Terms of Service

Effective date: November 11, 2026. Contact: support@birchlocal.app, 14 Plains Road, Ipswich, MA 01938.

1. About these terms

These Terms of Service are an agreement between you and Birch Local LLC ("Birch", "we", "us"), a Massachusetts limited liability company. They cover your use of birchlocal.app and any Birch services (together, the "Service").

By creating an account, booking help, offering help or otherwise using the Service, you agree to these terms, our Community Policies and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

2. Who can use Birch

You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract.
Birch currently serves every city and town in Massachusetts, plus towns within about 20 miles of Portsmouth, New Hampshire (including nearby towns in southern Maine). You may browse from anywhere, but bookings are for jobs in the towns we list.
You may not use Birch if we have previously removed you or if the law prohibits you from using it.

3. Your account

Give accurate information and keep it up to date. You need a verified email address (or mobile number) to create an account.
Keep your password private. You are responsible for activity on your account. Tell us right away at support@birchlocal.app if you think someone else has used it.
One person, one account. Accounts may not be sold or transferred.
You can download your data or delete your account at any time from Account settings, as described in our Privacy Policy.

4. Birch is a marketplace

Birch is a platform that connects people who need everyday help ("customers") with neighbors who offer it ("providers"). Birch does not perform the jobs.

Providers are independent. Providers are not employees, agents or contractors of Birch. They choose which requests to accept, set their own prices, decide how to do the work and supply their own tools.
The agreement for a job is between the customer and the provider. Birch is not a party to it, other than as the payment collection agent described in section 7.
Birch does not supervise jobs and is not responsible for the quality, timing, legality or safety of any job, or for anything a customer or provider says or does.

5. Vetting and badges

Every provider must be referred by an existing member and approved by the Birch team before their profile goes live. Badges on profiles mean only what our badge guide says, for example:

Member Vouched: the team confirmed the provider's referral.
ID Verified: Stripe, our payment partner, verified the provider's identity when they set up payouts.
Background Checked: a background check passed in the last 12 months (only when that program is active).

Vetting reduces risk but does not remove it. Birch does not guarantee any provider's identity, skills, licensing, insurance or conduct. Use your own judgment, as you would when hiring anyone to come to your home.

6. Booking a job

A customer sends a request with the date, time, job address and details, and saves a card.
The provider has 72 hours to accept, decline or ask a question. Requests with no answer expire, as do requests still waiting when the job time arrives.
For hourly services, the provider records the final hours when marking the job complete, at the rate agreed at booking.
The customer has 24 hours after the job is marked complete to confirm it or report a problem. With no response, the job counts as confirmed.

The minimum booking is $5 of the provider's price. Birch may decline or remove any request or listing.

7. Prices, fees and payment

Prices include Birch's fee. Every price shown to customers includes Birch's service fee, currently 12% of the provider's price. Providers receive 100% of the price they set. We may change the fee for future bookings; a booking keeps the fee in place when it was made. We post any change to the fee on the site at least 14 days before it applies.
Launch offer. The first 10 eligible customers pay no service fee on their first booking, as described on the site. Birch staff and test accounts are not eligible.
Payments are processed by Stripe. Card details go directly to Stripe and are never stored by Birch. By paying you also agree to Stripe's terms.
When you are charged. Your card is saved when you send a request. Birch places a hold (authorization) for the total when the provider accepts, or 48 hours before the job for bookings made further ahead. The card is charged after the job is confirmed (or counts as confirmed). A hold is not a charge, but it may show as pending with your bank.
Birch collects payment on the provider's behalf as a limited payment collection agent. Payment to Birch counts as payment to the provider.
If a card cannot be charged, we may ask you to confirm with your bank or use another card. Unpaid amounts remain owed.

8. Cancellations, problems and refunds

Customer cancels 24 hours or more before the job: free; any hold is released.
Customer cancels less than 24 hours before the job: 50% of the booking total is charged. The provider receives 50% of their price, and Birch keeps its service fee on that amount. For a $100 job, the charge is $56: $50 to the provider and $6 to Birch.
Provider cancels or declines: the customer is not charged.
Problem reports: a customer may report a problem within 24 hours of a job being marked complete. The Birch team reviews the report, may contact both sides, and may refund up to the amount paid for that booking. Our decision on a refund through Birch is final, but it does not limit any rights either party has against the other.
Damage, loss or injury: Birch does not insure jobs and is not responsible for damage, loss or injury during a job. If something goes wrong, Birch can help both sides communicate and try to resolve it (mediation), but any claim is between the customer and the provider.
Refunds go back to the original card; any part paid with Birch credit returns as credit.

9. Offering help: provider terms

Payouts through Stripe. To be paid, providers set up a payout account with Stripe, which verifies identity (name, date of birth, last 4 of SSN, address) and collects bank details. Providers agree to the Stripe Connected Account Agreement. Birch never sees full SSNs or bank numbers.
Held earnings. Approved providers may take bookings before finishing payout setup. Earnings from those jobs are held by Birch and sent to the provider once Stripe confirms their account. If a provider has not finished setup within 180 days of a paid job, Birch may refund the customer instead.
Taxes. Providers are responsible for their own taxes. Stripe may issue a Form 1099-K to providers who meet IRS thresholds, and provides tax forms in the provider's Payouts & account page.
Your listing. Prices, descriptions and photos must be accurate and yours to use. Photos must show your own work or be properly licensed.
Do the job you accepted, on time and as described, and treat customers' homes and belongings with care. Address details are for that job only.
Licenses and insurance. You are responsible for any license, permit or insurance your work needs. Birch does not provide insurance for providers.

10. Food and services that are not allowed

Providers who cook, grill, bake or prepare food confirm they follow Massachusetts food safety rules, including cottage food rules for home baking and any local board of health requirements.
Not allowed on Birch: childcare, medical or personal care, licensed trades (such as electrical, plumbing, gas or HVAC work), transporting people, and anything illegal or unsafe. Birch may remove listings or bookings that fall into these categories.

11. Gift cards, credit and invites

Gift cards are sold in whole-dollar amounts from $10 to $500 and emailed to the recipient with a code. Redeeming a code adds Birch credit to the recipient's account. Gift cards and credit do not expire and can be used only on Birch.
Refunds and cash. Gift card purchases are not refundable, except as Massachusetts law requires. If the unused balance on a gift card is 10% or less of its original value, you may ask us to pay it to you in cash, as Massachusetts law provides (M.G.L. c. 255D, § 1). Email support@birchlocal.app.
Credit is applied automatically at checkout unless you choose otherwise.
Invites. When someone joins with your invite code and their first booking is completed and paid, you and they each receive the invite credit shown on the site (currently $10). Invites cannot be used with fake, duplicate or self-made accounts; Birch may remove credit gained that way.
Birch may change or end promotions (including invites and the launch offer) for the future; credit already earned stays.

12. Reviews and content you post

You keep ownership of what you post (profile text, photos, reviews, messages, forum posts and ideas). You give Birch a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, display and use it to run and promote the Service, for as long as it is on Birch.
Reviews must be honest and based on a real booking. Do not offer or accept anything in exchange for a review.
Do not post anything unlawful, misleading, hateful, harassing, sexual, or that shares someone else's private information.
Birch may hide or remove content that breaks these terms or our policies.

13. Messages and keeping it on Birch

Messages, bookings and payments stay on Birch. Sharing phone numbers, email addresses, social media handles or outside payment details to arrange or pay for a job outside Birch is not allowed. Bookings made on Birch come with payment protection, a record if something goes wrong, and reviews. Birch may review flagged messages to keep the community safe.

14. What you may not do

Break the law, or use Birch for anything unsafe, discriminatory or fraudulent.
Harass, threaten or discriminate against anyone, including on the basis of race, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age or national origin.
Pretend to be someone else, create fake accounts or reviews, or misuse invite codes or promotions.
Interfere with the Service: scraping, automated access, probing security, or overloading it.

15. Suspension and ending your account

You may close your account at any time from Account settings. Birch may pause, limit or close an account, or remove a listing, if we reasonably believe it breaks these terms or puts others at risk. Open bookings, refunds and amounts owed are settled before an account closes. Sections 4, 7 to 8 (for past bookings), 12 and 16 to 19 continue after an account closes.

16. Disclaimers

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available". To the fullest extent the law allows, Birch makes no warranties about the Service or about any provider, customer or job, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement. Nothing in these terms limits rights you have under Massachusetts consumer protection law that cannot be waived.

17. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, Birch and its owners, employees and agents are not liable for indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, or for anything a provider or customer does. Birch's total liability for any claim relating to the Service is limited to the greater of $100 or the fees Birch received from you in the 12 months before the claim.

18. Indemnity

You agree to defend and hold Birch harmless from claims arising from your use of the Service, your listings or content, a job you booked or performed, or your breach of these terms, except where caused by Birch's own negligence or misconduct.

19. Disputes, governing law and changes

Talk to us first. Contact support@birchlocal.app and we will try to resolve it informally within 30 days.
Governing law: Massachusetts, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. Courts in Essex County, Massachusetts have exclusive jurisdiction, except that either party may use small claims court.
Changes. We may update these terms. For material changes we will email members or show a notice on the site at least 14 days before they take effect. Using the Service after that means you accept them.
Other. If part of these terms cannot be enforced, the rest still applies. These terms, the Community Policies and the Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between you and Birch about the Service.

20. Text messages

The program. Birch Local LLC sends texts under the name Birch to members who opt in. Texts are about your own account: booking requests, when a request is accepted, declined or expires, job updates and reminders, and new messages. We do not send marketing texts.
How you opt in. Texts are optional. You opt in by ticking the text message box when you sign up or in Account settings, and we confirm by text. Consent is not a condition of using Birch.
Frequency. Message frequency varies with your bookings and messages.
Cost. Message and data rates may apply.
Help. Reply HELP for help, or email support@birchlocal.app.
Opting out. Reply STOP to stop all texts at any time, or turn texts off in Account settings. Reply START to opt back in.
Privacy. We do not sell or share your SMS opt-in data or personal information with third parties for marketing purposes. See our Privacy Policy and text message details.
Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

Questions: support@birchlocal.app · Birch Local LLC, 14 Plains Road, Ipswich, MA 01938