Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Trustrade is operated by TR. Trade Pty Ltd (ABN 14 702 631 472 · ACN 702 631 472), Melbourne, Victoria. We follow the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). As a small business the Act may not otherwise apply to us, so we are choosing to be covered by it (an opt-in under section 6EA). Contact: privacy@trustrade.co.

2. What we collect

• About you: your name, email address and mobile number; for tradies, your business name, ABN, trade, licence details and the bank account you're paid to (we keep its BSB and last four digits; the full number goes to the payment provider).
• Identity checks: to verify who you are, our verification partner checks your name, date of birth, address and identity documents, and may take a selfie and liveness check (biometric information, which is sensitive information). It is only done with your express consent (section 5). We keep the outcome, the provider's reference and when it was done, never your date of birth, documents or document numbers.
• About the job: the site address, the stages, prices and dates, the contract and when it was signed, variations, invoices and receipts.
• What is said and done: messages in the job chat, files and photos you add, holds and how they were resolved, and a time-stamped history of each stage.
• About payments: the amount, the time, the status and a reference from the payment provider. We do not receive or store full card numbers or bank login details.
• Support: what you tell us in a support request or complaint, and our replies.
• Technical information: the device and browser you use, IP address, a random device id in our own cookie, and logs of sign-ins and actions, kept for security and fraud prevention.

We do not ask for health or other sensitive information beyond the identity check, and you should not put it in the job chat.

3. How we collect it

Mostly from you. Some of it comes from the other party on your job: a tradie who invites a client gives us that client's name, email address and site address so that the invitation can be sent. We tell the client this in the invitation. If you are invited to a job and do not want to use Trustrade, tell us and we will delete the invitation details. We also receive identity-check, screening and payment results from our verification partner and the payment provider.

4. What we use it for

• to run the service: set up jobs, show each party what they need to see, and pass funding, release and refund instructions to the payment provider;
• to verify identities and screen for sanctions, as anti-money-laundering law requires for the payments on your jobs;
• to send you the emails and notifications about your jobs, such as a stage being funded, a release being requested, a hold, or a new message;
• to keep the record of the job that both parties can rely on if they disagree;
• to provide support, handle complaints, prevent fraud and misuse, and meet our legal obligations;
• to send product news, only if you ask for it (you can unsubscribe in one click);
• to improve Trustrade, using information that does not identify you wherever we can.

We do not use your information for advertising and we do not sell it.

5. Identity checks and biometrics

Before money can be paid in or out on your jobs, your identity is checked. You tick a consent box first (see the ID Check Consent). A selfie and liveness check uses biometric information, so we ask for that consent separately, and you can choose a document-only check reviewed by a person instead. Our verification partner uses the selfie only to compare it with your document. Trustrade never receives or keeps the selfie itself, only the result.

6. Automated decisions

Some decisions are made, or substantially made, by computer programs:

• Identity and screening checks: whether your identity is verified, and whether you match a sanctions or politically exposed person list (using your name, date of birth, address and documents);
• Fraud and anti-money-laundering rules: whether a payment, payout or bank account change is held for review (using amounts, timing, bank-account changes, and device and IP information);
• Automated summaries: if a stage is placed on hold, an AI model may write a short, neutral summary of what each side has said, to help people read a long conversation. It decides nothing.

Software never releases, refunds or keeps your money on its own: a stage is released only as the Terms of Use say. When a check or a rule stops your money moving, a person at Trustrade reviews it, and you can ask for a review through the contact form. Sometimes the law stops us telling you exactly why.

7. Who we share it with

• the other party on your job, who can see the job, its stages, chat, documents and history;
• Zai Australia Pty Ltd (AFSL 527370), the payment provider, which holds and processes payments and must know who is paying and being paid;
• our identity verification partner (FrankieOne), and through it the Australian Government's Document Verification Service, to check identity documents;
• companies that run our systems under contract: Vercel (web hosting), Supabase (our database and sign-in, in Sydney), Resend (email delivery), Slack (our team's alerts, which never include contact, bank or identity details) and, if tradie subscriptions start, Stripe (subscription billing);
• the Australian Taxation Office, if the sharing economy reporting regime applies to Trustrade: tradies' identity details and the payments they received;
• AUSTRAC, through the payment provider, where anti-money-laundering law requires a report;
• our professional advisers and insurers, in confidence;
• courts, tribunals, regulators and law enforcement, where the law requires it or where both parties to a disagreement ask us to provide the job record.

8. Where it is stored

Our database is in Australia (Sydney). Vercel, Resend, Slack and Stripe process information in the United States (and may use other countries for backup and support). Our verification partner and the payment provider process information in Australia. We only use providers that commit by contract to protect personal information to a standard at least equal to the Australian Privacy Principles, and we remain responsible for what they do with it.

9. How long we keep it, and how we protect it

Our Data Retention Schedule lists each kind of record and how long it is kept. In short: payment, identity-check and job records are kept for seven years after your account closes, because tax and anti-money-laundering laws require it; marketing preferences until you change them. You can delete your account at any time in Settings in the app, or ask us to at privacy@trustrade.co (see Account deletion). We then delete or de-identify what the law does not require us to keep, and keep the rest without your name. While money is still held or on its way to a bank, the account stays open until that money has been released or refunded.

Information is encrypted in transit and at rest. Each person can only reach their own jobs, and that rule is enforced in the database itself as well as in the app. Staff access is limited and logged. If a data breach is likely to cause you serious harm we will tell you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

10. Cookies

We use only the cookies needed to keep you signed in and to keep accounts secure. We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies. See the Cookie Notice.

11. Seeing and correcting your information

You can ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, or ask us to correct it, at privacy@trustrade.co. We will respond within 30 days. Messages in a job chat cannot be edited, because the chat is a shared record, but we can add a correction to it.

If you have a complaint about how we have handled your information, contact us first. If you are not satisfied with our answer you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (oaic.gov.au, 1300 363 992).

12. Changes

We will post any change here and, if it matters to how your information is used, tell you by email and in the app before it takes effect.