Terms of Use

1. Agreement and eligibility

By creating an account, posting, messaging, or otherwise using SwitchHands, you agree to these Terms and confirm that you are at least the age of majority where you live and legally capable of entering a contract. If you do not agree, do not create an account or use member-only features.

You must provide accurate information, use your own email address, keep access codes and sessions secure, and promptly tell us about unauthorized use. You are responsible for activity through your account.

2. SwitchHands is a connector—not a party to transactions

SwitchHands supplies digital tools that let independent members discover profiles, publish listings and wishlists, message, and propose a trade, sale, service swap, combined offer, or free donation. A member-to-member arrangement is solely between those members. SwitchHands is not a buyer, seller, donor, recipient, merchant, broker, auctioneer, payment processor, escrow agent, shipper, insurer, employer, service provider, representative, or party to it.

We do not take possession of items; process or hold money; arrange delivery; inspect, authenticate, value, certify, or insure an item or service; run criminal or identity background checks; guarantee a member, listing, payment, donation, appointment, legal compliance, quality, safety, ownership, or outcome; or issue charitable tax receipts. Trust points, badges, reviews, location labels, and account status are platform signals—not verification, endorsement, insurance, or a guarantee.

3. Your responsibility for listings and arrangements

You alone are responsible for:

• checking identity, authority, ownership, condition, authenticity, suitability, legality, licences, qualifications, recalls, and safety before proceeding;
• agreeing directly on price, taxes, payment, exchange value, service scope, timing, pickup, delivery, cancellation, and remedies;
• complying with tax, consumer, product-safety, transport, intellectual-property, professional-licensing, permit, employment, and other applicable laws; and
• keeping your own records and resolving disputes with the other member.

A donation must be genuinely free. Never demand or pay a deposit, reservation fee, or mandatory delivery fee for a donated listing.

4. Safety and off-platform payments

Exercise independent judgment. Meet in a well-lit public place when possible, tell someone where you are going, inspect before handing over an item or money, confirm service scope in writing, and do not rely on screenshots as proof of payment. Do not send advance funds, gift cards, cryptocurrency, verification codes, or sensitive documents to strangers. For emergencies, contact 911 or local authorities; SwitchHands is not an emergency service.

Payments and exchanges occur outside SwitchHands. You assume the risks of meeting, paying, delivering, receiving, using, or performing an item or service.

5. Prohibited conduct and content

You may not use SwitchHands to:

• break a law, facilitate fraud, misrepresent identity or ownership, evade taxes, or infringe another person’s rights;
• offer stolen, counterfeit, recalled, unsafe, illegal, or regulated goods or services, including prohibited weapons, controlled substances, prescription drugs, alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, or services requiring a licence you do not hold;
• threaten, harass, discriminate, exploit, stalk, sexually solicit, dox, or expose another person’s private or exact location information;
• send spam, malware, deceptive links, advance-fee requests, or payment-code schemes;
• scrape, copy, reverse engineer, overload, interfere with, bypass controls on, or gain unauthorized access to the platform; or
• manipulate trust points, reviews, matches, location, reports, or account limits, including fake or circular transactions.

6. Your content

You keep ownership of content you submit. You confirm that you have the rights and permissions needed to submit it and that it is accurate and lawful. You grant SwitchHands a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, format, display, and distribute that content only as reasonably needed to operate, secure, improve, and promote the platform and your listing. This licence ends when the content is deleted, except for cached, backup, evidentiary, or legal copies retained as permitted by law.

Live auctions are coming soon and are not currently available. If SwitchHands enables Live later, camera video, microphone audio, show titles, pinned items, and Live chat will also be your content. You will need permission from every identifiable person and all necessary rights before broadcasting. You must not stream private information, unlawful conduct, or copyrighted material you are not authorized to use.

7. Moderation, reports, suspension, and termination

We may investigate reports, preserve evidence, remove or restrict content, limit visibility, suspend or terminate accounts, and cooperate with lawful requests where we reasonably believe this is needed to enforce these Terms, protect users or the platform, or comply with law. We are not required to pre-screen every member, listing, message, or transaction, and moderation does not make us a party to any arrangement.

You may stop using SwitchHands at any time and may request account deletion. Provisions that by their nature should survive—including transaction responsibility, disclaimers, liability limits, and dispute terms—continue after termination.

8. Availability and third-party services

The platform may change, contain errors, be interrupted, or be discontinued. Email delivery, maps, hosting, authentication, storage, and links may rely on third parties with their own terms. We do not control or endorse third-party services or content.

9. Disclaimers

To the fullest extent permitted by law, SwitchHands and all content, tools, trust signals, and services are provided “as is” and “as available,” without representations, warranties, or conditions of any kind, express, implied, statutory, or collateral, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, accuracy, availability, security, or that a member or transaction will meet your expectations.

Nothing in these Terms excludes a warranty, right, remedy, or liability that applicable law does not permit us to exclude.

10. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, SwitchHands and its operators, affiliates, personnel, and service providers are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages; lost profit, opportunity, data, goodwill, or savings; or loss, theft, damage, injury, dispute, fraud, payment, tax, fine, or claim arising from a member, listing, message, off-platform meeting, item, service, donation, or transaction.

Where liability cannot be excluded, aggregate liability relating to the platform will not exceed the greater of amounts you paid SwitchHands in the previous 12 months and CAD $100. This limit does not apply to intentional or gross fault, bodily or moral injury, or any other liability that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded.

11. Responsibility for claims

To the extent permitted by law, you are responsible for reasonable losses, liabilities, and costs caused by your content, unlawful conduct, transaction, infringement of another person’s rights, or material breach of these Terms. This does not require a consumer to waive a non-waivable statutory right or indemnify SwitchHands for SwitchHands’ own fault where the law does not permit it.

12. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of Quebec and the federal laws of Canada applicable there, without excluding mandatory rights under the law where you live. Subject to those rights, proceedings concerning SwitchHands may be brought before the courts located in Montreal, Quebec. These Terms do not impose mandatory arbitration, waive a class action, or waive rights that cannot legally be waived.

A dispute about an item, service, payment, donation, or meeting must be addressed directly with the other member, although you may also report safety or rule violations to us.

13. Changes and general terms

We may update these Terms prospectively. We will post the new version and effective date and provide additional notice or request renewed acceptance where required. Material changes do not retroactively change a completed member-to-member arrangement.

If a provision is unenforceable, it will be limited or severed only to the extent required, and the rest remains in effect. A delay in enforcing a provision is not a waiver. These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement about use of the platform.

14. Contact

Questions about these Terms may be sent to privacy@switchhands.store. For privacy questions, consult the Privacy Policy.