Terms of Service

Last updated: 5 October 2026

These terms govern your use of Sowmate (sowmate.earth), a free service that introduces people who want to grow food with neighbours who have spare garden space. By creating a profile, signing in, or messaging other members, you agree to these terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use Sowmate.

1. What Sowmate is, and is not

Sowmate is an introduction platform. We provide a directory of profiles, suggestions of nearby members, and a messaging tool. We are not a party to any arrangement between members, and we are not a landlord, tenant agent, employer, insurer, or gardening or safety service. Any garden-sharing arrangement (including who grows what, who pays for what, who shares the harvest, and access to a property) is solely between the members involved.

2. Eligibility and accounts

• You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter into a binding agreement.
• You must give accurate information and keep it up to date. One person, one profile; do not impersonate anyone or use a fake name, photo or location.
• You are responsible for activity under your account and for keeping your sign-in links and devices secure.

3. Safety and meeting other members: at your own risk

We do not conduct criminal-record, identity, reference, property or background checks on members, and we cannot confirm that anyone is who they say they are or that their profile is true. Some people may behave badly, dishonestly or dangerously, online or in person.

You are solely responsible for your interactions with other members, and you use Sowmate and meet people at your own risk. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Sowmate is not responsible for any injury, loss, damage, theft, harassment, dispute, or other harm arising from contact or meetings between members, including visits to a garden or home. We do not offer support, investigation, mediation or compensation for what happens between members. If you are in danger, contact your local emergency services.

Sensible precautions include:

• Chat on Sowmate first, and keep your phone number, address and other personal details private until you are comfortable.
• Meet for the first time in a public place, or at the garden in daylight with a friend or family member present, and tell someone where you are going.
• Trust your instincts. If something feels wrong, leave and stop contact.
• Agree expectations in writing before any work starts: access times, what will be grown, tools, costs, sharing of produce, and how either side can end the arrangement.
• Landowners should check their own home or landlord insurance, any lease or strata rules, and local council rules. Gardeners should consider their own insurance for injury and damage. Sowmate provides none.

You can block contact by simply not replying, and you can report a member to us (see section 6).

4. Your conduct

You agree not to:

• harass, threaten, discriminate against, stalk, defraud or exploit others, or use Sowmate to seek dating, sexual or romantic contact (Sowmate is for gardening);
• post anything illegal, hateful, sexually explicit, misleading, or that infringes someone else’s rights, or photos of people who have not agreed to appear;
• send spam, adverts, or mass or automated messages, sell things, or promote other services;
• collect or scrape other members’ information, or try to access accounts or data that are not yours;
• interfere with or attempt to break the security or operation of the site.

You are responsible for making sure that anything you do on a property (and anything you invite others to do on yours) complies with the law, including local rules on structures, water, pesticides, produce sales, and workplace safety.

5. Your content

You keep ownership of the profile text, photos and messages you provide (“your content”). You give Sowmate a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, display and use it to operate and promote the service, for example to show your profile to other members and include your first name, photo or garden in Sowmate’s own materials. You can ask us to remove your profile at any time. You confirm you have the right to share your content and that it is accurate.

6. Reports, reviews and removal

To report a member or a safety concern, email hello@sowmate.earth. We will review reports in good faith but cannot promise any particular outcome or response time, and we are not obliged to investigate disputes between members.

We may introduce member reviews or ratings, and may use them (along with reports and other signals) to decide who is suggested to whom or how prominently a profile appears. Reviews are the opinions of members, not statements by Sowmate. Reviews and ratings are not a safety check or a guarantee of good behaviour, and a good rating does not mean someone is safe. Please do not post false, abusive or retaliatory reviews.

We may suspend or remove any profile, content or account at any time, with or without notice, including for breaching these terms or for conduct we consider harmful. You may delete your account at any time by contacting us.

7. The service “as is”

Sowmate is provided free, “as is” and “as available”, without any promise that it will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or that you will be matched or find a garden, gardener or suitable arrangement. Suggestions and locations are approximate and informational. We may change, limit or discontinue any part of the service at any time.

8. Limits on our liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law:

• Sowmate and its operator are not liable for any indirect, incidental or consequential loss, or for loss of crops, produce, income, property or opportunity, arising from your use of the service or from your dealings with any member;
• our total liability to you for any claim relating to Sowmate is limited to US$100 (or, if the law of your country does not allow that limit, the minimum amount it permits); and
• we are not responsible for the conduct, content or information of members or of third-party websites and services linked from Sowmate.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits any right or liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, including statutory consumer guarantees where they apply to you.

9. Indemnity and disputes between members

You agree to compensate Sowmate and its operator for losses, claims and costs arising from your breach of these terms, your content, or your dealings with other members, to the extent permitted by law. Any dispute between you and another member is for the two of you to resolve; you release Sowmate from claims arising from it, to the extent permitted by law.

10. Changes, termination and governing law

We may update these terms from time to time. We will change the date above, and where changes are significant we will tell members by email or on the site. Continuing to use Sowmate after a change means you accept the updated terms. These terms are governed by the laws of Argentina, where Sowmate is operated from, and the courts of Argentina have non-exclusive jurisdiction, without limiting any mandatory consumer rights you have in your own country.

11. Contact

Questions about these terms: hello@sowmate.earth.