Plain Trades

Terms of use

The rules for using Plain Trades. The short version: you must be 18 or older, you are responsible for the business you build, and we are not a party to it.

Last updated 2026-07-26

Draft. This document has not yet been reviewed by a lawyer, and the bracketed fields below are not filled in. It describes how Plain Trades actually works today, but do not treat it as final.

Who can use Plain Trades

You must be at least 18 years old. We check your date of birth at signup and we do not allow accounts for anyone under 18. If you believe someone on Plain Trades is under 18, report them and we will act on it the same day.

One account per person. The information on your profile needs to be accurate, including your name, your location, and what you can actually do.

What Plain Trades is, and what it is not

Plain Trades introduces people who want to start a business in the trades, and gives them a checklist to work through. That is the whole of what we do.

  • We are not your employer, your partner, or your agent.
  • We do not employ, supervise, vet, endorse, or background-check the people you are matched with.
  • We are not a party to any partnership, contract, or business you form with someone you met here.
  • We do not take a cut of your work and we do not broker jobs.

The business you build is yours

Any agreement you make with another person, including how you split ownership, money, or work, is between the two of you. We are not a party to it and cannot enforce it, mediate it, or unwind it.

Put your split in writing before the first dollar arrives. The checklist asks you to do this for a reason.

Guidance is information, not professional advice

The checklist, cost estimates, time estimates, and any suggestions in the product are general information. They are not legal, tax, accounting, insurance, or financial advice, and they are not a substitute for a professional who knows your situation.

Requirements and costs vary by state, county, and city, and they change. Verify anything that matters against your own state and county before you rely on it.

How you have to behave

Using Plain Trades means agreeing not to do any of the following.

  • Harass, threaten, demean, or stalk anyone.
  • Impersonate another person or misrepresent who you are or what you can do.
  • Solicit anyone under 18, or use the product to reach minors.
  • Ask other users for money, banking details, or personal identification.
  • Send spam, advertising, recruitment pitches, or bulk messages.
  • Use Plain Trades for work that requires a license you do not hold, or for anything illegal.
  • Scrape the product, or collect other users details for any purpose outside using Plain Trades normally.

What you post

You keep ownership of what you write and upload. You give us permission to store and display it inside the product so it can do its job, for example showing your bio to someone you are matched with.

Do not post anything you do not have the right to post, and do not post other people’s personal information.

Suspension and removal

We can suspend or remove an account that breaks these terms, that we reasonably believe is unsafe to other users, or that we reasonably believe belongs to someone under 18. For safety and underage cases we may act immediately and without warning.

You can delete your account at any time from Settings.

No warranty

Plain Trades is provided as is. We do not promise that you will find a partner, that anyone you meet will be a good partner, that a business you start will make money, or that the product will always be available and error free.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages, or for lost profits or lost business, arising out of your use of Plain Trades or out of anything that happens between you and another user, whether online or in person.

Who operates Plain Trades

Plain Trades, operated as a sole proprietorship by its developer. That means there is no company standing between you and the person who runs this: the operator is personally responsible for it, and answers for it.

Everything on this page and the privacy page is written by that person rather than adapted from a template, so if something reads as unclear or wrong, say so at support@plaintrades.com and it can be changed.

Changes and governing law

We may update these terms. If a change is significant we will tell you in the product before it takes effect. These terms are governed by the laws of Texas.

Questions about these terms go to support@plaintrades.com.