Facebook Developer Payments Terms

The Facebook Payments service (“Facebook Payments”) helps developers who wish to offer premium in-game content generate revenue, so they can focus on creating apps, games, and features (generically, “apps”) rather than on building payment systems.

Facebook Developer Payments Terms

Date of Last Revision: September 6, 2012

To enhance the quality, convenience, and security of the user experience on Facebook, these Facebook Developer Payments Terms (the “Terms”) apply to all developers of apps using Facebook Payments. We have provided section headers for your convenience, but you should carefully read though these Terms in order to understand your rights and responsibilities, as well as ours.

This agreement was written in English (US). To the extent any translated version of this agreement conflicts with the English version, the English version controls.

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1. Transactions
   
   
   1. Eligibility. We may approve or deny your request to integrate Facebook Payments at our sole discretion. You must be eighteen (18) years of age or older to integrate Facebook Payments in your app; in addition, you may not be listed as an administrator for a Payments-enabled app if you are under the age of sixteen (16). We may also revoke your eligibility to continue utilizing Facebook Payments at any time at our sole discretion.
   
   
   2. Roles of parties. You accept responsibility for fulfilling each transaction pursuant to the terms you offer. Facebook is not involved in any underlying transaction between or among developers and users.
   
   
   3. Pricing. Price-setting in apps is governed by the following rules:
      
      
      
      1. You may price items for sale in your own local currency where such pricing is supported. However, if you are pricing in the Facebook Credits virtual currency (“Credits”) you may not price items for sale in fractions of Credits.
      
      
      2. You may not price an item differently based on a user’s electronic value Balance.
      
      
      3. You may allow users to import your in-game virtual currency or items from your website or other platform that the user is connected to, but you must adhere to the following:
         
         
         1. You must offer the same price on Facebook that you offer to logged-in Facebook users on your own website or other platform app; and
         
         
         2. You may not incentivize logged-in Facebook users to make a purchase on your website or in an app on another platform by, for example, providing free or discounted goods or services that are not available to purchasers on Facebook.
   4. Prohibitions. Facebook Payments does not allow the following types of transactions:
      
      
      
      1. You may not conduct a transaction for which the promotion or execution is prohibited on Facebook.
      
      
      2. You may not utilize Facebook Payments to sell virtual currency or other stored-value item that can be used outside of the app where the transaction was completed. You may not accept electronic value from a user in one app and then deliver or transfer the purchased item to the user in another app without our prior authorization. For example, an app solely designed to facilitate transactions is not permitted.
      
      
      3. Except as a method of purchasing within your app in accordance with these Terms or with our prior written authorization, you may not sell, trade, or exchange electronic value, including without limitation Credits or Gift Card balances, with any third party, nor may you enable or allow others to do so.
      
      
      4. You may not accept Credits as payment for tangible goods, including as payment for anything that may subsequently be used to acquire tangible goods, defined as any good that is physically delivered to a user.
      
      
      5. Except with our prior authorization, you may not use Facebook Payments to solicit, collect, or transfer funds for charitable causes.
      
      
      6. Any items, virtual currency, or services you offer on or through Facebook are considered to be content or apps posted by you to Facebook under the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. You may not offer any items, virtual currency, or services on or through Facebook that require consent or other rights from any third party unless you have obtained all such rights. You may not offer any item, virtual currency, or service that would require us to pay any fee or royalty to any third party. You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from and against any claim arising out of or related to your failure to comply with this paragraph.
      
      
      7. Except with our prior authorization, you may not administer a promotion on Facebook in which a user's purchase of in-game items or virtual currency contributes to or results in eligibility to win any prize of value. To request permission, please contact us and include an opinion letter from your legal counsel that explains why your game does not constitute gambling and instead is a lawful activity in all jurisdictions where the promotion is available to users.
   5. Non-disclosure. You will not use or disclose any user’s payment information obtained from us for any purpose other than to complete the transaction for which the information was obtained.
   
   
   6. Other terms apply. You may offer supplemental terms and conditions in conjunction with your sales; however they may not conflict with Facebook terms or policies. You must comply with Facebook’s Brand Asset Guidelines.
   
   
2. Balance Tracking
   
   
   1. Developer Balance. Developers using Facebook Payments will have a Developer Balance with Facebook. Whenever you complete a sale on our platform, Facebook will credit the proceeds from that sale, less our service fee, to your Developer Balance. Facebook will earn a 30% service fee, plus any applicable sales tax or VAT, in connection with each Facebook Payments transaction on our platform.
   
   
   2. Nature of Service. Facebook is not a bank and does not offer banking services. You will not earn interest on your Developer Balance. Developer Balances are not deposit obligations and are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, or any other entity or insurance scheme, whether governmental or private. All Developer Balances are held and expressed in United States Dollars; if your transaction was in a different currency, proceeds from the sale will be converted at the time of the transaction according to the day’s published exchange rate before being credited to your Developer Balance.
   
   
   3. Payout. We will redeem your Developer Balance according to the following rules:
      
      
      1. We can redeem your Developer Balance only if we have your current banking information and any other information we need to make the payment on record, including, if required, identification and tax and business formation documentation. A list of our current payout methods is posted on our site.
      
      
      2. We will make Developer Balance redemption payments only to the account entered by the developer in the Payout Information field of the Developer’s Facebook Payments sign-up form.
      
      
      3. Facebook will redeem your Developer Balance approximately 21 days following the end of the bimonthly period (either the 1st through 15th of the month or the 16th through the end of the month) in which the transaction occurred, except as otherwise set forth herein.
      
      
      4. Developer Balances will be redeemed only in United States Dollars.
      
      
      5. If a Developer Balance redemption payment for any given pay period would be less than One Hundred United States Dollars ($100.00), we will roll payment over to the next month, unless your account is being deactivated or deleted, or if it has been one year since either your last redemption payment or your first use of Facebook Payments or Credits.
      
      
      6. Facebook has in the past issued a small amount of Credits at no cost to certain users (for example, a new user of Credits, or someone whose usage has lapsed). If you receive those Credits in transactions, we will not redeem them.
      
      
      7. We may delay payout related to any investigation we are conducting, but in no case longer than 180 days after the transaction.
      
      
      8. We may withhold from redemption any Developer Balance or portion thereof that was earned due to any breach of any Facebook terms or policies by you, or that was transferred based on fraudulent or illegal transactions, or that was alleged by a user to have been transferred without his or her consent, or that resulted in returned, undelivered, rejected, or defective goods or services or transactions.
      
      
      9. We may deduct from payout any amounts for which you are past due to Facebook on any payment in connection with any Facebook program.
      
      
      10. If you owe Facebook an amount exceeding your Developer Balance, we may charge or debit a payment instrument registered with your account to cover the amount owed. Your failure to pay fully any amounts owed to Facebook on demand will be a violation of these Terms, and you will be liable not only for the amount collected but also for Facebook’s costs associated with collection, including without limitation attorney fees, court costs, collection agency fees, and any applicable interest.
      
      
   4. Discrepancies. If Facebook makes a redemption payment to you in error, you are liable for the full amount of that payout. You agree to reverse the payment associated with that redemption or to permit Facebook to reverse the payment. You must provide written notification of any disputed payout within 30 days of receipt of the associated payment. Failure to do so constitutes a waiver by you of any claim relating to the payout.
   
   
   5. Taxes. It is your responsibility to remit all duties, taxes (including without limitation sales tax and VAT) and other fees that apply to your transactions, including the redemption of any Developer Balance. Facebook complies with tax and legal informational reporting requirements in various jurisdictions. If you are a U.S.-based developer, you acknowledge that Facebook in tax year 2011 began reporting to the Internal Revenue Service on IRS Form 1099K the gross amount of the payments you receive each calendar year if, in that calendar year, you (i) receive more than $20,000 and (ii) receive more than 200 payments. If duties, taxes, or fees apply to the redemption of a Developer Balance, we may adjust the service fee so that the net amount we receive remains at 30%. You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from and against any claim arising out of or related to your failure to comply with this paragraph.
   
   
   6. Abandoned Property. If we are unable to pay you because you have not provided valid payment information or, where required, valid identification information, we may terminate your ability to maintain your Developer Balance to the extent permissible by law, and process any remaining Developer Balance in accordance with applicable law.
   
   
3. Your Responsibilities and Risks
   
   
   1. Voidability. You acknowledge that transactions with minors may be voidable by law and agree that you may be required to refund amounts paid.
   
   
   2. Dispute resolution. You are solely responsible for the resolution of disputes between yourself and users, including without limitation disputes that we refer to you or notify you of via tools or systems we may provide. We have the right, but not the obligation, to assist in the resolution of such disputes.
   
   
   3. Cooperation. You agree to provide us with any records that we request related to a dispute between you and a user. You agree to notify us in a timely manner if you receive an inquiry from any government agency about Facebook Payments.
   
   
   4. Fraud. You agree to cooperate with us to prevent fraudulent or illegal transactions. As part of our efforts to deter fraud and suspicious transactions, we may limit the number of transactions or volume of payments you are able to accept during a given period of time. We may also may suspend, remove, or disable access to any product or service you offer at any time without notice, and we will have no liability for removing or disabling access to any such product or service.
   
   
   5. No Liability. We will not be liable to you for compensation, reimbursement, or damages on account of the loss of prospective profits, anticipated sales, or goodwill, or on account of expenditures, investments, or commitments in connection with your use of Facebook Payments, or for any termination or suspension of Facebook Payments services.
   
   
   6. Subscriptions. If you offer subscriptions to your app or to a feature within your app, you must continue to make the app or feature available to subscribed users through the end of any active subscription period, or refund any remaining subscriptions on a pro-rated basis.
   
   
   7. Chargebacks. You will be liable for all Chargebacks relating to transactions discovered within 90 days of the transaction. By “Chargebacks” we mean any reversals of payment initiated by a third-party payment provider. We will assume responsibility for Chargebacks discovered after the 90th day unless: (a) we determine you conducted the transaction in connection with a breach of Facebook rules or policies, or (b) your Chargeback rate for any one of the prior three months exceeds five percent of your total transaction volume for that month.
   
   
   8. Offset. If we provide refunds or other compensation to a user as a result of either the user’s transaction with you using Facebook Payments or any claims made by third parties arising from your products or services, then you agree that we may recover from you any monetary loss related to such provision.
   
   
4. Additional Terms
   
   
   1. Conflict of terms. In the event of any conflict between the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and these Terms, these Terms control.
   
   
   2. Conflict of laws. Some countries may restrict or prohibit your ability to make payments through Facebook. Nothing in these Terms should be read to override or circumvent any such foreign laws.
   
   
   3. Courtesy translations. These Terms were written in English (US). To the extent any translated version of these terms conflicts with the English version, the English version controls.
   
   
   4. Assignment. Facebook may assign or delegate any of its obligations and/or rights arising under these Terms without restriction.
   
   
   5. Amendments. We may revise these Terms at any time without prior notice as we deem necessary to the full extent permitted by law. The Terms in place at the time you confirm a transaction will govern that transaction.
   
   
   6. Notice to you. We may provide notices to you by posting them on the Facebook Developer Blog, or by sending them to an email address or street address that you previously provided to us. Website and email notices will be considered received by you within 24 hours of the time posted or sent; notices by postal mail will be considered received within three business days of the time sent. We will give you 30 days’ notice of changes to our service fee.
   
   
   7. Notice to us. Except as otherwise stated, you must send notices to us relating to Facebook Payments and these Terms by postal mail to: Facebook, Attn: Legal Department, 1601 Willow Avenue, Menlo Park, California, 94025.
   
   
   8. “Us”. The following are the entities to which “us,” “we,” “our,” or “Facebook” refer:
      
      
      1. If you are a resident of or have your principal place of business in the U.S. or Canada, these Terms are between you and Facebook Payments Inc., a Florida corporation.
      
      
      2. If you are a resident of or have your principal place of business in a country other than the U.S. or Canada, these Terms are between you and Facebook Payments International Ltd., a private limited company in the Republic of Ireland. However, all transactions funded with a user’s electronic value Balance are processed by Facebook Payments Inc., a Florida corporation.
      
      
   
   

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