TERMS

1. What Community Trade is

Community Trade is a noticeboard. Members post offers and requests — sewing for a sourdough loaf, mechanic time for vegetables, lessons for help around the house. Members find each other, agree their own terms, and trade directly. We are not a party to the trade.

The $2 one-time membership fee covers posting + commenting + revealing other members' contact details. It is not a fee for a service or a guarantee of any kind. It funds the hosting, email, and security that keep the noticeboard running.

2. What Community Trade is not

• Not a trade exchange. The ATO defines a trade exchange as an organisation that maintains member credit accounts and brokers transactions. We don't do that. We don't issue trade dollars, hold balances, or take commissions. We're a classifieds page.
• Not an employer or contractor. Members aren't our employees, agents, or representatives. We don't direct anyone's work.
• Not a guarantor. We don't guarantee the quality, safety, honesty, or skill of any member. We don't verify each individual job before it happens.
• Not a payment platform. No money passes through us between members. Members deal directly.
• Not legal, medical, financial, or trade advice. Information on Roots Grow in the Dark is plain-language navigation, not personal advice. For your specific situation, see a qualified professional.

3. Your responsibilities as a member

When you post an offer or accept one, you take responsibility for the things below. We don't check these for you. We rely on you being honest about them.

3.1 Licences

If your trade requires a licence under Australian law, you must hold a current one and you must enter the licence number when you post. This applies to (but isn't limited to):

• Electrical work (state Electrical Licensing Board)
• Plumbing + gasfitting (state Plumbing Industry Commission)
• Building + construction over the relevant state threshold
• Pest control with scheduled chemicals
• Legal advice (state Law Society practising certificate)
• Medical or allied health (AHPRA registration)
• Financial advice (ASIC adviser register)
• Real estate + property (state agent licensing)
• Driving instruction, asbestos removal, scaffolding, working at heights, etc.

If you list in a regulated category without a current licence, your listing will be removed. Where the law makes it an offence to perform the work unlicensed, we may report it to the relevant state regulator.

3.2 Insurance

If your offered work could cause physical harm, property damage, or financial loss, you should carry your own public liability insurance and any other cover your trade requires. We don't insure your work. We don't insure other members against you.

3.3 Quality + the consumer guarantees

The Australian Consumer Law (Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010) applies to services traded for any consideration — including a box of vegetables, a sewing lesson, an hour of labour. The fact that no money changes hands doesn't switch it off.

That means when you provide a service, you must:

• Take due care and skill (s 60)
• Provide a service fit for the purpose you knew about (s 61)
• Provide it within a reasonable time (s 62)

You can't contract out of these. A clause that says "no warranty" doesn't override the consumer guarantees.

3.4 Tax

If you're carrying on a business and you barter through Community Trade, the ATO treats the market value of what you receive as assessable income. You may have GST obligations if your total turnover (cash + barter combined) reaches $75,000 a year. You must keep records for five years.

If you're trading casually as a neighbour helping a neighbour — once-off favours, no business pattern — the ATO generally doesn't treat that as taxable income.

Read the ATO's guidance: Bartering and trade exchanges.

If you're not sure which side of the line you're on, see a tax agent or call the ATO. We can't give individual tax advice.

3.5 Truth

The Australian Consumer Law also says you must not engage in misleading or deceptive conduct (s 18). Don't claim qualifications you don't have. Don't promise outcomes you can't deliver. Don't pretend a thing is something it isn't.

4. Comments + reviews

Members can leave comments and reviews on each other's listings once a trade is complete. Comments are public.

The 2021 Australian defamation reforms and the High Court's decision in Fairfax Media Publications v Voller mean that comment publishers (including us, as the platform) can be liable for what gets posted. To keep that workable, we have rules.

4.1 What's welcome

• Honest accounts of your own experience
• Specific facts ("turned up on time, did what was agreed, fair value")
• Constructive disagreement, including criticism

4.2 What gets removed

• Accusations of crime, dishonesty, or fraud without evidence
• Personal attacks unrelated to the trade
• Identifying details of people who haven't consented
• Content that's defamatory, racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise targeted at someone's identity
• Content that breaches another person's privacy
• Spam, advertising, off-topic content

4.3 Moderation + reporting

Anyone can flag a comment for review. We aim to review reports within 48 hours. Comments that breach the rules above are removed. Repeat offenders are suspended.

If you are the subject of a comment you believe is defamatory or false, email hello@rootsgrowinthedark.org with subject line "Comment concern: [listing]". Include why the comment is wrong. We will review within 48 hours.

5. Copyright

Don't post copyrighted content (text, images, photos) you don't have permission to use. Don't link to pirated copies of books, music, software, or video.

If you own the copyright on something we've allowed to be posted, email us and we'll take it down on reasonable notice. Under the Copyright Act 1968 and Universal Music Australia v Cooper, platforms that authorise infringement can be liable, so we take this seriously.

6. Disputes between members

If a trade goes wrong, work it out between yourselves first. Most disputes are misunderstandings.

If you can't work it out, the consumer guarantees apply (see 3.3). You can:

• Contact your state Fair Trading body (NSW Fair Trading, Consumer Affairs Victoria, etc.)
• Apply to your state tribunal (NCAT, VCAT, QCAT, etc.) for a small claims hearing
• See a Community Legal Centre for free advice — find your local one
• For DV-related concerns, see 1800RESPECT

Roots Grow in the Dark doesn't arbitrate trade disputes between members. We can remove listings and suspend members where conduct breaches these terms. We can't decide who pays whom what.

7. Reports against members

If a member has behaved in a way that breaches these terms — unsafe work, dishonest claims, harassment, scam attempts — report them to hello@rootsgrowinthedark.org.

We aim to investigate within 28 days. Outcomes range from a warning, to suspension, to permanent removal. In serious cases (suspected fraud, unlicensed regulated work, child safety) we may report to police or the relevant regulator.

If you are reporting from a position of vulnerability (family violence, fear of retaliation), tell us. We will protect your identity from the member you've reported.

8. Removal + suspension

We can remove a listing or suspend an account for:

• Breaching these terms
• Posting in a regulated category without a current licence
• Documented misleading or deceptive conduct
• Documented unsafe work
• Repeated comment violations
• Fraud, harassment, hate, or child safety concerns

For most breaches we will email you first and give you a chance to respond. For serious breaches we may suspend immediately.

Members can also delete their own listings and close their own accounts at any time from the member dashboard. We don't hold a member who wants to leave.

9. Your data + privacy

We hold the minimum we need to run the site: your email address (to log you in and send digests), display name (chosen by you), and any details you choose to add to your profile. The $2 payment is processed by Stripe — we never see your card details.

We don't sell your data. We don't share it with advertisers. We don't profile you for someone else's benefit. We comply with the Privacy Act 1988's Australian Privacy Principles.

You can request your data, correct it, or delete your account from your member dashboard at any time.

Full privacy policy: privacy.html.

10. Liability + the honest limit

To the extent allowed by Australian law, Roots Grow in the Dark is not liable for:

• The quality, safety, or honesty of work performed by any member
• Loss or damage arising from a trade between members
• Tax consequences of your barter activity
• Disputes about value, condition, or delivery

What we are liable for, under the Australian Consumer Law and other Australian law, we don't try to contract out of. The consumer guarantees that apply to us (as a service provider) cannot be excluded.

11. Changes to these terms

We update these terms when the site changes, when the law changes, or when something goes wrong and we learn from it. When we make a material change, we tell all members by email at least 14 days before it takes effect.

Past versions of these terms are kept at terms-trade-history.html so you can see what changed and when.

12. Governing law

These terms are governed by the law of Western Australia, where Roots Grow in the Dark is based. Disputes can be brought in the courts of Western Australia or the relevant federal jurisdiction.

If you live in another state, the consumer guarantees of the Australian Consumer Law still apply to you the same way. Nothing in these terms takes away any right you have under your state's consumer protection law.

13. Contact

Email hello@rootsgrowinthedark.org for any question about these terms, or to report a concern.