1. Agreement
By accessing or using localmetaldetector.com (the “Service”), you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy and Refund Policy. If you don’t agree, please don’t use the Service.
2. The Service
Local Metal Detector is a public directory and map of metal detectorists, clubs, and stores. We host listings, profiles, reviews, and community features. We are a directory, not a party to any arrangement between members and the people who contact them — we don’t broker, supervise, or take commission on recovery jobs, sales, or any other engagement arranged through the Service.
3. Eligibility
You must be at least 16 to create an account, and at least 18 to purchase a paid membership or complete ID verification. By using the Service you confirm you meet these requirements.
4. Accounts & listings
- One account per person, and one listing per account. Your listing is your public directory profile.
- You’re responsible for your credentials and for activity on your account. Tell us promptly about any unauthorised access.
- Information in your listing must be truthful and kept reasonably up to date — especially coverage areas, service fees, and claimed specialties.
- Listings and profiles are public by design, including to search engines. Member locations are stored at suburb level only (see the Privacy Policy).
5. Paid memberships & billing
- The free tier is free forever. Paid tiers (Verified, Professional) unlock additional features described at purchase.
- Purchases are processed by Lemon Squeezy as merchant of record — your payment contract is with Lemon Squeezy, whose terms also apply. We never receive your card number.
- Subscriptions renew automatically each billing period until cancelled. Cancel any time; your paid benefits continue to the end of the period already paid, then your listing moves to the free tier. Downgrading never deletes your data — hidden perks reactivate if you re-upgrade.
- Prices can vary by region. Using VPNs or misrepresenting your location to obtain a lower regional price may lead to correction of your plan.
- We may change prices with reasonable advance notice; changes apply from your next billing period. Taxes (GST/VAT) are handled by the merchant of record.
- Refunds are covered by the Refund Policy.
6. ID verification & badges
- Paid members may verify their identity through Stripe Identity. The “Verified” badge shows only while a paid member has passed this check.
- Badges (Verified, City Captain, achievements) reflect platform status — they are not an endorsement, guarantee, or vetting of any member’s work.
- Badges and appointed roles (such as City Captain) can be revoked when their conditions lapse or for conduct that harms the community.
7. Your content
- You own what you post — profiles, photos, finds, Field Notes posts, gear lists, reviews.
- You grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, display, reproduce, and promote that content for operating and promoting the Service — including your public profile pages, the map, search results, and previews on other platforms. The licence ends for content you delete, except where it persists in reviews of others, backups, or legal records.
- You warrant you have the rights to everything you post — including photos — and that your listing claims (coverage, fees, qualifications) are accurate.
8. Photos you upload
Members can attach images to their profile and logo, up to two photos to each Field Notes post, and an optional photo to a review (typically a picture of the recovered item). By uploading an image you confirm and agree that:
- You own the image or have permission to use it, and posting it here does not infringe anyone’s copyright, trademark, or other rights.
- Any identifiable person in the image has consented to it being published, and you have the necessary permission to photograph and share any private property, find, or site shown.
- You understand these images are published publicly — on your profile, in the directory-wide Field Notes feed, in search results, and in link previews on other platforms — and you consent to that display for as long as the content remains posted.
- The image doesn’t reveal information you’re not entitled to share — for example the precise location of a protected or archaeological site, or someone else’s home. Photos can carry embedded metadata (such as GPS coordinates); you are responsible for the images you upload.
- We may resize, compress, or generate previews for display and performance, and we may decline or remove any image that breaches these Terms or that we receive a legitimate complaint about.
You can delete your own photos and Field Notes posts at any time from your profile, and you can ask us to remove specific content — see “Removing your content” below and the Privacy Policy.
9. Removing your content
- You can delete your own profile photos, Field Notes posts, and listing details directly, and delete your whole account at any time.
- If you can’t remove something yourself — or you believe a photo, post, or review featuring you or your property was posted without the right to do so — email support@localmetaldetector.com and we’ll review and, where appropriate, remove it. We aim to respond within 5 working days.
- Once removed, content stops being served publicly. Copies may persist briefly in backups, and where content forms part of a review of another member, a moderation record, or a legal/accounting record, we may retain it as described in the Privacy Policy.
10. Reviews & community standards
- Reviews must reflect a genuine experience. Review emails are verified, and we moderate before publication.
- No fake, incentivised, or retaliatory reviews — writing them, or soliciting them for your own listing, is grounds for removal.
- Links you add (websites, social profiles, groups) are checked by our team before they display publicly. We may decline or remove any link.
- We may remove any content that breaches these Terms, and we respond to legitimate takedown requests — report content to support@localmetaldetector.com.
11. Acceptable use
You must not:
- Post content that is illegal, infringing, deceptive, harassing, or hateful.
- Misuse the enquiry relay (spam, marketing blasts, harvesting members’ contact details).
- Scrape, crawl, or bulk-extract directory data beyond normal browser use, or attempt to reconstruct members’ precise locations.
- Circumvent tier limits, referral rules, regional pricing, or security measures, or create multiple accounts.
- Impersonate another person or business, or claim badges/verification you don’t hold.
We may investigate and suspend accounts, remove content, or block access for violations.
12. Metal detecting is your responsibility
Laws on metal detecting differ everywhere — land access permissions, protected and archaeological sites, reporting of finds (for example New Zealand’s protected objects and heritage rules, or the UK Treasure Act). You are solely responsible for detecting lawfully. A listing on this Service is not permission to detect anywhere.
Engagements arranged through the directory — recovery jobs, fees, purchases from stores — are strictly between you and the other party. Verify credentials, agree terms directly, and use your own judgement.
13. Referrals, points & City Captain
Referral rewards, contributor points, leaderboards, and the City Captain programme are discretionary features. We may adjust their rules, values, or availability, and remove standing gained through manipulation or abuse.
14. Third-party services
Payments (Lemon Squeezy), ID verification (Stripe), maps (OpenFreeMap, Esri, OpenStreetMap data), address search (Photon, Nominatim), and the optional Telegram community are provided by third parties under their own terms. Links from listings lead to sites we don’t control.
15. Suspension & termination
- You may delete your account at any time; this removes your listing from the directory.
- We may suspend or remove listings that breach these Terms, harm the community, or create legal risk. Where reasonable we’ll tell you why and give you a chance to fix it.
- Sections that by nature survive (content licence for retained records, disclaimers, liability, governing law) continue after termination.
16. Disclaimers
We don’t vet members, verify listing claims beyond the checks described above, or guarantee the quality, safety, or legality of anything arranged through the directory.
The Service is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure.
17. Limitation of liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for loss of profits, data, or goodwill — including anything arising from dealings between members and third parties. Our total liability is capped at the greater of the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim, or NZ$100.
Consumer law: nothing in these Terms limits rights that cannot be excluded — including, for New Zealand consumers, the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 and the Fair Trading Act 1986, and equivalent protections in the EU, UK, Australia, and US states. Where the law does not allow a limitation above, it does not apply to you. If you use the Service for business purposes, you agree the Consumer Guarantees Act does not apply to that use.
18. Indemnity
You will indemnify us against claims, damages, and reasonable costs arising from your content, your listings and service engagements, your detecting activity, your breach of these Terms, or your violation of law or third-party rights — except to the extent we caused the loss.
19. Governing law & changes
These Terms are governed by the laws of New Zealand, and disputes will be brought in the courts of New Zealand — except that consumers in the EU, UK, or elsewhere keep any right to sue, and be sued, in their home courts under mandatory local law.
We may update these Terms. Material changes will be posted with a new “Last updated” date and notified to account holders by email or in-app notice. Your continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.