Handled — Terms of Service
Last updated: 24 October 2026
Welcome to Handled. These terms are a contract between you and Handled ("we", "us"). Please read them — they explain what Handled is, what it isn't, and where everyone stands.
1. Who we are
Handled is a trading name of HANDLED MARKET LTD, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 17450858), based in Swansea, Wales. Contact: rhys@handledmarket.co.uk. References to "Handled", "we" and "us" mean HANDLED MARKET LTD.
2. What Handled is — and is not
Handled is a platform that connects customers with independent tradespeople. Any contract for work is formed directly between the customer and the tradesperson. Handled is not a party to that contract, does not provide the services, does not employ tradespeople, and is not responsible for the performance of any work. Handled acts as each tradesperson's commercial agent for the limited purpose of collecting payment on their behalf.
3. Accounts
You must be 18 or over and give accurate information. You're responsible for activity on your account. Handled is not intended for use by anyone under 18. We may suspend or close accounts that break these terms.
4. Payments — how the money works
You pay in the app through our payment provider, Stripe. Handled, acting as the tradesperson's commercial agent, collects your payment on the tradesperson's behalf: once Stripe has received your payment for the tradesperson, you no longer owe the tradesperson that amount. Stripe places each payment in the tradesperson's own payment account, less Handled's commission, which Stripe deducts on the tradesperson's side. Handled's commission is charged to the tradesperson, not to you: the price you see is the price you pay.
What you pay and when. When you accept a quote you pay in the app, and the app shows the amount before you pay: for a fixed quote, the full price; for a range quote, the higher figure; for a survey visit, £25; for a quote in stages, the first stage, then each later stage when you approve the one before it. On a range quote, the tradesperson sets the final price, between the two figures, when they mark the job complete; when the job is confirmed, the difference between the higher figure and the final price, less any extra you agreed that is not yet paid, is refunded to the card you paid with. When you pay at booking for a job not quoted in stages, Stripe saves the card you use to your account. Any balance, such as an extra you agreed that is not yet paid, is charged to the card saved on your account (if you have saved more than one, the one saved last) when you confirm the job's done, and the app asks you to confirm before the balance is charged. Extras you agree in the app are paid in the app, on their own or together with the balance. Nothing is taken from your card except through a step you take in the app.
When the tradesperson is paid. The tradesperson's payout starts from their payment account when you confirm the job's done and nothing is left to pay. On a job paid in stages, the payout for each stage starts when you approve that stage; a stage you haven't responded to is treated as approved 7 days after the tradesperson marks it done, unless an issue is open. If you don't respond within 7 days of the tradesperson marking the job complete, no issue is open and nothing is left to pay, the job is treated as done and the payout starts; if a balance is still owed, the job stays open until you confirm it and pay. If you raise an issue before confirming, no payout is made while it's looked into. Stripe moves the money; Handled records what was paid, what is owed and what has been paid out, and each of you sees your own side of it in the app.
4A. Materials bought before a job starts
Where a quote itemises materials and the tradesperson records that they have bought them before the job starts, those materials belong to you. If you cancel before the job starts, you are refunded in full less the itemised materials amount, and the tradesperson will make the materials available to you. Materials not yet bought are refunded as normal.
5. Your cancellation rights (customers)
If you're a consumer, you have a legal right to cancel your contract with the tradesperson within 14 days of accepting their quote, without giving a reason (Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013). If you want work to start within those 14 days, you must expressly request an early start when booking; you can still cancel before the work is finished, but you may have to pay for work already done, and the right to cancel ends when the service is fully performed. The tradesperson is responsible for honouring these rights; Handled provides the cancellation information and a cancellation route in the app on the tradesperson's behalf. To cancel, use the job screen or email rhys@handledmarket.co.uk. A tradesperson may also cancel a booked job from the app before the work starts; you are then refunded in full for what you paid on that job, and the job is opened again to other tradespeople for new quotes.
6. Verification — what we check, and what it means
Before a tradesperson can quote, we carry out checks, which may include identity, and — where the trade requires it — evidence of relevant qualifications, registrations (such as Gas Safe registration for gas work) and insurance. These checks are not an endorsement or recommendation of any tradesperson, and they say nothing about a tradesperson's quality, skill, workmanship, conduct, pricing or suitability. Verification confirms only the specific matters checked, at the time they were checked. You're responsible for satisfying yourself that a tradesperson is right for your job — read their profile and reviews, and get more than one quote where you can.
7. Tradespeople — your obligations
If you use Handled as a tradesperson, you confirm that: you're entitled to work in the UK; you have, and will keep current, the qualifications, registrations and insurance your trade requires; the information and documents you give us are accurate; you'll perform work with reasonable care and skill as the law requires; you're responsible for your own tax (see section 8); and you'll honour customers' legal cancellation rights. You indemnify Handled against claims, losses and costs arising from your work, your content, your tax affairs, or your breach of these terms. Keep your own copy of any receipt for materials you add to a job: the copy on Handled is kept for the period the privacy policy sets out, then deleted.
7A. Credentials, account pauses and restrictions
Credentials. You must keep the credentials we record for your trade (for example Gas Safe registration, an electrical qualification, or public liability insurance) valid and on record with us. We remind you before a credential on record expires. Where your trade on Handled requires a credential (today, Gas Safe registration for heating engineers and an electrical qualification for electricians) and it has expired with no checked renewal on record, you cannot send quotes for that trade until a renewed document has been checked, and we may pause your account until then. Once a renewed document has been checked, quoting is open again.
Account pauses. We may pause your account when a required credential has expired, when a report about your work or conduct is being looked at, or when we need to check something with you. While your account is paused you cannot send new quotes and you will not receive new job alerts. Jobs you are already booked on continue as normal: you can message the customer, mark stages and completion, and you are paid for completed work in the usual way.
Review. If we pause your account because of a report, a person at Handled looks at it and contacts you by email. You can ask us to review a pause by emailing rhys@handledmarket.co.uk or, where the app offers it, from your profile. We keep a record of each pause, why it was applied, and when it ended.
Applications. We may decline an application to join Handled and we tell you the reason we recorded. Some reasons allow you to apply again after a set period; the message you receive states the date. If you think a decision is a mistake, contact rhys@handledmarket.co.uk.
8. Tax and HMRC reporting
Tradespeople are independent businesses responsible for their own tax. UK law (the Platform Operators (Due Diligence and Reporting Requirements) Regulations 2023) requires Handled to collect and verify certain seller information — including name, address, date of birth and National Insurance number — and report it, with earnings on the platform, to HMRC each January.
9. Reviews
Reviews can only be left by customers on jobs that were booked, paid and completed through Handled — we don't accept, and take steps to prevent, fake reviews. We may remove reviews that break section 11.
10. Your content
You keep ownership of what you post (job descriptions, photos, messages, reviews). You give Handled a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, display and share that content as needed to run the platform. You confirm your content doesn't infringe anyone's rights.
11. Community standards — zero tolerance
Handled has zero tolerance for abusive, threatening, discriminatory or otherwise objectionable content or behaviour. You can report any message, job post or user from inside the app, and block any user from contacting you. We aim to review reports within 24 hours and may remove content and suspend or permanently remove offending accounts without notice.
12. AI features
Handled uses artificial intelligence to help understand and structure job posts and to help tradespeople draft quotes. Each feature runs only when you choose it. Our AI provider receives the text needed for that feature — a job description, the answers to the job questions, a job's title and trade, a tradesperson's own rates — and not your name, contact details, address, photos or links to photos. If you use AI to describe your job, the job post includes the title and summary the AI wrote. The AI also rates how complete and genuine a request looks; when the rating is low, we send no job alerts about it until a person at Handled has looked at it (the job still appears in tradespeople's job lists), and nothing is rejected automatically. AI supports — it doesn't replace — human decisions: tradespeople review and are responsible for every quote and every figure they send, and you and the tradesperson make all decisions about whether to proceed. AI output can be imperfect; check anything important.
13. Issues and disputes
If something's not right, raise it in the app before confirming completion — no payout is made while an issue is reviewed. We may ask both sides for information and evidence. Handled facilitates resolution but the underlying contract — and legal responsibility for the work — remains between customer and tradesperson. If you dispute a card payment with your bank instead, Stripe asks Handled for evidence and receives the job's details, the messages on that job and links to the photos on that job. Nothing in this section affects your statutory rights.
14. Our liability
Nothing in these terms limits or excludes our liability for: (a) death or personal injury caused by our negligence; (b) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or (c) any liability that can't lawfully be limited or excluded, including consumers' statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
Subject to that: Handled is not liable for the acts, omissions, work or conduct of any tradesperson or customer; we're not liable for indirect or consequential loss, or loss of profit, goodwill or opportunity; and our total aggregate liability to you — in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty or otherwise — is limited to the greater of (i) the total fees you've paid to Handled in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim, or (ii) £100.
The service is provided "as available"; we don't promise it will be uninterrupted or error-free, though we work hard to keep it reliable.
15. Ending these terms
You can close your account in Settings → Delete my account whenever no job, issue, card dispute or payout of yours is still open. We can suspend or end accounts for breach of these terms (including section 11), unlawful activity, or risk to other users, and will act proportionately.
16. Changes to these terms
If we make material changes we'll tell you in the app or by email and give you reasonable notice. If you keep using Handled after the changes take effect, that's acceptance; if you don't agree, close your account before they do.
17. General
These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction (if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you can also bring proceedings in your local courts). If part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest still stands. These terms are the whole agreement between us about the platform.
Questions? rhys@handledmarket.co.uk — we read everything.