Terms of Service

1. Agreement to these terms

These Terms of Service (the "Terms") are a legal agreement between you and Giving Free ("Giving Free", "we", "us", or "our"). They govern your access to and use of the Giving Free website, accounts, and services (together, the "Service").

By creating an account, accessing, or using the Service, you agree to these Terms, our Privacy Policy, our Community Guidelines, our Prohibited Items Policy, and our Safety Rules, each of which is incorporated by reference. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

2. Who can use Giving Free

• You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract.
• You must use the Service only for lawful personal, household, community, or charitable giving activity, primarily in Ghana.
• You must provide accurate information and comply with these Terms and all applicable laws.
• If you use the Service on behalf of an organization, you confirm you are authorized to bind that organization to these Terms.

3. Your account

Accounts are created and secured through our authentication provider. You are responsible for the activity that happens under your account and for keeping your login credentials confidential.

You must not share your account, impersonate others, create accounts through unauthorized means, or maintain more than one account to evade enforcement. Notify us promptly at support@givingfree.org if you believe your account has been compromised.

4. What Giving Free is, and is not

Giving Free is a platform that connects donors, who post useful items they are willing to give away for free, with receivers, who browse, express interest, and arrange pickup directly with donors.

Giving Free is not a party to any exchange between users. We do not buy, sell, own, inspect, store, transport, or deliver items, and we do not act as an agent, escrow, insurer, or payment processor. Every item on Giving Free must be free: you may not request or offer money, deposits, delivery or courier fees, tips, swaps, trades, or any other consideration through or in connection with the Service.

5. Donor responsibilities

• You must own or have the right to give away every item you post.
• You must describe items honestly, including condition, defects, missing parts, expiry, hygiene concerns, and any safety issues.
• You must not post prohibited, unsafe, illegal, recalled, counterfeit, stolen, or unsuitable items (see the Prohibited Items Policy).
• You must use a public pickup area and must not publish exact home addresses or others' personal information in listing text.
• You are responsible for choosing a receiver and coordinating pickup safely and lawfully.

6. Receiver responsibilities

• Only express interest in items you genuinely intend to collect.
• Communicate respectfully, honor agreed pickup times, and cancel promptly if plans change.
• Inspect items before accepting them and decide whether they are suitable for you.
• Do not pressure donors, request money, send payment links, or move conversations into unsafe or suspicious channels.

7. Prohibited items and activity

• Turning a giveaway into a transaction: charging money, requesting deposits, delivery fees, tips, swaps, or trades.
• Posting anything listed in our Prohibited Items Policy, or anything unsafe, illegal, recalled, counterfeit, or stolen.
• Misrepresenting items, impersonating people, creating fake accounts, scraping or overloading the Service, spamming users, or manipulating interest in listings.
• Harassment, threats, hate speech, sexual content, exploitation, scams, fraud, or attempts to obtain personal, financial, or authentication information.
• Using the Service to coordinate illegal activity, unsafe meetups, or anything outside the purpose of giving and receiving free items.

8. Listing review and moderation

New listings are reviewed by Giving Free administrators before they appear publicly. We may approve, reject, edit, label, limit the distribution of, hold, or remove any listing at our discretion.

To protect users, enforce these Terms, comply with law, or investigate abuse, we may review listings, messages, reports, upload activity, and account signals, and we may suspend or remove accounts. Suspension blocks posting, expressing interest, and messaging, and hides the user's live listings from public browse.

9. Your content and the licence you grant us

You keep ownership of the content you submit, such as listing text, photos, and messages ("Your Content"). You are solely responsible for Your Content and confirm you have the rights to share it.

You grant Giving Free a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, adapt for display, and publish Your Content for the purpose of operating, promoting, and improving the Service. For public listings this includes showing item photos and details on the Service, including on public pages such as the "Given away" showcase. This licence ends when Your Content is removed, except for content already shared with other users, and copies retained for backup, legal, safety, or moderation records.

You must not submit content that is unlawful, infringing, deceptive, harmful, or that you do not have the right to share. If you believe content on the Service infringes your intellectual property rights, contact support@givingfree.org with details and we will review it.

10. Giving Free's intellectual property

The Service itself, including its name, branding, design, and software, is owned by Giving Free or its licensors and is protected by applicable law. Except for Your Content and the limited right to use the Service under these Terms, nothing here grants you any right in our intellectual property. You may not copy, modify, resell, reverse engineer, or create derivative works from the Service without our permission.

11. Pickup, meetups, and safety

Pickup is arranged solely between users. Giving Free does not provide delivery, storage, inspection, escrow, payment processing, transportation, insurance, or any guarantee, and does not vet users or items beyond the moderation described above.

You interact with other users at your own risk. We strongly recommend public locations, daytime pickups where possible, bringing another adult when appropriate, inspecting items before accepting them, and not sharing unnecessary personal information. See our Safety Rules. In an emergency, contact local authorities first.

12. Third-party services

The Service relies on third-party providers for authentication, hosting, database and media storage, email delivery, and abuse prevention. Your use of the Service may be subject to those providers' terms, and we are not responsible for third-party services. See our Privacy Policy for who processes your data.

13. Disclaimers and no warranties

Items are offered by donors as-is and for free. To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Service and all items and content are provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, quality, safety, legality, availability, accuracy, or non-infringement.

We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free, or that any item will be available, safe, or as described.

14. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Giving Free and its owners, staff, and providers will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, goodwill, or profits, arising out of or relating to your use of, or inability to use, the Service, any item obtained through it, or any interaction with another user.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total aggregate liability arising out of or relating to the Service will not exceed one hundred Ghana cedis (GHS 100). Because the Service is provided free of charge, some of these limitations may not apply to the extent prohibited by applicable law, and nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

15. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Giving Free and its owners, staff, and providers from any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, and expenses, including reasonable legal fees, arising out of or related to Your Content, your use of the Service, your interactions or exchanges with other users, or your breach of these Terms or applicable law.

16. Suspension and termination

You may stop using the Service at any time. We may warn, limit, suspend, or terminate your access, and remove listings or content, with or without notice, if you breach these Terms or our policies, or to protect users, comply with law, or address safety, fraud, or operational risk.

Sections that by their nature should survive termination will survive, including content licence terms for content already shared, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnification, and governing law.

17. Changes to these terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date and, where appropriate, provide additional notice. Your continued use of the Service after changes take effect means you accept the updated Terms.

18. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of Ghana, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. You agree that the courts of Ghana have jurisdiction over any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service, subject to any mandatory consumer protections that apply to you.

We encourage you to contact us first at support@givingfree.org so we can try to resolve any issue directly.

19. General

These Terms and the policies referenced in them are the entire agreement between you and Giving Free regarding the Service. If any provision is found unenforceable, the rest remains in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or transfer of the Service.

20. Contact

For support, policy questions, legal notices, or safety concerns, contact support@givingfree.org.