Terms of Use

1. What SharpFix is

SharpFix is run by [registered business name] (registration number [CIPC registration number]), "we" or "us". It's an online directory that lists independent service providers in South Africa ("businesses") so that people who need a service ("clients") can find and contact them.

Businesses on SharpFix don't work for us. We don't take part in, supervise or guarantee the work, and we don't handle payment for jobs. Any agreement about a job is between the client and the business.

2. Who can use SharpFix

You must be 18 or older to list a business or leave a rating. SharpFix covers South Africa only. You must give true information and use the site lawfully.

3. Hiring a business

You can search for businesses near you and tap Contact to see a business's WhatsApp number, phone number and email. You can also send a business a booking request with the day and time you'd like; the business confirms or declines it, usually on WhatsApp. A booking request isn't a confirmed booking until the business confirms it. Before you hire anyone, we recommend that you:

• Get a quote and agree on the price and exactly what's included before work starts, preferably in writing.
• Don't pay the full amount up front. Pay a deposit at most, and the rest when the job is done.
• Ask for proof of any registration, licence or certificate the work needs, such as a Certificate of Compliance for electrical work.
• Use your own judgement about who you let into your home or trust with your children, family members or pets.

If something goes wrong with a job, take it up with the business directly. You still have all your rights under the Consumer Protection Act against the business. Please also report the listing to us, so we can act if a business breaks these terms.

4. Ask SharpFix

Ask SharpFix uses artificial intelligence to suggest what might be wrong from your description or photo, what you can safely do in the meantime, and which kind of business can help. It's general information only. It isn't an inspection, a quote or professional advice, and it can be wrong. Always follow the advice of a qualified professional, and never do electrical, gas or structural work yourself unless you're qualified to.

In an emergency, such as a gas smell, sparks, smoke, flooding near electricity or someone hurt, get everyone to safety and call 112 from a cellphone (or 10177 for an ambulance) before anything else.

5. What our checks mean

Before a listing goes live, we check that the business uploaded an identity document that appears genuine and matches the name given, and that a live selfie the business took on SharpFix, while making a gesture we asked for, matches the photo on that document. Businesses that work with children, the elderly or pets must also upload a police clearance certificate showing no criminal record. Our checks are partly automated, with a person reviewing anything the automated check can't confirm.

A tag such as "ID checked", "ID and selfie checked" or "Police clearance checked" means the business passed these checks when the documents were uploaded. It doesn't mean we've confirmed the documents with Home Affairs or the police, checked the business's qualifications, licences or insurance, or that we recommend the business. Qualifications and websites shown on a listing are provided by the business, and we don't control the websites they link to.

"Featured" listings are businesses that pay to appear first to clients in their travel area. Featured doesn't mean we rate them more highly.

Some listings are marked "Not checked yet". These are businesses we listed using the name, phone number, email and website they published on their own website, so that clients can find them. They haven't joined SharpFix and we haven't checked their identity, so treat them as you would any business you find online: ask for references and a written quote, and don't pay before the work starts. They haven't shown us a police clearance either, so if the work involves children, the elderly or pets, ask to see one before they start. They appear after checked businesses, can't be Featured and can't receive booking requests through SharpFix.

6. Ratings and reviews

Only clients who opened a business's contact details through SharpFix can rate that business, once per business, within six months. You can give stars only, or add a written review. If you ask us to, we remind you to rate the business about a day after you contact it, by phone notification, by email, or both. We send that reminder once and use your email for nothing else. A rating or review must:

• Be about your own, real experience with that business.
• Be honest, and not abusive, threatening, discriminatory or defamatory.
• Not include phone numbers, addresses or other people's personal information.
• Not be written by, paid for or offered a reward by the business, its staff, family or competitors.

Your stars, any review, your first name (if you give one) and the date are shown publicly. You give us permission to show them on SharpFix. We may hide ratings that break these rules. Businesses can't edit, remove or pay to hide ratings.

7. Listing a business

Listing a business includes booking requests, appointment reminders and invoice reminders. There are no lead fees and no commission on your jobs. Listing is free until we start listing fees, as section 8 explains. If you list a business, you confirm that:

• You're 18 or older, the person named on the identity documents you upload, and the person in the live selfie you take.
• Everything on your listing is true, and you'll keep it up to date.
• Any website you add is your own business's website or page, and doesn't break these terms or the law.
• You're legally allowed to do the work you offer, and hold every registration, licence or certificate the law requires for it.
• You'll only travel to clients within the distance on your listing, which can be at most 40 km.
• You'll only choose "Works online" if you can genuinely do the work remotely.
• You'll treat clients fairly and honestly, and keep their contact details private.
• Photos you add show your own business or work, you have the right to use them, and anyone recognisable in them has agreed to be shown. They must not show children, contact details or links, or anything offensive. We check photos before clients see them and may remove any photo.

You give us permission to show your listing details on SharpFix and to use them to promote SharpFix. You can't transfer your listing to someone else. One account may have one listing. Before opening day, listings aren't shown to clients; they go live on opening day.

8. Listing fees, Featured, payment and cancelling

• Listing is free for now. We may start charging for listings: if we do, we'll email every business at least 30 days before, with the date and the price (R499 a month, or a year for 10 months' price), and show it on the My business page. Even after that date, your listing stays free until 5 clients have opened your contact details on SharpFix. We then email you how many enquiries you had, and you get 14 more days free. After those 14 days your listing must be paid for to stay visible to clients. If you don't pay, your listing is hidden, not deleted, and you can show it again any time by paying. If you pay during your free days, your first paid period starts when they end.
• Featured is optional. A Featured listing is shown first to clients inside the business's own travel area, with a blue Featured border and tag. It costs R1 500 a month, or R15 000 for a year (10 months' price, so 2 months are free), on top of any listing fee. The price is shown on the My business page before you pay. There's no free trial.
• Featured spots are limited: only a few businesses offering the same service can be Featured within 30 km of each other. The My business page shows how many spots are left near you. If they're full, your listing carries on as normal and you can take a spot when one opens. We may change the number of spots; if we lower it, businesses that are already Featured keep their spot.
• You pay in advance, for a month or a year, through PayFast, in one of two ways. Automatic: you pay by card and it renews every month or every year until you cancel. One period at a time: you pay for one month or one year with Google Pay, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay or card, and nothing renews; we email you before it ends, and you pay again to carry on. If you pay again before it ends, the new period starts when the current one ends.
• You can cancel automatic payments at any time on the My business page. You won't be charged again, and what you paid for carries on until the end of the month or year you've paid for. We don't refund part of a month or year, except where the law requires it.
• When Featured ends, because you cancelled, didn't pay again or a payment failed, your listing carries on as normal. Nothing else changes.
• If we change a price, we'll tell the businesses it affects by email at least 30 days before, so they can cancel first if they want to.

Nothing in these terms takes away any right you have under the Consumer Protection Act or the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, including any cooling-off right.

9. Removing listings

Listings aren't removed for not paying: listing is free. We may hide or remove a listing, or close an account, if the business breaks these terms, gives false information or documents, doesn't pass our checks, or if we receive reports that suggest a risk to clients. Where it's fair to, we'll tell you why and give you a chance to respond. If we remove a Featured listing because you broke these terms, we won't refund the current period.

You can delete your account and listing yourself at any time from the My business page. This also stops Featured if you pay for it.

If we listed your business from your website: you can claim the listing free, using a code we email to the address on your website, and then get the checked badge by adding your ID and a live selfie. Or you can have it removed straight away, from the link on the listing or by contacting us. Once removed, we won't list it again. We email each business we list this way once, to tell it about the listing, and don't send it marketing emails after that.

10. Refer & earn

Anyone 18 or older with a South African bank account can join Refer & earn on the Refer & earn page. You get a personal link and code.

• Who counts as yours. A business is yours if it creates its SharpFix account through your link (we remember the link on their device for up to 60 days). It stays yours for as long as it keeps its account.
• What you earn. A percentage of every payment that business makes for Featured, for as long as it keeps paying, starting with its first payment confirmed by PayFast. Listing is free, so nothing is earned on free listings, on payments that fail, or on refunds.
• Your rate. 10% from your first business; 15% once 50 or more of your businesses are Featured; 20% once 100 or more of your businesses are Featured; 25% once 1 000 or more of your businesses are Featured. The rate is set by how many of your businesses are Featured when each payment comes in, and applies to that payment. We may agree a different rate with you in writing.
• Payment. We pay what you've earned by EFT to the South African bank account in your name that you add on your dashboard. Your dashboard shows every payment, your commission and what we've paid.
• Tax. You're not our employee. Commission is income, and you're responsible for declaring it to SARS.
• Leaderboard. We show the top partners on the Refer & earn page by first name and last initial, with how many of their businesses are Featured. We never show money amounts. You can hide your name any time on your dashboard.
• Play fair. Don't spam, don't promise businesses clients, earnings or anything SharpFix doesn't offer, don't pretend to work for SharpFix, don't refer yourself or businesses you own, don't pay a business's fees for it, and don't sign up businesses that don't exist. If you do, we can switch off your link and keep back commission earned that way.
• We may change these rates or end Refer & earn with 30 days' notice by email. Commission you've already earned stays yours.

11. Rules for everyone

You may not:

• Create fake listings, ratings, reviews, booking requests or reports, or pretend to be someone else.
• Use contact details from SharpFix to send spam or marketing, or to harass anyone.
• Copy, scrape or collect listings or contact details in bulk, or use bots to access the site.
• Try to get around our checks, limits or security, or interfere with how the site works.
• Use SharpFix for anything illegal.

12. Our responsibility

We work hard to keep SharpFix accurate and available, but we can't promise it will always be available or free of errors.

Because businesses are independent, we're not responsible for their work, prices, conduct, or any loss or damage caused by a business or a client, or for decisions you make based on Ask SharpFix. As far as the law allows, we're not liable for indirect or consequential loss, and our total liability to a business is limited to the fees it paid us in the three months before the claim.

Nothing in these terms limits our responsibility for anything the law doesn't allow us to limit, including loss caused by our gross negligence, or your rights under the Consumer Protection Act.

13. Privacy

Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use and protect personal information, including the identity documents businesses upload.

14. Place names and locations

The suburbs, townships, towns and cities you can choose, and their locations, come partly from GeoNames (licensed under CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata (CC0), which we have checked, combined and changed. Locations are approximate, so distances on SharpFix are a guide.

15. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms and will change the date at the top when we do. If a change affects businesses with an account, we'll email them at least 30 days before it takes effect. If you keep using SharpFix after a change takes effect, the new terms apply.

16. Law and disputes

These terms are governed by the law of South Africa. If you have a complaint about SharpFix, contact us first and we'll try to resolve it. If we can't, you may approach the National Consumer Commission, a consumer court or ombud, or the courts of South Africa.

17. Contact us

Business

[registered business name], trading as SharpFix

Registration number

[CIPC registration number]

Email

[contact email]

Phone

[contact phone number]

Address for legal notices

[physical address]