Terms of Service

By creating an account, starting a campaign, or making a donation on shoutamate.org, you agree to these terms. If you don’t agree, don’t use the platform.

Operator details to be confirmed: Shout A Mate is operated by Valliers Group. The full registered entity name, ABN/ACN, registered address, and the governing state jurisdiction must be inserted here, and these terms reviewed by an Australian lawyer, before they are relied upon.

You must be at least 18 years old and a resident of Australia to start a campaign or receive a payout. You must provide accurate information and keep it up to date.

If you start a campaign, you are responsible for the accuracy of everything in it. You must describe the purpose of the funds truthfully, use the funds for that stated purpose, and keep your supporters informed of material changes.

Every campaign is reviewed before going live. We may decline, pause, or remove any campaign at our discretion, including after it has been approved, if we believe it breaches these terms.

You are responsible for determining whether funds you receive are assessable income and for meeting any tax obligations. We do not provide tax advice, and donations through Shout A Mate are not tax-deductible unless the recipient is a registered deductible gift recipient and says so explicitly.

• Campaigns for anything illegal under Australian law
• Campaigns based on false, misleading, or fabricated claims
• Fundraising for weapons, drugs, gambling, or adult services
• Campaigns promoting hate, harassment, or violence toward any person or group
• Fundraising on behalf of a person or organisation without their consent
• Campaigns that misrepresent who will receive the funds or how they'll be used

Donations are voluntary gifts, not purchases, and are generally not refundable on change of mind. Refunds where a campaign is found to be fraudulent are handled under the Shout A Mate Guarantee, which sets out exactly what is and isn’t covered.

You acknowledge that Shout A Mate is a platform, not the recipient of your donation, and that we do not control how an organiser ultimately spends funds beyond the review and investigation processes we describe.

Shout A Mate charges no platform fee on donations. Payment processing fees are charged directly by Stripe and are deducted from the donation. Tips are voluntary and support the platform and the Guarantee reserve.

Payouts are made only to a verified Australian bank account belonging to the organiser, through Stripe. We may withhold a payout while a campaign is under investigation.

You keep ownership of the story, photos, and updates you post. By posting them you grant Shout A Mate a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, display, reproduce, and promote that content in connection with operating and marketing the platform, including on social media and in search results.

You confirm you have the right to post everything you upload, including permission from anyone identifiable in a photo, and permission from anyone the campaign is raising funds for.

Shout A Mate gift cards do not expire and any unused balance carries over. A gift card can be redeemed against any live campaign and carries no fees.

Gift cards are not redeemable for cash and cannot be transferred back to a payment method once purchased.

If a donation is reversed by the donor’s bank or card issuer after funds have been paid out, we may recover the reversed amount from future payouts on the campaign, or seek repayment from the organiser directly.

If something has gone wrong, contact us first — most issues are resolved that way. Concerns about a specific campaign should be raised through the form on the Guarantee page, which pauses the campaign while we investigate.

We aim to acknowledge complaints within five business days. If we can’t resolve a matter with you, you retain every right you have under the Australian Consumer Law, including to raise it with the ACCC or your state consumer affairs body.

You are responsible for keeping your account credentials secure. We may suspend or close an account that breaches these terms, and we may withhold or reverse funds associated with fraudulent activity.

The platform is provided on an “as is” basis. Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts, or modifies any guarantee, right, or remedy you have under the Australian Consumer Law that cannot lawfully be excluded. Subject to that, our liability to you is limited to the amount of fees or tips we received in connection with the relevant transaction.

To be confirmed: these terms are governed by the laws of [STATE/TERRITORY], Australia, and you submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of its courts. The governing jurisdiction must be settled with legal advice.

If any part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest continues to apply. Our not enforcing a right straight away doesn’t waive it. You may not transfer your rights under these terms; we may transfer ours if the platform changes hands, on notice to you.

We aren’t liable for failures caused by events outside our reasonable control, including outages at our payment, email, or hosting providers.

We may update these terms. Material changes will be reflected in the “last updated” date above, and continued use after a change means you accept the updated terms.

Questions about these terms: support@shoutamate.org.