Terms of Service

Wello ("the Platform") is a community credit exchange that connects Bay Area neighbors for peer-to-peer exchanges of everyday help. Wello is a platform, not a service provider. When you arrange an exchange through Wello, you are entering into a voluntary agreement with another individual member — not with Wello. Wello facilitates the connection; it does not provide, supervise, direct, or guarantee any service performed by any member.

You may join Wello if you:

• Are 18 years of age or older — Wello is an adults-only platform, and you confirm your age when you sign up
• Live in, work in, or have a genuine connection to the San Francisco Bay Area
• Can verify your identity with a valid phone number
• Agree to these Terms in full

Wello credits ("Credits") are a community accounting unit used to track the exchange of help between members. Credits are not money, currency, wages, or a financial instrument of any kind. Specifically:

• Credits have no cash value and cannot be redeemed for money
• Credits cannot be sold, transferred, or gifted to other members outside of a completed exchange
• Credits cannot be used outside the Wello platform
• Credits do not constitute income, compensation, or payment for services rendered

Wello makes no representation that Credits constitute taxable or non-taxable consideration. Members are solely responsible for understanding and complying with any applicable tax obligations arising from their exchanges.

Wello's role is limited to providing software that allows members to post, discover, and coordinate exchanges; maintaining a credit ledger that tracks exchanges between members; providing a reporting and moderation system for community safety; and resolving credit disputes directly through Wello's moderation team.

By using Wello, you acknowledge and agree that you are arranging voluntary exchanges with other private individuals, that you assume full responsibility for your own safety and judgment, and that any dispute arising from an exchange is primarily between you and the other member.

Nothing in these Terms limits liability for gross negligence, willful misconduct, or fraud.

By joining Wello, you agree to:

• Provide accurate information about yourself and your offerings
• Honor commitments you make to other members
• Conduct yourself with honesty, respect, and care for others' safety
• Use your personal judgment about who you exchange with, especially for higher-stakes exchanges (rides, in-home help, childcare, elder care)
• Carry any legally required insurance if you use your personal vehicle in a Wello exchange (California law requires valid automobile liability insurance)
• Comply with all applicable laws and regulations in connection with any exchange
• Report safety concerns promptly through the Wello platform

Members may not use Wello to:

• Exchange anything illegal, including controlled substances, weapons, or stolen goods
• Solicit cash payments in connection with a Wello exchange
• Harass, threaten, discriminate against, or stalk another member
• Misrepresent their identity, qualifications, or the nature of an exchange
• Create duplicate accounts or attempt to manipulate the credit system
• Solicit members to leave the Wello platform for off-platform transactions
• Use Wello for commercial or business purposes unrelated to personal community exchange

Wello reserves the right to suspend or permanently remove any member who violates these Terms or the Community Guidelines, poses a credible safety risk to other members, engages in repeated or serious misconduct, or accumulates a significantly negative credit balance with no demonstrated effort to contribute. Accounts found to belong to anyone under 18 will be removed and their credits voided.

Wello may act on its own initiative or in response to member reports. Removal decisions made in response to urgent safety reports may be immediate and without prior notice.

Step 1 — talk to us first. Before starting any formal proceeding, email contact@wello.world with the subject line "Notice of Dispute," including your name, a description of the dispute, and the resolution you're seeking. Both sides agree to try in good faith to resolve the dispute within 30 days of that notice.

Step 2 — binding arbitration. If we can't resolve it, any dispute between a member and Wello arising from these Terms shall be resolved by binding arbitration administered by JAMS under its Streamlined Arbitration Rules and consistent with the JAMS Consumer Arbitration Minimum Standards, before a single arbitrator. Arbitration will take place in San Francisco, California, or — at your election — by video or telephone. The Federal Arbitration Act governs this section.

Costs. If you initiate arbitration, your filing fee is capped at the amount set by the JAMS consumer standards (currently $250) or the cost of filing in court, whichever is less. Wello pays all other JAMS administrative fees and the arbitrator's costs.

What this section does not cover. Either of us may: (a) bring an individual claim in small claims court; (b) seek public injunctive relief in court where California law guarantees that right; or (c) seek injunctive relief in a California court for intellectual property claims or urgent safety matters. Nothing in this section waives rights that cannot be waived under applicable law.

Your right to opt out. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement entirely by emailing contact@wello.world with the subject line "Arbitration Opt-Out" within 30 days of first accepting these Terms. Opting out does not affect your membership or any other part of these Terms.

Unless you opt out, you agree to waive any right to participate in a class action lawsuit or class-wide arbitration against Wello.

If the class-action waiver above is found unenforceable as to a particular dispute, then this entire arbitration section is void as to that dispute — a class proceeding may only ever take place in court, not in arbitration.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to conflict of law principles. Any claim not subject to arbitration under Section 1.8 shall be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in San Francisco County, California, and both parties consent to personal jurisdiction there.

Wello may update these Terms. Members will be notified of material changes via the app and/or email with at least 14 days' notice. Continued use of Wello after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

You own the content you post on Wello — your profile, posts, messages, notes, and photos. So that we can operate the platform, you grant Wello a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to host, store, display, and distribute that content within the platform (for example, showing your post in the feed or your note on a neighbor's profile). This license ends when your content or account is deleted, except where content must be retained for an open dispute, safety investigation, or legal obligation.

You are responsible for what you post. Do not post content you do not have the right to share, and do not post another person's private information — or identifiable photos of other people, especially children — without their consent.

The Wello name, logo, design, and software are the property of Wello and its licensors. If you believe content on Wello infringes your copyright, contact us at contact@wello.world with a description of the work, the location of the allegedly infringing material, and your contact information, and we will review and respond.

Wello is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose and non-interruption of service. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Wello's total liability to you for any claim arising from these Terms or your use of the platform is limited to one hundred U.S. dollars ($100).

Nothing in these Terms limits liability for gross negligence, willful misconduct, or fraud, or excludes rights that consumers are entitled to under California law. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain warranty disclaimers or liability limits, so portions of this section may not apply to you.

You may stop using Wello or request account deletion at any time (see the Privacy Policy for how deletion works). Credits have no cash value, so no balance — positive or negative — is paid out or collected when an account closes. Exchanges still open when you leave may be cancelled or completed by the other party per Section 3.

If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions stay in full effect. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and the waivers you accept at signup, are the entire agreement between you and Wello. Wello's failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it. You may not assign these Terms; Wello may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, and will notify members if that happens.

California consumers: under Cal. Civ. Code § 1789.3, you may reach the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs at 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112, Sacramento, CA 95834, or (800) 952-5210. You can reach Wello at contact@wello.world.

Every Request or Offer is priced in whole credits, based on its task category and the typical time and effort involved. Wello also supports Collaborations — peer activities posted at 0 credits, where members participate together rather than exchange help.

The credit value for a given task category is shown automatically when posting or accepting an exchange. Collaborations are always 0 credits — the post simply completes (automatically 12 hours after being marked done) and no credits transfer.

The credit value of an exchange is fixed by its task category, as shown in the table above, and is displayed before anyone commits. For "Something Else" posts, the requester chooses 1 or 2 credits when posting. If a post has multiple helper slots, each helper earns the category's credit value.

Every account has a credit floor of −15 and a ceiling of 30. You cannot post a request that would take your balance below the floor, and your balance cannot rise above the ceiling — the limits keep credits circulating rather than accumulating.

When the helper marks a task done, a 12-hour confirmation window opens. During this window:

• The requester may confirm the exchange, triggering immediate credit transfer at the agreed amount
• The requester may instead open a dispute if something went materially wrong (see Section 4)
• If the requester takes no action within 12 hours, credits transfer automatically at the agreed amount

Credit amounts are set when the exchange is agreed and do not change afterward. If an exchange turned out to be materially different from what was posted, the dispute process in Section 4 — not a side arrangement — is the way to address it.

After a completed exchange, both parties may leave an optional written note for each other, with up to three photos attached. Notes are:

• Blind and mutual — your note is hidden until both of you have submitted (or the other person's chance has passed), so neither note can be written in reaction to the other
• Final once submitted — notes cannot be edited or deleted after submission; if a note about you violates our guidelines, you can flag it and moderators may remove it
• Public once revealed — revealed notes appear on both members' profiles, where any member can read them
• A place to capture the human experience of the exchange — a thank-you, a memory, a detail that mattered

Wello runs simple keyword analysis on note text to gauge positive sentiment; this feeds community recognition like skill badges. Notes are not a star-rating system, and no numeric score is shown on your profile.

Either party can cancel a scheduled exchange from the exchange page. Cancelling is free up to 48 hours before the scheduled start (or anytime, if no start time was set). Cancelling within 48 hours of the scheduled start — including after that time has already passed — applies a 0.5-credit cancellation fee to whichever party cancelled. A last-minute cancellation costs the other person real plans, and you'll see this fee called out before you confirm.

If your neighbor doesn't show up for a scheduled exchange, you can report the no-show from the exchange page once the scheduled time has passed. This closes out the exchange and applies a 0.5-credit fee to the no-show party — the same fee as a last-minute cancellation, since a no-show costs you the same lost time.

No-show reports are self-certified, not reviewed before the fee applies. Report in good faith; falsely reporting a no-show is a violation of these Terms (Section 1.6) and may result in account review under Section 1.7. If you believe a no-show report was filed against you unfairly, contact contact@wello.world.

During the 12-hour confirmation window, the requester may open a dispute instead of confirming the exchange — for example, if the task was not actually performed, was materially different from what was agreed, or something went wrong that the two of you cannot resolve directly. Either party may also report an exchange at any time under Section 5.

Opening a dispute pauses the credit transfer until Wello's moderation team resolves it.

Credit disputes are moderated directly by Wello, not by other community members. Wello's moderation team:

• Reviews each dispute based on the exchange record and any statements the parties provide
• Applies the principle of fairness and community good faith, not strict legalism
• Recuses any team member with a personal connection to either party from that dispute
• Documents its decisions for internal quality review

Wello does not mediate, arbitrate, or adjudicate any dispute involving money. Wello credit disputes are limited to the credit system. Any claim for monetary damages must be pursued through appropriate legal channels.

Wello's safety approach is based on:

• Member verification — all members verify a valid phone number at signup
• Community accountability — mutual notes and exchange history create a record of conduct
• Extra acknowledgment for physical tasks — exchanges involving physical work require an additional in-app acknowledgment before the exchange begins
• Member controls — you can block any member at any time; blocking hides your profiles and posts from each other and prevents messaging between you
• Rapid response — safety reports are triaged within hours, not days
• Clear escalation — serious incidents are escalated immediately, including to law enforcement when appropriate

Members may report another member or an exchange at any time via the in-app "Report" function. Reports should include the member being reported, a brief description of what happened, and any supporting context (messages, exchange details). Reports are received by Wello's moderation team and triaged by urgency.

The times below are the targets we hold ourselves to when triaging reports; they are goals, not guarantees.

For urgent safety reports, Wello may immediately suspend the reported member's ability to initiate new exchanges, block direct messaging between the reporting and reported member, and escalate to a senior member of Wello's moderation team for review. Protective measures may be applied before a full investigation is complete when member safety is at risk.

Following a report, possible outcomes include:

• No action (report unfounded)
• Warning issued to the reported member
• Temporary suspension (1–30 days)
• Permanent removal from the community
• Referral to law enforcement (for serious criminal conduct)

Wello cooperates with law enforcement investigations when legally required or when member safety demands it.

Members subject to suspension or removal may submit a written appeal within 14 days. Appeals are reviewed by a member of Wello's moderation team who was not involved in the original decision. Appeal decisions are final.

Wello moderates conduct within the platform. Wello is not a law enforcement agency and cannot guarantee the safety of members outside the platform. Members remain responsible for their own safety and judgment in all exchanges.