Platform terms and conditions for New Zealand operators

Platform businesses often have more moving parts than a standard website. You may have buyers and sellers, service providers and customers, account holders, user-generated content, booking flows, payment steps or moderation rules. Basic website terms often do not explain those relationships clearly enough. Platform terms can set out who is allowed to use the service, what conduct is prohibited, how accounts may be suspended, and where responsibility sits when issues arise. That clarity matters both commercially and legally when your platform is doing more than simply displaying information.

Platform terms often deal with account creation, eligibility, acceptable use, content standards, payment or subscription wording, cancellation rules, intellectual property, disclaimers, liability limits and suspension or termination rights. If your platform connects different user groups, the terms may also need to explain each party's role and the limits of your responsibility as the operator. The exact content depends on how the platform functions in practice. A marketplace, booking platform and membership platform may all need different wording, even if they look similar on the surface.

We look at the structure of the service rather than relying on generic ecommerce wording. That usually means understanding what your users can do on the platform, whether they create accounts, upload content, make purchases, book services, interact with each other or rely on third-party tools. We also consider any platform-specific rules you want to enforce, such as listing standards, cancellation settings or account restrictions. The end result should reflect how the platform actually operates, not just what it is called in marketing material.

Often yes, if the user journey and legal issues are substantially the same across both versions. For example, if users create the same type of account, agree to the same rules and access the same service whether they log in on web or mobile, one set of terms may be suitable. If there are important differences, such as app-only functionality, separate payment flows or different user permissions, those differences should be addressed in the drafting. It is better to identify those distinctions early than force one document to cover inconsistent experiences.

No. Platform terms set the rules for using the platform. A privacy policy explains how personal information is handled. A seller agreement, supplier agreement or service provider agreement may be needed if your platform has a separate relationship with merchants, contractors or other business users. Some overlap can exist, but they serve different purposes. This service is aimed at the platform terms document itself. If your platform model includes multiple participant groups, we can help identify whether additional documents should be considered as separate work.

Just submit an enquiry via this page or click the 'get started' button on our website to submit an enquiry. After you've submitted an enquiry, one of our legal consultants will review your enquiry within 1 business day and get in touch to get a better idea of exactly what you are looking for.

Then your legal consultant will send through an email with a bit more information about the services you need, along with a fixed fee quote setting out costs, scope of the service and timing. Have a read through it, and if you're happy with the scope, you can accept and sign our engagement letter online - easy!

Once you've formally accepted, we'll connect you with a specialist lawyer and they will work with you to complete your project. They will contact you by email or phone if they need to get in touch.

Sprintlaw works on fixed-fee pricing wherever possible, so you can review the scope and cost before you decide whether to proceed. For the Platform Terms And Conditions service, pricing starts from $900.00.

After you enquire, a legal consultant will confirm what is included, the expected timing and whether any extra work is needed before you engage us.

We operate completely online, which means we can help you wherever you are in New Zealand. We have office spaces in Sydney, and in Melbourne, but our use of technology allows our team members to work remotely from around the world. Our legal team are mostly based in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. We also have a London office for Sprintlaw UK.

Our legal team is made up of experienced lawyers, who are specialists in various areas of law and hold an Australian legal practising certificate. None of our Sprintlaw lawyers are New Zealand qualified lawyers and they do not currently hold a New Zealand practising certificate.

They provide legal services working remotely from Australia via our 'legal consultancy' model, through which (under section 6 and section 35 of the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006) our Australian legal team are permitted to provide legal services to New Zealand businesses provided they do not provide services in certain 'reserved' areas of law. You can read our FAQ page to learn a bit more about our 'legal consultancy' model.

Given the strong similarities between Australian and New Zealand law, and the areas of law in which we practice (being small business and startup law), we do not view the fact that our lawyers have not qualified in New Zealand as having any substantive impact on the quality of our service. We are committed to ensuring that we provide high quality, affordable legal services to all our New Zealand clients.

Our legal team have all trained at leading firms, but have left the traditional corporate law world to join us on our mission to create a new and better way of delivering legal services. They have specialist expertise in technology law, intellectual property law, contract drafting and review, corporate law and commercial law.