Terms of Service

Whetstone is operated by Cartouchan Pty Ltd (ABN 36 152 332 502). It is a platform that introduces business owners (“clients”) to independent experts (“advisors”) and facilitates bounded advisory sessions between them. We verify advisors, collect payments (which our payment processor holds until they are released), and provide the tools to meet and message.

Whetstone does not itself give the advice. Advisors are independent contractors — they are not our employees or agents, and we do not supervise or direct the substance of their advice.

Who supplies what. Whetstone supplies the platform and related services: advisor verification, booking, payment collection and holding (through our payment processor), messaging and video tools, and dispute handling. Your advisor supplies the advice, and the engagement for the advice is between the client and the advisor. Whetstone collects the client’s payment on the advisor’s behalf, and paying Whetstone discharges the client’s obligation to pay the advisor for that booking. Whetstone is responsible for its own services and for what it tells you about advisors, verification and insurance.

These Terms apply to everyone who uses Whetstone. On top of them: advisors agree to the Advisor Agreement (/advisor-agreement) when they apply, and clients agree to the Engagement Terms (/engagement-terms), which include the Cancellation and Refund Policy, for each booking at checkout. We record the version you agree to, and when.

If these Terms conflict with the Advisor Agreement or the Engagement Terms, the more specific document prevails for the matter it covers. However, clause 10 (Liability), and every statement in these Terms, the Engagement Terms and the Cancellation and Refund Policy that preserves your rights under consumer law, apply in all cases and prevail over anything inconsistent.

You must provide accurate information and keep your login credentials secure. You are responsible for activity under your account.

Advisor accounts require verification before a profile is listed or can take bookings. Ops accounts are invite-only.

Advisors share professional judgement built from their experience. They are not acting as your accountant, lawyer, doctor or licensed financial adviser unless they say so explicitly and are registered to do so in your jurisdiction. Where something is regulated where you are, take formal advice locally as well.

Decisions about your business remain yours. Whetstone does not itself provide regulated advice.

Sessions on Whetstone do not cover financial product advice, legal advice, tax agent services or medical advice unless the advisor has said so explicitly in their listing and is licensed or registered to give it. An advisor who is not licensed must tell you when a question moves into regulated advice.

Every session has a fixed, bounded scope and a fixed price shown before you book. Prices are in Australian dollars unless the booking shows another currency, and include GST where GST applies. There are no open-ended hours. The scope is copied onto your booking when you make it, and does not change if the package later does.

Payment is authorised at booking and held by our payment processor. Whetstone collects the payment for the advisor, and paying Whetstone discharges your obligation to pay the advisor for that booking. Funds are released to the advisor, minus platform commission, once you confirm the work is complete or, if you do not respond and have not reported a problem, automatically after seven days. Currency is shown per booking.

Cancellations, rescheduling and refunds are governed by the Cancellation and Refund Policy (/cancellation-and-refunds). Nothing here limits any refund or remedy you are entitled to under consumer law.

We identity-check and reference-verify advisors before listing them, and surface a verification badge on their profile. Verification is a good-faith check, not a guarantee of outcomes. A verification badge means we have completed our identity and reference checks as at the date shown. It does not mean we have checked every statement in a profile, or any licence or registration, unless the profile says we have.

Sessions booked and paid through Whetstone are covered by Whetstone’s professional indemnity arrangement as described in-product at the time of booking, subject to the policy’s terms, limits and exclusions. Exclusions can include regulated advice that an advisor is not licensed to give, and you can ask us for a summary of the policy wording. Coverage terms are surfaced at checkout and confirmation. The cover does not extend to work arranged or paid for outside the platform.

Keep session-related communication, booking and payment on the platform. Do not use Whetstone to harass, defraud, or circumvent the platform’s payment and booking flow. Never pay an advisor directly or take payment from a client directly for a booking made on Whetstone.

Do not misrepresent your experience or credentials. We may suspend accounts that breach these terms.

What a client shares with an advisor is confidential, and advisors agree to keep it so. We handle personal information as set out in our Privacy Policy. We may review a booking’s messages and recorded session outcomes to resolve a dispute or deal with a safety concern.

If something goes wrong with a session, raise it from the booking’s messages thread. Our team reviews reports and may hold or refund a payment while a dispute is open. Our decision on a payment does not affect any legal rights you have against the other person. If you disagree with a decision, you can ask for a second review by a different member of our team within 14 days, and we will give you our reasons in writing.

Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies any right or remedy you have under the Australian Consumer Law or any other law that cannot be excluded. Subject to that, and to the extent the law allows, Whetstone is not responsible for the commercial outcome of decisions you make on the strength of an advisor’s advice. Where the law allows us to limit our liability for breach of a consumer guarantee, we limit it to resupplying the services or paying the cost of having them resupplied, unless it would not be fair or reasonable for us to rely on that limit.

Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law, including liability for fraud, death or personal injury.

These terms are governed by the law of New South Wales, Australia, and the parties submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of New South Wales. This does not take away rights you have under the mandatory consumer law of the place where you live.

We may update these terms. We will give at least 30 days’ notice of material changes in-product or by email, and ask you to accept a new version of the Advisor Agreement or Engagement Terms where one applies to you. If you do not accept a material change you can close your account before it takes effect, and confirmed bookings continue on the terms they were made on. For other changes, continued use after an update means you accept the revised terms.

Questions about these terms can be sent to Cartouchan Pty Ltd (ABN 36 152 332 502) at the contact address published on our site