Bay Area Community Exchange Timebank Terms of Use (TOU)

Our Product Bay Area Community Exchange (BACE) facilitates skills and service exchanges through a grassroots community network with the use of a time-accounting system known as a timebank. BACE does not provide services; members of BACE provide services to one another. BACE is a mega timebank and operates not for profit. By using our product they are agreeing to Terms Of Use (TOU) stated herein. Rules for Using Our Product Agreement to Terms of Use is necessary in order to join BACE, but such agreement may not conclude the process for joining BACE Time Bank. An orientation or introduction and/or references may be necessary to finalize membership (March 16, 2010). Terms of Use expresses the rights and responsibilities of members and provides information about other important topics related to using BACE website and OSCurrency website (i.e., timebank). User Guidelines & Behavior Safety. BACE Timebank does not screen members. Users are responsible for using the same caution as they would in other circumstances to get to know a fellow member, conduct reference checks, and use their instincts before engaging with another Timebank member, especially for child and elder care and driving. Users understand that there will be immediate termination of membership of any member who has been found to harass, harm, or interfere with any other BACE Timebank member. Manners. The user may not reveal the contents of this site, nor any other documentation provided by BACE Timebank to non-members, especially any personal information provided. The user agrees that all services they give or receive as a member of BACE Timebank are on a volunteer basis, and that they do not expect to receive or give any money for those services, except if there are related material fees agreed upon by both parties in advance (for example, workshop materials or gas money). The user agrees to proceed with good intent towards being of service to others in their community and treat others in the Timebank with respect and kindness. The user agrees to clarify all details of transactions before meeting with the exchange partner. The user agrees to refrain from smoking in or bringing pets to the exchange partner’s home, unless invited to do so. The user agrees to post and maintain at least one current offer and one current request in the BACE Timebank and to be regularly available to fulfill the exchange. Communication. The user will be notified by email to the user’s external email address, from message@sfbace.org, regarding activity (e.g., a request, an email) in the user’s Timebank account. The user is responsible for logging into their Timebank account and responding to the message in their Inbox in a timely manner, within one week. The user makes the same commitment for any other members for whom they are an “account advocate” (account advocates handle the online accounting for offline users, e.g. elderly). Good and frequent communication is key to a successful Timebank. User Rights The User has the right To earn one hour for every hour of service provided. To spend hours on services offered by other members. To save hours in a personal account for later use. To donate hours to other members. To have privacy and confidentiality maintained. To be treated with dignity, care and respect. To deactivate their account when desired (also a responsibility). User Responsibilities The User is responsible for exchanges they make. Specifically, the User is responsible for: Preparation Reading and agreeing to the terms of use (TOU) prior using the timebank Reading (or disabling) email notifications sent to their external email address. Reading the Timebank Home dashboard upon logging into their account.. Reading their personal dashboard upon logging into their account. Reading the direct messages in the Inbox upon logging into their account. Maintaining an accurate profile Participation Completing one exchange per year, at a minimum Assessing whether a service provider has the level of expertise needed to provide the service requested with the quality desired Paying for parts, materials, ingredients, or travel expense, if requesting service Ensuring customer purchases are part of original agreement, if providing work If renting, checking with the landlord before requesting home repairs. If doing home repairs, asking for approval from the landlord or property manager Being prompt. Keeping scheduled commitments; canceling in advance when you can’t attend. Communicating what needs to be done or will be done before a service starts Having liability insurance and requiring all people in the car to wear seat belts when using your personal car to transport a member Deactivating account by editing your profile when leaving the BACE community. Respect & Kindness Respecting others’ religions, beliefs, political viewpoints, lifestyles, and privacy Respecting the privacy and confidentiality of other members Discussing and achieving mutual agreement on whether or how to post the exchange when one or both parties require greater privacy and/or security. Being patient and open Accepting guidance and instructions Troubleshooting Dialing 911 in the event of an emergency and informing us at support@bace.org Contacting support@bace.org if a transaction does not meet expectations. Payment Terms None. Since its founding, BACE has not charged a fee to join or use BACE. There are no levels of membership. All members are offered the same service and access for free. Data Privacy BACE does not guarantee the privacy of your data. Transparent Accounting System. BACE uses a transparent accounting system. Founders chose to design a transparent system because they believed that such a system facilitates trust and community. This means that members of BACE are able to read your profile and read about your timebanking activity. Profile. There are steps users can and should take to reduce risk to exposing their profile data, including personal identifiers such as name, residential address, email address, and image as well as posting and exchange activity. Learn more at Responsibilities. Activity Dashboard. BACE uses a transparent accounting system. Most user activity is posted to the Activity dashboard for all members to view. An incomprehensive list of activity posted to the Activity dashboard include user name, activity (request, offer, completed requested), comments about activity, and number of hours earned. Requests Dashboard. Other information such as Bids are not posted to the Activity dashboard, but other members can identify bidders on a request by opening that request of the Timebank’s Request tab. There are steps users can take to reduce how much information about them and their exchanges are displayed. Learn more at Responsibilities. Offers Dashboard. Offers are displayed on the Timebank’s Offer tab and all members can see information related to the offer. Offers contain the name of the member (i.e., worker) who is making an offer(s), when the offer was initiated, when the offer expires, and the number of offers remaining. Because the offer contains an open field for describing the offer, the worker controls what information they share with the membership. There are steps users can take to reduce how much information they share in an offer. Learn more at Responsibilities. Learn more at Responsibilities. How BACE Uses Your Data. BACE does not sell your data. BACE does not share your data unless required in order to cooperate with law enforcement. BACE collects information (i.e., data) through surveys, the OSCurrency/timebank platform, our public-facing website, social media pages, and our technical support emails. BACE collects and analyzes information to improve the timebanking experience for members, meet the changing needs of its membership, and recruit new members. BACE reports data in an aggregate form. Staff who collect, aggregate, and report data are required to have professional experience and/or training in data science, including privacy and ethics in reporting data in aggregate form. BACE uses fewer than five cookies to provide services on its platform and those are related to Amazon Web Services and peripheral software that supports our time-accounting system and timebank messaging service. Liability Disclaimer By using the public-facing informational website for BACE and the OsCurrency platform that operates the exchange (i.e., timebank), the user understands that the function of BACE Timebank is to facilitate the exchange of services within the community. The user understands that BACE Timebank shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to loss, damage, or injury caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by information contained on this website or any other Bay Area Community Exchange resources. The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless all parties who facilitate or organize the BACE Timebank. The user hereby agrees the duty, responsibility, and liability that is inherent with Timebank exchanges shall remain as it would be if the parties were not part of any Timebank. Dispute Resolution The user agrees to refer any disputes, complaints, misunderstandings and questions to the support@bace.org or a mediator of the user’s choice. The user agrees to leave intact the normal remedies and cause-of-action available to these parties in the event of any unforeseen circumstance. Account Deactivation When deactivating an account, the user is responsible for removing their user name from any BACE Groups they joined and any email forwarding they established with their email provider before deactivating their BACE account. Each member is responsible for deactivating their own time account. Deactivating an account is done through the member profile. Thus, a member will need their password to access their profile and deactivate their account. Deactivating your account does not delete the user account from the database. By deactivating an account, a user should not receive any email notifications from BACE or its members and the user name and/or profile will not be visible. BACE is not required to delete a user account under the California Privacy Protection Agency because BACE is not a for-profit or business entity. If assistance is needed deactivating an account, the user can contact support@bace.org. Intellectual Property OSCurrency is available under the GNU Affero General Public License. The public-facing, informational website at www.sfbace.org is protected by copyright. No part of the website content can be reproduced, copied, or distributed without the written permission of BACE. All rights reserved. The website is powered by WordPress©, which has its own intellectual property statement.

(Last updated: May 1, 2026)