Terms of Service

1. Who we are and these terms

LokuPodi (“LokuPodi”, “we”, “us”) is an online classifieds service for Sri Lanka, operated by [Company legal name, registration no., address].

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are a legal agreement between you and us. They apply whenever you use the LokuPodi website or any related service (the “Service”), whether you only browse, create an account, post an ad or contact another user.

Our Privacy Policy and Posting rules form part of these Terms. Sales made by LokuPodi Store are also governed by the LokuPodi Store Terms.

2. Who can use LokuPodi

• Anyone may browse ads.
• To create an account, post ads or make requests you must be at least 18 years old, or use the Service with the involvement and consent of a parent or legal guardian who accepts these Terms on your behalf and is responsible for your use.
• You must be legally able to enter into a binding contract, and you must not be someone we have previously suspended or banned.

3. Accounts and verification

• You sign in with a one-time link sent to your email address. To post ads you must also verify a Sri Lankan mobile number by SMS code.
• The information you give us must be true and kept up to date. Verification only confirms that you control an email address and a phone number — it is not a check of your identity, honesty or the items you offer.
• Keep access to your email and phone secure. You are responsible for everything done through your account. Tell us immediately if you believe your account has been misused.
• One person should not operate multiple accounts to get around limits, moderation or a suspension.

4. LokuPodi is a venue — deals are between users

For normal ads (every ad that is not sold by LokuPodi Store), LokuPodi only provides a place where sellers can publish ads and buyers can find and contact them.

• We are not a party to any agreement or transaction between buyers and sellers, and we do not act as an agent, broker or representative of either.
• We do not own, hold, store, inspect, test or deliver items in normal ads, and we do not verify ownership, documents, condition or descriptions.
• We give no guarantee about any item, price, buyer or seller, including that an item exists, is genuine, is lawful to sell, is safe, or matches its ad, or that a user will complete a deal.
• We are not responsible for payments, deposits, handover, delivery, quality, legality, safety, fraud, or any dispute between users. We do not hold money for users and do not offer refunds for deals between users.
• You decide whether to deal with another user, and you transact entirely at your own risk and responsibility. Meet in a safe public place, inspect the item and its documents, and pay only on handover. See our safety tips.
• If something goes wrong with a deal, you should resolve it with the other user directly. Where a crime may have been committed, report it to the Sri Lanka Police. Please also report the ad or user to us so we can act on our Service.

5. Your obligations when you post

• You may only post items and services that you own or are authorised to sell or offer, and that are lawful to sell in Sri Lanka.
• Your ad must be accurate and complete: honest title, description, photos, condition, price and location. Do not hide known faults.
• You must follow our Posting rules, which list prohibited items and content. Do not post the same item many times, and do not put contact details or links in ad text or photos.
• You are solely responsible for your ads, for any deal you make, and for complying with all laws that apply to you, including consumer, tax, import and licensing requirements.
• Do not use the Service to spam, harass, threaten or deceive anyone, to collect other users' personal data, or to advertise for anyone else without permission.

6. Your content and the licence you give us

You keep ownership of the text and photos you post. By posting, you give LokuPodi a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to host, store, reproduce, resize, crop, translate, adapt for display, publish and promote that content on the Service and in our marketing of the Service, for as long as the ad is on the Service and for a reasonable time afterwards (for example in backups and moderation records).

You confirm that you have the rights needed to grant this licence, and that your content does not infringe anyone else's rights, including copyright, trademark or privacy.

7. Moderation and enforcement

• Every ad may be reviewed before and after it is published, by people and by automated checks.
• We may, at our discretion and without liability to you, refuse, edit (for example correct the category or remove contact details), hide, expire or remove any ad, and suspend, restrict or ban any account, including where we reasonably believe the Terms or the law have been broken, or to protect users or LokuPodi.
• We are not obliged to monitor all content, and publishing an ad does not mean we have checked or approve it.
• We may keep records of moderation decisions and may share information with law enforcement authorities where the law requires or permits it.

8. Fees

Posting normal ads is currently free. If we introduce paid features, we will tell you the price before you choose to pay for them. LokuPodi Store fees are set out in the Store Terms.

9. LokuPodi Store (managed sales)

Some items are sold through LokuPodi Store, where we receive, inspect and sell items on behalf of sellers. Those ads are clearly marked “LokuPodi Store”. Sales made through LokuPodi Store are governed by the separate LokuPodi Store Terms, which apply in addition to these Terms. Section 4 above does not apply to the extent the Store Terms say otherwise for a Store sale.

9A. Jobs (employers and job seekers)

This section applies when an organisation (an “employer”) posts a job on LokuPodi, and when anyone reads or applies for one. It applies in addition to the rest of these Terms.

By creating an employer profile or posting a job, you confirm and promise that:

• you are authorised to act for the employer, and the profile information (name, location, contacts, licences) is true;
• every job you post is a genuine, currently open vacancy with the employer named, and its title, duties, location, pay and conditions are accurate and not misleading;
• you will not ask applicants for any payment, deposit, fee (for registration, training, uniforms, visas, medicals or processing) or purchase, whether before or after hiring;
• you will not ask applicants for NIC or passport copies, bank or card details, OTPs or PINs before an interview or a written job offer, and you will use applicant information only to consider them for that job;
• your requirements are lawful and do not discriminate on grounds such as race, religion, language, caste, sex, political opinion or place of birth, except where the law allows a genuine occupational requirement;
• you comply with Sri Lankan employment law, including minimum wage, EPF/ETF and working-time rules;
• for employment outside Sri Lanka, you hold a valid licence from the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment under the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment Act No. 21 of 1985 (as amended), you have entered it in your profile, and you follow the Bureau's rules;
• you will not post multi-level marketing, “investment”, commission-only sales disguised as salaried work, or any job that is not an offer of work.

LokuPodi is a venue for job advertisements. We are not an employment agency or recruiter, we do not act for employers or applicants, and we are not a party to any application, interview, offer or employment. We do not guarantee that a job exists, is suitable or will be offered, or that an applicant is suitable.

Every job is reviewed before publication and may be reviewed again after any change. We may refuse, edit (for example correct a category), hide, close or remove any job, and suspend or close any employer profile or its members' access, including where we reasonably suspect a scam, a fee demand, discrimination or a breach of these Terms. We may keep review records and report suspected offences to the Police or the SLBFE.

Applicants apply directly to the employer by the method the employer chose (email, phone, WhatsApp or the employer's website). LokuPodi does not collect, store or forward applications or CVs. What you send to an employer is handled by that employer, and you deal with employers at your own risk. Never pay to get a job; report any job that asks you to.

Employer contact details used for applications are shown only to people who choose to apply, and our counts of views and apply clicks are estimates. Posting jobs is free during launch; if we introduce paid options we will show the price before you choose them.

10. Privacy

We handle personal data as described in our Privacy Policy, in line with the Personal Data Protection Act No. 9 of 2022. Seller phone numbers are stored encrypted and shown only when a visitor asks to see them.

11. No warranties

The Service is provided “as is” and “as available”. To the extent permitted by law, we make no promises or warranties, express or implied, about the Service or any ad, user or item, including that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure or error-free, or that information on it is accurate or complete.

12. Limitation of liability

• To the extent permitted by law, LokuPodi and its directors, employees and service providers are not liable for any loss or damage arising from deals or contact between users, from any ad or user content, or from your use of or inability to use the Service.
• To the extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any indirect or consequential loss, loss of profit, revenue, data or goodwill.
• To the extent permitted by law, our total liability to you for any claim relating to the Service (other than a LokuPodi Store sale, which is governed by the Store Terms) is limited to the amount you paid us for the Service in the 12 months before the claim, or LKR 5,000 if you paid nothing.
• Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded or limited under Sri Lankan law, including liability for fraud or for death or personal injury caused by negligence.

13. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless LokuPodi and its directors, employees and service providers against any claims, losses, liabilities, costs and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your ads or content, your deals with other users, your breach of these Terms, or your breach of any law or of anyone else's rights.

14. Your statutory rights

Nothing in these Terms removes rights you have under the Consumer Affairs Authority Act No. 9 of 2003, the Sale of Goods Ordinance No. 11 of 1896 or any other law that cannot be excluded by agreement, where those laws apply to you.

15. Unlawful use and security

You must not access or use the Service unlawfully, including by gaining unauthorised access to accounts or systems, interfering with the Service, scraping or harvesting data (including phone numbers), or introducing malicious code. Such acts may be offences under the Computer Crimes Act No. 24 of 2007, and we may report them to the authorities.

16. Electronic acceptance

You accept these Terms electronically, for example by ticking a checkbox or by continuing to sign in. You agree that this electronic acceptance, and the electronic records we keep of it (the date, version and context of acceptance), are valid and binding as provided by the Electronic Transactions Act No. 19 of 2006.

17. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time, for example when we add features or when the law changes. We will show the date of the latest version at the top of this page. If a change is material, we will give notice on the Service and ask you to review and accept the updated Terms before you post again. If you do not agree, you must stop using the Service.

18. Ending your use

You may stop using the Service at any time and ask us to delete your account. We may suspend or end your access as described in section 7. Sections that by their nature should continue (including sections 4, 6, 11, 12, 13 and 19) continue after your use ends.

19. Governing law and courts

These Terms and any dispute arising from them or from the Service are governed by the laws of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The courts of Colombo, Sri Lanka have exclusive jurisdiction, subject to any mandatory rights you have to bring a claim elsewhere.

20. General

• If any part of these Terms is found invalid or unenforceable, the rest remains in force.
• If we do not enforce a right immediately, we have not waived it.
• You may not transfer your rights under these Terms. We may transfer ours to a successor operator of the Service.
• These Terms are available in English, Sinhala and Tamil. If there is any conflict or difference between the versions, the English version prevails.

21. Contact

Questions about these Terms: [Company legal name], [address], email [legal@ contact email]. To report an ad, use the Report button on the ad.