Terms of Service
Pre-launch draft. Hoopo is not yet open for bookings. This document is published so that anyone joining the waitlist can read the deal before there is one, and it has not yet been reviewed by a lawyer. It will be finalised before the first booking is taken, and anyone on the waitlist will be told when it changes.
1. What Hoopo is
Hoopo is a marketplace. It connects a person who owns something — a snowblower, a ladder, a camera lens — with a person nearby who needs it for a few days. The rental agreement is between those two people. Hoopo is not the owner, not the renter, and not a party to the rental.
What Hoopo does provide is the software around it: the listings, the search, the calendar, the messaging, the payment, and a record of what was agreed. Where these terms say Hoopo will do something, that is what is meant.
2. Who can use it
- You must be 18 or older and able to enter a contract.
- You must give real information about yourself and keep it current.
- One account per person. An account is yours; do not share it.
- Before your first booking as a renter, and before your first listing goes live as an owner, you verify your identity — see section 3.
3. Identity verification
Identity is checked through Stripe Identity: a government-issued document and a live selfie, captured by Stripe. Hoopo receives the outcome, the name on the document and a reference number. Hoopo never receives the document images, your date of birth or your document number, and cannot retrieve them.
Renters verify because someone is about to hand them property. Owners verify because someone is about to pay them and, usually, come to their address. Owners are also checked separately by Stripe for payouts, which is a requirement of moving money, not of Hoopo.
4. Listing something
If you list an item you are confirming that you own it or are allowed to lend it, that it works, that it is safe to use, and that your description and photos are honest about its condition. You set the daily rate and the days you are willing to lend.
Some things may not be listed:
- Anything illegal to own, lend or transport.
- Weapons and ammunition.
- Motor vehicles intended to be driven by the renter. A personal auto insurance policy is generally void the moment the vehicle is rented out, and neither you nor Hoopo can fix that after a collision. Trailers and site equipment are allowed.
- Boats and personal watercraft.
- Property, rooms and venues. Short-term letting is licensed separately by your municipality.
- Anything requiring a licence to operate that you cannot confirm the renter holds.
- Living things, prescription medical devices, and anything recalled by a manufacturer or regulator.
- Your labour. Hoopo is for objects, not services.
Hoopo may hide or remove a listing that appears to break these rules, and may suspend an account that repeatedly does.
5. Booking and what it costs
The price is set by the owner as a daily rate. Hoopo prices the booking on its own servers from that rate and the dates you choose — a day range is inclusive, so a single-day booking is one day. On top of the rental, the renter pays Hoopo a service fee of 15%.
| Renter pays | the rental, plus the 15% service fee |
|---|---|
| Owner receives | the full rental |
| Hoopo keeps | the service fee |
The full breakdown is shown before you pay, and that figure is the figure charged. There is no deposit.
6. Payment, and when the owner is paid
Payments are processed by Stripe. Hoopo does not see or store your full card number.
The renter's card is charged when the booking is made and the money is held. It is released to the owner after the renter confirms the item has actually changed hands, plus a short holding period. If the renter says the handover never happened, the payout is frozen until the dispute is resolved. If nobody says anything for 72 hours after the rental was due to start, Hoopo treats the handover as having happened and releases the payment — that is not a confirmation by the renter, and it does not end the renter's right to raise a claim.
Your card details are saved, with your agreement, so that a damage claim can be settled later without chasing you for a payment method. Saving a card is not a charge.
7. Cancelling
| Owner cancels, at any time | renter is refunded in full |
|---|---|
| Renter cancels, 72 hours or more before the start | refunded in full |
| Renter cancels, less than 72 hours before the start | the service fee is refunded; the rental goes to the owner |
The exact amount is shown before you confirm a cancellation, never after. An owner who cancels late costs the renter nothing, because the renter did nothing wrong.
8. The handover, and looking after the item
You arrange pickup and return between yourselves through the app's messaging. The renter is responsible for the item from the moment it is handed over until it is returned, and agrees to use it as it is meant to be used, to return it on time and in the condition it was received in, and not to lend it on to anyone else.
Photographs at pickup and at return protect both sides, and are what settles a disagreement about condition.
9. Damage, loss and claims
If an item comes back damaged, or does not come back, the owner may file a claim through the app within 72 hours of the rental's end date, with photographs. A renter may file a claim in the same window — for an item that was already damaged, was not as described, or was never handed over.
A claim is reviewed by a person at Hoopo. If a damage claim is upheld, the renter's saved card may be charged the reasonable cost of repair or replacement, up to the item's value. If a refund claim is upheld, the renter is refunded and the owner's payout is reduced accordingly. Hoopo's decision on what to charge or refund is made on the evidence given by both sides.
Hoopo does not insure anything. There is no protection plan behind these terms. Your own home, contents or business insurance may or may not cover an item you lend out; that is worth checking before you list something valuable.
10. Reviews
You can review the other party after a rental has finished. Reviews must be about what actually happened. Hoopo may remove a review that is abusive, that identifies someone's home address, or that is a bargaining chip in a dispute — but does not remove a review for being unflattering.
11. Messaging
Messages sent through Hoopo are stored so that both people, and Hoopo when adjudicating a claim, can refer back to them. Do not use them to send anything you would not want read back to you. Arranging a rental off-platform to avoid the service fee removes every protection in these terms, including the held payment and the claims process.
12. Your content
Photos and descriptions you upload stay yours. You give Hoopo permission to show them in the app, on this website and in Hoopo's own marketing, for as long as your listing exists and for a reasonable period afterwards. Do not upload photographs you did not take or do not have permission to use.
13. Suspension and closing your account
You can close your account at any time; bookings already made must be seen through or cancelled under section 7. Hoopo may suspend or close an account for breaking these terms, for fraud, for abuse of another user, or where required by law. Money already owed to you is still paid.
14. Liability
Hoopo provides the platform as it is. It does not inspect items, does not guarantee that a listing is accurately described, and is not responsible for what happens during a rental between two people. To the extent the law allows, Hoopo's total liability to you for anything arising out of these terms is limited to the service fees you paid Hoopo in the twelve months before the claim.
Nothing here limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot be limited under Ontario or Canadian consumer law.
15. Changes
These terms will change as Hoopo does. Material changes are announced in the app and by email before they take effect. Continuing to use Hoopo after that is how you accept them.
16. Law and disputes
These terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada that apply there. Disputes go to the courts of Ontario. If you are a consumer, this does not take away any right you have to bring a claim where you live.
17. Contact
Questions about these terms: help@hoopo.ca. Claims and disputes: claims@hoopo.ca. Hoopo is operated from Oakville, Ontario.