Introduction

Hello. This is the part of the GreenPlantSwap website (www.greenplantswap.co.uk) where we explain the rules (or "Terms") we'd like you to respect and comply with when using GreenPlantSwap. Please be aware that this is a legal document and, by using GreenPlantSwap, you agree to these Terms. If you have any questions about these terms, please contact us.

By the way, "we" are GreenPlantSwap Limited of Pear Tree Farm Ham Street, Baltonsborough, Nr Glastonbury, Somerset, BA6 8PS (company registration number 07861652). We'll just say "we" or "the company" in these Terms to keep it simple.

What we do

GreenPlantSwap is a service that lets you publish plant information and plant listings in order to help you to buy, sell and swap plants between yourselves as members. You need to be a member to do any of these things.

What we don't do

We can't promise or guarantee any particular result or outcomes when you become a member. For example, we can't promise that other members definitely will or won't buy your plants or sell particular plants to you (though of course we hope they would). As a result, we require members to be solely responsible for any and all agreements or arrangements they reach with each other through use of GreenPlantSwap and any legal aspects of them, for example contract law, consumer law (including distance selling, returns and refunds), negligence and occupier's liability. This includes any potential issues about whether the plants involved are as described, fit for purpose, of any particular quality or in any particular state or condition. We will not be responsible for any loss or damage that occurs as a result of any plant sale, purchase or exchange, whether the transaction went ahead or not.

We will also not be responsible for any damage, harm or loss of any kind caused by any real world interaction, meetings or discussions between members.

We would hope that this isn't ever really an issue as we want and expect this to be a site where members are able to trade with each other without problems like this. However, if unfortunately you do encounter such problems we would encourage you to discuss it with the member in question or review the FAQs and, in the last resort, contact us (though please be aware we may not be able to assist any further).

Although we take reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy of the site as a whole, we can't verify the accuracy of information posted on GreenPlantSwap by members or communicated between members by messaging within the service or any other means - we rely on the members themselves to ensure that information is accurate. If you're unsure and concerned about the accuracy of any content you see, please contact us.

Becoming a member

Your registration as a member is valid for buying, selling and swapping plants from one location only. If you move house, then you may change the address on your profile. But if you trade plants from multiple locations (for example you are a chain of nurseries), then you will need a separate membership for each location you feature on GreenPlantSwap.

You may only be a member of GreenPlantSwap if you are aged 18 or older. If you are under 18, then you can only be a GreenPlantSwap via your parent or guardian. We have to insist on this unfortunately to avoid there being any risk of minors inadvertently getting into difficulties when using GreenPlantSwap. If you have any concerns that minors may be using GreenPlantSwap, please contact us.

About your use of GreenPlantSwap

Misusing website content

We have spent a significant amount of time and effort to assemble all the information you will be able to access on GreenPlantSwap. We must require you therefore to not copy, extract, collect or store any of the contents of this site, including but not limited to personal information of other members, for your own personal or business purposes outside of growing plants and/or trading them through the service. We take this kind of action seriously and if necessary will take action against you, including if necessary terminating your membership, taking legal action against you issuing a penalty against you of £1,000 in respect of each member solicited or other content misused.

Doing naughty things

You must not use GreenPlantSwap to post or transmit any unlawful, threatening, libellous, defamatory, obscene, scandalous, inflammatory, pornographic, or profane material or any material that could constitute or encourage unlawful conduct.

Misusing member information

We encourage members to share information with each other on GreenPlantSwap to help get the most out of the site - this can include sharing personal information such as their name, address and/or geographical location. You must not make such personal information public, or share them with anyone else, or use them for any other purpose than using GreenPlantSwap for the purpose it was intended (i.e. buying, selling or swapping plants between GreenPlantSwap members).

Therefore, members must not send unsolicited business messages to each other.

This includes, but is not limited to, commercial advertising, announcements, charity requests, petitions for signatures and political or religious messages. Any attempt to solicit or collect email addresses or other personal information from members for any other purpose is a breach of these Terms.

Please be aware that we are not responsible for monitoring the content of message transmissions facilitated by GreenPlantSwap, but we do have the right to monitor such transmissions and to govern the same under these Terms.

Inactive accounts

We reserve the right to sign out, terminate or delete a member's account from GreenPlantSwap if it is determined to be inactive - meaning that the member has not signed in to GreenPlantSwap or has not responded to messages for what we consider to be a reasonable period of time.

House Rules

GreenPlantSwap is designed to be a friendly and helpful gardening web site. To keep it that way we ask that you follow a few simple rules in engaging with other members on our site. These rules complement the wider member responsibilities in these Terms of Use.

• Be genuine. Do not impersonate anyone else, mislead or present anything as fact that you know to be untrue.

• Be nice. Be respectful and tolerant of other members. Keep a reasonable and friendly tone in posts. Avoid any personal comments, threats, swearing, harassment or spam that could cause offence. Don't attack anyone on the basis of their race, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or politics.

• Be helpful. Share opinions and be generous with your knowledge. It's good to debate, but not to ridicule someone for lack of knowledge or experience. Make those who may be new to gardening feel welcome and confident to ask questions and seek advice.

• Be relevant. Keep broadly to the subject of plants and gardens; and do not stray off topic in threads, so the content remains useful to others. Write in English and do not post images of any subjects other than gardens and plants.

• Be un-salesy. It is fine to post about plants you happen to have for swap or sale on your Grower page. But let interest in the plant be the 'pull'. Do not promote prices, deals or other business interests outside GreenPlantSwap in posts.

• Be responsible. Do not post about anything that could endanger others. Report any violation of these rules or the wider Terms of Use by 'flagging' the content in question. Your flag will be anonymous. GreenPlantSwap will then decide what action to take, if any.

• Be legal. Only post images or content you have the right to distribute and which comply with these Terms of Use.

GreenPlantSwap reserves the right to remove or amend any content that in our opinion does not meet the requirements of these House Rules.

Event Postings

Event Postings

If you publish an event posting in our forum Posts & Events you agree that:

• The event will be a real world, face-to-face event in which gardens and plants are the main interest.

• All important details for people attending will be included in the event posting.

• If the event is cancelled, postponed or changed for any reason, you will make every best effort to notify potential attendees by cancelling the event posting or providing edits or comments on the post.

• You have the right to hold the event at the time(s) and place(s) specified and any home or public liability insurance to cover the event is your or the venue owner’s responsibility.

• Neither GreenPlantSwap nor its officers, employers or agents will be liable in any way for any loss, damage, costs or expenses suffered by you or claims made against you in relation to the event.

Member Responsibilities

So that all the members can get the most of GreenPlantSwap, we ask you to agree to all the following requirements:

• I will accurately describe my plants offered for swap or sale to the best of my knowledge and ability. Omissions of relevant descriptions may result in my account being suspended or terminated.
• I will not engage in advertising to, or solicitation of, other members to buy or sell any products or services through GreenPlantSwap, other than the posting of plants for swap or sale. Grower pages shall not contain any type of advertising or solicitation other than an offer to buy, sell or swap plants in accordance with the terms of this site.
• I will treat other members with consideration, courtesy and respect at all times.
• I will honour all obligations I make relative to an appointment, do my utmost not to break an appointment and will give the maximum advance warning if I need to change an appointment.
• I will accommodate to the best of my ability any personal, cultural and language differences between members and agree to overcome any issues courteously and respectfully.
• I will not provide false or misleading information to GreenPlantSwap or any members.
• I will not use GreenPlantSwap to breach any laws of which I am aware.
• I will not upload or publish any images or content that I do not have the right to distribute or that do not comply with these Terms of Use.
• I will not upload or transmit any files that contain viruses, Trojan Horses, corrupted files, malicious code, or any other similar software or programs that may harm the operation of another's computer or gain otherwise unauthorized access to another's computer or data.
• I will not post or send any content or engage in any conduct that subjects GreenPlantSwap to any legal action, dispute or controversy.
• I am responsible for conducting my own investigation regarding any and all claims made by other members.
• I assume all liability for use of any information I find on GreenPlantSwap.
• I have the authority to enter into this Agreement, to post my Grower page content and plant listings (if any), and to offer these plants for swap or sale.
• I am responsible for investigating and adhering to all applicable laws and regulations regarding my use of GreenPlantSwap including, but not limited to, tax, licenses and safety compliance.

User Identity and Password

Members use their email address as their User identity (User ID) and create a password which is required for authentication to use "Members only" services within GreenPlantSwap. As a member you will be required to use your password each time you log on to GreenPlantSwap. Members accept that GreenPlantSwap may assume the authenticity of and may act upon any instructions given by any person who accesses the site with your User ID or password.

GreenPlantSwap will not disclose members' email addresses to other members. Your identity on GreenPlantSwap will be the personal or business name and image you elect to display on the site to represent you. Messaging communications between members will be enabled on the site with reference to listings and your display name and image without disclosing email addresses.

You must comply with all directions issued by GreenPlantSwap pertaining to use of your User ID and password. You must not disclose your password to any other person and you are solely responsible for keeping your password strictly confidential.

You will be held responsible for all communications and agreements made using your password or User ID including all transactions a third party conducts using your password or User ID, irrespective of whether you have disclosed your password or User ID to that third party either intentionally or otherwise. You must notify GreenPlantSwap immediately if you become aware that your password or User ID has been compromised or that there has been unauthorised use of your password or User ID.

Security Of Information

Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet is totally secure. As a result, we hope you'll understand that we cannot ensure the total security of any information that you transmit to GreenPlantSwap and/or via GreenPlantSwap (although we will of course take reasonable steps to protect such information).

Interruptions to GreenPlantSwap

We will do our best to keep GreenPlantSwap up and running but, as with any website occasionally we have to carry out maintenance and we may occasionally suffer other difficulties or interruptions. As a result, please be aware that occasionally (and hopefully very rarely) there may be disruptions to your use of GreenPlantSwap. We will try to let you know about any disruptions we're aware of as soon as possible.

Liability

(Explanatory note: our lawyers have asked us to include the following section in case there are any disputes or difficulties regarding your use of GreenPlantSwap. We're sorry about that but it's necessary for the protection of GreenPlantSwap. If you have any questions about this, please contact us.

You agree to indemnify and keep indemnified GreenPlantSwap, its affiliates, officers, employees and agents against all claims, demands, actions, proceedings, costs, expenses, liabilities and loss suffered by GreenPlantSwap, directly or indirectly as a result of any breach of your obligations under the Agreement.

Your use of GreenPlantSwap and information on GreenPlantSwap is at your own risk. Any aspect of the Site may be changed, supplemented, deleted or updated at our discretion if we consider it reasonably necessary.

To the extent permitted by law, neither GreenPlantSwap nor its officers, employees or agents will be liable in any way for any loss, damage, costs or expenses suffered by you or claims made against you by reason of your use of GreenPlantSwap or in connection with any services or information supplied, offered to be supplied or advertised through GreenPlantSwap.

GreenPlantSwap will not be liable to you for any direct, incidental, consequential, indirect or punitive damages, costs, losses or liabilities whatsoever arising out of your access to, or use of GreenPlantSwap

Who owns the contents of GreenPlantSwap

Put very simply, we either own or license all the contents of the site (including, for example, its text, graphics, logos, icons, sound recordings, animations and software) We give you a limited right or ('licence') as members to access this content as part of your use of GreenPlantSwap but you must not reproduce, transmit, distribute, adapt, modify, sell, publish or otherwise use any of the material on GreenPlantSwap unless we've agreed it with you beforehand.

We also own or license any trade marks or logos on GreenPlantSwap and we do not give you any rights in those marks or logos (but you won't need any rights like that to use the site, anyway).

If you upload any content or files (including text, graphics, logos, icons, sound recordings, animations and software) to GreenPlantSwap then you confirm that you own or license that content and that we are able to receive, host and use that content for the purpose of providing GreenPlantSwap to members in any way we see fit. This includes the ability for us to use your content for informational or promotional purposes (for example, featuring on GreenPlantSwap a photograph of your plant or garden which you have uploaded) at any time. When we do this we will endeavour to credit you when displaying that content. If you would NOT like us to use your content for informational or promotional purposes, please contact us.

Linked Sites

GreenPlantSwap may contain links to other sites (which we'll call "Linked Sites" in this section), which either we have added to GreenPlantSwap or which have been added by other members The Company does not review, approve, recommend or endorse Linked Sites or the materials or information on Linked Sites in any way unless we say otherwise. GreenPlantSwap is not responsible for the content of Linked Sites or for the content or privacy practices associated with Linked Sites. You access Linked Sites and use the products and services made available on Linked Sites at your own risk.

If you link to a third party commercial site involved in the sale or swapping of plants then: (i) we require you to provide a reasonably prominent reciprocal link to GreenPlantSwap on that site; and (ii) GreenPlantSwap reserves the right to remove the link, and/or in our absolute discretion to suspend or remove your membership, if we consider that link or your offering to members more generally to be competitive to GreenPlantSwap.

Plant Breeders' Rights

Plant Breeders' Rights (PBR) are a form of intellectual property legislation designed to protect new plant varieties. These rights allow the original breeder to register a plant as their own property if it meets certain criteria. Once PBRs have been granted, the owner will license companies to grow these varieties and collect a royalty on each plant sold.

Plants may be protected under UK Plant Breeders Rights or under European Plant Variety Rights. Plants with PBR cannot be propagated by anyone other than those given a licence by the PBR owner.

In the Plant Finder we have indicated which plant cultivars we know to have PBRs. This is not exhaustive as the list of plants with PBRs is constantly evolving and there is no definitive UK database of botanical plant names with PBRs that we have found.

If you have a plant that you know to have PBRs, and you do not have a licence to grow it commercially, you should not propagate it for swap or sale. If you have PBRs over a plant and it is not listed as such on GreenPlantSwap, please contact us.

For further information, please see our FAQs.

Raising awareness and funding for good causes

GreenPlantSwap has a special focus on promoting and raising funds for Thrive, the gardening therapy charity registered in the UK as The Society of Horticultural Therapy (charity no. 277570). Thrive is the leading charity in the UK using gardening to bring about positive changes in the lives of people living with disabilities or ill health, or who are isolated, disadvantaged or vulnerable.

It is our aim to build awareness and understanding of Thrive’s work with those that can benefit most from gardening. In so doing, we enable members to raise money through open gardens and plant sales and make donations directly to Thrive. Thrive pays a fee to GreenPlantSwap equivalent to 25% of these funds. This helps us keep GreenPlantSwap a free service benefiting all users and Thrive, because the more people use the site the more we will help the charity. Members are also free to raise money for other good causes through events and plant sales on the site.

Our Privacy Policy

Our Privacy Policy governs the manner in which GreenPlantSwap may use your personal information. You can read the Privacy Policy here.

Termination

The Company reserves the right to suspend or terminate your membership and access to or use of GreenPlantSwap for any reason, including breach of the terms and conditions of these Terms, misuse of the site including any action by you we feel compromises the security of GreenPlantSwap, that adversely affects other members or their property, or we feel is detrimental to us.

GreenPlantSwap may, where any information provided by a member is found to be grossly misrepresented, or should the member's listing(s) or actions be in breach of any law or any provision of these Terms, GreenPlantSwap reserves the right to remove, at its discretion, the members' listing(s) at any time, and/or to terminate the member's access to GreenPlantSwap, without refund.

GreenPlantSwap may also terminate any listing or membership at any time for any other reason or for no reason at all at the Company's sole discretion. GreenPlantSwap shall not be liable to you or any third party for any termination or suspension of your membership and access to GreenPlantSwap, or the information in it and/or the services provided via it.

Members may, when logged in, "hide" their listings at any time and at no charge by opening their Listings page and selecting the 'archive' or 'delete' options.

Should a member choose to terminate their account, they may do so on the Account page and choosing that option. Refunds will not be given when members so terminate their accounts.

General

Any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with this Agreement or its subject matter or formation (including non-contractual disputes or claims) shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of England and Wales by the English courts. If any provision of the Agreement is invalid, void or unenforceable, all other provisions will be separately enforceable and will continue to be of full force and effect without regard to the invalid, void or unenforceable provision.

The Company may revise and update these Terms and Conditions from time to time, for example to reflect changes in GreenPlantSwap. Your continued usage of the Site for a reasonable period after any changes to these Terms will mean you accept those changes.

Last updated on: 26^th January 2017Close