Terms of use

These terms apply when you use NextOwner, whether you're browsing, enquiring about a business, placing an ad or pitching an idea. By using the site you agree to them. If you don't agree, please don't use the site.

You must be 18 or over to create an account, place an ad or contact an advertiser.

We may update these terms. The date at the top shows when they last changed. If a change affects an ad you've already paid for, the terms you agreed to when you paid still apply to that ad.

NextOwner is an advertising platform. Sellers, brokers, franchisors and people with business ideas place ads, and buyers contact them directly.

We don't:

• act as a broker, agent or representative for buyers or sellers
• value businesses, or check the figures and claims in ads
• negotiate, hold deposits or handle any money from a sale
• take part in any deal made through the site, or take commission on it
• give financial, legal, tax or investment advice

Any deal is between the buyer and the advertiser. Brokers and franchisors listed on NextOwner are independent businesses, not part of NextOwner.

Give us accurate details and keep your password to yourself. You're responsible for what happens in your account. Tell us straight away through the contact form if you think someone else has used it.

You can delete your account at any time from My account. What happens to your information is explained in our privacy policy.

When you place an ad, you confirm that:

• you own what you're advertising, or you're authorised to advertise it
• everything in the ad is true, up to date and not misleading, including the figures
• you hold any licence the law requires, for example a licence to sell businesses for other people
• the ad follows our ad rules

A person checks every ad before it goes live. We can decline an ad, ask you to change it, correct formatting, or take down an ad at any time if it breaks these terms, the ad rules or the law. If we decline an ad, you'll see which rule it broke on your account page.

You're responsible for your ad and for how you deal with the people who contact you. Keep your ad up to date, and mark it under offer or sold when that happens.

Prices for paid plans are shown before you pay, in Australian dollars. Payments are handled by Stripe. We never see or store your full card number.

If we decline a paid ad, we refund what you paid less a $10 review fee. If you withdraw an ad before it's approved, we refund it in full. Once an ad has been live, there are no change-of-mind refunds. The details are in our refund policy.

Broker profiles are monthly or yearly plans that renew automatically until you cancel. You can cancel any time from your account; your profile stays up until the end of the period you've paid for, and part periods aren't refunded.

Our services come with guarantees that can't be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law. Nothing in these terms limits those rights.

Ads are written by advertisers, not by us. Before you commit to anything, do your own checks: have an accountant review the financials, get legal advice on the contract and lease, and confirm any licences the business needs.

Never pay a deposit or fee before you've seen the business and signed a proper contract.

Use contact details you receive only to talk about the ad they came from. Don't add people to mailing lists or pass their details on.

Pitches are for sharing business ideas and finding co-founders, partners, mentors, customers or feedback. NextOwner isn't a crowd-sourced funding platform or a financial services business.

Pitches must not offer shares, equity, loans, profit-shares or any kind of return, or ask the public to invest. Anyone who arranges an investment with someone they met through a pitch does so outside NextOwner, and should get their own legal and financial advice first.

You keep ownership of the words, photos and videos you upload. You give NextOwner permission to host, display, resize and share them on the site, in search alerts and in promotion of the site, for as long as your ad runs and for a reasonable time afterwards while we remove it.

Only upload content you have the right to use.

• post anything false, misleading, illegal, offensive or discriminatory
• pretend to be someone else, or advertise something you aren't entitled to sell
• send spam, or copy contact details or ads from the site in bulk
• use bots, scrapers or scripts on the site, or try to get around our security or bot checks
• upload viruses or anything that could harm the site or other people's devices
• harass, threaten or scam anyone you meet through the site

We work hard to keep NextOwner running and secure, but we can't promise it will always be available or free of errors.

We aren't responsible for what advertisers say in their ads, or for any deal made between people who meet through the site. To the extent the law allows, our total liability to you is limited to the fees you've paid us in the 12 months before the claim.

This section doesn't exclude any right you have under the Australian Consumer Law or any other law that can't be excluded.

You can stop using NextOwner and delete your account at any time. We can suspend or close an account, and remove its ads, if it breaks these terms or the law, or puts other people at risk. If we close an account for breaking these terms, ads that have been live aren't refunded.

These terms are governed by the law of Queensland, Australia, and you agree to the courts of Queensland.