Directory Terms

1. Who these terms are with, and who they apply to

1.1 These terms are between you and TLK ("we", "us").

1.2 They apply to a business that has a listing in the TLK directory, and to any person who claims, manages or asks to remove a listing. Visitors who only search the directory are covered by our website terms.

1.3 Our website terms and privacy policy also apply. A business with a paid Business Profile is also bound by the Business Profile Terms.

2. Where listings come from

2.1 We build basic listings from public records, mainly the Australian Business Register (ABR). From the register we list active Australian companies only. We do not list individuals, sole traders, trusts or partnerships from the register.

2.1A Adding your business. Any business with an active ABN that is not listed, including a sole trader, trust or partnership, can add itself. We confirm the ABN is active from our copy of the ABR bulk extract, which we keep private and use only for this. The page stays private until you prove it is yours (clause 3.2), and then it is listed like any claimed page. A sole trader's page shows their registered business name unless they choose to show their own name.

2.2 A basic listing shows only:

• the business name;
• its location (suburb or state);
• its ABN status;
• the date we last checked it against the register.

2.3 ABR data is used under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia licence.

2.4 A listing is a record of public information. It is not an endorsement, rating or recommendation of the business.

2.5 Categories. A listing's category comes from one of three places, and the page always says which:

• "Confirmed by the business": the business chose it when claiming its page.
• "From [source]": a public source we are licensed to reuse, named on the page.
• "Based on the business name": we suggest it from the registered or trading name. We do this only for categories where our name rules have been checked by hand as correct at least 95% of the time.

Anyone can use the "Wrong category?" link on a listing. We remove a name-based category straight away when told it is wrong, and we don't add it back. Claiming replaces a name-based category with the business's own choice.

3. Claiming a listing

3.1 Claiming is free. A claimed business can:

• keep its details up to date;
• say what it sells and buys, using our lists (up to 3 categories);
• receive enquiries from buyers through TLK.

Meetings with buyers are a separate service that comes with a Business Profile (Business Profile Terms, clause 8).

3.2 How we confirm you work there. We use the first of these that works for you. A proof matches if the website or email domain relates to any name on the ABN: its legal name, or any registered business or trading name.

• (a) If we already hold a website for the business (from the public domain-name record carrying its ABN or ACN, or from the business's own website showing its ABN), you prove access to it: by a code sent to your work email at that domain, or by placing a code on that website.
• (b) Your work email. If we do not hold a website, you give us your work email address and confirm a code we send to it. Only then, and only because you asked, we read the home page of that address's website once. We obey the site's robots.txt and do not look at any other page.
• If the page shows this business's ABN or ACN, your claim is approved straight away.
• If it shows a name on the ABN but not its ABN or ACN, you place a code on the website (as a file or a tag on the home page). When we find it, your claim is approved at a lower level of proof than an ABN.
• If it shows neither, or the domain is parked or for sale, or it is already linked to a different business on TLK and does not show this business's ABN, we refuse the claim and tell you why.
• (c) A code on your website. If your email is with a personal service (for example Gmail or Outlook) but the business has a website, you tell us the website and place a code on it. When we find the code, we read its home page once. If the site shows the ABN or ACN, or a name on the ABN, or its domain is a name on the ABN, your claim is approved. Personal email services cannot be used as the work email in (b).
• (d) A document, checked by hand. If none of these works for you (for example, the business has no website), you upload one document that shows the ABN and a name on the ABN, such as an ASIC extract, an invoice or a bank letter. It must be a PDF, JPG or PNG, up to 8MB. A person checks it, and the page stays unclaimed until we decide. If we refuse, we tell you why. We keep the document privately, show it to nobody outside TLK, and delete it once we have decided.
• (e) Only one claim for a business can be in progress at a time.
• (f) Being introduced to buyers still needs the checks in our published standard, whichever of these proved the page.

3.3 When a listing is claimed, we notify the business at the contact addresses its website publishes, at any contact we already hold for it, and, where a claim replaces another, the person who held it. For 14 days after a claim, the listing shows that it was recently claimed. If somebody later proves a stronger link to the business, the page passes to them (clause 4.1).

3.4 Your promises. By claiming, you promise that:

• you are an employee, officer or authorised contractor of the business;
• what you tell us is true and current;
• you will keep your sign-in secure and tell us promptly about any unauthorised use.

3.5 Each year we ask the business to confirm the claim is still current. If it doesn't, the listing goes back to a basic listing. Its details are kept, and it can be claimed again.

3.6 Only one account owns a listing. The owner may invite colleagues with an email address at the same linked domain.

4. Competing claims and disputes

4.1 If someone later proves a stronger link to the business's domain than the current owner did, ownership moves to them, and we notify both.

4.2 If two claims are equally strong, or someone disputes a claim, we look at the evidence. The current owner stays in place while we do.

4.3 If we decide the current owner was not entitled to the listing, the listing returns to unclaimed. It does not automatically pass to the person who complained.

4.4 We decide acting reasonably and tell both sides why. If you have new evidence, you can ask us to look again.

4.5 We host the directory; we do not settle disagreements inside a business about who may act for it.

5. Removing a listing

5.1 A business can have its listing removed at any time, free. We ask for the same proof as a claim (clause 3.2). If that does not work for the business, it can ask us by email to look at the request by hand. This stops anyone else removing a business's listing.

5.2 Anyone can report a listing as wrong. A report does not remove a listing, but we will look at it.

5.3 When a listing is removed:

• it comes off the directory straight away;
• we keep the ABN on a list of removed businesses, only so it is not added again when we next refresh from the register.

5.4 A removed business can ask to be listed again at any time.

6. What a business tells us it buys

6.1 A business may tell us which categories it buys and roughly when it next reviews them. This is private unless the business chooses to show the categories on its own page. Review dates are never shown.

6.2 We use it to arrange introductions through TLK. We do not sell it, and we do not publish it against the business's name.

6.3 We may publish totals, for example the number of businesses in a state reviewing a category. We only do so when at least 10 businesses make up the figure.

7. How listings appear

7.1 Listings are ordered as set out on our How we rank page. A Business Profile is not placed higher in search.

7.2 The "Checked against our standard" mark appears only when all the checks in our published standard are recorded for the business.

8. Content and conduct

8.1 Anything a business adds must follow our Acceptable Content Policy. It must be accurate, and it must not be misleading or deceptive.

8.2 We may hide or correct content, or suspend a claimed listing, if it breaks these terms or the policy. We will tell the business and give it a chance to respond, unless the matter is urgent or the law requires otherwise.

8.3 Messages go from buyers to businesses through TLK. A business cannot use TLK to contact buyers outside an introduction.

9. Our responsibility

9.1 Nothing in these terms excludes rights under the Australian Consumer Law that cannot be excluded.

9.2 Listings come from public registers and from businesses. We check against the register regularly, but register data can contain errors or be out of date, and we are not responsible for errors in the source records.

9.3 To the extent the law allows, our total liability for a free listing is limited to fixing the listing or $100, whichever we choose. Neither side is liable for indirect or consequential loss, or for lost profit.

10. Changes, law and contact

10.1 We may change these terms. If a change materially affects claimed businesses, we'll give at least 14 days' notice by email, and the business can remove or stop managing its listing before the change applies.

10.2 New South Wales law applies, and the courts of New South Wales have non-exclusive jurisdiction.

10.3 Contact: hello@tlksource.com.au.