Legal
Terms of Service
1. Service description
PayCanary Ltd. ("PayCanary", "we", "us") is a company registered in England and Wales (company number: [COMPANY_NUMBER_TBC]) with registered office at [REGISTERED_ADDRESS_TBC]. PayCanary provides Stripe risk monitoring, account health diagnostics, and freeze recovery advisory services ("the Service"). The Service includes a free Stripe health check, a free Watch tier providing a weekly diagnostic snapshot, paid monitoring subscriptions (Respond and Resolve), and paid crisis response advisory. The Service is intended for use by businesses, not consumers.
2. Not affiliated with Stripe
PayCanary is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by Stripe, Inc. We are an independent advisory service. Stripe is a registered trademark of Stripe, Inc.
3. Advisory only — not legal or financial advice
The Service provides informational advisory guidance only. PayCanary is an information service — it is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and does not provide legal, financial, regulatory, or compliance advice. Nothing in our service constitutes a regulated financial advisory relationship under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Risk scores, action plans, dispute recommendations, and crisis recovery guidance are informational tools to help you make your own business decisions. You should consult qualified legal and financial professionals before acting on any information provided by the Service.
4. No guaranteed outcomes
PayCanary cannot guarantee any outcome including but not limited to: prevention of Stripe account freezes, reinstatement of frozen accounts, release of held funds, or reduction in dispute rates. Stripe makes independent risk decisions that no third party can override.
5. Risk score accuracy
The risk score is calculated using a deterministic formula based on the inputs you provide. The accuracy of the score depends entirely on the accuracy of your inputs. PayCanary does not independently verify the data you enter.
6. Subscription terms
Watch is a free tier providing a weekly diagnostic snapshot of your Stripe account health, rate-limited to one scan every 7 days. Watch does not include live monitoring, real-time alerts, or crisis recovery. Paid monitoring subscriptions (Respond, Resolve) are billed monthly or annually as selected at purchase through Paddle.com, our Merchant of Record. Paddle handles all payment processing, tax collection, and billing on our behalf. You may cancel at any time via your dashboard. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period. No prorated refunds for partial periods. Business users only: the Service is intended for use by businesses and is not offered to consumers as defined by the Consumer Rights Act 2015. By subscribing you warrant that you are acting in the course of your trade, business, craft, or profession.
7. Crisis response terms
PayCanary provides informational and educational advisory services only in respect of merchant accounts held with third-party payment processors. PayCanary is not a claims management company and does not conduct any regulated activity under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Claims Management Activity) Order 2018 or the FCA's CMCOB sourcebook. PayCanary does not pursue claims on behalf of customers, does not represent customers in their dealings with Stripe or any other payment processor, and does not receive or handle disputed funds. All communications with Stripe remain the customer's responsibility; PayCanary provides drafts, guidance, and reference materials only. The customer retains full and exclusive control of the relationship with their payment processor at all times. Crisis recovery is tiered by situation severity. Non-subscriber standalone rates range from $1,499 to $2,999 activation fee plus a performance adjustment of 5% of the amount the customer reports as having been released from their Stripe account within 90 days of engagement, capped at a maximum performance adjustment of $10,000. Respond subscribers (after 3 months of active subscription) receive 1 included crisis recovery per subscription year. Resolve subscribers receive 2 included per year. Included crisis activates only for severity assessments of 60 or above. Additional crisis recoveries for active subscribers are available at a discounted rate of $499 activation plus the same performance adjustment structure. The subscription year resets on the anniversary of the subscription start date. Subscribers with less than 3 months of active subscription pay standalone rates. The activation fee covers the delivery of a complete crisis recovery advisory package including action steps, communication drafts, evidence preparation, and resolution guidance. The performance adjustment is remuneration for the advisory services delivered during the engagement; it is not a contingent recovery fee. Performance adjustments are not payable if no funds are released, which reflects the fact that PayCanary does not guarantee outcomes (see clause 4). You will be asked to confirm the released amount before any performance adjustment is invoiced. The advisory engagement remains active until resolution, regardless of timeline. Refund policy: if Stripe permanently closes the account with no fund release, the activation fee is refundable minus a £199 platform fee (or USD equivalent). The crisis recovery advisory service begins immediately on activation. There is no cooling-off period because you are engaging PayCanary in the course of your trade or business.
8. Acceptable use
You agree not to: use the Service to harass or harm others, submit false or misleading data to manipulate risk scores, reverse-engineer the monitoring infrastructure, or resell access to the Service without authorization.
9. Limitation of liability
Nothing in these terms shall limit or exclude PayCanary's liability for: (a) death or personal injury caused by our negligence; (b) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; (c) any liability which cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law. Subject to (a)–(c) and to the maximum extent permitted by law: (9.1) PayCanary will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, exemplary, or punitive damages; for loss of profits, revenue, business, goodwill, anticipated savings, data, or opportunity; or for business interruption, whether arising in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, even if advised of the possibility of such damages. (9.2) PayCanary's total aggregate liability to the customer arising out of or in connection with these terms or the Service, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, shall not exceed the greater of (i) the total fees paid by the customer to PayCanary in the twelve months preceding the event giving rise to the claim, or (ii) £100. (9.3) For the avoidance of doubt, PayCanary is not liable for any loss of revenue, business, or data caused by Stripe's independent decisions regarding the customer's account, including account freezes, restrictions, reserve requirements, or terminations. Stripe is a separate and independent third party over which PayCanary has no control.
10. Technology and automation
PayCanary uses automated systems to provide risk monitoring, analysis, action plan generation, and communication drafting. Automated outputs are designed to assist, not replace, your decision-making. All action plans and Stripe communications require your explicit approval before delivery or sending. Risk scores and freeze probability estimates are informational indicators, not guarantees. The accuracy of outputs depends on the quality and completeness of the data available. PayCanary reserves the right to modify or override automated outputs at any time.
11. Data processing
When you connect your Stripe account via OAuth, PayCanary accesses your Stripe data in read-only mode by default. Resolve tier subscribers may grant additional write access for dispute evidence submission, which requires explicit e-signature authorization for each submission. We act as a data processor for this data under UK GDPR Article 28, processing it solely on your instruction to provide monitoring, alerts, and advisory services. We never create charges, modify your Stripe account settings, or move funds. See our Privacy Policy for full details on data handling. When you connect your Stripe account, the PayCanary Data Processing Agreement (available at paycanary.io/legal/dpa) automatically forms part of these terms and governs PayCanary's obligations as a processor of your controller data under Article 28 UK GDPR.
12. Governing law
These terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. Before commencing any formal legal proceedings, the parties agree to attempt to resolve any dispute arising from these terms through good-faith negotiation for a period of 30 days from the date one party gives written notice of the dispute to the other. If the dispute is not resolved within 30 days, either party may pursue any available legal remedy. Any disputes that cannot be resolved by negotiation shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
13. Changes to these terms
We may update these terms from time to time. Subscribers will be notified by email of material changes at least 14 days before they take effect. Continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance.
14. Severability
If any provision of these terms is held to be unenforceable or invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, that provision will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible and the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.
15. Entire agreement
These terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and PayCanary regarding the Service and supersede all prior agreements, communications, and understandings, whether written or oral.
16. Assignment
You may not assign, transfer, or sublicense your rights or obligations under these terms without our prior written consent. We may assign these terms or our rights and obligations under them to any affiliate or in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganisation, or sale of assets, on notice to you.
17. Force majeure
Neither party will be liable for any failure or delay in performance caused by events beyond its reasonable control, including but not limited to acts of God, natural disasters, war, terrorism, civil unrest, government action, epidemics, pandemics, strikes, failures of third-party services (including Stripe, Supabase, Paddle, Anthropic, or Vercel outages), or interruptions to the internet or public telecommunications networks.
18. Notices
We will send legal notices to the email address associated with your account. Notices are deemed received 24 hours after sending unless we receive a bounce notification. You should send legal notices to us at legal@paycanary.io; we will acknowledge receipt within five business days.
19. Waiver
Our failure to enforce any right or provision of these terms will not be considered a waiver of that right or provision. Any waiver must be in writing and signed by an authorised representative of PayCanary.
20. Contact
For questions about these terms: legal@paycanary.io