Terms of service

Our role

TradeHub is a sourcing platform. We verify suppliers, structure enquiries, hold the evidence chain and adjudicate disputes under the order contract. We are not a party to the sale contract between you and the supplier, and we do not manufacture, inspect or ship the goods ourselves unless a third-party inspection has been separately commissioned.

Payment mechanism on this deployment

Milestone-gated payment orchestration

You pay the supplier directly, using the schedule and evidence gates below. Money never passes through TradeHub accounts: there is no holding account, and no funds are pooled.

What we guarantee

• ✓Every stage is locked in the platform database until the previous stage has been released — the final instalment cannot be requested while rework is open.
• ✓Every stage transition is written to an audit log with the actor, the timestamp and the evidence attached.
• ✓A dispute blocks further stage transitions and freezes the schedule in the platform record until a written decision is recorded.
• ✓A named adjudicator applies the contract terms, which state the acceptance criteria, the governing law and the forum in advance.

What we do not guarantee

• •TradeHub does not hold your money, so we cannot return it to you. Recovery of a payment already made depends on the supplier's agreement, your bank's chargeback rules, or the governing-law forum — not on us.
• •We cannot unilaterally reverse a transfer you have already sent.
• •Because no funds are held, the practical protection is the schedule itself: most of the value stays unpaid until evidence exists.

Fees

The fee covers verification, evidence storage, gate enforcement, and adjudication — not custody of funds. It is charged on released amounts, and a stage that never releases is never charged. A stage that is never released is never charged.

What platform protection does not cover

These exclusions appear in every order contract and are published in full on the verification page:

• Buyer-initiated specification changes. If the buyer changes drawings, tolerances or materials after the order is confirmed, the platform will not treat the resulting mismatch as a supplier defect.
• Off-platform private agreements. Payments or side agreements made outside the platform are not covered and cannot be adjudicated, because we have no verifiable record of them.
• Intellectual property infringement. Where the buyer supplied the design, tooling or artwork, responsibility for third-party IP claims rests with the buyer.
• Buyer-country regulatory compliance. Import licensing, customs classification, product registration and destination-country certification obligations remain with the buyer, even where we assist with documentation.
• Damage after handover. Loss or damage in transit is allocated according to the agreed Incoterm from the moment goods leave the point of delivery defined in that term.
• Force majeure. Documented events outside reasonable control (natural disaster, port closure, government order) suspend timelines rather than create liability, and either party may exit against documented evidence.

Disputes

Either party may open a dispute, which freezes the schedule and blocks further stage transitions. Both sides submit evidence, which is timestamped and cannot be edited afterwards. A decision is recorded with a written rationale against the acceptance criteria set out in the order contract. Where funds are held by a licensed provider, a refund is executed from the held balance; under direct payment, a refund decision cancels the remaining schedule and any recovery is pursued directly against the supplier by the buyer.

Your responsibilities

• Provide accurate specifications. A drawing revision change after confirmation is your risk, not a supplier defect.
• Keep payments on the platform. A payment made outside it cannot be adjudicated, because we have no record of it.
• Hold the import licences, customs classification and destination-country compliance for your jurisdiction.
• Do not submit enquiries on behalf of a party you are not authorised to represent.

Governing law

Each order contract names its own governing law and forum, and that is the one that applies to that order. This site’s terms are governed by the law of the jurisdiction of the operating entity, which must be confirmed before launch.

Questions before you commit? Write to sourcing@tradehub.example.