Terms of Service

Last updated: 12 September 2026

These terms govern editing and proofreading work carried out by EditFast. They are written to be read, not to be got past. If anything below is unclear, ask before you send a document — hello@editfast.com or 1 (877) 333-3321.

Who you are dealing with

EditFast, 1801 – 1 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario M5E 1W7, Canada. Email hello@editfast.com. Telephone 1 (877) 333-3321. EditFast has been editing since 1998 and works with clients worldwide; all work is delivered by email.

The quote comes first

No work begins, and nothing is owed, until you have a quote and have accepted it. You send the document, or a representative sample together with the total word count. We read it and reply with a fixed price, the level of editing that price covers, and a delivery date.

The quote is free. If you decide against it you owe nothing, and you do not have to tell us why. We aim to reply to every enquiry within a few hours and always within twelve.

A quote is firm for thirty days. It is based on the document we were shown. If what arrives for editing is materially different — longer, or in substantially worse condition than the sample suggested — we will tell you before starting and re-quote. You are free to decline the new quote and owe nothing.

What the price is based on

Editing is charged by the word, not by the hour, so the cost of a piece of work is settled before any of it begins. Rates run from three to five cents a word depending on how much work the document needs, averaging four cents. A typical 80,000-word manuscript is about $3,200. There is a minimum charge of $50. There is no setup fee and no account to open. All figures are in US dollars.

The four levels of editing are described on the definitions pages. The level describes how much the draft needs doing to it, not how finished the result will be: every level aims at a document ready to publish or submit. If you are unsure which level you need, send the document and we will tell you — including when the honest answer is the cheaper one.

What a job includes

Unless your quote says otherwise, editing a document means three passes:

1. First pass. Your editor works through the whole document and returns it for your review.
2. Second pass. Your editor makes the changes you asked for, plus anything else the document needs, and returns it again.
3. Final pass. A complete proofread of the finished document, returned for your final review, then checked once more by your editor afterwards.

All three passes are included in the quoted price. Editing is returned as a tracked-changes file unless you ask for something else, so you can see and accept or reject every change.

Revisions, and what counts as new work

Correcting our own work is not a revision and is never charged for. If we have missed something, misread something, or not done what the quote said, tell us and we will put it right.

New or rewritten material that was not in the document we quoted on is new work. So is a change of editing level after work has started, or a request to restructure a document that was submitted for a proofread. We will tell you before doing any of it and quote for it separately. We will never add a charge you have not agreed to in advance.

You choose your editor

You are not assigned to a queue. Editor profiles are published at editor-profiles.php and you may name the person you want. If that editor is unavailable for your deadline we will say so and offer alternatives rather than substituting someone quietly.

Deadlines

Every accepted quote carries a delivery date, and we treat it as a commitment rather than an estimate. If we are going to miss it you will hear from us before the date, not after, with a revised date and the reason.

If we deliver late and the delay was ours, you may either accept the work at a reduced price we agree with you, or cancel and pay nothing. Deadlines depend on the document arriving when you said it would; a document that arrives late moves the delivery date by at least as much.

Your writing stays private

Your document is read only by the editor working on it. We never publish it, never share it, and never use it as a sample — not on this site, not in a portfolio, not in a pitch to anyone else.

Uploaded files are stored outside the public web root and are deleted from the server automatically after thirty days. We will sign your own non-disclosure agreement on request, at no charge; ask before you send the document.

Nothing about your work is disclosed to anyone else unless you ask us to, or unless we are required to by law. If we are ever compelled to disclose something, we will tell you unless we are forbidden from doing so.

Who owns what

Your writing is yours, before and after editing. EditFast claims no copyright, no licence, no credit and no share in your work, and no right to reproduce it. The edited file is yours to use however you wish.

Editing means correcting, improving and advising; it does not make the editor an author or a co-author of your work. It is also not a legal, medical, financial or academic review: an editor improves how a document reads and conforms to a style, and is not responsible for the accuracy of its facts, the soundness of its arguments, or whether it is accepted for publication, funding, submission or a grade. Where an institution's rules limit what third-party editing is permitted, complying with those rules is yours to do; tell us what they allow and we will work inside them.

Payment

Payment is arranged after a quote is accepted; there is no checkout on this site and we do not store card details. For smaller jobs the whole amount is usually due on delivery. For larger manuscripts we normally agree a schedule in writing before starting. Whatever is agreed will be in the quote.

Cancelling

Before work starts, you can cancel for any reason and owe nothing.

Once work has started, you can cancel at any time and pay only for the passes already completed on the portion already edited. We will send you the work as it stands. If you cancel within thirty days of delivery, the money-back guarantee below applies instead, and it is more generous.

The 30-day money-back guarantee

If you are not satisfied, you get your money back. No questions asked. The full terms of that guarantee, including how to claim it, are on the refund policy page.

If something goes wrong

Tell us first. Almost everything is fixable and we would rather fix it than argue about it. Email hello@editfast.com and you will get a reply from a person.

Nothing in these terms limits any right you have under the consumer protection law of the country or province where you live, and nothing here is intended to. Where such a law gives you more than these terms do, the law applies.

Except where your local law provides otherwise, our liability for any claim arising from a piece of work is limited to what you paid for that work, which is also the amount the guarantee already gives back.

The law that applies

These terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the laws of Canada that apply there, and the courts of Ontario have jurisdiction — again, without displacing any consumer right you hold where you live.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. The date at the top of this page says when they last changed. The terms that govern your job are the ones published on the day you accepted your quote; a later change does not apply backwards to work already agreed. If you want a copy of the version you agreed to, ask and we will send it.

Questions

Email hello@editfast.com or call 1 (877) 333-3321. See also the refund policy, the privacy policy and the frequently asked questions.