Terms & Conditions
Welcome to ratesmiths.com (the Site) operated by Ratesmiths ABN 60 729 394 359 (‘we’, ‘us’ ,’our’). The Site is an online platform where:
(a) Businesses looking for office space design and fitouts (Tenants) can identify, shortlist and invite businesses offering these services to respond to a project brief, and
(b) Design and fitout businesses (Suppliers) looking for work can be connected with potential clients and their projects.
By accessing and using the Site you are agreeing to be bound by these Terms & Conditions, all applicable laws and regulations, and agree that you are responsible for compliance with any applicable local laws. You also acknowledge that we have provided you with our Privacy Policy.
We reserve the right to amend these Terms & Conditions and any linked information at any time by posting amended terms on the Site, without notice to you. You should regularly review this page to familiarise yourself with our updated Terms & Conditions.
1. Important disclaimers
1.1. We provide information on our Site about Suppliers and their service offerings.
1.2. While we have made every effort to ensure that such information is correct and complete, we have relied on any information provided to us by the Suppliers. We take no responsibility and do not make any representations, either express or implied, as to the quality, accuracy, reliability or credibility of information or material provided or linked on the Site by the Suppliers or the tools (or any calculation) or tables on the Site.
1.3. The information contained in the Site and any results provided to you are not professional advice or an endorsement or recommendation of any Supplier by us. We are not:
(a) suggesting that you select, shortlist, communicate with, issue a brief, or issue a request for proposal to a particular Supplier; or accept a particular proposal or response to a brief from a particular Supplier;
(b) making a recommendation as to the suitability of a Supplier for your purposes;
(c) trying to assist you to accept a particular proposal with a particular Supplier, of
(d) responsible in any way for representations made to you by a Supplier on, through or outside of the Site or any work performed or not performed for you by a Supplier.
1.4. We recommend that you evaluate your own individual and/or business needs, objectives and situation before acting upon any information provided or linked on the Site or accepting a proposal from a Supplier and satisfy yourself as to the competence, solvency, insurances and licensing of any Tenant or Supplier you are connected with on the Site
1.5. The Service provided by Suppliers or other third-party suppliers, who are independent third parties and are not employed by or agents or Ratesmiths.
1.6. Any agreement between a Tenant and a Supplier to provide or receive services is between the Tenant and Supplier only.
(a) We reserve the right to change the Suppliers and other organisations referred to, and information about them, at any time.
(b) The Site may contain links to other websites. Those links are not under our control and do not represent, approval, endorsement or recommendation by us of any material on those linked websites or any third-party products and services offered by, from or through those sites and you access or use those websites and or any third-party services at your own risk.
2. Use of the Site
2.1. Subject to these Terms and Conditions, we grant you a non-transferable, non-exclusive, royalty-free, license to use the website, and solely for your personal use for the purpose of receiving our Services.
2.2. We own and remain, at all times, the owner of the website and content therein. You must not otherwise copy, transmit, distribute, reproduce (for compensation or otherwise), licence, alter, adapt, reverse engineer or modify the whole or any part of the website or content in any way.
2.3. You acknowledge that rights in the website or content therein are not sold to you and that you have no rights in, or to, the website, content or the technology used or supported by the website other than the right to use each of them in accordance with these Terms and Conditions.
2.4. You must:
(a) not remove or tamper with any copyright notice attached to or contained in the Site;
(b) not use the website in any unlawful manner, for any unlawful purpose, or in any manner inconsistent with these Terms & Conditions or act fraudulently or maliciously, for example, by hacking into or inserting malicious code, including viruses, or harmful data, into the Site or any operating system;
(c) not use the Site in any way that could damage, disable, overburden, impair or compromise the website, our systems or security, interfere with other users or bring the reputation of Ratesmiths or the Site into disrepute; and
(d) comply with any applicable law and regulation relating to downloading, using or otherwise exporting the technology used or supported by the Site, which may include but is not limited to not using the Site in a country where the use of the Site is unlawful.
2.5. Tenants and Suppliers must register for an account to connect with each other through the Site. In doing so, you must first provide personal information to enable us to verify your identity, including your name, business name, an email address, and Australian mobile phone number and accept these Terms & Conditions. By doing so, you acknowledge and warrant that:
(a) Ratesmiths are not a party to any contractual agreements between Tenants and Suppliers, we merely facilitate connections between the parties;
(b) you are at least 18 years of age;
(c) all information provided by you is correct;
(d) you are eligible to register and use the Site and have the right, power and ability to enter into and comply with these Terms & Conditions;
(e) you will be solely responsible for the activity that occurs while you use the Site;
(f) you will not impersonate any other person or use another person’s registration details without their permission; and
(g) you will not harass or interfere with another user’s use and enjoyment of the Site.
2.6. Tenants may elect to issue a design brief, a request for proposal, and provide feedback and ratings to selected Suppliers through the Site. By issuing these, you acknowledge that:
(a) we will use the information to provide you with Services, including the disclosure of that information to the Suppliers and other third-party service suppliers;
(b) you transfer copyright of any feedback or reviews you leave consisting of comments and any ratings together with any composite rating by us;
(c) in submitting any rating feedback you will act honestly and fairly and that you will not do anything which might unfairly damage the reputation of a Supplier or undermine the operation of the ratings system - we reserve the right to remove feedback from the star rating system which we deem to be inappropriate, deceptive or does not adhere to our feedback guidelines;
(d) the Suppliers are not our employees, contractors or agents and we will have no liability to you in relation your dealings with the Suppliers including any advice or recommendations they may make;
(e) you will make all arrangements in relation to services you require from a Supplier and you will be responsible for all fees and charges (if any) payable to a Supplier or in relation to their services; and
(f) any dispute between you and the Supplier must be resolved by you and the Supplier. We are under no obligation to resolve or assist you in resolving a dispute with a Supplier.
2.7. Suppliers may elect to register a profile on the Site. By doing this, you acknowledge that:
(a) it is your responsibility to pay Ratesmiths all fees as detailed in section 3 below;
(b) all information provided by you for your profile is correct;
(c) any feedback and reviews received from Tenants belong solely to us, notwithstanding that we permit you to use it on the Site while your profile remains live;
(d) you must not use, or deal with, such feedback and reviews in any way inconsistent with our policies as posted on the Site from time to time without our prior written permission;
(e) you may not do (or omit to do) anything that may undermine the integrity of the Ratesmiths feedback and ratings system;
(f) we are entitled to suspend or terminate your account and profile at any time if we, in our sole and absolute discretion, are concerned by any feedback about you, or your feedback rating, where we believe our feedback system may be subverted;
(g) our feedback ratings belong to us and may not be used for any purpose other than facilitating the provision of Supplier services via the Site; and
(h) you may not use your Supplier feedback or ratings (including, but not limited to, marketing or exporting any or all your composite ratings or feedback comments in any real or virtual venue other than a Site operated by Ratesmiths or its related entities, without our written permission.
2.8. Suppliers may elect to respond to a design brief and a request for proposal to selected Tenants through the Site. By responding to these, you acknowledge that:
(a) it is your responsibility to pay Ratesmiths all fees as detailed in section 3 below;
(b) all information provided by you is correct;
(c) we will use the information to provide you with Services, including the disclosure of that information to the Tenants and other third-party service providers;
(d) Ratesmiths is not a party to the relationship or any dealings between Tenants and Suppliers and we will have no liability to you in relation your dealings with the Tenants including any decisions they may make;
(e) you will make all arrangements in relation to services you provide a Tenant and you will be responsible for collecting all fees and charges (if any) payable to you buy a Tenant in relation to your services; and
(f) any dispute between you and the Tenant must be resolved by you and the Tenant. We are under no obligation to resolve or assist you in resolving a dispute with a Tenant.
3. Supplier fees and costs
3.1. We charge Suppliers fees for certain services, such as introduction fees for Projects, establishing profile listings, advertising, insights and reporting.
3.2. By using the Site, you are agreeing to pay these fees when you use these services as outlined below:
(a) 1% introduction fee on the gross project value of any job awarded through a Site introduction or connection, whether agreed and finalised on or off the Site;
(b) $500 registration fee to establish your profile listing on the Site;
(c) $500 historical feedback and ratings audit and capture across three previous Tenants you have completed projects for, to add to your profile; where the Supplier facilitates the introduction of Ratesmiths to the Tenants;
(d) $300 per project rating and feedback audit and capture from each Tenant you have self-procured outside of introductions made on the Site, to add to your profile; where the Supplier facilitates the introduction of Ratesmiths to the Tenants;
(e) from time to time we may also offer advertising packages, insights and reports which you may wish to purchase – we will notify you of these services and their associated fees and costs through promotional correspondence or on the Site;
(f) with the exception of the 1% introduction fee, all other fees and costs are payable within 20 days of the Supplier purchasing the service; while
(g) the 1% gross project value introduction fee will be paid in two instalments, 50% upon confirmation of the job being awarded, and 50% plus or minus 1% of any variations to gross project value on completion of the project.
3.3. Any ongoing changes to fees and costs will be updated on the Site through these Terms & Conditions, and existing Suppliers notified through their provided email addresses.
3.4. We may choose to temporarily change the fees for our services for promotional events (for example, discounts on memberships) or new services, and such changes are effective when we post a temporary promotional event or new service on the Site, or as notified through promotional correspondence.
3.5. Unless otherwise stated, all fees are quoted in Australian Dollars.
3.6. We will invoice you for fees within 5 days of purchase of our services. Each invoice will detail the fees payable by you and will be payable 14 days from receipt of invoice.
4. Tenant fees and costs
4.1. We receive payment of fees from Suppliers for maintaining their profile on site and upon successfully completing projects awarded to them through Site introductions. We also receive fees from advertising on our Site and data revenue.
4.2. You are not required to pay us any fees for using the Site.
5. What are my obligations?
5.1. Tenants must ensure that any information provided in your design brief and RFP is complete, accurate and not misleading.
5.2. Suppliers must ensure that any information provided in your profile, response to design brief, and response to a request for proposal is complete, accurate and not misleading.
5.3. The Site is made available to you only for personal or non-commercial use in obtaining the Services. You must not use the Site:
(a) for commercial purposes (including for competitive advantage or to the competitive disadvantage of us);
(b) in any manner that is inconsistent with the purpose for which the Site is provided;
(c) in any manner which is in breach of any laws; or
(d) in any other way which is not expressly permitted by these Terms & Conditions.
5.4. Without limiting the above, you will not and will not permit a third party to:
(a) use or access the Site or its content in a way that infringes the intellectual property rights or other rights of any person;
(b) copy or disclose to any person, any content other than as expressly permitted by these Terms & Conditions;
(c) use any method or process (including data scraping, collection or accumulation tool, robot, spider or scripted responses) for the purpose of obtaining, processing, copying, replicating, distributing, reconfiguring, republishing, viewing, assessing, analysing, modifying or repackaging the content;
(d) use any method or process to consolidate or combine the content with any other content, data, information, images or material;
(e) reverse engineer, disassemble or otherwise attempt to construct or identify the Site’s source code, formulas or processes;
(f) use, access or retain any content in any manner or form whatsoever, unless expressly permitted by these Terms & Conditions;
(g) use systematic, repetitive or any other methods which are designed to obtain a large number of quotes, comparisons, rankings or other pricing and related information from this Site;
(h) use, obtain or attempt to obtain from this Site, information in order to identify or discover pricing, underwriting, rating and related business methodology or systems;
(i) do anything which will or may damage, disrupt access to or interfere with the proper operation of the Site;
(j) do anything which will or may place an unreasonable load on the infrastructure of Site; and
(k) transmit any material which contains viruses or other computer codes designed to interrupt, limit or destroy the efficient operation of this website, its software or hardware.
6. When can we terminate or suspend access to the Site?
6.1. We may restrict your access to the Site for any period of time necessary if:
(a) we need to conduct an investigation or resolve any pending dispute related to your access to the Site; or
(b) necessary to comply with any applicable law or court order, or if requested by law enforcement or governmental entity.
You will be notified of such restricted access unless we are legally prevented from notifying you.
6.2. We reserve the right to cancel, suspend, discontinue or terminate your access to the Site without notice if you:
(a) breach these Terms & Conditions;
(b) breach any of our policies;
(c) pose an unacceptable credit or fraud risk;
(d) provide any false, incomplete, inaccurate, or misleading information; or
(e) suffer from death or bankruptcy; or
(f) are otherwise inappropriate.
6.3. If your access to the site is suspended, such access may be renewed once we form the view that the reason for the suspension has been suitably remedied.
6.4. If your access to the Site is cancelled, discontinued, suspended, or terminated, you acknowledge that:
(a) you will release and forever discharge us and any of our officers, employees, servants, agents, contractors, related bodies corporate and assigns (Personnel) from all claims that you may have against us or our Personnel for any cancellation, discontinuation, suspension or termination of your access to the Site; and
(b) you will not bring a claim against us or any of our Personnel for any cancellation, discontinuation, suspension or termination of your access to the Site.
7. Is my personal information secure?
7.1. We take all reasonable steps to protect the information in our systems from misuse, interference, loss, and any unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
7.2. You understand that any message or information you send using the Site may be read or intercepted by others, even if there is a special notice that a particular transmission is encrypted.
7.3. All content and services on or available through the Site are provided on an ‘as is’ basis and we do not make any representation or give any warranty or guarantee in respect of the Site or its content.
7.4. You agree that by using the Site, you will be solely responsible for ensuring the security of access to the Site by third parties.
8. Intellectual Property
8.1. All copyright, trademarks, and all other intellectual property rights in the Site and its content included in the Site and all software and source codes connected with the Site (Intellectual Property) is owned by us or our related companies.
8.2. Any use of the Intellectual Property without our express permission is prohibited.
8.3. Trademarks and other rights used under license by us (for example, in advertising Providers or Products) are used with permission and are owned by the relevant third party.
9. Indemnity
9.1. You agree to indemnify and keep us indemnified against all claims, obligations, liabilities, expenses, losses, damages and costs (including reasonable legal costs) that we may sustain or incur as a result, whether directly or indirectly, of any breach of these Terms and Conditions or use of the Site by you.
10. Limitation on Liability
10.1. To the fullest extent permitted by law:
(a) any liability for any loss (including indirect or consequential loss, loss of profits, interruption to business, or economic loss), death, injury or damage which you may suffer (directly or indirectly) in connection with or arising out of any breach by us of these Terms & Conditions, is excluded;
(b) you release us from any liability and expressly waive any claims you may have against us arising out of or in connection with your introductions made on or through the Site, or use of services provided by the Site and Ratesmiths;
(c) any condition or warranty which would otherwise be implied by law into these Terms & Conditions (Implied Warranty) is excluded.
10.2. To the extent an Implied Warranty cannot be excluded, our liability in respect of the Implied Warranty is limited to the remedies required of us under applicable law (including the Australian Consumer Law (ACL)). You may be entitled to the benefit of consumer guarantees under the ACL. Nothing in these Terms & Conditions attempts to exclude the operation of the ACL and any exclusions or limitations of our liability are subject to any overriding provisions or non-excludable consumer guarantees under the ACL.
10.3. We will not be liable or responsible for:
(a) any failure to perform, or delay in the performance of, any of our obligations under these Terms & Conditions that is caused by any act or event beyond our reasonable control, including failure or suspension of public or private telecommunications networks;
(b) the Site not meeting your individual requirements or the Site containing defects or errors, as the Site has not been developed specifically for you. It is your responsibility to ensure that the facilities and functions of the Site meet your requirements;
(c) any loss or damage caused by a distributed denial-of-service attack, viruses or other technologically harmful material that may infect your mobile device, data or proprietary material due to your use of the Site or attempt to access a third party website linked to the Site; or
(d) breaches caused by a third party accessing your loan application as a result of your failure to ensure the security of access to the Site from your computer or mobile device.
(e) any representation made by a Supplier that you engage with on, through or outside of the Site and/or for the quality of any work performed or not performed by a Supplier.
11. Privacy
11.1. You confirm that you have read, understood and accepted our Privacy Policy.
11.2. We collect personal information in order to provide you with information and updates about our products and services We will also use and handle your personal information in accordance with our privacy policy (Privacy Policy), which can be accessed at www.ratesmiths.com/privacy-policy. In addition to any use that may be outlined in the Privacy Policy, we may also, for an indefinite period, unless otherwise advised, use the personal information for promotional, marketing, publicity, research and profiling purposes, including sending electronic messages or telephoning you. You have the right to opt out of receiving any electronic messages or telephone contact and you should direct any request to opt out, access, update or correct your personal information to support@ratesmiths.com and direct any complaints regarding treatment of your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Policy.
12. Complaints
12.1. If you are dissatisfied with how we have provided you with our Services, please contact us at support@ratesmiths.com.
12.2. We will acknowledge your complaint within 7 days. We will provide you with a decision on your complaint within 30 days.
12.3. If you are dissatisfied with the response we provide, you have the right to make a complaint to NSW Fair Trading.
13. General
13.1. These Terms & Conditions are governed by the laws of the State of New South Wales and you submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of that State.
13.2. In the event that any term or condition of these Terms & Conditions is illegal, void or unenforceable, then such term or condition shall be severed from these Terms & Conditions to the extent only of that illegality, voidability or unenforceability. All remaining provisions will be enforceable.
13.3. We may at any time assign our rights and interests or novate our rights and obligations (in whole or in part) in connection with these Terms & Conditions. You may not assign any of your rights or obligations under these Terms and Conditions without our prior written consent.
13.4. These Terms & Conditions were last updated on 7th June 2021.