Terms of Service

These terms are the agreement between Stephen (the operator of Shortlist) and you (the recruiter using it). They are written in plain English. Where the law requires specific wording, the specific wording is here.

01Acceptance

Shortlist is operated by Stephen Dalanon as a sole proprietorship based in Metro Manila, Philippines, with contact email heystephn@gmail.com. By logging in with an access code or otherwise using the Service, you agree to these Terms of Service and to our Privacy Policy.

Acceptance is recorded electronically. Under Sec. 7 and Sec. 8 of the Philippines Electronic Commerce Act (RA 8792), electronic signatures and click-through agreements have the same legal effect as written agreements.

If you do not agree to these terms, do not use the Service.

02What the Service does

Shortlist is a B2B web application that:

• Accepts resume files (PDF, DOCX, and images) uploaded by recruiters
• Extracts the text using OCR and PDF parsing
• Sends the text and the recruiter's job description to a third-party AI provider for scoring
• Writes a ranked shortlist of candidates to a Google Sheet that the recruiter controls

03Eligibility

To use Shortlist, you must:

• Be at least 18 years of age
• Be using the Service for legitimate recruitment for your employer or your clients
• Have the authority to bind your employer or client to these terms, if you are signing up on their behalf
• Be located in the Philippines or in another country where the Service is available (see Geographic scope below)

04Geographic scope and prohibited use

05Your obligations as a recruiter

5.1 Candidate consent and notice — critical

5.2 Compliance with Philippine labor and equality law

You agree to use Shortlist in compliance with the Philippine Labor Code and all applicable anti-discrimination statutes, including but not limited to:

• RA 10911 — Anti-Age Discrimination in Employment Act
• RA 6725 — prohibition against sex discrimination in employment
• RA 7277 as amended by RA 10524 — Magna Carta for Persons with Disabilities
• Labor Code Art. 135 and related provisions

You may not use AI scores, or any other output from Shortlist, as a basis for discrimination on protected grounds.

5.3 Human review

You agree that a human (you, or a member of your hiring team) will review the AI output before making any decision that affects a candidate. You will not use Shortlist's output as the sole basis for rejecting any candidate.

5.4 Account security

• Keep your access code confidential
• Do not share your access code with anyone outside your organization
• Notify us immediately at heystephn@gmail.com if you believe your access code has been compromised
• You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your access code

06Plans, pricing, and the free trial

6.1 Free trial

6.2 Paid plan

Pricing is in Philippine Pesos and subject to change with 30 days' notice. Existing active subscriptions are honored at their original price until they expire.

6.3 VAT and tax

The operator is not currently registered for Value-Added Tax (annual gross receipts are below the ₱3 million threshold under the National Internal Revenue Code, as amended by RA 12023). Prices are quoted exclusive of VAT. If we become VAT-registered in the future, we will update pricing with at least 30 days' notice.

6.4 Payment

• Primary method: GCash
• Coming soon: Stripe, PayPal, bank transfer
• Paid plans are billed in advance
• If a payment fails or is reversed, we may suspend the access code until the issue is resolved

6.5 Refunds

The free trial is offered specifically so you can confirm the Service meets your needs before paying. Because of this, refunds are limited:

• No refunds for partial periods of a monthly plan
• No refunds for unused portions of a monthly period once paid
• If we materially break the Service for more than 72 consecutive hours, contact us — we will offer a pro-rata credit or refund at our discretion
• You may cancel at any time; the Service continues to the end of the paid period

07Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• Use the Service for any illegal purpose
• Use it for EU-bound or UK-bound recruitment (see Section 4)
• Upload files that contain malware, viruses, or malicious code
• Attempt to reverse engineer, decompile, or otherwise tamper with the Service
• Use the Service to discriminate on protected grounds
• Share, resell, or sublicense your access code
• Use bots or automation to overload the Service or extract data en masse
• Upload content you do not have the legal right to process
• Upload content that is sexually explicit, violent, or otherwise unrelated to recruitment

Violation may result in immediate suspension or termination without refund, and where appropriate, referral to authorities.

08Intellectual property

8.1 Our IP

The Shortlist application, source code, design, prompts, branding, and copy are owned by Stephen Dalanon. You may not copy, modify, distribute, or create derivative works of them. The "Shortlist" name and logo are unregistered marks at this time.

8.2 Your content

You retain ownership of the resumes, job descriptions, and other content you upload. You grant us a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to process that content solely to provide the Service. We do not claim ownership of candidate resumes.

8.3 Aggregate operational data

We may use de-identified, aggregated operational data (such as "X analyses ran today, average response time Y ms") to operate and improve the Service. This data contains no personally identifying information.

09Disclaimer of warranties

Specifically regarding the AI components:

• AI scores reflect a model's interpretation of resume text. They may contain errors, biases, or omissions
• OCR and PDF parsing may misread or skip portions of a resume
• Scores are not predictions of job performance or candidate quality
• You should not rely on Shortlist's output as the sole basis for any hiring decision

10Limitation of liability

We are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, including loss of profits, revenue, data, goodwill, or business opportunity, even if we have been advised of the possibility.

Nothing in these terms limits liability for: gross negligence, fraud, or willful misconduct (which are non-excludable under Civil Code Arts. 1170 and 1171), or any other liability that cannot be excluded under Philippine law.

We are specifically not liable for:

• Hiring decisions you make based on AI output
• Claims from candidates regarding how you handled their data (you are the PIC; this is your responsibility)
• Your violations of labor or anti-discrimination law
• Loss of or breaches to the Google Sheets you own
• Outages or failures of our sub-processors (Together AI, Groq, Google, Railway)

11Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Stephen Dalanon from any third-party claims, damages, losses, and reasonable legal fees arising from:

• Your use of the Service
• Your breach of these terms
• Your violation of any law (including the DPA and labor laws)
• Claims by candidates regarding your collection or use of their personal data

12Service availability

We aim for high availability but do not guarantee 100% uptime. Maintenance, third-party outages, and incidents may cause temporary unavailability. We may modify or discontinue features at any time. Where we discontinue a paid feature, we will offer a pro-rata credit or refund to active paid subscribers.

13Termination

13.1 By you

You may stop using the Service at any time. To cancel a paid subscription, email heystephn@gmail.com at least 7 days before your renewal date. The Service continues to the end of the current paid period.

13.2 By us

We may suspend or terminate your access if:

• You breach these terms
• A payment fails or is reversed
• We reasonably believe you are using the Service unlawfully or to harm candidates
• We are required to do so by law or by a competent authority

13.3 Effect of termination

• Your access code is deactivated
• You cannot process further resumes
• Your existing Google Sheets and their contents remain yours
• We delete your account record after the retention window described in our Privacy Policy
• Provisions that by their nature survive termination (IP, liability limits, indemnity, governing law) continue to apply

14Privacy

Your use of the Service is also governed by our Privacy Policy, which explains what we process, why, and how. The Privacy Policy is incorporated by reference into these terms.

15Internet Transactions Act

Shortlist is a digital service offered online. The Internet Transactions Act of 2023 (RA 11967) applies to B2B online transactions in the Philippines. Disputes about online transactions may be referred to the Department of Trade and Industry's E-Commerce Bureau in addition to the channels described in Section 17 below.

16Governing law and jurisdiction

• These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of the Philippines, excluding its conflict-of-law rules
• Any action arising out of these terms shall be brought exclusively in the courts of Metro Manila, Philippines, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts

17Dispute resolution

1. Informal resolution first. Email heystephn@gmail.com with the subject line "Dispute — Shortlist." Most disputes get resolved at this step.
2. Mediation. If we cannot resolve within 30 days, either party may pursue mediation in Metro Manila before initiating litigation.
3. Litigation. If mediation fails or is declined, either party may pursue litigation in accordance with Section 16.

18Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. Material changes will be communicated by email to active recruiters at least 14 days before they take effect. If you do not agree to the updated terms, your remedy is to stop using the Service before the updated terms take effect. Continued use after that date constitutes acceptance.

19Miscellaneous

• Entire agreement. These terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Service and supersede any prior agreement.
• Severability. If any provision is found unenforceable, the rest of the agreement continues in force, and the unenforceable provision is limited to the minimum extent necessary.
• No waiver. Failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of the right to enforce it later.
• Assignment. You may not assign these terms without our written consent. We may assign them to a successor entity in connection with a transfer of the Service.
• Force majeure. Neither party is liable for failures caused by events beyond reasonable control (acts of God, war, fire, pandemic, major internet outages).

20Contact

21Acknowledgment