Portless Referral Program — Terms and Conditions

Why

The Payne Docs inquiry is not an abuse of our terms — it is a correct reading of them. Section 3 requires only that an Introduction be made with the merchant’s "prior knowledge and consent." A commercial lead-generation firm can satisfy that literally: cold-email a brand, obtain a yes, submit the form. Nothing in the current text requires the referrer to actually know the merchant beforehand.

The amendments below add that requirement and nothing else. They are deliberately narrow — three insertions plus an effective-date change — so the program stays frictionless for the founders, agency contacts, and operators it was built for.

Summary of changes

1. Section 2 (Definitions) — adds a defined term, "Pre-Existing Relationship," anchored to the point before the referrer learned of the Program. Defining it once here keeps Sections 3 and 9 short and removes the "pre-existing as of when?" ambiguity.
2. Section 3 (Eligibility) — adds a bullet requiring a Pre-Existing Relationship. This makes cold-sourced referrals an eligibility failure, so we can decline at the form stage before doing any work.
3. Section 9 (Prohibited Conduct) — adds a matching bullet prohibiting sourcing merchants through prospecting or lead generation. This makes it a breach after the fact, which triggers the existing Section 11 clawback. No change to Section 11 is needed.
4. Section 4 (Submission) — optional. Adds an explicit off-ramp directing agencies and lead-gen businesses to a separate commercial conversation. Include this if we want the terms to decline the referral path without declining the person — which is what Chris is already doing by routing Payne Docs to Craig and Phil.
5. Effective Date and Section 18 — re-dates the Terms and makes the amendments prospective, so Approved Referrals already confirmed in writing are not retroactively voided.

Open items

• Effective date. Left as a blank for Ana to set on publication.
• Inbox. The Section 4 off-ramp points to partnerships@portless.com. If that alias does not exist, swap it for referrals@portless.com or whichever inbox Craig and Phil monitor.
• Source of truth. The unchanged text below was transcribed from the live page at portless.com/referral-terms-and-conditions. Ana should diff it against the CMS source before publishing, in case the live render differs.