Terms of service

1. Who we are

Handled is operated by [FILL IN — legal entity name], [FILL IN — registered address]. In these terms "we", "us" and "Handled" mean that business, and "the site" means handledbookings.com.

By using the site you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, do not use it.

2. What Handled is

Handled is a place where people planning an event find vendors, and where vendors run the bookings that come from it. We are an introduction and a set of tools. We are not a party to the booking.

The agreement to do the work, for the price, on the date, is between the customer and the vendor. We do not employ vendors, supervise their work, set their prices, guarantee their availability or verify every claim on a listing. What a vendor writes about themselves is theirs, not ours.

Handled costs nothing to use. There is no fee for a customer, no markup on a vendor's pricing, and no commission on anything booked. If that ever changes we will say so here and by email before it applies to you.

3. Accounts

You do not need an account to ask a vendor for a quote. If you create one, keep your password to yourself; anything done with your sign-in counts as done by you. Tell us at Handled@HandledBookings.com if you think someone else is using it.

You must be 18 or older, and the information you give us must be true. One person or business, one account. We may suspend or close an account that breaks these terms, and we will say why.

4. Listings, and what a vendor is promising

A vendor is responsible for their own listing: that the business is real and theirs to represent, that they hold whatever licenses, permits and insurance their work requires, and that the prices, photographs and descriptions are accurate and their own to use.

Do not list a business you do not own or are not authorised to represent. A listing that claims someone else's business will be removed.

Vendors decide when a listing goes public and can unpublish it at any time.

5. Verification and the badge

Verification is optional. A vendor can confirm a business email address, or send us a business license, and a verified listing carries a badge.

The badge means what it says and no more: that we checked control of a business email address, or looked at a license document. It is not a recommendation, a guarantee of quality, a warranty of the work, or a statement that a vendor is insured or will turn up. Do your own checking before you book, the same as you would anywhere else.

We can remove a badge at any time, and will if the basis for it turns out to be wrong.

6. Quotes, contracts and invoices

Vendors can send quotes, contracts and invoices through Handled. Those documents are between the vendor and the customer. We provide the tools and keep the record; we are not a party to any of them and we do not check them.

When you sign a contract here, we record the name you type, your email, the date and time, your IP address, your browser's identifying string, and a fingerprint of the exact text you signed. That record is what makes the signature meaningful, and we keep it as long as we keep the contract. Signing electronically counts as signing.

A vendor can change a quote or an invoice after sending it. Where that happens we email the customer to say so, and the link always opens the current version.

7. Payments

Card payments are processed by Stripe and go directly to the vendor's own Stripe account. The vendor is the merchant. We never hold, touch or route your money, and we take no cut of it.

That means refunds, chargebacks, failed payments and payment disputes are between you and the vendor, under the vendor's own terms. We can show you what the record says; we cannot issue a refund, because we never had the money.

Using card payments also means agreeing to Stripe's terms. Vendors taking payments additionally agree to the Stripe Connected Account Agreement.

Some vendors take a deposit before the balance. Whether a deposit is refundable is a matter for the vendor's contract, not for us.

8. Cancellations and disputes

Cancellation terms are the vendor's, and should be in the contract you sign. Read it before you sign it.

If something goes wrong, talk to the vendor first — the conversation is on the booking page. If that does not resolve it, tell us at Handled@HandledBookings.com. We will help where we can: we can show what was sent and when, and we can act on a listing that is misrepresenting itself. We cannot award compensation, force a refund or decide who is right about the work.

9. Reviews

Only someone who actually booked through Handled can review, once per booking, and it is published under their first name and last initial. Vendors can reply in public; they cannot edit or delete a review.

Write about the work you received. We will remove a review that is not about a real booking, that identifies someone who did not consent, or that is abusive — but not one that is simply unflattering. We do not remove reviews because a vendor asks.

10. Your content

Photographs, descriptions, documents and messages you put on Handled stay yours. You give us permission to store them and to show them where the site needs to — a listing photograph on a listing, a message to the person it was sent to.

You promise you have the right to post what you post. Do not upload someone else's photographs, or anything you do not have permission to use.

Files a vendor sends a customer are reachable by anyone holding the link, which is how a link in an email works. Do not send anything through it that should not be forwardable. Business licenses sent to us for verification are not stored that way and are never public.

11. Using the site properly

Do not: use Handled to send spam or anything unlawful; scrape or bulk-copy listings, prices or reviews; try to reach data that is not yours; interfere with the site; pretend to be someone else; or use it to arrange anything illegal.

Do not use the request form to send vendors marketing. Requests are for real bookings.

12. Ending it

You can close your account from your account page at any time. When you do, we anonymise your personal details and keep the booking, invoice and contract records that the vendor and the law need — the privacy policy explains exactly what survives and why.

We can suspend or close an account that breaks these terms. Bookings already made, and money already owed between a customer and a vendor, are unaffected by either.

13. What we do not promise

We work to keep Handled running and accurate, but we provide it "as is". We do not promise it will always be available, that listings are free of error, that a vendor will perform, or that a booking will go ahead.

We are not liable for the work a vendor does or fails to do, for anything in a contract between a customer and a vendor, or for a payment dispute. To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, and our total liability to you for anything connected with Handled is limited to [FILL IN — e.g. $100, or the fees you have paid us, which today is nothing].

Nothing here limits liability that cannot be limited by law, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.

14. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. We will change the date at the top, and for anything material we will email account holders before it takes effect. Carrying on using the site after that means accepting the new version.

15. Law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Washington, United States, and the courts of [FILL IN — county] County, Washington have jurisdiction. [FILL IN — ask your attorney whether you want arbitration or a class-action waiver here; both have consequences worth understanding before you add them.]

16. Contact

Questions about these terms: Handled@HandledBookings.com.

For anything about your data, see the privacy policy.