A suspicion with no evidence
Your course is popular with small agencies. One account has completed every lesson twice in a month and asks questions in the community from three different names. You suspect a whole team is using one login. You have no way to confirm it, and you do not want to accuse a paying customer of anything.
Meanwhile, three agencies of similar size have bought team seats from you, at a higher price, and would feel foolish if they knew.
Why sharing is invisible
Most course platforms record logins but do not show you devices, locations or overlapping sessions for each account. Community names can differ from the purchasing account. And the few platforms that limit devices do it bluntly, which locks out genuine students using a phone, a laptop and a work computer.
- Login data is not shown per account.
- Genuine students use several devices.
- Blunt device limits frustrate honest buyers.
- Nobody reviews unusual patterns.
- There is no easy offer for teams who want to do the right thing.
What sharing costs
Lost sales, most obviously, especially team seats. Unfairness to buyers who paid for each person. And a heavy-handed response, such as locking accounts, risks upsetting honest students and generating support work and refunds. The aim is proportion: notice clear patterns and give people an easy way to do the right thing.
Monitoring that flags, then asks
- Login and activity events are collected from your course platform, where its API or webhooks allow, or from a small script on your lesson pages.
- Each account's pattern is summarised: devices, approximate locations, overlapping sessions and lesson activity.
- Rules you set flag accounts that look shared, such as more devices than a person normally uses, or activity from distant places at the same time.
- Flagged accounts go to a review list for you, with the pattern shown, rather than any automatic action.
- If you decide to act, a polite message goes to the buyer explaining your terms and offering a team option or additional seats.
- Buyers who take up the offer are moved to team seats, and the flag is cleared.
- Your terms of use are shown clearly at checkout, so the message refers to something the buyer agreed to.
| Pattern | Flag? | Suggested action |
|---|---|---|
| Phone, laptop and work computer | No | None |
| Many devices in a week | Review | Look at the pattern |
| Two countries in the same hour | Review | Look at the pattern |
| Several names in the community from one account | Review | Friendly team offer |
What data you collect for this, and how you tell students, is for your own privacy policy and adviser. We build within what you decide.
Fair, not heavy-handed
You see a short list of accounts that look shared, with the evidence, and decide what to do. Honest students with several devices are never disturbed. Teams who were sharing are offered an easy way to pay for what they use, which some will take. And your team seat offer becomes something you can promote, knowing it is not being undercut.
Consider the agency account again. The review list shows five devices, three names in the community and overlapping sessions most afternoons. You send the friendly message offering team seats with the account's progress carried across. Whatever they decide, you acted on evidence and with courtesy, not on a hunch.
Is login sharing a worry for you?
- You suspect some accounts are shared by teams.
- You cannot see devices or locations per account.
- Community posts come from different names on one account.
- Team seat sales are lower than you expect.
- You do not want to lock out honest students.