For developers and designers

Terms for service providers

Last updated: 1 September 2026

Language notice: this English text is provided so that international members can read our terms in full. The Arabic version remains the legally binding reference. Where the two differ, the Arabic text prevails.

The purpose: these rules protect clients from fraud and preserve the platform's reputation. Following them is a condition of working on Mahara.

1. Truthful information

Every piece of information you publish must be real and verifiable:

Required of you
  • A real name matching your identity
  • Actual years of experience
  • Past work you genuinely produced (no impersonation, no copying)
  • Real certificates that can be verified
Strictly forbidden
  • An alias that hides your real identity
  • Claiming expertise you do not have
  • Copying someone else's work into your portfolio
  • Buying reviews or followers

2. Standing behind what you offer

Your service description, packages, extras and every custom offer or consultation you send form a binding contract with the client:

Required of you
  • Deliver everything stated in the description within the agreed time
  • Honour the stated number of revisions
  • Honour the accepted offer or consultation price, date and duration
  • Tell the client immediately about any possible delay
  • Ask for a higher price only if the client requests features outside the original scope
Strictly forbidden
  • Incomplete delivery, or work that does not match the description
  • Asking for extra money to deliver what was already promised
  • Disappearing after the client's payment is confirmed
  • Delaying delivery without notice
  • Refusing the reasonable revisions you promised

3. Professional communication

Required of you
  • Reply to client messages within 24 hours at most
  • Answer honestly about what you can do (if you cannot, say no)
  • Record any change of scope in writing
  • Give regular updates while the work is under way
Strictly forbidden
  • Insulting or belittling the client
  • Pressuring the client to accept incomplete work
  • Threatening to publish their information or your conversations
  • Ignoring client messages for more than 48 hours without an excuse

4. Client data and intellectual property

Required of you
  • Keep all client data confidential (designs, code, ideas, contracts)
  • Transfer intellectual property in full to the client after final payment
  • Delete any client data from your systems after the project ends, if they ask
Strictly forbidden
  • Selling or reusing a client's work in other projects without their permission
  • Showing a client's work in your portfolio without written consent
  • Leaking a client's secrets or project information

5. No fraud against the platform

Strictly forbidden
  • Creating multiple accounts (results in a permanent ban on all of them)
  • Presenting yourself as someone else
  • Circumventing the payment system in any way
  • Proposing payment or communication outside the platform (this voids escrow protection and exposes you to a ban)
  • Helping with academic or university cheating
  • Accepting illegal projects

6. Your commitment to escrow

Escrow protects you and the client alike:

Required of you
  • Start work only after the client's full payment is confirmed (held in escrow)
  • Deliver the work through the platform so the release can begin
  • Accept the mediation team's decision in a dispute
Strictly forbidden
  • Starting work before payment is confirmed (you have no protection if you do)
  • Accepting cash or off-platform payment instead of escrow
  • Pressuring the client to release the funds before delivery is complete

7. Ratings and reviews

Strictly forbidden
  • Demanding a 5-star rating, under pressure or as a condition
  • Offering discounts or gifts in exchange for a positive review
  • Creating fake accounts to review yourself
  • Replying to reviews with insults or threats

8. Penalties for violations

By the type of violation:

  • WarningMinor violations (slow replies, a first missed deadline)
  • Temporary suspensionRepeated violations or confirmed complaints (7 to 30 days)
  • Permanent banFraud, identity impersonation, multiple accounts, bypassing the platform, threatening clients
  • Legal actionLarge-scale fraud, data leaks, account compromise

9. Account and reputation signals

Mahara verifies members by email only:

  • Email verification: mandatory, and completed when you create your account.
  • The “Service published” badge: means only that a real service is live on the platform. It is not identity verification or a background check.
  • Performance level and job success: calculated only from funded contracts, delivery timing, dispute outcomes, and client reviews on Mahara.

To publish your first service you only need to add a payout method in your settings.

We do not ask for official identity documents or personal photographs, and we keep none of them.

10. Your right to appeal

If you believe a decision was unfair, you may:

  • Contact support@mahara.sy within 14 days
  • Provide evidence that the decision was wrong
  • Have it reviewed by an independent panel within 7 working days

11. Acceptance

By creating a service-provider account on Mahara, you confirm that you:

  • Have read and agreed to every clause above
  • Take full responsibility for your conduct on the platform
  • Accept Mahara's decisions in the event of a dispute
  • Respect the general terms and the privacy policy