SaltRiders terms of use
Last updated: 27 September 2026
1. Agreement
By creating a SaltRiders account or using the app you agree to these terms and to the Respect Code you affirm during onboarding. If you do not agree, do not use SaltRiders. You must be at least 18 years old. Members who joined at 16 or 17, before the minimum age rose to 18, keep their accounts; Who's keen and identity checks stay closed to them until they turn 18.
2. What SaltRiders is
SaltRiders helps surfers coordinate sessions, crews, lessons, and gear with honesty and safety first. It is not a social network: there are no follower counts, no engagement metrics, no algorithmic feeds, and no advertising.
3. Zero tolerance for objectionable content and abuse
We have no tolerance for objectionable content or abusive users. Harassment, hate, threats, child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE, including any sexual content involving minors), doxxing, spam, scams, and content that endangers others are prohibited. We act on reports promptly (typically within 24 hours) by removing content and, where warranted, restricting or ejecting the user responsible. Consequential account decisions are made by humans, not algorithms.
4. Reporting and blocking
Every member can report content or conduct from within the app (the Report option on profiles, sessions, and messages) and can block any member. Blocking hides you from each other across the entire app immediately.
5. Your content
You own what you post. You grant SaltRiders a non-exclusive licence to store and display your content to the members your settings allow, solely to operate the service. You are responsible for what you post: only share what you have the right to share, and never post someone else's personal information without consent.
6. Surf safety disclaimer
Surfing is inherently dangerous. Conditions data, session details, and skill levels shown in SaltRiders are informational aids, not guarantees. Always make your own assessment of conditions and your own ability, and never rely solely on the app for safety decisions. To the maximum extent permitted by law, SaltRiders is not liable for injury, loss, or damage arising from surfing activities coordinated through the app.
7. Marketplace and lessons
Marketplace listings and lessons are offered by members, not by SaltRiders. Meet in safe public places, inspect gear before paying, and follow the in-app safety guidance. Where secure checkout is available, payments between members are processed by Stripe: for gear, your card is only charged when you confirm the hand-off, and the seller is paid at that moment; for lessons, payment is collected when you book and held until after the lesson. Lesson cancellations: you may cancel up to 24 hours before the start time for a full refund; within 24 hours there is no self-serve cancellation (message your coach from your booking in the app); your coach can still call the lesson off. If a coach calls a lesson off (for example for conditions), or SaltRiders calls it off to protect its learners (for example because the coach does not meet the requirements to teach on that date), you choose either a new time with the same coach at no extra cost or a full refund; if you have not chosen within 72 hours, you are refunded in full. If a coach closes their account, their upcoming lessons are called off and you are refunded in full. SaltRiders may remove a coach page from Lessons while it looks into the coach's credentials or conduct; lessons already booked are not affected.
8. Fees
Buyers and learners pay the listed price; SaltRiders adds no fee to it. When a sale or a lesson is paid for through secure checkout, SaltRiders keeps a platform fee of 5% of the total paid (for a lesson, the total includes any board or wetsuit hire). The fee is deducted from what the seller or coach receives; it is never added to what the buyer or learner pays. The fee for an order is fixed when the order is placed and is shown to the seller or coach on that order. If an order is refunded in full before the seller or coach has been paid, SaltRiders keeps no fee. We may change the fee for future orders and will tell sellers and coaches before a change takes effect; the fee on an order that already exists never changes. Card processing and payouts are provided by Stripe and are also subject to Stripe's terms.
9. Identity checks
Members 18 and over can choose to verify their identity through a check run by Stripe (see the privacy policy for what that involves). A coach must be verified before their coach page can take bookings, and, once women-only spaces open, a verified identity will be one of the two requirements for them. Where the check is offered for a fee, you buy a check pass as an in-app purchase through the App Store or Google Play, at the price the store shows you before you buy. One pass covers up to 3 submitted checks: it is used up when a check verifies you, or when 3 checks have been submitted, whichever comes first, and a check that does not pass still counts. A pass does not guarantee that you will be verified; the outcome is Stripe's reading of your document and selfie. The store, not SaltRiders, takes your payment and handles refunds under its own terms; if the store refunds a pass, no further checks can be started on it, and a verification you have already completed is not withdrawn by the refund. Our trust & safety team may withdraw a verification obtained with a document that is not yours; that is a safety decision, not a refund. Nothing in this section excludes or limits any guarantee or right you have under the Australian Consumer Law that cannot be excluded or limited.
10. Coaches and surf schools
To offer lessons, a coach must be 18 or over, have passed the safety quiz, have an account in good standing, have a verified identity (see Identity checks), and have Stripe payouts set up. A coach must also hold current credentials that a person at SaltRiders has checked: a recognised instructor qualification, a current surf-rescue award, first aid (HLTAID011) and CPR (HLTAID009, renewed every 12 months), public liability insurance of at least A$20 million (or the higher amount we set for the region), and a council or operating permit where the region requires one. Coaching is available only in regions where SaltRiders can pay coaches, which today means Australia. When you send your page for review you accept these terms and the platform fee described under Fees; if these terms change before your page goes live, you accept the new version before it can. Keep your credentials true and current. When one expires, your times after that date stop taking new bookings until you upload the renewed one and a person checks it (a condition you agree to when you list, not a judgment about you). What happens to lessons already booked, and any removal of your page, is decided by a person, with reasons. If a region's requirements rise, coaches already teaching there get at least 30 days before the new requirement applies to their lessons. Every credential decision is made by a person and gives a reason; if a credential is rejected or withdrawn you can ask in the app for another review, which a different person decides, or contact support@saltriders.com. We delete credential documents 30 days after a person decides on them (or, if you ask for another review, 30 days after that review is decided), and at once if you withdraw the credential; we keep the outcome, the expiry date and a masked reference. Never ask a learner to pay outside the app.
11. Women-only spaces
Some sessions and crews are women-only. For now, only members a person at SaltRiders has given access can see and join them. Misusing a women-only space breaks these terms; reports are reviewed by a person, and any restriction is decided by a person, with reasons.
12. Messages
You can message another member directly, or up to 7 others in a group. To message someone you are not yet connected with, you must be 18 or over, have passed the safety quiz and have had your account for at least a day, and they must accept: until they reply or accept, you can send them one message of up to 500 characters, and they can decline without you being told. Each member chooses who may send them message requests, and is asked before joining a group unless they have chosen to let their connections add them straight in. Limits on how many conversations you can start and how many messages you can send apply to every member in the same way. Only the people in a conversation can read it, and it is not used for advertising or profiling. If you report a message, a copy of it and of up to 20 messages before it goes to a person at SaltRiders, who may remove messages and restrict an account, with reasons; a restricted member may be unable to start conversations or send messages. Never use messages to harass anyone, to share someone else's personal information, or to ask anyone to pay outside the app. Blocking someone stops them messaging you.
13. Local stewardship
Regional moderators and local communities can restrict or remove activity in their region (the local veto). Automation never overrides a human takedown decision.
14. Account termination
You can delete your account at any time from Settings (immediate and permanent). We can suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms, with human review and a statement of reasons for consequential decisions.
15. Changes
We may update these terms as the product evolves; material changes will be announced in the app. Continued use after a change means you accept the updated terms.
16. Governing law and contact
These terms are governed by the laws of Western Australia. SaltRiders is operated by Cogvera Labs Pty Ltd. Contact (including trader contact under the EU Digital Services Act): support@saltriders.com; abuse and safety reports: safety@saltriders.com.