Know the total before you commit

ServiceLink is currently a demonstration service. It records fee estimates, proposed subscription settings and user-declared completion amounts, but does not charge, receive, hold, transfer or release real money.

The product can create fee estimates, demo subscription records and homeowner-declared completion amount records, but those records are not proof of payment, a tax invoice, a receipt or a debt. ServiceLink does not currently collect deposits or the price of trade work.

When a homeowner publishes a job, the demo records a listing-fee estimate calculated from the homeowner's stated job budget:

• Pay as you go: 10% of the stated budget.
• Active Bronze demo subscription: 8% of the stated budget.
• Active Silver demo subscription: 6.5% of the stated budget.
• Active Gold demo subscription: 5% of the stated budget.
• Active Basic demo subscription (legacy tier no longer offered to new subscribers): 5% of the stated budget.
• An expired, cancelled or unrecognised subscription record is charged at the pay-as-you-go rate.
• The result is rounded to the nearest cent using Math.round(amount × 100) ÷ 100.
• Larger jobs cap the estimate by job-value band: budgets of $500–$2,499.99 cap the fee at $120.00, budgets of $2,500–$9,999.99 cap the fee at $180.00, budgets of $10,000 or more cap the fee at $250.00. Budgets under $500.00 pay the plain percentage. Where the cap is lower than the percentage, the cap is the recorded estimate.

Example: a $1,000 stated budget produces a $100.00 estimate at 10%, $80.00 at 8% (Bronze), $65.00 at 6.5% (Silver), $50.00 at 5% (Gold). A $5,000 budget at 10% would exceed its band cap, so the recorded estimate is $180.00 instead. The budget is not necessarily the final trade contract price. No debt or charge is created by this estimate.

• Bronze: display price $14.99 at a 8% listing-fee rate.
• Silver: display price $29.99 at a 6.5% listing-fee rate.
• Gold: display price $49.95 at a 5% listing-fee rate.
• Basic (legacy; existing records only): display price $19.95 at a 5% listing-fee rate.
• The only differences between tiers are the display price and the listing-fee rate. Every account receives the same platform features.
• Current demo period: 30 days from activation.
• Current implementation does not process a payment or automatically renew.
• Cancelling the current demo changes the subscription to cancelled immediately; it does not model end-of-billing-period access.

Product wording such as “monthly”, “renews” or “cancel anytime” must not be used for real billing until the exact renewal, cancellation and access rules match the checkout and account controls.

The proposed commercial model displays a 5% completion-fee rate. The current completion workflow does not calculate, charge or deduct that fee. It records the final contract amount declared by the homeowner and whether payment was reported as made outside ServiceLink, unpaid, disputed or unknown.

The completion record is not a payout, settlement, receipt or proof of payment. ServiceLink does not receive or transfer the homeowner’s payment for the work. Before launch, the charge event and treatment of variations, partial completion, cancellation, refunds and disputes require a settled rule and user-interface confirmation.

GST treatment pending operator registration and tax advice. The operator must determine its GST registration status and configure every customer price as GST-inclusive where the law requires. Trade businesses must state their own GST status and whether quote totals include GST.

Any real checkout must show the total unavoidable price before the user confirms. Any permitted card surcharge must not exceed the applicable cost of acceptance and must be disclosed in the displayed total as required.

1. Show the fee amount, calculation basis, GST treatment and charge event immediately beside the final confirmation control.
2. For subscriptions, show the billing interval, first charge date, automatic-renewal status, minimum term, cancellation method, cancellation effect, failed-payment effect, refund position and price-change notice before purchase.
3. Use an unchecked, affirmative confirmation. Keep a versioned record of the disclosed terms and action.
4. Make cancellation no harder than signup and send confirmation of the resulting status and access end date.
5. Issue compliant receipts and tax invoices where required. A platform record must not be labelled paid before payment succeeds.
6. Use a regulated marketplace payment structure if ServiceLink later facilitates trade-work payments. Do not describe funds as “escrow” without specific legal authority and advice.

We will provide every refund, repeat performance, cancellation, compensation or other remedy required by the Australian Consumer Law. We do not apply a blanket “no refunds” rule.

If real platform fees are enabled, requests will be assessed for:

• duplicate or unauthorised charges;
• a charge where the platform service was not supplied;
• a major failure or a failure that was not remedied within a reasonable time;
• a listing removed because of ServiceLink error rather than user breach;
• subscription cancellation or renewal rights disclosed at checkout;
• any additional remedy required by law in the circumstances.

A refund of a ServiceLink platform fee is separate from any payment owed or refunded under the homeowner–trade works contract.

Before a real completion fee is charged, a trade business must be able to challenge whether the job was completed, the accepted quote amount, relevant variations or a duplicate charge. A disputed amount should not be treated as finally determined merely because a user changed an in-platform status.

Use the Complaints and Disputes process. This does not restrict chargeback rights, ACL remedies or access to a regulator, tribunal or court.

• ACCC: consumer rights and guarantees (opens in a new tab)
• ACCC: receipts, bills and proof of purchase (opens in a new tab)
• ACCC: card surcharge rules (opens in a new tab)