TERMS AND CONDITIONS - SSEF Education Online Courses

Last Updated: 01 September 2026

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing, enrolling in, registering for, purchasing, or using any online course offered by SSEF Education ("SSEF", "we", "our", or "us"), whether free of charge or paid, you agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions.

If you do not agree to these Terms and Conditions, you must not access or use the Courses.

These Terms apply to all current and future SSEF online Courses, whether offered free of charge or for payment, including but not limited to The Emerald Course, The Ruby Course, The Pearl Course, introductory educational courses, awareness courses, and any other online educational content made available by SSEF through Teachable or other learning platforms.

By registering, you confirm that you are at least 18 years of age (or the legal age of majority in your jurisdiction) or are accessing the Course under the supervision of a parent or guardian.

2. Definitions

For the purposes of these Terms:

  • Course means any online educational content offered by SSEF, whether free or paid.
  • Participant means any individual who registers for, accesses, purchases, enrols in, or uses a Course.
  • Platform means Teachable or any other online learning platform used by SSEF.
  • Certificate means any certificate of participation, attendance, completion, achievement, or similar document issued in connection with a Course.

3. Educational Purpose

SSEF online Courses are educational resources designed to provide information about gemstones, gemmology, markets, and related subjects.

The Courses are self-paced educational programmes intended for personal learning, awareness, and continuing education.

The Courses are not professional certification programmes, licensing programmes, degree programmes, vocational training programmes, or regulated qualifications.

Unless expressly stated otherwise, enrolment does not include tutoring, mentoring, coaching, consultation services, direct interaction with SSEF experts, grading services, or personalised support.

Final quizzes and assessments are intended solely as educational tools to support participant learning and completion of a Course and do not constitute formal examinations.

4. Pricing and Payments

SSEF may offer Courses either free of charge or for payment. Where a Course is offered free of charge, this section shall not apply except where expressly stated.

All course fees are established by SSEF and may be changed at any time without prior notice.

Prices displayed are inclusive of applicable Swiss VAT or local sales taxes unless stated otherwise. Depending on the participant's location, payments may be processed in another currency using exchange rates and conversion mechanisms determined by the payment processor.

Payments are processed by third-party providers, including Stripe and Teachable.

Applicable taxes, fees, receipts, invoices, and payment processing requirements are handled by the relevant payment providers and platforms.

A purchase is deemed complete once payment has been successfully processed and access to the Course has been granted.

5. Refund Policy

Except where required by applicable law, all purchases of SSEF online Courses are final, except where required by non-waivable statutory rights (such as consumer withdrawal rights under applicable law.

Once payment has been processed and Course access has been granted, no refunds, credits, price adjustments, or partial reimbursements will be provided.

Subsequent promotions, discounts, bundled offers, price reductions, or changes in Course pricing shall not entitle previously enrolled participants to refunds, credits, or compensation.

SSEF reserves the right to correct administrative errors, duplicate payments, or technical issues on a case-by-case basis.

If a participant initiates an unauthorized chargeback or payment dispute through their financial institution, SSEF reserves the right to immediately suspend or terminate access to all Courses and withhold any Certificate pending resolution.

6. Access Period

Access periods may vary depending on the Course. Some Courses may be offered free of charge, some may be offered as paid Courses, and different Courses may have different access periods.

The access period applicable at the time of enrolment or registration shall govern that particular enrolment.

Unless otherwise specified, paid Courses are generally provided with six (6) months of access from the exact date of payment confirmation and access grant.

Participants are solely responsible for completing the Course during the applicable access period.

SSEF reserves the right to modify access periods for future enrolments. Any such modification shall not affect existing enrolments.

Access may be terminated upon expiration of the applicable access period.

SSEF is under no obligation to issue individual notifications prior to the expiration of a participant's access period

7. Free Courses

SSEF may offer certain Courses free of charge.

Free Courses remain subject to these Terms and Conditions.

SSEF reserves the right to modify, suspend, discontinue, restrict, replace, rename, or remove any free Course at any time without notice.

Participation in a free Course does not create any entitlement to future access, support, updates, expanded content, or continuation of the Course.

Certificates issued in connection with free Courses are subject to the same limitations, conditions, and disclaimers applicable to certificates issued for paid Courses.

8. Bulk, Enterprise, and Discretionary Access

Discretionary Access: SSEF reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to grant free, discounted, or promotional access to any Course (whether normally free or paid) to specific individuals, corporations, educational institutions, trade bodies, or partners.

No Entitlement: The provision of free or sponsored access to any individual, group, or entity is strictly at SSEF's sole discretion and creates no right, precedent, expectation, or legal entitlement for other participants, individuals, or third parties to receive similar terms, discounts, or access.

Bulk and Corporate Enrolments: Where an enterprise, trade organization, or employer purchases or arranges bulk access on behalf of its employees or members, each individual participant remains bound by these Terms and Conditions. Access granted via corporate arrangements is non-transferable unless explicitly agreed upon in writing by SSEF, and may be bound by specific duration limits determined at the time of allocation.

Revocation: SSEF reserves the right to modify, restrict, or revoke complimentary or corporate access at any time if the underlying agreement, sponsorship, or institutional relationship terminates, or in cases of account sharing or misuse.

9. Participant Accounts

Each enrolment is intended for one individual participant only.

Participants must maintain the confidentiality of their account credentials and are responsible for all activity occurring under their account.

Account sharing is strictly prohibited.

Participants may not permit any other individual to access, view, complete, or otherwise use Course content through their account.

10. Certificates of Completion

Participants who satisfy the completion requirements established by SSEF for a particular Course, whether free or paid, may receive a Certificate of Participation and Completion.

Certificates may be generated and issued through third-party service providers such as Certifier.

By enrolling, participants acknowledge that information necessary for certificate generation may be transferred to such service providers.

Certificates issued by SSEF online Courses merely confirm participation in and/or completion of the Course requirements established by SSEF.

Certificates do not constitute:

  • a university degree;
  • an academic qualification;
  • a state-recognised qualification;
  • a professional qualification;
  • a professional licence;
  • a gemmological qualification;
  • a valuation credential;
  • an appraisal credential;
  • proof of professional competence;
  • authorisation to practise any profession.

SSEF makes no representation regarding recognition of Certificates by employers, educational institutions, laboratories, professional organisations, regulatory authorities, or third parties.

Participants may truthfully state that they completed an SSEF online Course.

Participants may not represent or imply that completion of an SSEF online Course grants any professional status, professional accreditation, professional designation, licence, valuation or investment expertise, qualification, certification, or recognised gemmological credential.

SSEF online Courses are introductory and continuing education resources intended for personal learning and professional development. They are not designed to replace, replicate, or be equivalent to formal academic programmes, professional qualifications, industry credentials, or recognised gemmological certification programmes offered by educational or professional institutions.

SSEF may maintain records of certificate issuance to verify the authenticity and validity of Certificates issued through its online learning platform.

Certificates must not be altered, modified, falsified, duplicated, misrepresented, counterfeited, or used in a misleading manner.

SSEF reserves the right to revoke, invalidate, or refuse Certificates where fraud, misuse, account sharing, or misrepresentation is detected.

Only one Certificate may be issued per enrolment.

11. Participant Conduct

Participants agree not to:

  • share accounts or login credentials;
  • copy, reproduce, distribute, publish, upload, record, sell, sublicense, or redistribute Course content;
  • impersonate another individual;
  • provide false information;
  • attempt to disrupt or compromise platform security;
  • use Course materials for unauthorised commercial purposes;
  • engage in fraudulent conduct relating to assessments or Certificates.

Violation of these requirements may result in suspension or termination of access without refund.

12. Intellectual Property

All Course materials, videos, images, texts, graphics, presentations, quizzes, recordings, downloadable resources, and associated content remain the exclusive property of SSEF or its licensors.

Course enrolment grants participants a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to access Course content for private educational purposes.

No ownership rights are transferred to participants.

References, acknowledgements, and sources cited within Courses remain the intellectual property of their respective owners.

13. Course Changes

SSEF may update, expand, revise, correct, reorganise, rename, reduce, replace, or discontinue any Course or Course component at any time.

Course content may be modified to reflect new information, industry developments, editorial improvements, corrections, operational needs, or educational enhancements.

Such modifications shall not create any entitlement to refunds, compensation, extensions, re-enrolment, or access to future Course versions.

The materials appearing on SSEF's websites could include technical, typographical, or photographic errors. SSEF does not warrant that any of the materials on its websites are accurate, complete, or current. SSEF may make changes to the materials contained on its websites at any time without notice. SSEF does not, however, make any commitment to update the materials.

14. Educational Disclaimer

Course content is provided solely for educational and informational purposes.

SSEF makes reasonable efforts to provide accurate information; however, no guarantee is made regarding completeness, accuracy, suitability, or continued validity.

Information presented may evolve over time due to changes in markets, industry practices, scientific understanding, regulations, or other developments.

15. No Investment, Valuation or Professional Advice

Nothing contained in any SSEF online Course constitutes:

  • investment advice;
  • financial advice;
  • valuation advice;
  • appraisal advice;
  • legal advice;
  • professional consulting services.

Any market observations, pricing discussions, examples, case studies, historical references, or industry commentary are provided solely for educational purposes.

Participants are solely responsible for any decisions they make based on information encountered within the Courses.

16. Feedback, Testimonials and Reviews

Participants may voluntarily provide reviews, testimonials, ratings, comments, feedback, survey responses, or other statements regarding SSEF Courses.

By submitting such feedback, participants grant SSEF a non-exclusive, royalty-free right to use, reproduce, publish, display, adapt, and share such feedback for educational, promotional, marketing, quality improvement, and business purposes.

Where reasonably practicable, SSEF may display the participant's first name, last name initial, country, profession, or course completed together with the feedback.

Participants who do not wish their feedback to be used for promotional purposes may contact SSEF and request removal of future promotional use.

17. Third-Party Services and Links

SSEF may rely on third-party platforms and providers, including Teachable, Stripe, Certifier, Zapier, Typeform, Mailchimp, Brevo and others.

SSEF is not responsible for the content, privacy practices, availability, functionality, or policies of third-party services.

External links are provided for informational purposes only.

18. Termination

SSEF reserves the right to suspend, restrict, or terminate access where a participant:

  • violates these Terms;
  • engages in fraud or misuse;
  • shares access credentials;
  • misrepresents Certificates;
  • compromises platform security.

Such termination may occur without refund.

19. Limitation of Liability

SSEF provides the Courses on an "as is" and "as available" basis.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, SSEF shall not be liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or punitive damages arising from use of the Courses, interruption of access, reliance on Course content, or inability to access the platform.

SSEF does not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free operation of third-party platforms. Temporary outages for maintenance, platform updates, or technical failures outside SSEF's control do not entitle participants to access extensions or refunds.

20. Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed by and interpreted according to the laws of Switzerland.

Any disputes arising from these Terms shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the competent courts of Basel, Switzerland.