Policies

1 Membership & Billing Terms

Last updated: 18 October 2026

These terms apply to your membership of Sovereign Syndicate. They explain how billing, cancellation and refunds work. Read them together with the Acceptable Use Policy and the Data & Privacy Policy.

1.1 The service

Sovereign Syndicate is a members-only community platform run by The Sovereign Syndicate Ltd (“we”, “us”). You get access by applying and being approved. These terms cover your membership. If we open a shop selling goods, separate terms of sale will apply to those purchases.

1.2 Eligibility

• You must be 18 or over. You enter your date of birth when you sign up, and we cannot create an account for anyone under 18.
• Each person may hold one account. You must not share your account or create another.
• The information you give us must be accurate.
• If we find that an account belongs to someone under 18, we will close it. See the Data & Privacy Policy, Section 3.12.

1.3 Membership tiers

Approved membership is free and can be kept indefinitely. Premium is a paid subscription.

The Resource Hub is a library of useful websites, books, YouTube channels and AI prompts. We may add further Premium areas over time. A feature that has not launched is not part of Premium until it does.

1.4 Subscription

• Premium costs the price shown at checkout.
• You are billed monthly in advance, by card, through Stripe.
• Your subscription renews automatically at the end of each billing period unless you cancel.
• You can cancel at any time in your account settings. See Sections 1.5 and 1.6 for what happens when you do.

1.5 Cooling-off period

You have 14 days from the day you buy Premium to cancel for any reason, under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013.

Starting immediately. At checkout you will be asked to tick this box before you pay:

I ask for my Premium membership to start immediately. I understand that I have 14 days to cancel from today, and that if I cancel within that period I will be refunded the price I paid minus a proportionate amount for the time I have had Premium access.

If you cancel within the 14 days:

• Premium access ends when you cancel, and your account returns to Approved status.
• We refund the price you paid minus a proportionate amount for the days you have had Premium access. The day you cancel counts as a day of access. For example, if your billing period is 30 days and you cancel on day 5, we refund the price for the remaining 25 days.
• We pay the refund to the card you used, within 14 days of your cancellation.
• To cancel, use your account settings or email hello@thesovereignsyndicate.cc. Any clear statement that you want to cancel is enough.

Scope. The 14-day right applies to each new Premium subscription you buy, including if you cancel and later resubscribe. It does not apply to the automatic monthly renewal of an existing subscription. We may treat repeated use of the cooling-off period to get Premium content without paying for it as a breach of the Acceptable Use Policy (Section 2.1).

After the 14 days, see Section 1.6.

1.6 Cancelling after the cooling-off period

You can cancel at any time in your account settings.

• You keep Premium until the end of the billing period you have already paid for. Your membership will not renew, and we take no further payments.
• We do not give partial refunds for the rest of that period, because you keep access for the time you paid for.
• When the period ends, your account moves to Approved status. You keep Public Chat, Direct Messages and your profile. Premium Chat rooms, the Resource Hub, Challenges and all other Premium areas are no longer available to you.
• You can resubscribe at any time without reapplying.
• Cancelling does not delete your account or your data. See the Data & Privacy Policy, Section 3.8, for when accounts and data are deleted.

1.7 Failed payments

If a payment fails, for example because a card has expired or been declined, Stripe will retry it automatically, up to three times over approximately seven days. Your Premium access stays active while it retries.

If the payment still cannot be collected after the last retry, your Premium access ends and your account moves to Approved status, as it does after a cancellation (Section 1.6). Your account is not deleted. You can update your card details during the retry period to avoid losing access, or resubscribe at any time afterwards.

1.8 Refunds

Outside the 14-day cooling-off right (Section 1.5), payments are not refundable. We will consider refund requests in exceptional circumstances and decide each one at our discretion. If we remove you from the platform for breaching the Acceptable Use Policy, you will not be refunded for the current billing period. None of this affects your statutory rights (Section 1.15).

1.9 Chargebacks and payment disputes

If you dispute a payment directly with your bank or card provider (a “chargeback”) instead of contacting us first, we may suspend your Premium access while the dispute is investigated. If the chargeback is upheld, your Premium membership will be cancelled and you may be restricted from resubscribing.

We would rather sort out a billing problem directly. Contact hello@thesovereignsyndicate.cc first.

1.10 Changes to pricing

• We may change the subscription price for future members.
• If you are already subscribed, your price will not change while your subscription stays active. You keep the price you signed up at, including through automatic renewals.
• If you cancel, or your subscription ends because a payment fails, and you later resubscribe, you pay the price at that time. We cannot guarantee that your original price will still be available.
• The price shown at checkout, with any applicable tax, is what you pay.

1.11 Challenges

Challenges are a Premium area.

• Administrators judge Challenges, and their decisions on judging are final. Each Challenge describes what you need to do, how it will be judged and what the prize is.
• You must be an active Premium member when your submission is judged. If you are not, your submission will not be counted.
• You submit evidence through an external form provided by Tally. Please include your username, not your real name or email address. See the Data & Privacy Policy, Section 3.5.
• Each Challenge has a first-prize winner. Prizes vary and are described in each Challenge.
• We contact the winner directly, in the app or by email, and ask whether they are happy to be named. If they agree, we announce only their username on Public Chat. If they prefer, they can stay anonymous.
• Submissions are deleted within 30 days after the Challenge ends, and also when an account is deleted. See the Data & Privacy Policy, Section 3.8.

1.12 Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time, for example to reflect new features or changes in the law. Where a change materially affects your membership, we will give you at least 30 days’ notice by email and in the app before it takes effect. If you do not agree with a change, you may cancel before it takes effect. If you keep using Sovereign Syndicate after a change takes effect, you accept the updated terms.

1.13 Disclaimer and changes to the platform

Content posted by members is their own and does not represent our views. Nothing on the platform is financial, legal or professional advice. The Resource Hub links to third-party websites, books, channels and AI prompts for convenience. We do not control or endorse them and cannot guarantee that they are accurate. We do not guarantee that the platform will always be available without interruption.

We may change, add or remove features. If we remove or materially reduce a Premium area, we will give you reasonable notice, and you may cancel and receive a refund for the unused part of your current billing period.

1.14 Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total liability to you for any claim arising out of or in connection with your use of the platform will not exceed the amount you paid in the 12 months before the claim.

We will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special or consequential losses, including loss of data, loss of profits or loss of reputation, even if we have been told they were possible.

Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.

1.15 Your statutory rights

Nothing in these terms affects your statutory rights as a consumer under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. These include your right to a service performed with reasonable care and skill, within a reasonable time, and at a reasonable price where one was not agreed in advance. If you live in the European Union, the mandatory consumer protections of your country of residence also continue to apply.

1.16 Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction over any dispute. This does not remove your right, as a consumer, to bring proceedings in the courts of the part of the United Kingdom where you live.

2 Acceptable Use Policy

Last updated: 18 October 2026

To keep Sovereign Syndicate a productive, trustworthy place for every member, the following applies across the whole platform: Public Chat, Premium Chat, Direct Messages, the Resource Hub, Challenges, applications and feedback.

2.1 Not permitted

• Illegal activity of any kind, or content that helps others carry it out.
• Harassment, hate speech, threats or targeted abuse of any member, in any channel.
• Sending unsolicited promotional messages, cold outreach or link-flooding to other members. Sovereign Syndicate is built for relationships formed through real engagement in chat, discussions and shared Challenges, not for immediate pitches to strangers.
• Sending unwanted repeated messages to another member through Direct Messages. Blocking and reporting tools are available and should be used.
• Promoting, soliciting or taking part in get-rich-quick schemes, unverified cryptocurrency pump activity, or other opportunities presented in bad faith.
• Impersonating another member, an Administrator or Sovereign Syndicate itself.
• Giving false information when you sign up or apply, including your date of birth.
• Creating multiple accounts, sharing your account with someone else, or trying to get around the application and approval process.
• Trying to access, probe or manipulate the platform’s systems, data or security measures. This includes bots, scripts or other automated tools used to get around rate limits or other protections.
• Copying, redistributing or reselling materials from the Resource Hub or other member-exclusive content outside the Syndicate.
• Repeatedly subscribing and cancelling within the cooling-off period to get Premium content without paying for it (see Membership & Billing Terms, Section 1.5).

2.2 Direct Messages

Direct Messages are for genuine one-to-one conversation between members. They are not a way around the rules against spam and cold outreach in Section 2.1. Unsolicited promotions, cold pitches and link-flooding are no more acceptable in Direct Messages than in group chat.

If a member has set their message requests to private, your first message to them is sent as a request, which they can accept or decline. Declining a request, or blocking another member, is always within a member’s rights and is not grounds for complaint.

Harassment, repeated unwanted contact after a block, or using Direct Messages to get around a declined request will be treated as a breach of this policy.

2.3 Expected of every member

• Genuine, good-faith participation. This community is built on real engagement, not passive access.
• Respectful conduct towards other members, even in disagreement.
• Reporting behaviour that breaks these rules to an Administrator rather than taking it into your own hands.

2.4 Content and intellectual property

When you post content on Sovereign Syndicate, you give us a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, display and transmit it for the purpose of running the platform. You keep ownership of your content. You are responsible for making sure you have the right to post anything you share.

This licence ends when your content is deleted, except where we must keep it for an investigation or by law (see the Data & Privacy Policy, Section 3.8). We are not responsible for content posted by members, but we will remove content that infringes intellectual property rights where the law requires or a valid claim is made.

2.5 Consequences

Consequences are proportionate to the seriousness and intent of the behaviour. They may include:

The following result in immediate permanent removal, whatever your history, as decided by Administrators acting reasonably:

• Promoting, soliciting or taking part in get-rich-quick schemes
• Unverified cryptocurrency pump activity
• Any opportunity presented in bad faith

Repeated misuse of the cooling-off period (Section 2.1) may lead to a warning and then to us declining further Premium subscriptions from you.

2.6 Reporting

To report a message, member or piece of content, use the report button in the app or email hello@thesovereignsyndicate.cc. We aim to review reports within 48 hours and will tell you the outcome where appropriate.

2.7 How moderation works

Administrators review reports within 48 hours. Content that breaks this policy is removed, and the member responsible receives a warning, suspension or removal depending on how serious it is. We do not routinely monitor private messages, but may access them when needed to investigate a report (see the Data & Privacy Policy, Section 3.2). We keep records of moderation decisions for 12 months for compliance purposes (Section 3.8).

2.8 Appeals

If you think a warning, suspension or removal was a mistake, email hello@thesovereignsyndicate.cc with “Appeal” in the subject line. An Administrator who was not involved in the original decision will review it.

3 Data & Privacy Policy

Last updated: 18 October 2026

The Sovereign Syndicate Ltd is the data controller for the personal data described in this policy. We collect only the personal data we need to run the community and take payments. For data protection questions, contact privacy@thesovereignsyndicate.cc.

3.1 What we collect and why

For how cancellation and refunds work, see the Membership & Billing Terms, Sections 1.5 to 1.8.

3.2 Who has access to your data

You can always see your own account data.

Administrators can access application answers, feedback, Challenge submissions and reports as part of running the community. They do this only as needed, not casually.

Direct Messages are visible only to the two members in that conversation. Administrators do not routinely read them, but may access them where necessary to investigate a report of abuse, harassment or a breach of the Acceptable Use Policy.

Our providers process data on our behalf as data processors under data processing agreements that meet UK GDPR Article 28, only to provide their service to us:

• Supabase: database and sign-in
• Lovable: application hosting and server logic
• Cloudflare: content delivery, security, the Turnstile bot check and, for this website, the database that holds the launch notification list
• Stripe: payments
• Tally: Challenge submission forms
• Resend: sending service emails, such as account confirmations and launch-list emails

Stripe also acts as an independent controller for fraud prevention and its own legal obligations. We do not sell your data or share it with third parties for marketing.

3.3 International data transfers

Some of our providers store or process data outside the United Kingdom, including in the United States. The safeguards for each are:

Each provider’s own privacy and data processing documents set out its safeguards in more detail.

3.4 Security measures

We use technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data, including:

• Encryption in transit: data travels over HTTPS (TLS).
• Encryption at rest: the database is encrypted by Supabase.
• Row Level Security: enforced in the database so members can only reach the data they are allowed to see.
• Access controls: administrator access is limited to named individuals, and administrator actions such as role changes, removals and two-factor resets are logged.
• Network and bot protection: DDoS protection, rate limiting and a bot check provided through Cloudflare, plus sign-in slowdowns after repeated failed attempts.
• Two-factor authentication: available to all members.
• Review: access and security settings are reviewed from time to time.

No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure, but we work to protect your data as far as is reasonably practicable.

3.5 External links and forms

The Resource Hub links to external platforms such as Notion. These links are for your convenience, and we do not control or process any data through them.

Challenge submissions are collected through Tally, an external form provider that acts as our processor under a data processing agreement. When you submit evidence, including any photos or files, Tally stores it on our behalf. This policy governs how we handle it. Tally’s own policy only covers its relationship with us. Please use your username, not your real name or email address, in submissions where possible, so that your identity stays as private as you have chosen.

This website loads its fonts from Google Fonts. When a page loads, your browser asks Google’s servers for the fonts, so Google receives your IP address and browser details. Google does not act as our processor for this, and it may handle that data outside the United Kingdom, including in the United States. See Google’s own privacy policy for how it uses this information.

3.6 Analytics

We do not currently use analytics tools. If we introduce them, we will use only privacy-respecting methods that do not rely on tracking or advertising cookies, and we will update this policy before we do.

3.7 Cookies

Sovereign Syndicate uses only strictly necessary cookies and similar technologies, the kind needed to keep you signed in and run the platform securely. We do not use advertising, tracking or marketing cookies, so no cookie banner is shown. Cloudflare, including its Turnstile bot check, may also use strictly necessary technologies for security and performance.

3.8 How long we keep your data

We keep your account and data while your membership is active. What happens in each situation:

When an account is deleted, your personal account data, including your date of birth, is permanently removed. So are the messages you posted in Public Chat, Premium Chat and Direct Messages. A message is kept only if it is needed for an ongoing investigation into abuse, harassment or a breach of the Acceptable Use Policy, or if the law requires it. In that case it is kept only for as long as the investigation or legal requirement lasts, then deleted.

Other records:

• Moderation and report records: kept for 12 months from the decision, for compliance. This includes warnings given to members. They may outlast the account they relate to.
• Sign-in security records: kept for 7 days.
• Administrator action records: a log of administrator actions, such as role changes, removals and two-factor resets, is kept for 24 months.
• Legal and tax records: payment transaction and financial records are kept for 6 years to meet HMRC tax and accounting requirements. Stripe also keeps payment records independently, as financial compliance requires. These periods override the deletion periods above where they apply.
• Backups: deleted data may remain in encrypted backups for up to 7 days before it is overwritten.

3.9 Automated decision-making

We do not use automated decision-making or profiling that has legal or similarly significant effects on you. All moderation and access decisions are made by human Administrators.

3.10 Data breaches

If a breach of your personal data is likely to put your rights and freedoms at risk, we will tell the UK Information Commissioner’s Office within 72 hours of becoming aware of it, as the law requires. If the breach is likely to be a high risk to you in particular, we will also tell you directly, without undue delay, explaining what happened and what we are doing about it.

You can report a suspected security issue to security@thesovereignsyndicate.cc at any time.

3.11 Your rights

Wherever you are based, you can contact privacy@thesovereignsyndicate.cc at any time to:

• Ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you (right of access, Art 15)
• Ask us to correct inaccurate data (right to rectification, Art 16)
• Ask us to delete your account and data, which you can also do from your account settings. This starts the 30-day window in Section 3.8, which you can cancel before it completes (right to erasure, Art 17)
• Object to processing that relies on legitimate interests, such as IP-based security monitoring, or ask us to restrict processing while we consider an objection (Arts 18 and 21)
• Ask for a portable copy of the data you have given us, in a structured, commonly used format (right to data portability, Art 20)
• Ask questions about how your data is used
• Withdraw your consent at any time where we rely on it, for example for your bio or for being named as a Challenge winner. This does not affect processing already carried out (Art 7)

We will respond to any request within one calendar month.

You can also complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113, whether or not you have raised it with us first.

3.12 Children

Sovereign Syndicate is not for anyone under 18. We ask for your date of birth when you sign up and do not create accounts for people under 18. If someone under 18 tries to sign up, we do not create an account and we do not keep their date of birth. Our hosting and security providers may briefly keep technical logs of the request. See the Membership & Billing Terms, Section 1.2.

3.13 Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The current version is always available on our website at thesovereignsyndicate.cc/policies.html. Where a change materially affects how we use your data, we will tell you by email and in the app before it takes effect.

3.14 Launch notification list

You can ask us to tell you when the app opens by using the form on our website. We collect your email address, your confirmation that you are 18 or over, and the time and wording of your consent. We use these only to confirm your address and to email you about the app opening. We do not add you to any other list.

Our legal basis is your consent (Article 6(1)(a)). You can withdraw it at any time using the unsubscribe link in any email from us, or by emailing privacy@thesovereignsyndicate.cc.

We send you one email to confirm your address, and we only add you to the list once you confirm. If you do not confirm within 7 days, your details are deleted. After that we email you once, when the app opens.

The list is held in a Cloudflare database restricted to the EU. The emails are sent through Resend (see Section 3.3), which keeps its own delivery logs for a limited period. The database keeps rolling backups, so a deleted entry can remain in a backup for up to 30 days before it ages out. We do not store your IP address with your sign-up. Cloudflare, which hosts this website, processes it to deliver and protect the site, and runs its Turnstile bot check when you submit the form. See Section 3.8 for how long we keep the list.

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