and payment happens over the call, without interrupting the conversation.

An extension is only offered if at least one minute remains: thirty seconds from the end, promising an extension would amount to promising a cut-off mid-way through entering a card.

If the expert does not show up or does not make at least three valid call attempts during the fifteen minutes after the agreed time, you are refunded in full, and their reliability indicator takes it into account. A valid attempt starts at or after the agreed time and rings for at least ten seconds. If you decline the call yourself before ten seconds, the attempt is nevertheless valid because you ended the ringing. Calls may start five minutes early, but an unanswered early call does not count among these three attempts. Repeated absences lead to penalties that can go as far as suspension of the profile.

If you do not show up, half the price is refunded at the scheduled end, if three valid attempts remained unanswered and no call was answered by then. The other half stays with the expert, who reserved and blocked that slot. From the third attempt, you are told that your absence is recorded; the expert no longer has to call but remains free to do so until the scheduled end, and you can still let them know you are available. If you answer, the session resumes normally, time is deducted and no no-show split is applied.

Only a client who has actually held a session can leave a review of the expert concerned. Reviews are neither bought, nor solicited in exchange for anything, nor fabricated.

The expert may reply publicly once. TalkXp only removes a review if it contains unlawful statements, personal data, or if it manifestly does not relate to the service.

If a session gave rise to no exchange at all - nobody connected, or the call could not be held - you can report it rather than rate it.

The advice given during a session binds the expert, and them alone. NOVODEV does not check it, does not validate it and is not answerable for it. A mistaken diagnosis, an unsuitable recommendation or damage following from acting on them fall under the expert’s professional liability.

The information shown on a profile - degrees, experience, references - is declared by the expert. Email and phone confirmations are shown separately when obtained. Identity verification by the payment provider concerns payout of earnings and does not certify the accuracy of professional information.

A session does not replace a regulated medical, legal or financial consultation where the law requires one. In a medical emergency, call the emergency services.

NOVODEV is, on the other hand, answerable for the proper working of the platform, the handling of your payments and the security of your data, under ordinary law.

Send any complaint to contact@talkxp.com, giving the reference of the session. We answer within fifteen working days.

Payments to experts are made seven days after the session: that delay exists precisely so that a complaint can be dealt with before the funds have gone.

If our answer does not satisfy you, you may use a consumer mediator free of charge. The details of the competent mediator will be given here and communicated with our answer to any complaint.

You may also use the European online dispute resolution platform.

These terms are governed by French law. As a consumer, you keep the benefit of the mandatory provisions of the law of your country of residence.

Any change to these terms is published on this page with a new date of entry into force. The terms applicable to a session are those in force on the day it was booked.