Terms

These terms are written to be read. Every number in them is the same number the platform applies to your order, and the Arabic text is the binding version (section 21).

1. Who we are, and who you are contracting with

e3mel is a managed marketplace for creative work, operated by Usef Elshazly, trading as e3mel, in Egypt. A company is being formed to take over the business; when it is registered it will replace the operator as the party to these terms, and we will publish the change here with a new version number.

When you place an order, your contract is with e3mel, not with the person who makes the work. Makers are independent contractors engaged by e3mel under a separate maker agreement. We select them, brief them, check their work and pay them. You never contract with a maker directly.

2. Your account

You must be at least 18 to use e3mel. Keep your details accurate and your password to yourself; everything done from your account is treated as done by you. One person, one account. A business can add its company name and tax ID so invoices are issued to the company.

Team accounts. A business can also open a team account: one account for the company, with each person on the team signing in with their own account. The person who opens it is its owner. The owner pays, tops up the team wallet, invites and removes people, decides who else may pay, keeps the company details on invoices, and can hand the team to someone on it. Everyone on the team can see every team order, order for the team, answer our questions, ask for revisions, approve deliveries and open disputes, and what they do on the team's orders is treated as done by the company. Only the owner and the people the owner allows can pay, top up the wallet or cancel an order. The team's orders, wallet balance and invoices belong to the team, not to the person who placed an order, and stay with the team when someone leaves it. The owner is responsible for the people they invite.

3. What you are buying

Each service page states the price, the deliverables, the file formats, the number of revisions and the delivery time before you order. That is the scope. Work outside it is new work and is priced separately. We do not bill by the hour, and a price does not change after you have paid.

Standard mode: one maker produces the work.

Multiple mode: the same brief goes to several makers, usually three. Each sends you a direction, you compare them and pick one, and that maker finalises the work. The Multiple price covers every direction. You receive the final deliverables of the direction you chose; the other directions remain the property of their makers and may not be used. Your selection is final and the confirmation dialog says so before you confirm.

AI logos (e3mel Studio beta): on the logo page you can buy a logo drawn by artificial intelligence from a description you write, one, two or four ideas at the price shown before you pay. No maker is involved. Each logo is delivered as a PNG image of 1024 by 1024 pixels on a plain background, not a vector file; a vector, a designer's changes or a brand identity are separate orders on e3mel. The name in the logo is checked automatically against what you wrote, but the logo is drawn by AI and may resemble other marks, and e3mel does not search trademarks, so check before you register it or rely on it. The description must be your own business's and must not use another brand's name. On delivery, all rights e3mel has in the logo pass to you and you may use it for any lawful purpose. It is a beta: if you rate a logo two stars or less you can have it drawn again once, free, and if we cannot draw it the price stays in your e3mel wallet as credit (refund policy, section 9).

4. Ordering and the brief

An order starts with a structured brief written for that service. We read every brief before any maker sees it, with an automated completeness check followed by a person where it matters. If something essential is missing we send it back with a specific question, and the delivery clock does not start until the brief is approved. A draft order you do not complete expires after 7 days.

While your order is being made, other approved makers may take a shot at the same brief, under the same confidentiality as your maker. Their shots are shown to you as other options at your first delivery (section 9), and if your maker's work fails or a dispute ends with shots. Declining costs nothing.

5. Price, VAT and invoices

Prices shown to clients are the total you pay, inclusive of VAT where it applies. An invoice is issued automatically each time a payment succeeds and is available on the order page. If you entered a company name and tax ID, the invoice carries them.

6. Payment, holding and your wallet

You can start an order with half of its price, or pay all of it at checkout. Either way the money is held by e3mel and the maker is not paid at checkout. If you started with half, the rest is due at your first delivery: once you have seen the first version, and any other options (section 9), you pay the rest to go on, whether you approve it, ask for a change or take another option. You can open a dispute before paying it. Funds are released to the maker when you approve the delivery, or, once the order is paid in full, when it completes automatically after the review window in section 9; the full files unlock when you approve. If an order ends without a delivery you accepted, the money comes back to you under the refund policy. Orders with several makers are paid in full.

You may also pay from your e3mel wallet. Wallet credit is in Egyptian pounds, does not expire, is not transferable to another account and cannot be exchanged for cash except as the refund policy allows. Top-ups are between EGP 100 and EGP 50,000. Credit that came from a refund or a late-delivery credit can be returned to your original payment method on request.

On a team account the wallet is the team's: refunds and credits on team orders go to it, the people who can pay may spend it, and only the owner can withdraw it. Credit you had before joining a team stays yours.

7. Delivery dates

Delivery times are quoted in working days, Sunday to Thursday, excluding Egyptian public holidays. The date shown to you already includes our quality review, so it is the date you receive files, not the date the maker finishes. The estimate you see at checkout assumes your brief is approved within one working day.

8. If we miss a delivery date

If the maker misses their deadline we reassign the work or refund you in full, your choice. If the work still reaches you late and you choose to accept it, 30% of the order price is credited to your e3mel wallet automatically. That credit is funded by the maker's late fee and by e3mel, not by the quality of what you receive, and you do not have to ask for it. The deadline measured is the one in force at the time: an extension you agreed to, or a revision you requested, moves it.

9. Reviewing a delivery

You have 5 working days to approve a delivery or ask for a revision. We remind you on working days 2 and 4. If we hear nothing, an order paid in full completes automatically so that makers are not left waiting indefinitely, and your files remain available to you. On an order you started with half, nothing goes on at the first delivery until you pay the rest, and the files stay locked: after the 5 working days you have 7 more days, with reminders, to pay it; if you do not, the order closes as a cancellation after the maker started (section 10), the half you paid is not refunded and the files are not released. Disputes are opened while you review a delivery; if something is genuinely wrong after that, tell us from the order page and we will look into it.

Revisions within the brief you submitted are included up to the number stated on the service page. A defective delivery is corrected at no cost and does not consume a revision. A change of direction beyond the original brief is new work. Approval is final: once you approve, the money is released to the maker and the order cannot be reopened except through a dispute.

At your first delivery, other makers may have taken a shot at the same brief. When they did, you see their work under the delivered work as other options, watermarked like it. You may take one instead: its maker takes over your order, your notes on it count as one of your changes, the changes you have left stay yours, and the price stays the same. On an order you started with half, you pay the rest first (section 6). Asking the first maker for a change, or approving, closes the other options.

Some bigger services start with a sample, as their service page says: for example one key screen, a logo direction on one application, or a storyboard with one finished frame. A sample is not the finished work and cannot be approved. Other makers may send a sample too, and you see them side by side. At the sample you choose. You can have the maker of the sample you pick build the whole project from it, within the delivery time on the service page; your notes on it use none of your changes. Or you can stop: stopping costs 20% of the order price, the maker is paid for the sample from it, and the rest of what you paid comes back to you as e3mel wallet credit (refund policy, section 10). On an order you started with half, you pay the rest before the whole project starts (section 6). If the review window ends without your choice on an order paid in full, the maker of the sample delivered to you builds the whole project.

10. Cancelling

Before a maker is assigned, you may cancel for a full refund. After a maker is assigned and before the first delivery has passed our quality review, you may cancel and are refunded 50% of the price; of the rest, 20% of the price goes to the maker for their time and e3mel keeps 30%. Once a delivery has passed quality review, cancellation goes through support and, where agreed, the same split applies. On an order you started with half, the same cost applies: your half is refunded in full before a maker is assigned, and after that it covers the maker's 20% and e3mel's 30%, so nothing of it is refunded. The exact figure is shown to you before you confirm any cancellation. The refund policy sets this out in full.

11. Disputes

If a delivery is not what was agreed, ask for a revision first. If that does not resolve it, open a dispute from the order page. Automatic completion pauses while a dispute is open. We review both sides and decide on one of four outcomes: rework, a partial refund, a full refund, or no change, and we tell you the reason. Our decision settles the dispute on the platform; it does not remove any right you have under Egyptian law.

12. Ownership of the work

On approval and full payment, all rights in the final deliverables transfer to you, including the source files listed on the service page. Until then, e3mel and the maker retain those rights, and previews are watermarked. Makers may show completed work in their portfolio only after 30 days, and only if you did not opt out at checkout. The opt-out is a single checkbox and costs nothing.

Anything you send us stays yours. You give us and the maker a licence to use it only to perform your order, and you confirm you have the right to send it.

13. Talking to your maker

Makers see the brief they need to do the work, with your identity and contact details removed. They never receive your name, email or phone number, and you never receive theirs. On an order, you and your maker can write to each other directly on e3mel, and the e3mel team is always there in its own conversation. Contact details typed into a brief or a message to your maker are removed automatically and the attempt is recorded. When the order ends, the chat with your maker is reviewed: trying to move the order, the conversation or the payment off e3mel earns your account a strike, and a second can end it. Trying to reach a maker outside e3mel is a breach of these terms.

14. What you must not do

Do not upload material that is illegal, that infringes someone else's rights, or that we cannot lawfully process. Do not ask for work that is unlawful, that copies a protected design, or that uses a real person's likeness without their consent. Do not attempt to break, probe or overload the service, or impersonate another person. We may refuse or remove material, cancel an order and suspend an account that does any of this.

15. Automated checks

Briefs and deliveries pass an automated check for completeness, contact details and policy compliance. Where an automated result affects your order, a person reviews it before it becomes final. When an order ends, an automated review reads the chat with your maker and gives a strike for an attempt to leave e3mel; you can contest it, and closing an account is always a person's decision. An AI logo (section 3) is drawn and its spelling checked automatically, with no person reviewing it before you see it. You can ask us to look again at any automated decision.

16. Liability

We are responsible for delivering the service described on each service page. We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, including lost profit or lost business. Our total liability for any order is limited to the amount you paid for that order, in addition to the remedies in sections 8, 10 and 11. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited under Egyptian law, including for death, personal injury or fraud, and nothing in them removes rights you have as a consumer under Egyptian law.

17. Events outside our control

If something outside our reasonable control stops us or a maker from performing, for example a general internet or power outage, a natural disaster or an act of a public authority, delivery dates are extended for as long as the event lasts. If it lasts more than 30 days, either side may cancel the affected order and you are refunded in full for work not delivered.

18. Suspending or closing an account

We may suspend or close an account that breaches these terms, after telling you why unless the law prevents it. You may close your account at any time from your account page; orders in progress are finished or refunded first. When an account is closed, personal data is deleted or anonymised under the privacy policy, while the financial records the law requires us to keep are kept.

19. Changes to these terms

We may change these terms. Material changes are published here with a new version number and take effect for orders placed after publication. Orders already in progress keep the terms they were placed under.

20. The whole agreement

These terms, the refund policy, the privacy policy and the service page for your order are the whole agreement between you and e3mel for that order. If any part of them is found unenforceable, the rest still applies.

21. Language, law and courts

These terms are published in Arabic and English. The Arabic text is the binding version; the English is provided for convenience, and if the two differ the Arabic prevails. These terms are governed by the laws of the Arab Republic of Egypt, and the courts of Cairo have jurisdiction, without prejudice to rights you have as a consumer.

22. Contact

Write to us through the contact page at e3mel.com/contact. A request about an order is answered fastest from the order page itself.