Provider Terms of Service

1. About these terms

These terms govern your use of JobNest.au as a service provider ("Provider"). By registering, sending quotes, accepting bookings, or otherwise using the platform as a Provider, you agree to these terms and our Privacy Policy. You are an independent contractor, not an employee, agent, or partner of JobNest.au.

2. Provider eligibility

To register as a Provider, you must:

• Be at least 18 years old and have the legal capacity to enter into contracts.
• Hold a valid Australian Business Number (ABN) or be registered as a sole trader, company, or partnership.
• Hold all required licences, qualifications, and insurance for the services you offer in each state or territory where you operate.
• Not be subject to any ban or restriction that would prevent you from providing the services offered.

3. Accurate business information

You must provide accurate and complete business information, including your business name, trading name, ABN, contact details, service areas, and operating hours. You must keep this information current. JobNest.au may suspend your profile if your information is found to be false or misleading. Changes to your profile (including verification status, rating, and workload) are processed through JobNest.au's backend — you cannot directly edit protected fields.

4. Licences, qualifications, and insurance

You are responsible for holding and maintaining all licences, qualifications, and insurance required for the services you offer in each state or territory where you operate. This includes, where applicable:

• Trade licences (e.g. electrical, plumbing, pest control, building).
• Professional qualifications and certifications.
• Public liability insurance and professional indemnity insurance as appropriate for your trade.
• Working with children checks or other background checks where required by law.

You must upload copies of these documents during registration and keep them current. JobNest.au stores compliance documents privately — they are never displayed on your public profile and are only reviewed by JobNest.au administrators for verification.

5. Compliance documents and verification

When you register, your verification status is set to "Pending Verification". JobNest.au administrators review your compliance documents and may approve, reject, or request more information. Once approved, a "Verified" badge may be displayed on your profile. Verification indicates that documents were reviewed at a point in time — it does not certify ongoing compliance. You must notify JobNest.au if any licence, insurance, or qualification expires, is suspended, or is cancelled. JobNest.au may automatically suspend your profile if your documents expire (checked by a daily document expiry workflow) and may require you to re-verify.

6. Provider responsibilities

As a Provider, you are responsible for:

• Completing work to a professional standard and in accordance with the agreed quote and any applicable laws, codes, and standards.
• Providing accurate, fair, and transparent quotes.
• Communicating professionally and respectfully with customers through the platform.
• Respecting customer property, privacy, and safety at all times.
• Attending scheduled bookings on time, or notifying the customer as early as possible if you cannot.
• Maintaining your own insurance, tax, and regulatory compliance.
• Complying with all applicable Australian laws, including consumer law, work health and safety, and privacy law.

7. Quoting and pricing

You can send quotes for jobs matching your services and service areas. Quotes should be fair and accurately reflect the work required. Each quote must include a price, proposed date and time, what is included and excluded, and a validity period. You can see the applicable commission for a booking before the customer accepts your quote.

If a job is linked to a fixed-price Local Deal, you cannot quote a different price — the deal price is enforced server-side at quoting, booking, and checkout. Attempting to charge more or less than the deal price for a deal-linked job is not possible through the platform.

8. Bookings

When a customer accepts your quote, a booking is created. You are responsible for completing the work as agreed. If you cannot attend, you must notify the customer and JobNest.au as early as possible and propose a reschedule or cancellation through the platform. You must not abandon a booking without notice.

9. Customer communication

You can communicate with customers through the platform's in-job messaging system. Messages are visible to you, the customer, and JobNest.au administrators. Messages may be forwarded to JobNest.au's support inbox if reported by either party. You must not use messaging to solicit off-platform payments, harass customers, or share customer contact details outside the platform.

Customer contact details (mobile, email, address) are shared with you only after a quote or booking relationship exists. Before that, you can only see the customer's first name and job details.

10. Inspections

You may request an inspection before finalising a quote — for example, to assess the scope of work. The customer can approve or decline your inspection request. If approved, an inspection visit is scheduled. The inspection does not create a booking or a charge. You can propose an inspection fee, which is shown to the customer before they approve. You must attend scheduled inspections or notify the customer in advance.

11. Extra charges

During a job, you may request an extra charge for work or materials not covered by the original quote. The customer must explicitly approve or reject each extra charge request — no charge is created automatically. An approved extra charge is paid by the customer through a separate Stripe checkout. The original quote and booking price are never modified. You must not request extra charges that are unreasonable, undisclosed, or for work already covered by the original quote.

12. Cancellations and refunds

If you need to cancel a booking, you must do so through the platform. Unpaid bookings are cancelled immediately. For paid bookings, your cancellation request is reviewed by JobNest.au, and a refund may be issued to the customer. The refund policy (currently full refund of the amount paid) and whether commission is returned or retained on cancellation are configurable by JobNest.au.

Repeated cancellations or no-shows may result in a warning, suspension, or removal from the platform. Refunds are processed by JobNest.au administrators through Stripe.

13. Disputes

A customer or you can raise a dispute through the platform. Disputes are independent records — they do not alter the original job, booking, quote, or payment data. JobNest.au administrators may facilitate resolution, propose a resolution (including a partial or full refund), or close the dispute. You must cooperate with dispute resolution and provide evidence when requested. JobNest.au is not a party to the service contract and does not determine the outcome — it facilitates the process.

14. Reviews

Customers can leave reviews and ratings after completed jobs. Reviews must be honest and based on genuine experience. You cannot delete genuine reviews. JobNest.au moderates reviews that are false, abusive, unrelated to an actual job, or otherwise in breach of these terms. You may request review of a review you believe is false or misleading, but you must not retaliate against a customer for leaving a review.

15. Local Deals

You can create fixed-price Local Deals for your services at a discounted rate. Deals must be approved by JobNest.au before going live. Deal prices, quantities, and validity periods are enforced server-side — you cannot charge more or less than the deal price for deal-linked jobs. Quantity limits prevent overselling. You are responsible for honouring the deal price and terms once a deal is active and a customer books it. Deals can be deactivated by you or by JobNest.au at any time, but existing bookings at the deal price remain valid.

16. Provider Demand Alerts

You can set up Provider Demand Alerts to be notified when new jobs matching your criteria (service category, location) are posted. Demand Alert matching is based on criteria you set. You can pause, edit, or delete your alerts at any time. These are operational notifications and are always sent.

17. Commission, payments, and payouts

JobNest.au charges a platform commission on completed, paid bookings. The default commission is 8%, applied as a surcharge on the customer's total (the customer pays quote price + fee). The commission rate and model (surcharge or deduction) are configurable and may vary by service category. You can see the exact commission for each booking in your dashboard and before accepting a quote.

Customer payments are processed by Stripe. JobNest.au maintains an internal Payment Ledger tracking each transaction, including the agreed amount, platform commission, customer total, provider gross, and provider net (your earnings after commission).

Provider payouts are tracked in the ledger only. Actual bank transfers to your account require Stripe Connect onboarding, which is not yet active. Until Stripe Connect is enabled, your earnings are recorded in the ledger but not automatically paid to your bank account. You will be notified when payouts are enabled, and you may need to complete Stripe Connect onboarding at that time.

18. Off-platform transactions

You must not request or accept off-platform payments, or direct customers to bypass the platform's booking and payment system. Off-platform transactions deprive customers of payment protection, dispute facilitation, and refund support, and are a breach of these terms. JobNest.au may suspend or remove your profile for repeated off-platform conduct.

19. Prohibited conduct

You must not:

• Request or accept off-platform payments or bypass the booking system.
• Share customer contact details outside the platform.
• Post false, misleading, or fraudulent content (quotes, deals, profile information).
• Harass, threaten, or abuse customers or JobNest.au staff.
• Use another person's identity, licences, or qualifications.
• Submit fake or retaliatory reviews, or offer incentives for positive reviews.
• Charge more than the agreed or deal price without an approved extra charge.
• Abandon a booking without notice.

20. Unsafe work

You must not perform work that is unsafe, illegal, or beyond your qualifications. You must assess each job for safety before commencing. If you identify a hazard not disclosed by the customer, you must notify the customer and JobNest.au before proceeding. You may report a job as unsafe through the platform. You are responsible for your own work health and safety obligations, including having appropriate insurance and using safe work practices.

21. Customer data and privacy obligations

You receive customer contact details and job information only after a quote or booking relationship exists. You must use this information solely for the purpose of providing the agreed service. You must not:

• Use customer information for marketing, spam, or any purpose other than the agreed service.
• Share, sell, or disclose customer information to third parties.
• Retain customer information after the service is completed except as required for your own tax, insurance, or legal records.

You must comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles in your handling of customer personal information. JobNest.au's Privacy Policy describes how the platform handles personal information.

22. Suspension and deactivation

JobNest.au may issue warnings, suspend, or remove your profile for violations of these terms, repeated complaints, no-shows, expired documents, safety concerns, or fraudulent conduct. You will be notified of any action. Suspensions may be appealed by contacting support@jobnest.au. JobNest.au reserves the right to deactivate any Local Deals associated with a suspended profile.

23. Account deletion

You can request account deletion through your settings. Account deletion is permanent. When you delete your account:

• Your user account, login, deal alerts, demand alerts, email preferences, and in-app notifications are deleted.
• Your Provider profile is suspended, not deleted — personal contact details are cleared, but the record remains so that bookings, payments, and disputes that reference it stay intact and auditable.
• Your active Local Deals are deactivated (not deleted) so that redemption and booking history is preserved.
• Transaction records (jobs, bookings, quotes, payments, refunds, disputes, inspections, cancellations, extra charges, reviews, and messages) are retained for legal, tax, and audit purposes.

24. Liability and indemnity

You are responsible for the services you provide and any loss or damage arising from your work. To the extent permitted by Australian law, you indemnify JobNest.au against any claim, loss, or damage arising from your services, your conduct, or your breach of these terms. JobNest.au's liability as a platform facilitator is limited as described in the Customer Terms.

25. Tax and invoicing

You are responsible for your own tax obligations, including GST registration, income tax, and reporting. The treatment of tax invoices (whether issued by you or JobNest.au) is configurable and must be confirmed by a registered tax agent or accountant before launch. JobNest.au provides internal transaction records (the Payment Ledger) but does not guarantee tax invoice compliance until confirmed. You should seek your own tax advice.

If you are registered for GST, you are responsible for correctly including GST in your quotes and for issuing compliant tax invoices to customers where required. The Taxable Payments Annual Report (TPAR) may apply to certain service categories — you should seek advice on your TPAR obligations.

26. Changes to these terms

JobNest.au may update these terms. Material changes will be communicated to you. Continued use of the platform after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.

27. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of Australia. The parties submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Australia. The specific governing law and dispute resolution forum require confirmation by an Australian lawyer.

ITEMS FOR AUSTRALIAN LEGAL REVIEW

The following provisions require confirmation by a qualified Australian lawyer before launch:

• Provider eligibility: Confirm the ABN and licensing requirements are complete and appropriate for all service categories and states/territories.
• Insurance responsibilities: Confirm the minimum insurance requirements (public liability, professional indemnity) and whether JobNest.au should verify coverage levels.
• Commission model: Confirm the 8% surcharge model is commercially and legally appropriate, and whether the deduction model raises different legal considerations.
• Payouts / Stripe Connect: Confirm the ledger-only payout model and the transition to Stripe Connect does not create unfair contract terms or withholding issues. Until Stripe Connect is enabled, provider earnings are tracked but not paid — confirm this is adequately disclosed and lawful.
• Tax and GST: Confirm tax invoice issuer allocation, GST inclusion in prices, and TPAR/SERR obligations. Must be confirmed by a registered tax agent.
• Liability and indemnity: Confirm the indemnity is enforceable and does not create unfair contract terms under the ACL.
• Cancellation/refund rules: Confirm the policy is fair and whether provider-side penalties should be introduced.
• Suspension/deactivation: Confirm the suspension and appeal process is fair and compliant with any applicable laws.
• Account deletion / provider suspension: Confirm the "suspend not delete" approach for provider profiles complies with the Privacy Act and is adequately disclosed.
• Customer data obligations: Confirm the privacy obligations imposed on Providers are appropriate and that Providers are independently bound by the Privacy Act.
• Off-platform transactions: Confirm the prohibition is enforceable and the penalties are proportionate.
• Governing law and jurisdiction: Confirm the appropriate state/territory and dispute resolution forum.