Buyers Agent Seeker Platform Terms and Conditions
Welcome to Buyers Agent Seeker! We provide a platform which facilitates the curated matching between you and Buyer’s Agents to ensure you can access suitable Buyer’s Agents to guide them through the purchase of property (Platform).
In these Terms, when we say Clients, you or your, we mean both you and any entity you are authorised to represent (such as your employer). When we say we, us, or our, we mean Buyers Agent Seeker Pty Ltd (ACN 675 944 126).
These Terms form our contract with you, and set out our obligations as a service provider and your obligations as a user. You cannot use our Services unless you agree to these Terms. The obligations in these Terms apply to Clients only.
Some capitalised words in these Terms have defined meanings, and each time that word is used in these Terms it has the same meaning. You can find a list of the defined words and their meaning at the end of these Terms.
For questions about these Terms, or to get in touch with us, please email: info@buyersagentseeker.com.au.
These Terms were last updated on 18 August 2024.
OUR DISCLOSURES
Please read these Terms carefully before you accept. We draw your attention to:
- our privacy policy (on our website) which sets out how we will handle your personal information;
- clause 1.5 (Variations) which sets out how we may amend these Terms; and
- clause 9 (Liability) which sets out exclusions and limitations to our liability under these Terms.
We may receive a benefit (which may include a referral fee or a commission) should you visit certain third party websites through a link on our Platform, or for featuring certain goods or services on our Platform.
These Terms do not intend to limit your rights and remedies at law, including any of your Consumer Law Rights.
1. Platform Licence and Term
1.1 These Terms apply from when you sign up for an Account, until the date on which your Account is terminated in accordance with these Terms. We grant you a right to use our Services for this period of time only.
1.2 You must be at least 16 years old to use our Platform.
Platform Licence
1.3 While you have an Account, we grant you a right to use our Platform (which may be suspended or revoked in accordance with these Terms). This right cannot be passed on or transferred to any other person.
1.4 You must not:
a) access or use our Platform in any way that is improper or breaches any laws, infringes any person’s rights (for example, intellectual property rights and privacy rights), or gives rise to any civil or criminal liability;
b) interfere with or interrupt the supply of our Platform, or any other person’s access to or use of our Platform;
c) introduce any viruses or other malicious software code into our Platform;
d) attempt to access any data or log into any server or account that you are not expressly authorised to access;
e) use our Platform to send unsolicited electronic messages;
f) use dating mining, robots, scraping or other data gathering and extraction tools on our Platform; or
g) access or use our Platform to transmit, publish or communicate material that is, defamatory, offensive, abusive, indecent, menacing, harassing or unwanted.
1.5 Variations: We may amend these Terms at any time, by providing written notice to you. By clicking “I accept” or continuing to use our Platform after the notice or 30 days after notification (whichever date is earlier), you agree to the amended Terms. If you do not agree to the amendment, you may close your Account with effect from the date of the change in these Terms by providing written notice to us. If you close your Account, you will no longer be able to access our Services (including our Platform) on and from the date of cancellation.
2. Platform Summary
2.1 Our Platform is a place where Buyer’s Agents and Clients can find each other based on our curated matching of the Clients’ needs and Buyer’s Agents’ capabilities (Matches). We only provide our Services (including our Platform) and are not a party to any transaction between Buyer’s Agents and Clients in relation to a Successful Engagement as a consequence of the Matches (see the “Our Services” section below for more information about the services we provide to you).
2.2 Clients cannot browse Agent Profiles and/or receive Matches without an Account. Clients wanting to receive Matches must first create an Account and complete a form which collects information regarding their needs, such as the types of property, the budget, (if any) Buyer’s Agents the Clients have previously interacted with, and any other details we may reasonably request of Clients through our Platform (Client Profile).
2.3 Clients will receive an email notification once we have prepared Matches for suitable Buyer’s Agents. Clients may select from their Matches and contact the Buyer’s Agent outside of the Platform.
2.4 Clients acknowledge and agree that the Client will enter a separate agreement with Buyer’s Agents, such as a retainer (Successful Engagement) and this separate agreement governs the provision of the Buyer’s Agents’ services, which we are not party to.
2.5 We do not endorse or approve, and are not responsible for, any Matches or Successful Engagements not provided by us. We may, at any time (at our sole discretion), remove any Matches or Successful Engagements, including where the Matches or Successful Engagements: (a) is illegal or offensive; or (b) contains graphic, inappropriate or unlawful content.
2.6 Communication: Buyer’s Agents and Clients can communicate privately outside of the Platform. Buyer’s Agents and Clients must not use our Platform to obtain each other’s contact details for the purpose of circumventing any fees payable to us for the use of our Platform and our Services.
3. Our Services
3.1 We provide the following services to you:
a) access to our Platform; and
b) access to our troubleshooting support (Support Services), (collectively, our Services).
3.2 If you require Support Services, you may request these by getting in touch with us through our Platform.
3.3 Unless we agree otherwise, Support Services cannot be used to support any other products or services, and does not include training, installation of software or hardware, software development or the modification, deletion or recovery of data or any on-site services.
3.4 We will not be responsible for any other services unless expressly set out in these Terms or on our Platform.
3.5 Additional Services: If you require additional services, we may, in our sole discretion, provide such additional services (to be scoped and priced in a separate contract provided by us).
3.6 Beta Services: If we provide you with access to any new or beta services, you acknowledge that because of the developmental nature of such services, you use them at your own risk and we have no obligation to maintain or provide error corrections. Any new or beta services we provide you with access to are for evaluation purposes only and not for production use, and we may discontinue those services at any time at our sole discretion.
4. Account
4.1 Accounts for Buyer’s Agents and Clients are different, and you must choose the correct Account based on how you want to use our Platform. Buyer’s Agents who also want to enter into a Successful Engagement must create a separate Account for that purpose, and vice versa.
4.2 While you have an Account with us, you agree to:
a) keep your information up-to-date (and ensure it remains true, accurate and complete);
b) keep usernames and passwords secure and confidential, and protect them from misuse or being stolen; and
c) notify us if you become aware of, or have reason to suspect, any unauthorised access to your Account or any logins linked to your Account.
5. Availability, Disruption and Downtime
5.1 While we strive to always make our Services available to you, we do not make any promises that these will be available 100% of the time. Our Services may be disrupted during certain periods, including, for example, as a result of scheduled or emergency maintenance.
5.2 Our Services (including our Platform) may interact with, or be reliant on, products or services provided by third parties, such as cloud hosting service providers. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable for disruptions or downtime caused or contributed to by these third parties.
5.3 We will try to provide you with reasonable notice, where possible, of any disruptions to your access to our Services.
6. Confidential Information and Personal Information
6.1 While using our Services, you may share confidential information with us, and you may become aware of confidential information about us. You agree not to use our confidential information, and to take reasonable steps to protect our confidential information from being disclosed without our permission, and we agree to do the same for your confidential information. This also means making sure that any employees, contractors, professional advisors or agents of ours or yours only have access to confidential information on a ‘need-to-know basis’ (in other words, the disclosure is absolutely necessary), and that they also agree to not misuse or disclose such confidential information.
6.2 However, either you or we may share confidential information with legal or regulatory authorities if required by law to do so.
6.3 We collect, hold and disclose and use any Personal Information you provide to us in accordance with our privacy policy, available on our website, and applicable privacy laws.
6.4 You must only disclose Personal Information to us if you have the right to do so (such as having the individual’s express consent).
6.5 Buyer’s Agents and Clients must not disclose Personal Information about each other to third parties unless authorised by these Terms or by law.
6.6 We may need to disclose Personal Information to third parties, such as our related companies or our service providers (for example, IT and administrative service providers and our professional advisors). As part of our Services, we will also need to disclose information about Clients to Buyer’s Agents, and vice versa, so that they can connect and transact.
6.7 Where we are required by law to report on our activities, you acknowledge that from time to time we may request certain information from you in order to meet our requirements, and you agree to provide us with such information within the timeframes reasonably requested by us.
7. Consumer Law Rights
7.1 In some jurisdictions, you may have guarantees, rights or other remedies provided by law (Consumer Law Rights), and these Terms do not restrict your Consumer Law Rights. We will only be bound by your Consumer Law Rights and the express wording of these Terms. Our liability for a breach of your Consumer Law Rights is, unless the laws of your jurisdiction state otherwise, limited to either resupplying our Services, or paying the cost of having our Services resupplied.
7.2 If you accept these Terms in Australia, nothing in these Terms should be interpreted to exclude, restrict or modify the application of, or any rights or remedies you may have under, any part of the Australian Consumer Law (as set out in Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)).
7.3 Clients may have Consumer Law Rights in respect of their Successful Engagement with Buyer’s Agents.
Cancellations and Refunds between Buyer’s Agents and Clients
7.4 The cancellation and refund of any amounts paid in respect of a Successful Engagement or any subsequent contract is strictly a matter between Buyer’s Agents and Clients. The terms and conditions of the Successful Engagement must clearly set out whether refunds or cancellations are permitted.
8. Intellectual Property and Data
8.1 We own all intellectual property rights in our Services (including our Platform). This includes how our Platform looks and functions, as well as our copyrighted works, trademarks, inventions, designs and other intellectual property. You agree not to copy or otherwise misuse our intellectual property without our written permission (for example, to reverse engineer or discover the source code of our intellectual property), and you must not alter or remove any confidentiality, copyright or other ownership notice placed on our Platform.
8.2 We may use any feedback or suggestions that you give us in any manner which we see fit (for example, to develop new features), and no benefit will be owed to you as a result of any use by us of your feedback or suggestions.
Your Data
8.3 We do not own any of Your Data, but when you enter or upload any of Your Data into our Platform, you grant us the right to access, analyse, backup, copy, store, transmit, and otherwise use Your Data while you have an Account with us (and for a reasonable period of time afterwards). We may use Your Data (or disclose it to third party service providers) to:
a) supply our Services to you (for example, to enable you to access and use our Services), and otherwise perform our obligations under these Terms;
b) diagnose problems with our Services;
c) improve, develop and protect our Services;
d) send you information we think may be of interest to you based on your marketing preferences;
e) perform analytics for the purpose of remedying bugs or issues with our Platform; or
f) perform our obligations under these Terms (as reasonably required).
8.4 You acknowledge and agree that because of the nature of the internet, the processing and transmission of Your Data by us may occur over various networks, and may be transferred unencrypted.
8.5 You are responsible for (meaning we are not liable for):
a) the integrity of Your Data on your systems, networks or any device controlled by you; and
b) backing up Your Data.
8.6 When you use our Services, we may create anonymised statistical data from Your Data and usage of our Services (for example, through aggregation). Once anonymised, we own that data and may use it for our own purposes, such as to provide and improve our Services, to develop new services or product offerings, to identify business trends, and for other uses we communicate to you. This may include making such anonymised data publicly available, provided it is not compiled using a sample size small enough to make underlying portions of Your Data identifiable.
8.7 If you do not provide Your Data to us, it may impact your ability to receive our Services.
9. Liability
9.1 To the maximum extent permitted by law, we will not be liable for, and you release us from liability for, any Liability caused or contributed to by, arising from or in connection with:
a) any aspect of the interactions between Buyer’s Agents and Clients, including in relation to any Matches and Successful Engagements;
b) your computing environment (for example, your hardware, software, information technology and telecommunications services and systems); or
c) any use of our Services by a person or entity other than you.
9.2 Regardless of whatever else is stated in these Terms, to the maximum extent permitted by law:
a) neither we or you are liable for any Consequential Loss;
b) a party’s liability for any Liability under these Terms will be reduced proportionately to the extent the relevant Liability was caused or contributed to by the actions (or inactions) of the other party, including any failure by the other party to mitigate its loss;
c) where our Services are not ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household use or consumption) in respect of any failure by us to comply with relevant Consumer Law Rights, our Liability is limited (at our discretion) to supplying the Services again or paying the cost of having the Services supplied again; and
d) our aggregate liability to you for any Liability arising from or in connection with these Terms will be limited to AU$1,000.
10. Suspension and Termination
10.1 We may suspend your access to our Services where we reasonably believe there has been any unauthorised access to or use of our Services (such as the unauthorised sharing of login details for our Platform). If we suspend your access to our Services, we will let you know within a reasonable time of doing so, and we will work with you to resolve the matter, or if it cannot be resolved, then we may terminate your Account and your access to our Services will end.
10.2 We may terminate these Terms (meaning you will lose access to our Services, including access to your Account) if:
a) you breach these Terms and do not remedy that breach within 14 days of us notifying you of that breach;
b) you breach these Terms and that breach cannot be remedied; or
c) you experience an insolvency event (including but not limited to bankruptcy, receivership, voluntary administration, liquidation, or entering into creditors’ schemes of arrangement).
10.3 You may terminate these Terms if:
a) we breach these Terms and do not remedy that breach within 14 days of you notifying us of that breach; or
b) we breach these Terms and that breach cannot be remedied.
10.4 You may also terminate these Terms at any time by notifying us through your Account or to our email for notices (as set out in clause 11.9), and termination will take effect immediately.
10.5 Upon termination of these Terms:
a) we will retain Your Data (including copies) as required by law or regulatory requirements;
b) for Buyer’s Agents, their existing Agent Profiles will be removed;
c) for Clients, their Client Profiles will be removed and Clients will no longer receive Matches; and
d) for both Buyer’s Agents and Clients, any Successful Engagements will continue until a Sale (in which case Buyer’s Agents are to pay all Fees due and owed to us as a result of the Sale) or otherwise terminated between the Parties.
10.6 Termination of these Terms will not affect any other rights or liabilities that we or you may have.
11. General
11.1 Assignment: You may not transfer or assign these Terms (including any benefits or obligations you have under these Terms) to any third party without our prior written consent. We may assign or transfer these Terms to a third party, or transfer any debt owed by you to us to a debt collector or other third party.
11.2 Disputes between Buyer’s Agents and Clients: We encourage Buyer’s Agents and Clients to attempt to resolve disputes (including claims for refunds or remedies) directly and in good faith, either through our Platform or through external communication methods. In the event that a dispute cannot be resolved through these means, Buyer’s Agents and Clients may choose to resolve the dispute through other means, such as mediation. We are not responsible for mediating or resolving disputes between Buyer’s Agents and Clients.
11.3 Disputes with Clients: Neither we or you may commence court proceedings relating to any dispute, controversy or claim arising from, or in connection with, these Terms (including any question regarding its existence, validity or termination) (Dispute) unless we and you first meet (in good faith) to resolve the Dispute. Nothing in this clause will operate to prevent us or you from seeking urgent injunctive or equitable relief from a court of appropriate jurisdiction.
If the Dispute is not resolved at that initial meeting:
a) where you are resident or incorporated in Australia, refer the matter to mediation, administered by the Australian Disputes Centre in accordance with Australian Disputes Centre Guidelines for Commercial Mediation; or
b) where you are not resident or incorporated in Australia, refer the matter to arbitration administered by the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration, with such arbitration to be conducted in Melbourne, Victoria, before one arbitrator, in English and in accordance with the ACICA Arbitration Rules.
11.4 Events Outside Our Control: We will not be liable for any delay or failure to perform our obligations (including our Services), if such delay or failure is caused or contributed to by an event or circumstance beyond our reasonable control.
11.5 Governing law: These Terms are governed by the laws of Victoria, and any matter relating to these Terms is to be determined exclusively by the courts in Victoria and any courts entitled to hear appeals from those courts.
11.6 Illegal Requests: We reserve the right to refuse any request for or in relation to our Services that we deem inappropriate, unethical, unreasonable, illegal or otherwise non-compliant with these Terms.
11.7 Marketing: You agree that we may send you electronic communications about our products and services. You may opt-out at any time by using the unsubscribe function in our electronic communications.
11.8 Nature of Legal Relationship: These Terms do not create, and should not be interpreted so as to create, a partnership, joint venture, employment or agency relationship between us and you.
11.9 Notices: Any notice you send to us must be sent to the email set out at the beginning of these Terms. Any notice we send to you will be sent to the email address registered against your Account.
11.10 Survival: Clauses 6 to 11 will survive the termination or expiry of these Terms.
11.11 Third Party Sites: Our Platform may contain links to websites operated by third parties. Unless we tell you otherwise, we do not control, endorse or approve, and are not responsible for, the content on those websites. We recommend that you make your own investigations in relation to the suitability of those websites. If you purchase goods or services from a third party website linked from our Platform, those goods or services are being provided by that third party, not us. We may receive a benefit (which may include a referral fee or a commission) should you visit certain third party websites through a link on our Platform, or for featuring certain goods or services on our Platform. We will make it clear by notice to you which (if any) goods or services, or website links, we receive a benefit from by featuring them on our Platform.
12. Definitions
12.1 In these Terms:
Account means an account accessible to the individual or entity who signed up to our Services.
Buyer’s Agent means the buyer’s agent who can guide you through your purchase of property, as provided to you by us through Matches.
Consequential Loss includes any consequential loss, special or indirect loss, real or anticipated loss of profit, loss of benefit, loss of revenue, loss of business, loss of goodwill, loss of opportunity, loss of savings, loss of reputation, loss of use and/or loss or corruption of data, whether under statute, contract, equity, tort (including negligence), indemnity or otherwise. However, your obligation to pay us any amounts for access to or use of our Services (including our Platform) will not constitute “Consequential Loss”.
Liability means any expense, cost, liability, loss, damage, claim, notice, entitlement, investigation, demand, proceeding or judgment (whether under statute, contract, equity, tort (including negligence), indemnity or otherwise), howsoever arising, whether direct or indirect and/or whether present, unascertained, future or contingent and whether involving a third party or us or you or otherwise.
Matches has the meaning given in clause 2.1.
Personal Information means any information or opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether the information or opinion is true or not, and whether the information or opinion is recorded in a tangible form or not.
Platform means our cloud-based platform that we provide you with access to as part of the Services.
Services means the services we provide to you, as detailed in clause 3.1.
Successful Engagements means the separate agreement entered into between Buyer’s Agents and Clients as set out in clause 2.5.
Your Data means the information, materials, logos, documents, qualifications and other intellectual property or data supplied by you when receiving our Services or stored by or generated by your use of our Services, including any Personal Information collected, used, disclosed, stored or otherwise handled in connection with our Services. Your Data does not include any data or information that is generated as a result of your usage of our Services that is a back-end or internal output or an output otherwise generally not available to users of our Services.