Welcome to Swapsity.ca, a Canadian bartering community. We make every effort to ensure that the Swapsity site is enjoyable, convenient and easy to use for all our visitors, users and registered members (the “User” or “Users”). Our User Agreement (the “User Agreement” or “Agreement”) describes the terms and conditions that govern the use of our services available under the domain name of Swapsity.ca (the “Site”) as well as policies that help to promote trust between Site members.
PLEASE READ THIS AGREEMENT CAREFULLY. BY ACCESSING OR USING THE SITE YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND ACCEPT THIS USER AGREEMENT AND ANY OTHER POLICIES INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE, WHETHER OR NOT YOU ARE A REGISTERED MEMBER OF SWAPSITY.
Effective date: September 2, 2008
Last Modified: November 26, 2009
Service
Swapsity provides an online service (the “Service”) which facilitates user-to-user barter transactions among Users and within swapping communities (the “Groups” or “Group”). Swapsity is a swapping community that allows for the exchange and selling of items, skills and services (the “Item” or “Items”). Trades between Users may be balanced with cash if desired. After finalizing a transaction online, Users may ship their exchanged Items or meet in person to trade. The Service is currently available in Canada only. Swapsity reserves the right to change, suspend or discontinue all or partial content, functions and services available on the Site without prior notice or liability.
Beta Disclaimer
This is a beta release of Swapsity. The Site is in the beta testing phase and is provided “AS-IS” without warranties of any kind. The Site has not been released for use by the general public and is currently in trials with a limited number of invited Users. The Site may include undiscovered malfunctions, errors and bugs. Users given early access to the Site currently enjoy its use free of charge (Note: please refer to the Fees section for information about future Fees for Premium Services). To provide you with the best possible version of the Site, Swapsity reserves the right to perform a full or partial clean out of its database prior to the launch of the Site to the general public or earlier. Such Site maintenance may include but may not be limited to the removal of certain past swap or sale transactions, User messages, feedbacks, certain User information or other Content. We will provide adequate notice to all Users prior to such action and will endeavor to make this transition as smooth as possible for all Users. However, Swapsity cannot guarantee that User information may not be altered or deleted in the process.
Venue Only
Swapsity is not involved in any transactions between Users. The Site only facilitates buying, selling, swapping, and trading of Items between Users who can use the Site to arrange mutually agreeable transactions. The Site also acts as a medium by which Users can communicate about Items traded and ongoing transactions, as well as arrange meetings or shipping to exchange Items. Swapsity cannot confirm each User’s identity. We do not hold any inventory. We have no control over the quality, safety, legality or condition of Items advertised, truth or accuracy of listings or feedback, the ability of Users to deliver, mail, or provide swapped Items or other acts or omissions on the Site. We cannot ensure that the owner of the swapped Items will actually complete the transaction. Parties to a transaction are responsible for the accuracy and legality of their own listings and inquiring about or inspecting Items available for purchase or exchange. Swapsity does not resolve disputes between Users.
Prohibited Items
Swapsity prohibits the listing, sale or exchange of any Items that are illegal or questionable under any applicable law or statute including, but not limited, to any banned items, skills or services (the “Illegal Items”) listed here.
User Conduct
Swapsity is committed to building a safe, honest, and reliable swapping community for all Users, thereby facilitating beneficial transactions and trustful trading relationships. All Users are asked to act in a considerate, honest and courteous manner and treat others in the same way as they would want to be treated. Users are responsible for their own conduct.
User Responsibilities and Restrictions
Each User acknowledge and agrees that:
o User is responsible for all of his or her activities as well as swap or sale transactions in connections with his or her username and member account;
o User will not to use Swapsity for any unlawful purposes or post any Illegal Items. Users are requested to notify the Site if they notice any prohibited or questionable Items posted on the Site;
o User will conclude all Item exchanges promptly and provide agreed payment for purchased Items or uneven barter swaps to the other User on time;
o User will not use or abuse other User’s shipping information or any other personal information provided by other Users in the course of a transaction for purposes other than intended (e.g. shipping the Item, meeting in person to exchange Item, communicating with other User about the Item);
o If a User accepts an offer, the User is obligated to complete the transaction with the other party unless: a) the transaction is prohibited by law and/or Items in the transaction are illegal or questionable; b) the ‘seller’ materially changes the Item description or the actual Item does not conform to the ‘sellers’ posted description; c) both parties mutually agree to nullify the transaction;
o User will not post any false, inaccurate, misleading, defamatory, or libelous content (including Personal Information) and will not misrepresent themselves or their Item listings;
o User will not violate the privacy rights of any party, infringe the intellectual property of any third party and will abstain from posting any copyrighted images or content on the Site;
o User will not threaten, blackmail or abuse any User on the site. User may not post any slanderous remarks, racial or ethnic slurs or other defamatory remarks in the other User’s feedback or any other form of communication with other User;
o User will not interfere with Swapsity’s operations and may only use the Site for its intended purpose. You may not a) corrupt the security or functionality of the Site or violate the security of any computer network; b) try to gain unauthorized access to the Site or other User’s Personal User Information; c) break or bypass security, crack passwords or security encryption codes; d) transfer or store any illegal material; e) flood or deliberately attempt to overload the system or the Site; f) “spam” the Site or any of its Users or run any other processes that interfere with the Site and its operations;
o User may not transfer their account and username to any other party;
o User may not to create a new account to escape bad reputation after being suspend or terminated from the Site for violation(s); and
o User is at least 18 years of age and is resident in Canada to use the Site.
Swapsity retains the right to revoke or suspend the membership of any User who violates or breaches the above terms.
Violating or attempting to violate Swapsity’s system of network security is strictly prohibited, and those undertaking such activity may face criminal and civil penalties. Swapsity will monitor systems and will investigate incidents involving security violations, and will involve local, provincial, or federal law enforcement if a criminal violation is suspected.
Access to and use of password protected and/or secure areas of the Site is restricted to authorized Users only. Unauthorized individuals attempting to access these areas of the Site may be subject to prosecution or civil action.
Termination of User Accounts and Restriction of Access
Swapsity reserves the right to terminate User memberships, to suspend Users, restrict access and otherwise restrict use of the Site either temporarily or permanently, where it has determined that a User has violated this Agreement or applicable federal, provincial or local laws. Violations that may lead to suspension, termination, or other actions against a User’s accounts or use of the Site include but are not limited to the following:
Prohibited Communications:
Misrepresenting one’s identity; threatening behaviour; solicitation or “spamming”; use of false contact information; and use of profanity or inappropriate language.
Prohibited Services or Products:
Misrepresenting the nature and quality of products and services; failing to provide products and services that have been agreed upon; failing to pay for or provide goods or services in a timely manner.
Prohibited Use of Site:
Interfering with Swapsity’s Site or operations; misuse of other Users’ contact or personal information; repeated warnings of the same violation; breach of any of Swapsity’s rules or policies; and an aggregate rating lower than 2 on our scale of 1 to 10 may result in suspension.
Note: Users may close their accounts by contacting Swapsity and requesting to have their account deactivated.
Content
Swapsity is under no obligation to review any posted messages including pictures, information or content (“Content”) posted on the Site by Users and assumes no responsibility or liability relating to any such postings. Notwithstanding the above, Swapsity may from time to time monitor the Content on the Site and may decline to accept, modify and/or remove any Content that contains:
(1) Unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, profane, hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable material of any kind, including, but not limited to, any material which encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offence, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any applicable local, provincial, federal, or international law.
(2) Illegal Items, questionable Items or misleading Item offers.
(3) Copyrighted images or picture.
(4) Advertisements or solicitations that violate Swapsity’s policies or that Swapsity objects to for any reason whatsoever.
(5) Messages posted by Users impersonating others.
(6) Personal information posted ‘publicly’ such as messages that state phone numbers, social insurance numbers, addresses, passwords, financial information or other sensitive information.
(7) Repeated postings.
(8) Any other messages to which Swapsity objects and at its sole discretion decides to remove.
(9) Swapsity reserves the right to move any mis-categorized Item postings to an appropriate category without notice to Users.
Reporting Violations
To report listings, images or content that violate our User Agreement or violate your intellectual property or privacy rights and need to be removed, please notify us via our contact us form. If the complaint is urgent, please indicate so in the title header and provide all necessary details and contact information.
Submission of Suggestions, Ideas or Comments
By submitting comments, suggestions, Site feedback or ideas to the Site, including suggestions for improvements to the Site, Users do not enter into a contractual or confidential relationship with Swapsity. Users agree that the content of their submission will become the sole property of Swapsity and Swapsity will be entitled to use such submissions for any reason, in any medium, in perpetuity, without any liability or obligation and without compensation. Users further agree that any review of their submissions by the Site does not imply that such submission is original and Users acknowledge that Swapsity may have independently created or might in the future independently create something substantially similar or identical to such submission with no liability or obligation resulting therefrom. Submissions and suggestions sent to Swapsity will be treated as non-proprietary and non-confidential and will become the property of Swapsity, which may or may not use same for any purpose.
In-Person Exchange of Products or Services
Swapsity advises its Users that personal meetings between Users for the purpose of concluding or performing transactions entered into through the Site, or for any other purpose whatsoever, are undertaken at Users’ own risk. Swapsity advises Users to exercise due caution in arranging personal meetings with other Users and cannot accept any responsibility or legal liability for meetings arranged by Users through the Site or otherwise.
Law and Regulations
User access to and use of the Site is subject to all applicable international, federal, provincial and local laws and regulations. Use of Swapsity Services is restricted to Canadian resident individuals, including temporary residents and visitors, who are of full age and legal capacity.
Fees
Swapsity’s core services are free. We do not charge any transaction fees, listing fees or membership fees. Swapsity only charges fees (the “Fees”) for some of the optional, additional or premium Site features (the “Premium Services”) in order to maintain the Service. Fees will be paid in Credits. Our Fees are available here and are incorporated into this Agreement by reference. We may change our Fee policy from time to time and introduce new paid Services. Swapsity may choose to waive Fees at its discretion. Unless otherwise stated, all Fees are in Canadian dollars.
Site Credits
Swapsity Credits (the “Credits”)are internal currency used to pay for Premium Features including such as Video Listings, Top Listings, Showcase, Website Links and Additional Pictures. The Credits may only be used on the Site. Users can purchase various denominations of Credits from Swapsity. Credit purchases are non-refundable and final. The price of Credits purchased through the Site will be the price specified in the Site at the time of your purchase. Credits are not transferable, and shall not be transferred or assigned by Members in any way. The Fee Schedule is available at http://www.swapsity.ca/pages/fees. If we terminate your account or your access and use of the Site, you will forfeit any Credits that you may have at that time in your member account. If you elect to terminate your member account on the Site, you agree that you will forfeit any unused Credits in your account at that time. We reserve the right to delete any url link, video link, picture(s) or other paid Content if we deem the material to be questionable, illegal, inappropriate or for any other reason without a refund. We may close or change any Premium Features at any time without notice. You agree that we have the absolute right to manage, regulate, control, modify and/or eliminate Credits as we see fit in our sole discretion, in any general or specific case, and that we will have no liability to you based on our exercise of such right. In no event shall Swapsity be required to refund, redeem or pay any amounts to any Member for any Credits.
Taxes
Users acknowledge that certain barter transaction may be subject to federal and/or provincial incomes or sales taxes. Users are responsible for paying applicable taxes and are advised to consult a qualified chartered accountant or a tax professional to ensure appropriate tax treatment of taxable transactions as well as consult applicable tax laws for any barter related updates. Swapsity shall not be responsible for notifying Users of such taxes, collecting such taxes on behalf of Users, or remitting such taxes to appropriate authorities. Swapsity only provides general guidelines (refer to Member FAQs, Section on Taxes) related to tax treatment of barter transaction in Canada and the information provided on the Site serves to provide rough guidelines and may not be up-to-date and is hence not a substitute for professional tax advice.
No Warranties
All content, products, and services on the Site, or obtained from a web site to which the Site is linked (the “Linked Site” or “Linked Sites”) are provided to you “AS IS” without warranty of any kind either express or implied including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, security or accuracy. Swapsity does not endorse and is not responsible for (a) the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, advice, or statement made through the Site or a Linked Site by any party other than Swapsity, or (b) the capabilities or reliability of any Item, product or service obtained from the Site or a Linked Site. Under no circumstances will Swapsity be liable for any loss or damage caused by a User’s reliance on information obtained through the Site or a Linked Site, or User’s reliance on any product or service obtained from the Site or a Linked Site. It is the responsibility of the User to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any opinion, advice or other content available through the Site, or obtained from a Linked Site. Please seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding the evaluation of any specific opinion, advice, product, service, or other content.
Third Party Services/Disclaimer
Any online swap or sale transactions or agreements are solely between you and the other Users, party or parties who are providing their Items, products, skills or services or with whom you are bartering for Items, services or products. Swapsity accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any of the transaction terms or methods, including but not limited to purchase terms, payment terms, warranties, guarantees, maintenance, and delivery. Swapsity is not a party to the transactions entered by Users. USERS AGREE THAT THE USE OF SWAPSITY’S SERVICE IS AT THE SOLE RISK OF THE USER AND IS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND BY SWAPSITY, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR OTHERWISE INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF TITLE, FITNESS FOR PURPOSE, MERCHANTABILITY OR NON-INFRINGEMENT OR IN THE CASE OF SERVICES, OF THE RELIABILITY, SKILLS, PERFORMANCE OR LACK THEREOF OR CREDENTIALS OF SERVICE PROVIDERS. SWAPSITY ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT GUARANTEE OR WARRANTY THAT SERVICE OR PRODUCT PROVIDERS WILL PROVIDE THE SERVICES AND PRODUCTS CONTRACTED FOR THROUGH THE SWAPSITY SERVICE. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS SWAPSITY LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES ARISING FROM THE TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN USERS AND PRODUCT OR SERVICE PROVIDERS OR FOR ANY INFORMATION APPEARING ON PRODUCT OR SERVICE PROVIDERS’ SITES OR ANY OTHER SITE LINKED TO THE SWAPSITY SITE. SWAPSITY WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO USERS FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND THAT MAY RESULT FROM USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SWAPSITY SERVICE. SWAPSITY DOES NOT RESOLVE DISPUTES BETWEEN OR AMONG USERS.
Release
In case of a dispute with one or more of the Users or a Third Party, you agree to release Swapsity from claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, arising out of or in any way connected to such disputes(s).
Copyright/Trade Marks
The trade marks, logos, and service marks (“Marks”) displayed on the Site are the property of Swapsity or other parties. Users are prohibited from using any Marks belonging to Swapsity or other parties for any purpose, including, but not limited to use as metatags on other pages or sites on the World Wide Web without the written permission of Swapsity or such third party which may own such Marks. All information and content including any software programs available on or through the Site (“Content”) is protected by copyright. Users are prohibited from modifying, copying, distributing, transmitting, displaying, publishing, selling, licensing, creating derivative works or using any Content available on or through the Site for commercial or public purposes. Users are further prohibited from knowingly or unknowingly submitting to Swapsity for posting or publication, or themselves posting or publishing on the Site, any material which violates or infringes any copyright, trade mark, trade secret, patent, statutory, common law, or other proprietary right of others. Users are encouraged to use their own photographs and product descriptions to describe their products or services and thereby avoid potential infringement of intellectual property rights of others.
Limitations of Liability for Use of the Site and Linked Sites
The description of Items offered on the Site or a Linked Site may include inaccuracies or typographical errors, and Swapsity specifically disclaims any liability for such inaccuracies or errors. Changes are periodically made to the information on the Site and Linked Sites. Swapsity may make improvements or changes to the Site at any time. You agree that IN NO EVENT shall Swapsity be liable, whether in contract, tort, strict liability or otherwise, for any direct, indirect, punitive, consequential, incidental, moral or special damages (including without limitation lost profits, cost of procuring substitute services or lost opportunity) arising out of or in connection with the use of the Site or a Linked Site, or with the delay or inability to use the Site or a Linked Site, EVEN IF SWAPSITY IS MADE AWARE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. This limitation on liability includes, but is not limited to, the transmission of any viruses which may infect a User’s equipment, failure of mechanical or electronic equipment or communication lines, telephone or other interconnect problems (e.g. you cannot access your internet service company), unauthorized access, theft, operation errors, strikes or other labour problems or force majeure. Swapsity cannot and does not guarantee continuous, uninterrupted or secure access to the Site. SWAPSITY ASSUMES NO LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND THAT RESULT FROM VIOLATION OF ANY OF THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT.
Limitation of Liability for Services Arranged Through the Site
You agree that Swapsity is a mere agent for the Items, services and products available through the Site. Any and all claims regarding any failure or breach with respect to the Items, services or products offered through the Site are limited to claims against any and all Users, User Group or Third Parties providing such Items, services or products. Swapsity hereby disclaims any liability, whether based on contract, tort, strict liability or otherwise, including without limitation liability for any direct, indirect, punitive, consequential, incidental, moral or special damages, in connection with the Items, services or products provided by any User, User Group or Third Party through the Site, including without limitation liability for any act, error, omission, injury, loss, accident, delay, or irregularity which may be incurred through the fault, negligent or otherwise, of such User, User Group or Third Party, and you hereby exonerate Swapsity from any liability with respect to the same.
Liability Limit
Our liability to you or any Third Parties in any circumstances is limited to the lesser of the amount of Fees you pay to us in the 12 month period prior to the action giving rise to liability or $150.00.
Indemnification
Users agree to indemnify, defend, and hold Swapsity and its owners, lawyers, developers, contractors and linked sites (collectively “Affiliated Parties”) harmless from any and all damages (of any kind including attorney’s fees), claims made by or liability, loss, claim and expense, including reasonable legal fees, related to Users’ violation of this or any other Agreement or Policy of Swapsity or use of the Swapsity Site.
Confidentiality of User Communications
Please refer to Swapsity’s Privacy Policy.
Linked Internet Sites
Swapsity prohibits caching, unauthorized hypertext links to the Site and the framing of any content available through the Site. Swapsity reserves the right to disable any unauthorized links or frames and specifically disclaims any responsibility for the content available on any other Internet sites linked to the Site. Access to any other Internet sites linked to the Site is at the User’s own risk. Users should be aware that Linked Sites may contain rules and regulations, privacy provisions, confidentiality provisions, transmission of personal data provisions, and other provisions that differ from the provisions provided on the Site. Swapsity is not responsible for such provisions, and expressly disclaims any and all liability related to such provisions.
Changes to Rules and Regulations
Swapsity reserves the right to revise this Agreement, or policies incorporated herein by reference, at any time. Swapsity reserves the right to change the Site at any time at its sole discretion with or without notice to Users. Amended terms shall automatically be binding and effective immediately. It is recommended that you should check this Agreement periodically and familiarize yourself with the latest version of the Agreement. Your continued use of our Site will signify your acceptance of any revised Agreement. You may refer to the date at the top of the Agreement to see the most recent Agreement update. Additionally, any newly introduced feature that augments or enhances the current Service shall be subject to the User Agreement. Please note that Swapsity reserves the right to deny access to the Site to anyone at any time.
Violation of Rules and Regulations
Swapsity reserves the right to seek all remedies available at law and in equity for violations of this Agreement, including the right to block access from a particular Internet address to the Site. Swapsity, at its sole business judgment, may terminate this Agreement or suspend the User’s access to the Site upon breach of this Agreement.
Use of “Cookie” File Features
Swapsity reserves the right to store information on a User’s computer in the form of a “cookie” or similar file for purposes of modifying the Site to reflect Users’ preferences. Swapsity’s Internet Privacy Policy provides additional information regarding Swapsity’s use of cookies as well as procedures for disabling cookies.
General/Jurisdiction/Governing Law
This Agreement shall include any additional terms, conditions, notices, policies or disclaimers provided by Swapsity, its licensors or vendors in specific areas of the Site. However, in the event of a conflict between such terms and this Agreement, the terms of this Agreement shall control. This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Province of Ontario and all applicable Federal law without regard to conflicts of law principles.
Additional Terms
The following policies are incorporated by reference into this Agreement. Each of these policies may change from time to time.
Privacy Policy: http://www.swapsity.ca/pages/policy
Illegal Items: http://www.swapsity.ca/pages/illegal_items
Fees for Premium Services: http://www.swapsity.ca/pages/fees
Group Organizer Agreement: http://www.swapsity.ca/pages/group_policy
[Note: Only applicable to Group Moderators]
Copyright © 2008 Swapsity. All Rights Reserved. Swapsity services and benefits are offered in Canada by Swapsity. Users of this Site agree to be bound by the Terms and Conditions of Swapsity’s Web Site User Agreement.