Terms of Service

Part A: Terms for everyone

1. About these Terms

1.1These Terms of Use (Terms) are an agreement between you and Sloop IT Pty Ltd ACN 677 536 739 ABN 48 677 536 739 of PO Box 3026, Allambie Heights NSW 2100 (Sloop, we, us). They govern your use of the Platform.

1.2You accept these Terms when you first do any of these: tick to accept them, create an account, install the Sloop App, apply for a rental, or otherwise use the Platform.

1.3Part A applies to everyone. Part B also applies if you are a Customer. Part C also applies if you are a Merchant. Clause headings and the Highlights are for convenience only.

1.4If you accept these Terms for a business, you confirm you are authorised to bind that business.

2. What Sloop is, and what it is not

2.1Sloop provides software and services that let Merchants offer their goods for hire to Customers for a fixed term, shown as “Rent Now, powered by Sloop”.

2.2For every rental:

1. the Merchant owns the goods and is the lessor;
2. the Rental Agreement is between the Merchant and the Customer;
3. Sloop acts only as the Merchant’s agent, including when it assesses applications, signs the Rental Agreement for the Merchant, collects payments and sends notices.

2.3Sloop does not:

1. own, sell or hire out any goods offered by Merchants on the Platform, or take over any Merchant’s rights under a Rental Agreement;
2. lend money or allow anyone to defer paying for goods they buy;
3. offer any option or arrangement for a Customer, or anyone they nominate, to buy or keep rented goods;
4. charge Customers any fee;
5. report defaults to credit reporting bodies.

2.4Rentals through Sloop are not credit. Every rental is a fixed-term hire of goods with no right or obligation to buy them, and the most a Customer can be charged is always below the Merchant’s cash price for the goods. The Platform blocks any rental, fee or change that would go over that limit. As a result, rentals through Sloop are not regulated consumer leases, and neither Sloop nor its Merchants need an Australian credit licence for them. Sloop does not accept or collect payments through Centrepay.

2.5Sloop’s websites may list goods available for rent from Merchants. A listing is information only. Following a listing takes you to the Merchant’s store, where the Merchant’s own terms of sale and Rental Agreement apply.

2.6Sloop Equipment Pty Ltd [ACN], a company related to Sloop, rents out its own goods through the Platform at rentthelatest.com. It is a Merchant like any other: it owns the goods and is the lessor under its Rental Agreements, signs the Merchant Agreement, pays Sloop’s fees and is subject to the same controls as every other Merchant.

3. Accounts and security

3.1Some parts of the Platform need an account. You must give accurate, current and complete information and keep it up to date.

3.2Keep your login details and any device you use to access the Platform secure. Do not share your account. Tell us promptly at [support@sloop-it.com] if you think someone else has used your account.

3.3You are responsible for activity on your account unless it happened because we failed to take reasonable steps to keep the Platform secure, or because of our error or system failure.

3.4You must not open more than one Customer account or use a false or borrowed identity, even with the other person’s consent.

4. Acceptable use

4.1You must not:

1. use the Platform for anything unlawful, fraudulent or misleading, or to harm anyone;
2. give false or misleading information, including in any application, identity check or affordability check;
3. copy, modify, reverse engineer or decompile the Platform, or try to work out how Sloop’s decision engine, pricing models or algorithms work, except as the law allows;
4. scrape, crawl or make automated use of the Platform, other than through interfaces we provide for that purpose;
5. interfere with, overload or try to get around any security or access control of the Platform;
6. upload anything that is unlawful, infringes someone else’s rights, or contains malicious code;
7. abuse, threaten or harass our staff, a Merchant’s staff or other users.

4.2We may monitor use of the Platform to keep it secure, detect fraud and comply with the law.

5. Intellectual property

5.1Sloop and its licensors own the Platform, including its software, decision engine, pricing models, design, content and the Sloop name and logo, and all intellectual property in them.

5.2We give you a non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the Platform for its intended purpose while these Terms apply. We keep all other rights.

5.3You keep your rights in content you give us. You give us a licence to use it to operate, improve and secure the Platform and to meet our legal obligations.

5.4We may use information about how the Platform is used, in de-identified or aggregated form that does not identify you or any other person, to operate, improve and develop the Platform, including our decision engine and other models. This continues after these Terms end.

6. Automated decisions and AI

6.1The Platform uses automated systems, including machine-learning models, to verify identity, detect fraud, approve or decline rental applications and recommend rental prices to Merchants.

6.2Rental prices are set by Merchants. They are the same for every Customer renting the same goods for the same term at the same time. No information about you as a Customer is used to set your price; it is used only to approve or decline your application.

6.3Some Platform features use artificial intelligence that produces outputs that may contain errors. We do not guarantee that AI-generated output, such as a price recommendation or a draft message, is accurate or complete. Merchants are responsible for reviewing it before relying on it.

6.4Sloop’s Privacy Policy describes the kinds of personal information used in automated decisions and how to ask about a decision.

7. Availability and changes to the Platform

7.1We take reasonable steps to keep the Platform available, secure and working as described. Except as the law requires, we do not guarantee it will always be available or free of errors.

7.2The Platform may be unavailable for maintenance, which we will try to schedule and announce in advance, or for reasons outside our reasonable control.

7.3We may change, add or remove Platform features. We will give reasonable notice of any change that materially reduces a feature you pay for or rely on, unless it is needed urgently for security or to comply with the law.

8. Third-party services

8.1The Platform relies on third-party services, including e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, payment processors, identity verification and bank-data providers, hosting providers and providers of AI models (Third-Party Providers).

8.2Some Third-Party Providers have their own terms, which apply when you use their services. Where Sloop chooses a Third-Party Provider to process personal information for it, Sloop requires them to protect it and remains responsible for that processing as the law requires.

8.3We maintain a list of the Third-Party Providers that process personal information for us, available on request.

9. Privacy

9.1Sloop handles personal information in line with its Privacy Policy at [sloop-it.com/privacy], which forms part of these Terms.

10. Your rights under the Australian Consumer Law

10.1If you are a consumer, you have rights under the Australian Consumer Law that cannot be excluded, including guarantees that services will be provided with due care and skill and be reasonably fit for any purpose you make known (Consumer Rights).

10.2Nothing in these Terms excludes, restricts or modifies any Consumer Right or any other right or remedy that cannot lawfully be excluded. Where the law lets us limit our liability for a failure to meet a Consumer Right, our liability is limited to supplying the services again or paying the cost of having them supplied again.

11. Liability

11.1Subject to clause 10, we do not give any warranty about the Platform except those set out in these Terms, the Merchant Agreement or the Rental Agreement.

11.2Subject to clause 10, we are not liable to you for loss to the extent it is caused or contributed to by your breach of these Terms, your negligence, or your failure to take reasonable steps to reduce the loss.

11.3Goods hired through the Platform are supplied by the Merchant. Questions and claims about the goods themselves, including faults and the consumer guarantees for goods, are between the Customer and the Merchant under the Rental Agreement. Sloop will help pass messages between you.

11.4Nothing in these Terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.

11.5Part C sets out further limits that apply between Sloop and Merchants.

12. Suspension and closing accounts

12.1You can close your account at any time by contacting us, unless you have a rental in progress or an amount owing under a Rental Agreement. In that case the account closes when the rental has ended and any amount owing is resolved.

12.2We may suspend or restrict your access to the Platform immediately if we reasonably believe it is needed to prevent fraud or harm, protect the security of the Platform, comply with the law or a regulator, or deal with a serious breach of these Terms. We will tell you as soon as reasonably practicable, unless the law or a fraud investigation prevents it.

12.3We may close your account for any other reason by giving you at least 30 days’ notice.

12.4Suspending or closing an account does not end a rental already in progress. The Rental Agreement continues to apply to it.

12.5Clauses that by their nature should continue after an account closes, including clauses 5, 10, 11 and 16, continue.

13. Changes to these Terms

13.1We may change these Terms to reflect changes to the Platform, our services, the law or regulatory guidance, or for security reasons, or to make them clearer.

13.2We will give you at least 30 days’ notice of a change that is not in your favour, by email or in your account. A change needed urgently to comply with the law may take effect sooner.

13.3If you do not agree to a change, you may close your account before it takes effect. A Merchant may also end its Merchant Agreement as set out in Part C.

13.4A change to these Terms never changes a Rental Agreement that has already been signed, or increases what a Customer must pay under it.

14. Notices and communications

14.1You agree to receive these Terms, notices and other communications electronically, by email, SMS, push notification or in your account. Keep your contact details up to date.

14.2A notice we send by email or SMS is taken to be received when sent, unless we are told it was not delivered.

14.3Send notices to Sloop at info@sloop-it.com. For support, contact [support@sloop-it.com].

14.4We may record calls and keep messages for quality, training, dispute resolution and compliance purposes.

15. Complaints

15.1Contact us first at info@sloop-it.com, through your account, or by post to Sloop IT Pty Ltd, PO Box 3026, Allambie Heights NSW 2100. We will acknowledge your complaint within 2 business days and aim to resolve it within 21 days. If we need longer, we will tell you why and when to expect an answer.

15.2If a complaint is about a rental, we will involve the Merchant where needed.

15.3If you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact NSW Fair Trading or the consumer protection agency in your state or territory, or go to a court or tribunal. Merchants follow the dispute process in the Merchant Agreement.

16. General

16.1Governing law. These Terms are governed by the laws of New South Wales. Each party submits to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of New South Wales. This does not take away any protection you have under the law of the state or territory where you live.

16.2Transfer. You may not transfer your rights under these Terms without our written consent. We may transfer our rights under these Terms to another person if your rights are not adversely affected, and will tell you when we do.

16.3Severance. If any part of these Terms is void, unenforceable or an unfair term, that part is removed and the rest continues.

16.4Waiver. A failure or delay in using a right does not waive it.

16.5Events outside our control. We are not responsible for a delay or failure caused by an event outside our reasonable control, such as a failure of a Third-Party Provider, utility or telecommunications network, a natural disaster or a government order. We will take reasonable steps to limit its effect.

16.6Relationship. These Terms do not create a partnership, joint venture or employment relationship.

Part B: Terms for Customers

17. Who can apply

17.1To apply to rent through Sloop you must be an individual aged 18 or over, have an Australian residential address, and rent the goods for your own use. Rentals longer than 21 days also need Australian identification.

17.2You must apply in your own name and use your own payment method.

18. Applying to rent

18.1When you apply, Sloop, acting for the Merchant:

1. verifies your identity using the details and documents you provide and an identity verification provider;
2. for rentals of 22 days or more, checks whether the rental is affordable for you, including by reviewing bank account information you choose to share through a bank-data provider;
3. checks for fraud, and for any amount overdue under another Rental Agreement made through Sloop.

18.2You authorise Sloop to make these checks and to receive the results. You will be asked for separate consents before any identity document or bank account information is collected.

18.3Sloop’s automated decision engine approves or declines each application in real time. Sloop does not have to give reasons for a decline but will tell you the main kinds of information it relied on if you ask. Being approved once does not mean a later application will be approved.

18.4A deposit hold or payment is only taken once your application has been approved.

18.5If you have rented through Sloop before, passed its identity check and have no overdue payments, Sloop may skip repeating the identity check but will check affordability again for each new rental of 22 days or more.

19. Your Rental Agreement

19.1If you are approved, Sloop prepares a Rental Agreement between you and the Merchant. Read it before you sign it. It sets out the goods, the term, the weekly rent, every fee you could be charged and the Maximum Total.

19.2The Maximum Total is the most you can ever be charged under your Rental Agreement, including every fee. It is always below the Merchant’s cash price for the goods.

19.3You sign the Rental Agreement electronically. Sloop signs it for the Merchant as the Merchant’s agent and emails you a copy. You can also see it in your account.

19.4Your Rental Agreement is a fixed-term hire. It does not renew or continue automatically. You have no right, and no obligation, to buy the goods, and no rent counts towards buying them. If a Merchant or anyone else suggests otherwise, please tell Sloop.

19.5Your rights and obligations about the goods, including faults, returns, cancellations, loss and damage, are set out in your Rental Agreement. These Terms do not change them.

19.6The Merchant, or Sloop for it, may end a rental early at any time without giving a reason. If it does, you pay nothing further, no fee and no return delivery charge, any rent you paid for the period after the notice is refunded, and any deposit hold is released. Your Rental Agreement sets out the details.

20. Payments

20.1Rent is quoted and charged weekly.

20.2Sloop collects payments under your Rental Agreement only as the Merchant’s agent. A payment you make to Sloop counts as a payment to the Merchant. Sloop does not charge you any fee for this or anything else.

20.3You authorise Sloop to charge your nominated payment method for the amounts due under your Rental Agreement, on the dates it sets out, and to place and release any deposit hold it describes. Sloop will not charge anything else.

20.4Keep enough funds available on each payment date. Your card issuer or bank may charge its own fees; Sloop will refund any such fee caused by Sloop’s error.

20.5If a payment fails, Sloop will retry it and contact you as set out in your Rental Agreement. You can change your payment method in your account at any time.

20.6Sloop accepts card payments [and other methods shown at checkout]. Sloop does not accept or collect payments through Centrepay.

21. If you are having trouble paying

21.1If you are having, or expect to have, difficulty making a payment, contact Sloop as soon as you can. Contact about any overdue amount pauses while your request is considered.

21.2Sloop will put your request to the Merchant, and you will hear the outcome in writing. Your Rental Agreement sets out the options.

21.3Free, confidential financial counselling is available from the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007.

22. Your responsibilities

22.1You must:

1. make sure everything you tell Sloop or a Merchant is true and complete;
2. keep your contact details, delivery address and payment method up to date;
3. not let anyone else use your account or your rental;
4. provide documents Sloop reasonably asks for to confirm your identity;
5. co-operate with any reasonable investigation of suspected fraud on your account;
6. tell Sloop promptly if you notice a payment or rental you did not make.

23. Messages about your rental

23.1Sloop will send you messages about your application and rental, including confirmations, payment reminders and return instructions. You cannot opt out of these while you have a rental.

23.2Sloop will send you marketing only if you agree, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

23.3Sloop and the Merchant will not contact you about an overdue amount more than 3 times in any 7 days or 10 times in any month.

Part C: Terms for Merchants

24. Getting started

24.1A Merchant may install the Sloop App from the Shopify App Store and set up a merchant account. Sloop may accept or decline any application to become a Merchant, acting reasonably.

24.2A Merchant cannot offer rentals to Customers until it has completed onboarding and signed the Merchant Agreement. Until then, only these Terms apply.

24.3The Merchant Agreement sets out Sloop’s services, Sloop’s fees, the pricing and compliance controls, how payments and payouts work, and each party’s obligations for rentals. It prevails over these Terms if they conflict.

25. Licence and users

25.1While the Merchant Agreement is in force, Sloop gives the Merchant a non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the Platform, including the Sloop App and merchant portal, for its own business, only to offer and manage rentals of its own goods.

25.2The Merchant may give its staff access to the merchant portal. It must keep their access secure, make sure they follow these Terms, and remove access when they no longer need it. The Merchant is responsible for what its users do.

25.3The Merchant must not:

1. use the Platform to offer rentals of goods it does not own;
2. use the Platform for the benefit of any other business, or resell or sub-license it;
3. change how the Platform presents prices, fees, the Maximum Total or rental terms to Customers, or offer rentals of the same goods to Customers outside the Platform on different terms, except as the Merchant Agreement allows;
4. try to get around any control built into the Platform, including the price ceiling, the hard stop and the approve-or-decline decision.

26. Merchant data and Customer information

26.1The Merchant owns the data it puts into the Platform about its store and products (Merchant Data). The Merchant gives Sloop a licence to use Merchant Data, and its brand and product content, to provide and improve the Platform.

26.2Sloop shares Customer personal information with the Merchant only as needed to deliver, service and recover a rental. The Merchant must use it only for that purpose, keep it secure, comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) where it applies, and not use it for marketing unless the Customer separately agrees.

26.3The Merchant warrants that it has the rights needed to give Sloop the Merchant Data and content it provides, and that Sloop’s use of it as these Terms allow will not infringe anyone’s rights.

26.4After the Merchant Agreement ends, Sloop will make the Merchant’s rental records available for download for 30 days. After that, Sloop keeps records only as the law, the Merchant Agreement or its Privacy Policy require, and may delete the rest.

27. AI features and fair use

27.1Sloop’s price recommendations, insights and other AI-generated outputs are suggestions only. The Merchant sets its own prices and is responsible for its decisions, its store content and the accuracy of the cash prices it enters.

27.2Some features help with testing, training or analysis rather than handling a rental. Sloop may set reasonable fair-use limits on those features to protect the Platform’s performance, and will tell the Merchant before limiting its use.

28. Fees and billing

28.1The Merchant pays Sloop the fees set out in the Merchant Agreement, in the way it describes. Customers never pay Sloop’s fees, and the Merchant must not add them to its cash prices or rent.

28.2Fees exclude GST unless stated otherwise. Sloop will issue tax invoices for its fees.

28.3Sloop may change its fees on at least 30 days’ notice, as the Merchant Agreement sets out. A fee change never affects a Rental Agreement already signed.

28.4Payment processing fees charged by the Merchant’s payment provider are the Merchant’s cost.

29. Marketing and publicity

29.1The Merchant must use only the approved Sloop wording and assets made available in the merchant portal when describing rentals through Sloop, and must follow the marketing rules in the Merchant Agreement. In particular, it must not describe rentals as a way to buy, own or pay off goods, or market them to people in financial difficulty.

29.2With the Merchant’s consent, which it may withdraw at any time, Sloop may name the Merchant and show its logo as a Sloop merchant, including on Sloop’s websites. [Design partners: by agreement in the Merchant Agreement.]

30. Liability between Sloop and Merchants

30.1The limits of liability, indemnities and exclusions between Sloop and a Merchant are set out in the Merchant Agreement.

30.2Before a Merchant signs the Merchant Agreement, Sloop’s total liability to it under these Terms is limited to $1,000, and neither party is liable to the other for loss of profit, revenue or data, or for indirect loss. This clause does not limit liability for fraud, personal injury, or anything the law does not allow to be limited.

31. Ending the arrangement

31.1A Merchant may uninstall the Sloop App at any time. Doing so does not end rentals already in progress or the Merchant’s obligations to Customers and Sloop under the Merchant Agreement and the Rental Agreements, which continue until those rentals are complete.

31.2How the Merchant Agreement is ended is set out in that agreement. Clause 12 of these Terms applies to the Merchant’s account.

Definitions and interpretation

In these Terms: “including” does not limit what comes before it; the singular includes the plural; $ means Australian dollars; a business day is a day other than a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday in New South Wales.