Vendor (mower) terms

Version 13 September 2026 · Mowie Pty Ltd

The short version. You're an independent business. Joining and bidding are free; we take 10% plus GST on that commission when a job is paid, and Stripe's card processing fee comes off your payout too (founding partners: 0% commission for 90 days from their first paid job, then 10% + GST locked until 31 December 2027; the card fee still applies). Your bid is the price - if a job's bigger than described, ask in the app before you start, never on the doorstep. Do the job, take a photo, get paid through Stripe. If a customer raises an issue you get first go at a return visit, and a reduced price only ever happens with your agreement. If we ever have a problem with you, you'll get it in writing with a week to respond, and a person decides. The full terms follow; they're the ones that count.

1. Who we are, and what you are

Mowie is operated by Mowie Pty Ltd ("Mowie", "we", "us"), a marketplace that connects customers who want their lawn mowed with independent lawn mowing businesses ("mowers", "you"). We are a venue and your limited payment collection agent; every contract for mowing is between you and the customer.

You are an independent business, not our employee, agent or partner. You choose which jobs to bid on, what to charge, when you work, what gear you use and who else you work for. There is no exclusivity, no minimum number of jobs and no penalty for not bidding. You're responsible for your own tax, ABN, GST, insurance, licences and safety.

2. Eligibility and getting approved

To hold a mower account you must be 18 or over (we ask for your date of birth and Stripe verifies your identity), hold a valid ABN that belongs to you or your business, complete a Stripe Express account (which means accepting Stripe's Connected Account Agreement and passing Stripe's identity and bank checks), and have an Australian mobile number. There is no upper age limit. We check your ABN; you can choose whether the registered entity name is shown on your profile. You accept these terms by ticking the box when you create your account, and we ask you to accept them again when they change; we keep a record of when you accepted and which version. Until you accept an updated version you can browse, but not bid. If a customer reports damage from your visit, the details listed in section 10 are given to the customer.

A person approves every mower, usually the same day and often after a quick call, and we may decline an application - you'll be told by email and can reply. Before you're approved you can see jobs near you - suburb, lawn size, what's asked - but not the block outline, photos or access details. You may be able to place a bid before we've approved you or your payouts are set up, but that bid is held: the customer doesn't see it until both are done, and the job may go to someone else in the meantime. We may introduce further checks (for example a police check) with at least 30 days' notice.

Insurance. Public liability insurance is strongly recommended from day one and earns an Insured badge, which is shown to customers and improves your position in the "recommended" order. Where you haven't provided a current certificate, customers are told so before they hire you and asked to acknowledge it. Once you have completed 10 paid jobs through Mowie (or, for founding partners, when your commission-free period ends) a current certificate becomes a condition of bidding; we give at least 14 days' notice in the app before that applies to you. Certificates must be current: we record the expiry date and remove the badge when it passes. The badge tells customers you've given us a certificate; it isn't a statement by us about what your policy covers.

3. What you see, and what you may do with it

Listing details are shown to you so you can quote. Once you're hired you get the customer's name, address, mobile, gate code, access notes and whether anyone will be home. Use that information only to do the job. Keep gate codes and access details confidential, don't share or keep them beyond the job (apart from the records you need for your own tax and insurance), and don't use customers' contact details for marketing unless they've agreed. If a phone or notebook holding customer details is lost or stolen, tell us within 24 hours so we can help the customers. We record which mowers open which listings.

4. Bidding and jobs

A bid is a binding offer to perform the standard visit (or the service described) at that price on or after your stated earliest day. You may withdraw a bid until it's accepted. When a customer accepts, you must perform the job or reschedule with notice through the app.

Your bid is the price. If, on arrival, the job is materially bigger than the listing described - the grass is far longer than stated, or there's an area the customer didn't mention - ask for a price change in the app, before you start, using "Ask to change the price" on the job page, with a reason the customer reads. They can accept or keep your bid; nothing changes unless they accept. A request can't be more than double your bid: bigger than that is a different job, and the customer should relist it. Never ask for cash, a bank transfer or a different price on the doorstep, and never leave a job unmowed because the customer wouldn't pay more than your bid: do it at your bid price, or reschedule through the app with notice. Extras (hedges, green waste, gutters and the like) must be agreed in chat before work.

Regular customers. A recurring listing you win, or a regular spot a customer accepts from you, becomes a plan with a fixed day of the week, interval and price. Visits are counted from the first one, so a rain delay or a skipped visit never shifts the rest of your round. Each booking is created about 7 days ahead and appears in your schedule; the visits beyond that are shown as planned. You may propose a change to the day, the interval or the price at any time from the plan page - a price change needs a reason the customer reads - and it takes effect only if they accept. Until then, keep to the arrangement as it stands. Don't agree a different price, or take cash or a bank transfer, for a job that started on Mowie. If you can't service a regular any more, end the plan on its page with a note rather than dropping the visits: ending it properly doesn't count against your completion rate, and not turning up does. A customer may skip a visit, ask you to move one (you decide - it's your round), pause the plan or end it at any time. On an NDIS plan-managed plan your hourly rate and time stay as you bid them on the job it started from. Only the day and the interval can be proposed in the app, and a different rate or time means ending the plan so the customer can list again.

Turning up. Tap "on my way" when you leave. If weather stops you, reschedule from the job page with a new day and time of day - the customer is asked to confirm, and either of you can suggest another time. If you can't do a job at all, tell the customer in chat and hand it back as early as you can; not turning up without telling the customer or us counts as a no-show; a cancellation on the day is recorded with the reason you give.

On site. Work only on the lawn areas listed, don't enter the house or any part of the property you don't need, keep gates as you found them and dogs secured, and take reasonable care around people, pets, sprinkler heads, cables and hoses. Tell the customer immediately in chat if you damage something. Keep to Victoria's residential noise rules for powered garden tools - not before 7 am or after 8 pm on weekdays, and not before 9 am or after 8 pm on weekends and public holidays - and any council rules that apply. Dispose of clippings and green waste lawfully. Don't apply herbicides, pesticides or fertilisers unless you're licensed to and the customer has asked. Completion photos show the finished lawn only: no people, no interiors, and avoid house numbers where you can.

5. Completion, payment and payouts

Mark jobs complete with at least one photo of the finished lawn. Payment is released when the customer approves, or automatically 48 hours after completion if they don't respond (we remind them 24 hours before). Payouts go to your Stripe account on Stripe's payout schedule, typically within 2 business days of approval. Mowie is your limited payment collection agent: a customer's payment to Mowie discharges their debt to you, and we pass it on through Stripe less our fees. If the customer's card is declined at approval, the job stays approved and owing: we chase the customer and retry their card, and your pay is delayed until it goes through. Don't take payment from the customer directly in the meantime.

Issues. If a customer raises an issue before approving, nothing has been charged yet, and we email you what they've said with a summary of this section. You're offered a return visit first: propose a date from the job page, ideally within 48 hours (if you don't, a person at Mowie steps in), and if the customer doesn't answer within 3 days it stands as accepted. After the return visit the customer has 48 hours to approve or raise the issue again; if they do neither, the job is approved at the full price. If a return visit doesn't resolve it, a person at Mowie hears from both of you and decides, normally within 24 hours of both sides responding, and speaks to the customer on your behalf. There are three outcomes: the job is approved at your bid; we propose a reduced price, which applies only if you and the customer both agree to it, and you're paid the normal net of that amount; or, where the job wasn't done, no payment is due. You can decline a proposed price without any effect on your account. If you decline, a person at Mowie decides between paid in full and, only where the work wasn't done, no charge; there is no third outcome we can impose. A reduced price takes effect only once both you and the customer have accepted it. Every outcome is recorded with a written reason that you and the customer both receive. A "work not done" finding is noted on your account, and repeated findings lead to the process in section 9.

A customer can also raise an issue for 7 days after a job is approved: you must respond in chat within 2 business days. Mowie doesn't fund refunds. We may recover an amount from you only if, after you have had 5 business days to respond in writing to the customer's account and photos, a person at Mowie finds on the evidence that the work booked wasn't done or that you breached section 4 or 8. We tell you the amount and the reason in writing before anything is deducted, cap it at the price of that job, and you may ask for a review under section 16 before the deduction is applied. Where the payout has already reached you, the reversal is netted by Stripe against your future Mowie earnings under Stripe's Connected Account Agreement, or we invoice you; we never pursue you for more than the price of the job in question. Any refund to the customer is paid from what we recover. If the work was done properly, your pay for that job is unchanged. The same applies if a customer's bank reverses a payment because of your conduct; otherwise Mowie wears chargebacks. Nothing here affects the customer's rights against you under the Australian Consumer Law (section 11). The 7-day window doesn't apply to an NDIS plan-managed job: the customer raises an issue before approving or not through Mowie, and once your invoice has gone to the plan manager any dispute over it is between you, the customer and the plan manager. A reduced price you both agree on such a job is invoiced as a shorter time at your bid rate, so the invoice can come to a few cents under the agreed figure.

Customers pay by card through Stripe. You mustn't accept cash, bank transfers or any other payment for a job booked through Mowie. The one exception is an NDIS plan-managed job that the app marks as paid by invoice: there the plan manager pays your invoice into your own bank account, as section 11 sets out.

6. Fees

Joining and bidding are free. On each paid job we deduct a commission of 10% of the job price, plus GST on the commission, as a Stripe application fee, together with Stripe's card processing fee (1.7% + 30c a payment, GST inclusive, as Stripe sets it from time to time). Wherever Mowie says "10% + GST*", the asterisk refers to this section: the 10% is the commission, GST is charged on it, and Stripe's card processing fee is deducted from your payout in addition. On an $85 job that is $8.50 commission, $0.85 GST and $1.75 card processing, leaving about $73.90. Founding partners. A mower whose account is created on or before 31 December 2026 (or who claims a founding code we issue) is a founding partner. Founding partners pay 0% commission on Mowie jobs for 90 days counted from the day their first Mowie job is paid, and in any case ending no later than 31 March 2027; the card processing fee still applies during that period, and GST is not charged where no commission is charged. After the commission-free period the commission rate for a founding partner is 10% of the job price plus GST, and we will not increase that rate for founding partners before 31 December 2027, whatever rate applies to mowers who join later. The founding-partner benefit is personal to the mower (one per person or ABN), is paused under section 8 for price-conduct breaches, and ends if the account is closed or removed. Every fee is itemised on your earnings page and in the CSV export; a tax invoice for our commission is available on request. We take no fee on work you do outside Mowie.

NDIS-funded jobs. A job a customer pays for with NDIS funding carries the same commission as any other, and it comes off your side in the same way: the customer's price is your bid, with nothing added for Mowie. A plan-managed job is paid to you directly by the plan manager, so there is nothing for us to deduct. We charge the commission instead once the plan manager's payment is recorded as received: 10% of the amount you invoiced plus GST, with no card processing fee because no card is used. It is itemised on your earnings page and taken from your next card-paid Mowie payout. A founding partner's commission-free period covers these jobs like any others.

We may change our fees, eligibility rules or these terms with at least 30 days' notice by email; a change to fees, eligibility or these terms never applies to a job already booked, and you can leave at any time. We'll ask active mowers for feedback before a material change. A fee change never overrides the founding-partner rate lock above, and we may close the founding offer to new sign-ups at any time without affecting anyone already on it.

7. Customers are yours

You may keep working with customers you meet here, on or off the platform. We only take a fee on jobs booked through Mowie.

8. Reliability, conduct and reviews

We track completion and on-time rates and show them to customers. No-shows and lateness reduce your notification priority; repeated no-shows or conduct complaints lead to the process in section 9. Customers who've paid for a job can review it. We don't edit reviews or remove them for being negative; we do remove reviews that are unrelated to the work, abusive or unlawful, and you can report one to us.

Price conduct. Asking a customer for money outside the app, changing the price on site, or walking off a job over price is a serious breach. A report is confirmed only after the section 9 process. On the first confirmed report you may be removed from the "recommended" order for up to 30 days and any founding-partner benefit is paused for the same period; on the second you're removed from Mowie. Ranking effects last no longer than 30 days and are shown on your account page with the reason. Where a customer is refunded over your conduct, we recover it only as section 5 sets out.

9. Warnings, suspension and removal - the process

If there's a problem with your conduct or reliability we'll tell you in writing what it is and what we've been told, and you'll have 7 days to respond before we decide anything. A person decides, and you get the outcome in writing. Ordinarily the steps are a warning, then suspension, then removal. Repeated "work not done" findings under section 5 start this process. We may suspend you immediately, with reasons within 2 business days, only for serious misconduct: a safety risk to a customer, dishonesty, a doorstep price change, harassment, fraud or unlawful conduct. You can ask for any decision to be reviewed by emailing info@mowie.com.au. We do not consider mowers to be employee-like workers under the Fair Work Act; if that ever changed we would follow the Fair Work Digital Labour Platform Deactivation Code. Jobs you've completed properly are paid whatever the outcome, subject to any amount already found owing under section 5; jobs already booked should be done or handed back with notice.

10. Damage and claims

If a customer reports that you damaged their property during a visit, we tell you first and give the two of you 2 business days to sort it directly. After that we give the customer your business name, ABN, business email, contact mobile and the details of any insurance certificate you've uploaded (insurer and expiry; the certificate itself is available to them on request from us, and the file isn't sent), so they can make a claim directly or through your insurer. You agree to this by joining. We expect you to respond to the customer within 2 business days. If the claim is raised before the job is approved, payment is held and nothing is charged while it's open; Mowie doesn't decide damage claims, which are between you (and your insurer) and the customer. A damage hold lasts at most 30 days, after which we settle the job with you and the customer by agreement: paid in full, at a reduced price you both agree to, or, where the work wasn't done, no charge. An unresolved damage complaint counts as a conduct complaint under section 9.

11. Your own compliance

The Australian Consumer Law applies to the services you provide: they must be delivered with due care and skill, be fit for the purpose the customer described, and be done within a reasonable time. You're responsible for your tax affairs, including GST registration if it applies to you and accounting for GST on your services; we issue the customer's receipt on your behalf showing your ABN and GST status. You must hold any licence your work needs, and comply with workplace safety law for yourself and anyone working with you.

NDIS-funded jobs. Mowie is a general marketplace, not an NDIS provider. If you mow for a customer who is paying with NDIS funding, you are the provider, and the NDIS rules that apply are yours to meet. The NDIS Code of Conduct applies to you whether or not you're registered. Where a price limit applies to the customer's funding, you charge no more than it. You don't take a job that can only go to a registered NDIS provider unless you are one. Don't describe yourself as registered, or as holding an NDIS Worker Screening Check, unless it's true and current; we may ask to see it. Whether your service is GST-free under the NDIS rules is between you and the customer. That a customer uses NDIS funding is sensitive information about them: section 3 applies to it in full, and you mustn't pass it on or use it for anything but the job. You can switch on NDIS-funded jobs in your profile once your Stripe payouts are set up.

On a plan-managed job you bid an hourly rate, at or under the price limit, and the time you expect the visit to take. When you mark the job complete you confirm the time you actually worked, and that is what the invoice bills, at the rate you bid and never for more than your bid unless the customer accepted a price change in the app. Hours on an invoice are hours worked. We prepare the invoice from the job and send it to the plan manager in your name; the participant's NDIS number and the plan manager's details are shown to you only once you're hired, and only for that invoice. The plan manager pays you directly. We aren't your collection agent for that payment and don't guarantee it.

ATO reporting. We are required to report your transactions to the Australian Taxation Office under the Sharing Economy Reporting Regime, twice a year: your name, date of birth, address, contact details, ABN, the bank account Stripe pays you into, and the gross amounts and number of jobs paid through Mowie. This is a legal obligation, not something you can opt out of.

12. Privacy and data

Our privacy policy explains what we collect from you and who sees it: customers see your business name, photo, tagline, bio, work photos, suburbs, services, rating, reviews and badges, and a customer who hires you sees your mobile number. We share your details with a customer who reports damage (section 10), with Stripe, and with the ATO as above. Section 3 covers your obligations with customers' information.

Google Maps. Mowie includes Google Maps features and content: the address lookup and the aerial view in every job brief. Your use of those features is subject to the then-current Google Maps/Google Earth Additional Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy, as well as these terms.

13. Your content and our name

You own the photos and text you upload and confirm you have the right to use them. You give Mowie a non-exclusive licence to show them on your profile, on bids, and on our public suburb pages, until you remove them or leave; we don't use them in advertising without asking you. From approval until you leave, your profile is a public web page, listed on the suburb pages you cover and open to search engines; there's no private mode. Taking a break from your feed pauses job pings and bidding but keeps the page up with a note. Photos of customers' properties must show the lawn and your work only. "Mowie" and our logo are ours; you're welcome to tell people "find me on Mowie" and to use the badges we give you, and nothing else without our written OK.

14. Liability and indemnity

You're responsible for your work and for complying with the law. You indemnify Mowie against claims by third parties, and the reasonable costs of dealing with them, to the extent they arise from your negligence, your breach of the law or your breach of these terms - and only to that extent. To the extent the law allows, our liability to you in connection with the platform is limited to the greater of $500 and the commission we earned from you in the preceding 6 months, and neither of us is liable to the other for indirect or consequential loss. Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies any right or remedy that can't be excluded by law, including the Australian Consumer Law guarantees that apply to services we supply to your business.

15. Leaving

You can stop using Mowie at any time: finish or hand back any booked jobs with notice, and delete your account from the account page. We can end this agreement under section 9. Sections 3, 10, 11, 13 and 14 keep applying after either of us ends it, and completed jobs are still paid.

16. Disputes with Mowie, and general

If you have a problem with a decision we've made or with these terms, email info@mowie.com.au: a person replies within 2 business days and you'll have an outcome within 10. If we can't agree, either of us can ask the Victorian Small Business Commission for low-cost mediation before going further; nothing stops either of us going to a court or tribunal. These terms are governed by the law of Victoria and its courts have jurisdiction. If any part is unenforceable the rest still applies. You can't transfer your account; we may transfer these terms to a successor operator of Mowie with notice to you. Notices go to the email on your account. These terms, the privacy policy and the pricing page are the whole agreement between you and Mowie about the platform.

Contact: info@mowie.com.au · contact page · customer terms · privacy policy