Terms and Conditions | community-exchange

Let’s Barter NL

52 Prescott Street

St John's, NL A1C 3S6

709-739-4429

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1. TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE

1.1 Let’s Barter NL (LBNL) is a mutual credit trading network which offers an information exchange and recording service through which users can maintain a system of accounts for trading in a quasi-currency called "COD."

1.2 One COD shall be considered to represent the value of one Canadian dollar.

1.3 ONLY ACCOUNT HOLDERS

Only registered accountholders may use the system to advertise and trade and no third party may trade through a registered account holder's account. Shared accounts must name one person who is responsible for the account.

1.4 TOL-BASED EXCHANGES

An accountholder may not use the facilities of Let’s Barter NL for advertising purely Dollar-based offerings. Trades may be advertised and effected for any part COD and part Dollars.

1.5 NORMAL TRADING LAWS APPLY

The normal commercial laws of the land between trading parties shall govern all transactions and each party to a transaction takes responsibility for normal legal liabilities, obligations, and risk.

1.6 FIRST ADVERTISE

New accountholders may not make any purchase from the system until and unless they have first advertised whatever goods or services they have to offer, by listing these goods and services in the LBNL directory.

1.7 ENTRIES

Transactions are conducted when a buyer provides a seller with payment of COD through the LBNL’s online Cyclos trading platform.

Only the COD portion of a transaction is recorded in the LBNL accounts. Cash portions of a transaction are not recorded.

1.8 FEES

1.8.1

The administration shall be entitled to charge share capital fees, account fees and/or transaction fees

1.8.2

The amount of the fees shall be as set or amended by the administration after consultation with the membership from time to time.

1.8.3

The administration shall be entitled to use the fees accrued to manage and further the aims of the LBNL.

1.9 CREDIT/DEBIT LIMITS

1.9.1

All new accounts are created with a balance of zero COD.

1.9.2

Accountholders shall be entitled to begin trading without having a positive balance and may so incur a debit balance in their accounts.

1.9.3

The administration may set limits to the extent to which accounts may go into debit and credit.

1.9.4

The administration may set and adjust criteria according to which account limits may be set. As a result, debit and credit limits may vary from account to account.

1.10 EXCEEDING LIMITS

It is the responsibility of members to ensure that they do not exceed their debit limit when making purchases. However, it shall also be the duty of each seller in a transaction to ensure that the buyers have not exceeded their limits before agreeing to a transaction. If a buyer's debit limit is exceeded then the transaction may be declined by the administration, in which event:

1.10.1

The seller shall be entitled to claim the amount owed in COD in Dollars based on one Dollar ($1CDN) being equal to one COD.

1.10.2

If satisfaction cannot be attained, the seller will have to take recourse against the buyer personally.

1.10.3

As a last resort, the parties accept the jurisdiction of the small claims court, alternatively the magistrates' court for the district having jurisdiction.

1.11 INTER-GROUP TRADE

The administrator of the LBNL shall be entitled to lay down terms and conditions governing inter-exchange trading and set limits to the amount of credit that trading exchanges may occur vis a vis other groups.

1.12 ACCOUNT INFORMATION

Trading balances are available to all accountholders, but details of individual purchases are not.

1.13 ADVERTISING

Advertising for offerings should be honestly described. Advertisements considered offensive to others, inaccurate, illegal, or contrary to the ethics of the system may be withdrawn by the administration without consultation.

An offer advertised on the system amounts to an invitation to do business only and shall not constitute an irrevocable offer to all.

1.14 DISPUTE RESOLUTION

1.14.1

1.14.2

The LBNL administration may act on behalf of the membership to seek explanation, payment, or satisfaction from any member whose behaviour or account status is considered to be contrary to the interest of other members

If any other dispute should arise between accountholders or between the administration and any accountholder, the matter shall be referred to mediation, or failing that, to arbitration.

1.14.3

If the parties cannot agree on the person of the arbitrator, then an appointment shall be made, if the dispute is between accountholders, by the administration, or if the administration is itself party to the proceedings, then the matter shall be referred to small claims court. Any such appointee should preferably be a member of the Let’s Barter Network, or if not a member, then a person who agrees to act in an honorary capacity.

1.14.4

The arbitrator shall be entitled to make awards for contractual losses or damages but not for delictual or consequential losses. The arbitrator may also make an award as to costs. All awards shall be in COD. The administrator shall be required to debit or credit any account within the system to give effect to such order or award.

1.14.5

The arbitrator's decision will be final and binding on all parties. The arbitrator will determine procedures to be followed at any hearing.

1.14.6

The LBNL administration may reverse any transactions considered inappropriate or illegal.

1.15 NO INTEREST

No interest is earned on credits or charged on debits. Accountholders may not charge interest for lending COD to other members.

1.16 ONLY ONE ACCOUNT

Unless otherwise authorised by the administrator, accountholders may only operate one account in the system.

1.17 ACCOUNT HOLDERS' NAMES

Unless otherwise authorised by the administrator, all accounts shall be kept in an account-holders personal name.

1.18 STALE ACCOUNTS

1.18.1

If any account becomes stale according to section 1.18.3 of the Terms and Conditions, the administrator shall be entitled to call up the account, after having given reasonable notice to the accountholder, and after having attempted to work with the account holder to resolve the situation, in which event:

1.18.1.1

Any credit balance will be forfeited unless the accountholder brings their account balance back to zero

1.18.1.2

Any debit balance shall become immediately due and payable

1.18.1.3

If such debit balance on a stale account is not cleared with COD or Dollars within the time allowed by the administrator, the administrator shall be entitled to proceed against the accountholder on the same basis as set out in Clause 1.8 above as if the accountholder had exceeded their limits. For this purpose, the administrator shall be entitled to institute action in his own name.

1.18.2

Any accountholder with a stale account will not be entitled to re-apply for an account with The Let’s Barter Network until their obligations towards The TOLCE have been met.

1.18.3

An account will automatically become stale if there has been no activity on the account for a year. "No activity" will mean either no sales or no purchases or no log-in by the accountholder.

1.19 LEAVING AND DE-REGISTERING

If an accountholder wishes to leave the exchange voluntarily, they shall apply to the administrator for deregistration of their account and bring their account to zero.

Any member whose account is in commitment (with a negative balance) intending to close an account agrees to inform The Let’s Barter Network administration and settle their account by bringing it to zero. In the last resort, accounts can be settled by paying national currency to The Let’s Barter Network administration.

In such event, the same terms and conditions relating to stale accounts as per Clause 1.18 shall apply as if the account was stale.

1.20 SUSPENSION AND TERMINATION

1.20.1

The administration can suspend an account of any accountholder who breaches any material trading rule or who acts in a way considered to be unethical or contrary to the norms of our community exchange.

1.20.2

The administration shall notify any accountholder if his or her account has been suspended, and the accountholder shall have fourteen days to dispute the suspension. If no dispute is declared the administration shall then be entitled to terminate the account, in which event it shall be treated as if it was a stale account in terms of Clause 1.18 above.

1.21 RESERVE FUNDS

1.21.1

If the administrator is unable to recover sufficient Dollars or COD to cover a stale account, any shortfall may be cleared by debiting a reserve fund established for this purpose.

1.21.2

A portion of all fees charged by the administration may be credited to such a reserve fund. The remainder may come from the balances of stale and discontinued accounts that are in credit.

1.21.3

If the reserve fund becomes overdrawn the administrator shall be entitled to fee a one-off charge against all accounts to square the account.

1.22.3 TAXATION

Accountability for taxes incurred by users is the obligation of those involved in an exchange; The Let’s Barter Network and its agents, have no authority, nor liability, nor obligation to collect taxes on their behalf.

1.22 CHANGES

The administrator shall be entitled to change the terms of use from time to time. In such event the applicable terms will be those prevailing at the time of the action or transaction involved.

2. DISCLAIMERS

2.1

The Let’s Barter Network is not party to any transaction between a buyer and a seller and accepts no responsibility for the performance of trading parties nor as to their identity or trustworthiness nor as to the subject matter of any trade. The Let’s Barter Network makes no warranty or undertaking as to the value, condition or quality of items or services exchanged.

2.2

Members' names, phone numbers and email addresses may be made available to other members.

The Let’s Barter Network cannot guarantee the confidentiality of information in account holder accounts, nor necessarily be held liable for any breach of confidentiality. The Let’s Barter Network does not accept responsibility for any loss or damage occasioned to any accountholder because of information received via the system becoming available to other accountholders or outsiders.

2.3

Accountholders agree to indemnify and hold harmless The Let’s Barter Network and any of their employees or agents from any incident of loss or damage arising out of the use of the system.

3. UNDERTAKING AND ACCEPTANCE

I accept the above terms of use and conditions and undertake further to:

3.1

Negotiate a fair trade with other members.

3.2

Keep my personal contact details, my offerings and wants updated.

3.3

Enter transactional information as soon as possible after a transaction takes place. If I do not have the means to do it myself, I will get another user to do it for me or provide the details to a co-ordinator or the administration.

3.4

Regularly review my offerings and ensure that they provide sufficient information for others to engage in trade with me.

3.5

Actively promote my offerings if my account balance is a large negative amount and remains there for a period of more than one month.

3.6

To make every effort to keep my balance within the limits prescribed or suggested by the administration from time to time.

3.7

Advise the administration if I should wish to de-register or move from one exchange to another.

3.8

Bring my account to zero if I should de-register or if my account should become stale, and as a last resort, to contribute in cash to clear my account based on one Dollar for every COD outstanding.

3.9

I nominate my email address as used on the exchange as the address at which I choose to receive communications and notices.

Let’s Barter NL Privacy Policy

Your privacy is important to us. The Let’s Barter Network is committed to protecting our members' privacy and safeguarding your personal information.

We collect personal information from our customers in the regular course of doing business. This policy document answers some of your most frequently asked questions, and lets you know exactly how we're protecting the information you entrust to us.

What personal information do you collect about me?

We collect the following information about you:

Name
Address
Postal Code
Phone Number
Email Address
Purchase history (in community credits only)
Product/service preferences (ie. goods and services needed)
Customer satisfaction information
Opinions about products and services

When you visit our web site, we also collect:

information about your computer, including your IP address, the type of operating system and browser you use
what pages you visit on our site and what links you click on

We may also request information regarding expected trades amounts within the community exchange, to establish credit limits (in community credits.)

How do you use this information?

The Let’s Barter Network is a mutual credit clearing association which relies on this information so that members can connect with each other in order to negotiate and conduct transactions.

In addition, this information is a requirement for:

Application forms
Online trading of goods and services using Cyclos software

It can also help us to effectively manage:

Customer relationship management
Customer service
Complaints

We may also use this information for the following purposes:

Marketing: to promote the goods and services offered by our members and to directly connect members with each other.
Contests/Surveys

Since sharing personal information is a necessary part of conducting transactions with other members, your contact information will be disclosed to other members.

Sharing of Personal Information with Third Parties

As a necessary part of conducting online transactions, this information is also disclosed to our service provider Cyclos, and hosting agency, Bureau Digitekst.

Cyclos

Cyclos is a product of the Social Trade Organisation (STRO)

www.cyclos.org - www.socialtrade.org

Security

Since the beginning the Cyclos development team followed the security guidelines defined by the ISO 27002

standard. The code is constantly tested by an advanced set of automated security tests. Permissions and roles

are checked on every request at the internal services level.

The following security areas / points have been addressed:

Confidentiality, integrity, authenticity are guaranteed by security checks in combination with http
secure (https)
Resistance to attacks as XSS, CSRF, SQL injections
All passwords hashed with ‘salted’ SHA2
All identifiers are ciphered when sending to client (browser)
Use of cookies limited to user session
Security alerts for administrators
Verbose logging including operation data, users, timestamp
IP whitelist
URL restriction per group

Bureau Digitekst

1.2. Security policies

We apply strict policies on data and system security.

Here is a summary of our policies:

● Our servers by default use data encryption for all access to Cyclos services, and for all other possible services authentication (pop, imap and ftp).

● We keep our systems up to date and always patched.

● All backups are encrypted, and password protected when transmitted over the Internet.

● We strive to use encrypted email when necessary (but we are dependent on the recipients; encryption of email is not yet commonplace). Check http://enigmail.mozdev.org for more information.

● No one but our personnel have shell access to systems.

● We monitor our system security logs daily.

● We keep very strict policies when it comes to handling of authentication data (passwords).

● We recommend against using the standard 4 char password length in Cyclos (we recommend at least 8 characters).

● We prohibit administrators from keeping the default passwords.

● We prohibit unnecessary high authorization levels.

● We don't use default administrator usernames.

● We never send passwords in clear text over the Internet or in emails.

● We recommend using host whitelisting for admin access.

● We recommend using host whitelisting for web services.

● We offer ssl certificate on your own domain name (ssl virtual host).

Cyclos has good built-in security measures, such as

● blocking access after a determined number of failed login attempts (3 by default)

● session time-out at inactivity (default 15 minutes)

● host whitelisting for admin and web services access

By logging into my account, I acknowledge that I have read the above rules and conditions and privacy policy and are bound by them to The Let’s Barter NL Network and its administrators as well as to other users. I am also subject to prevailing rules regarding inter-group trading. I acknowledge further that these rules may be changed by The Let’s Barter NL Network from time to time and I undertake to keep myself abreast of rule changes. Participation will be subject to rules prevailing at the time.