Sponsorship Agreement

This Sponsorship Agreement (Agreement) governs all paid featured listings on suburb.co.nz. It is supplementary to our Terms of Use, which remain in full force and are incorporated by reference. In the event of any inconsistency between this Agreement and the Terms of Use on a matter relating to paid listings, this Agreement takes precedence.

By proceeding to payment, you confirm that you are entering into this Agreement on behalf of a business and that you have authority to do so.

1. Subscription billing

Paid listings operate on a subscription basis, billed either monthly or annually. All prices are in New Zealand dollars (NZD) and are subject to Goods and Services Tax (GST) at the prevailing rate. Billing is charged in advance at the start of each billing period. Your first billing period begins on the date your listing is activated and made live. Payment is processed securely by Stripe. By proceeding to checkout, you authorise us to charge your nominated payment method at the start of each billing period until you cancel. Annual subscriptions are charged in full at the start of each annual period.

2. Cancellation

You may cancel your subscription at any time via your listing dashboard. Cancellation stops all future charges from the next billing date. No cancellation fee or early termination fee applies. Your listing remains active and live until the end of the current paid period. At the end of the paid period, your listing reverts automatically to a standard free directory entry. Your listing content is retained and can be reactivated at any time by starting a new subscription.

3. Refund policy

Subscription fees are non-refundable once a billing period has begun. No refunds are provided for: • partial periods; • unused days within a paid period; • early cancellation; or • periods during which your listing was suspended under clause 5 below. This applies to both monthly and annual subscriptions.

You confirm that you are purchasing this subscription for business purposes. You agree that the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 does not apply to this Agreement, in accordance with section 43 of that Act. This is consistent with clause 10.2 of our Terms of Use.

4. Your responsibilities

You are solely responsible for the accuracy, currency, and legality of all content in your listing, including: • your business name and contact details; • descriptions of your services or products; • any claims about qualifications, certifications, awards, or affiliations; and • any promotional language or pricing information. You warrant that you own or have authority to submit all content in your listing, including images and logos.

Your listing content must comply with our Ad Content Policy at all times, including after initial approval.

5. Removal of your listing

We may remove or suspend your listing without refund in the following circumstances:

Where removal is proposed for reasons other than failed payment, we will ordinarily give you notice and a reasonable opportunity to remedy the issue before removing your listing. We may act immediately and without notice where the breach is serious or involves illegal conduct.

6. Editorial independence

A paid listing on suburb.co.nz is a featured directory placement. It is not an endorsement, and it does not purchase any editorial benefit.

Paid status does not influence: • suburb.co.nz's livability scores; • overall suburb rankings; • best-suburbs lists or guides; • search result placement; or • any other algorithmic or editorial placement on the Site.

A paid listing affects only display order within a specific content tab on that suburb’s page — for example, appearing above unpaid entries in the Eat & Drink tab for a given suburb. This is the full extent of the placement benefit.

We publish editorial content about suburbs, businesses, and communities independently of all sponsorship relationships. We do not offer favourable editorial coverage in exchange for payment.

7. Failed payments

If a scheduled payment fails, Stripe will automatically retry your nominated payment method on its standard retry schedule. While payment remains outstanding, your listing may be placed in a provisional status. We will notify you by email if a payment fails. If all retries are exhausted without a successful payment, your subscription will be cancelled automatically and your listing will revert to a standard free entry. You will receive an email notification when this occurs. You may update your payment details at any time via your listing dashboard or the Stripe customer portal. Re-subscribing after a lapsed payment restarts your listing on a new billing cycle.

8. Price changes

We may change our subscription pricing at any time. We will give you at least 30 days' written notice of any price change by email to the address associated with your account. A price change takes effect at the start of your first billing period that begins after the notice period expires. The remainder of any current billing period is always honoured at the price you originally paid.

9. Termination by suburb.co.nz

10. Termination by you

You may terminate this Agreement at any time by cancelling your subscription as set out in clause 2 (Cancellation). No termination fee or early exit fee applies. Your rights and the consequences of cancellation are described in full in clause 2.

11. Force majeure

We are not liable for any failure or delay in performing our obligations under this Agreement that arises from events or circumstances outside our reasonable control. These include, without limitation:

• acts of God, natural disasters, floods, earthquakes, storms, or other extreme weather events; • pandemics, epidemics, or government health orders restricting our ability to operate; • acts of war, terrorism, or civil unrest; • cyber attacks not arising from our own negligence, including attacks on our infrastructure or on third-party systems we rely on; • failure of third-party infrastructure, including hosting providers, payment processors, internet backbone operators, or telecommunications services; • regulatory changes that prevent us from lawfully continuing the service; and • any other event beyond our reasonable control.

Where a force majeure event occurs, we will endeavour to restore the service as promptly as reasonably practicable. If the event continues for more than 30 consecutive days, either party may terminate this Agreement on written notice without further liability. No refund is payable for any period of suspension or service interruption caused by a force majeure event.

12. Assignment

suburb.co.nz may assign, novate, or transfer this Agreement, and any of its rights and obligations under it, to any successor entity without your consent. This includes an assignment or transfer in connection with a merger, acquisition, sale of substantially all of our assets, corporate restructure, or change of control. We will notify you of any such transfer. You may not assign or transfer your rights or obligations under this Agreement without our prior written consent.

13. Intellectual property and content licence

You retain ownership of all content you submit for your listing, including logos, images, text, and taglines (your content). By submitting your content for display on suburb.co.nz, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to display, reproduce, distribute, and modify your content for the purpose of operating and promoting your listing and the Site. You warrant that you own or hold the necessary rights to grant this licence, and that your content does not infringe any third-party intellectual property right. This licence terminates when your listing is removed or your subscription ends, except that suburb.co.nz may retain copies of your content in archived records for legitimate business purposes including financial record-keeping, dispute resolution, and legal compliance.

14. Service performance disclaimer

suburb.co.nz makes no representation or warranty regarding the number of visitors, page views, clicks, enquiries, leads, sales, conversions, or any other business outcome you may receive as a result of your listing. The service delivers placement in the relevant category tab on your suburb's page. Actual outcomes depend on many factors outside our control, including user behaviour, geographic location, market conditions, the quality and completeness of your listing content, and competition from other businesses in the same category and suburb. Failure to achieve any particular commercial outcome is not grounds for a refund or claim under this Agreement.

15. Data and privacy

How we collect, use, and store personal information in connection with your listing is described in our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into this Agreement by reference.

On cancellation or expiry of your subscription, your listing content reverts to a standard free directory entry. Contact details and account information collected through the paid listing platform may be retained for the purposes of financial record-keeping, compliance with legal obligations, audit, and dispute resolution, in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

16. Liability

Our liability to you under this Agreement is subject to and limited by section 10 of our Terms of Use, including the aggregate cap of NZD $100 set out in clause 10.1 of the Terms of Use. Nothing in this Agreement is intended to exclude liability that cannot lawfully be excluded under New Zealand law.

17. Dispute resolution

If a dispute arises from this Agreement, please contact us at hello@suburb.co.nz in the first instance. We will make a genuine effort to resolve the matter informally within 20 business days. If the dispute cannot be resolved informally, either party may refer it to the courts of New Zealand. This Agreement is governed by New Zealand law. The District Court at Auckland and the High Court of New Zealand have exclusive jurisdiction, except to the extent prohibited by mandatory law.

18. Entire agreement

This Agreement, together with our Terms of Use, Ad Content Policy, and Privacy Policy, constitutes the entire agreement between you and suburb.co.nz with respect to your paid listing. It supersedes all prior discussions, negotiations, representations, and agreements (whether oral or written) relating to the same subject matter. No statement made in marketing materials, on social media, in email correspondence, or in any other channel outside these documents forms part of this Agreement, unless expressly incorporated in writing by a duly authorised representative of suburb.co.nz.

19. Notices

Any notice required or permitted to be given under this Agreement will be delivered by email to the address associated with your account. Notice is deemed to have been received 24 hours after the email is sent, unless we receive a delivery failure notification. You are responsible for ensuring your account email address is current and accessible.

20. Severability

If any provision of this Agreement is held to be invalid, unenforceable, or illegal by a court of competent jurisdiction, that provision will be severed and the remainder of the Agreement will continue in full force and effect.

21. No waiver

Failure or delay by suburb.co.nz to exercise or enforce any right or provision of this Agreement does not constitute a waiver of that or any other right or provision. A waiver is only effective if given in writing by a duly authorised representative of suburb.co.nz.

22. Non-discrimination

We provide the listing service on a non-discriminatory basis in accordance with the Human Rights Act 1993 and the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. We do not decline or remove listings on the basis of the religion, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, political opinion, or other protected characteristic of a business owner, except where the content of the listing itself breaches our Ad Content Policy.

23. Modifications to this Agreement

We may update this Agreement from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by email at least 14 days before the changes take effect. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page reflects the most recent version. Continued use of your paid listing after the effective date of any update constitutes acceptance of the updated Agreement.

Contact

Questions about this Agreement can be sent to hello@suburb.co.nz. We aim to respond within 5 working days.