These Terms and Conditions (“Terms”) and the documents referred to in them apply to your use of web applications called Sharlo available for the website located at the address https://sharlo.hk/ (known as the “Platform”). If you do not agree to these terms you should not access or view the Platform. This Platform is operated by Sharlo Limited (company number 3063621) whose registered office is at Room A, 19/F, Max Share Centre, 367 – 373 King’s Road, North Point, Hong Kong, (“we” “our” “Sharlo”). Our Business Registration Certificate number is 73142796-000-07-21-0.
1. Other applicable Terms
These Terms of use also incorporate our Privacy Policy, which sets out the terms on which we process any personal data we collect about you or that you provide to us. By using this Platform, you agree to such processing and you warrant that all data provided by you is accurate.
2. Who we are
SHARLO is an AI-driven online matching platform for experience sharing, funded by HKSTP and HKU iDendron.We strive to effectively pair Users and Experience Sharers who come from similar backgrounds. Users will benefit from the past experiences of their paired Experience Sharers when in face of critical challenges and obtain invaluable advice and insights from beyond their own social circle.
3. Services
Our Platform is an online marketplace in which individuals can buy and sell experience-sharing conversations (“Consultation session” “Session”). Consultation session enables our users to communicate with one another online on a variety of different topics. From time to time Sharlo may also make available to the users certain additional services subject to additional charges. You undertake to comply with all applicable laws and regulations in connection with your use of the Services.
4. Becoming a seller on the Platform
To become a seller (“Mentor”) on the Platform, you will have to sign-up, verify your e-mail address, provide your contact number, upload your profile picture, provide a short description about yourself and indicate your educational background and working experience.
Your profile will be visible to other users on the Platform immediately after registration. We reserve the right to reject your listing if it violates our Terms.
Profiles will become visible to other users on the Platform and able to receive consultation request.
Once you register as a mentor, you can also be a buyer on the Platform and book sessions provided by other Mentors whose experience seems relevant to you. More details on buying on the Platform can be found in the section Becoming a buyer on the Platform of these Terms.
5. Becoming a buyer on the Platform
To become a buyer (“Mentee”) on the Platform, you will have to sign-up, verify your e-mail address, upload your profile picture and indicate your educational background and working experience.
Once this is completed, Mentee may choose from a variety of Mentors listed on the Platform and send them consultation requests. Profiles of mentee are not visible to other users.
6. Identity verification
Providing reliable and real information is the core value of our Platform, so we request Mentors to provide identification before sharing their experience.
To verify your identity, you will be asked to send a picture of your HKID, Passport or driver’s license and also documents relevant to your educational background and working experience to us. All pictures and proof will not be visible to other users on the Platform.
7. Consultation session
Consultation session is an occasion for mentors to share their experience and knowledge to the mentees, and help them deal with the issues they are facing by provideing advice. By entering a consultation session, you represent and warrant that you are familiar with the topics which mentee want to talk about.
8. Mentor categories
Sharlo links all mentors into different categories to help the mentees to find what they are looking for. Mentors can be linked to more than 1 category. Currently, there are 6 types of categories on the Platform, include the following:
– Career
– Study
– Emigration
– Lifestyle
– Start-up
– Others
To improve our users’ experience and to facilitate efficient consulting, Sharlo retains the right to introduce new categories at its sole discretion.
9. Consultation plans
All consultation sessions are carried out online within our platform. Mentees can choose different ways to carry out a consultation session (“Consultation plans”).
Consultation plans include but are not limited to:
– Instant messenging (IM)
– Hybrid of IM, audio, and video chat
Sharlo retains the right to introduce new online and offline default consultation plans at its sole discretion.
9.1. Free and paid consultation plan
Mentors can set their own price for consultation plans, they can also provide free consultation, For these cases, no fee would be charged by us.
9.2. Supported and Unsupported Countries
Currently, only Hong Kong is supported by our Platform and payment gateway where we handle transactions, refunds, and chargebacks on your behalf. In case a paid consultation is provided by a seller residing in regions outside Hong Kong, we cannot provide payment services to you and therefore provisions of Payment services. Please contact our Customer Service for such a case.
9.3. Pricing of the consultation plan
In the beta stage of this platform, mentors are not allowed to set the price of the consultation plans they provide, all plans will be fixed at a universal value.
9.4. Supported currencies for paid consultation plan in Supported Countries
Currently, the following currencies are supported by our Platform and payment partner for settlement of paid consultation plans:
Hong Kong Dollars (HKD)
From time to time we may introduce additional currencies for paid consultation plan in Supported Countries on our Platform.
10. Consultation request
If you come across a mentor that you would like to talk with, you may engage him or her by sending a consultation request with a short description of the issue bothering you.
A consultation request is not mandatory which means when a mentor receives your request, he/she can either accept it or reject it.
Through the Services, you can seek advice and opinion from mentors. However, since individual experience and knowledge are unique and perception of its value and/or its validity is of subjective nature, we cannot guarantee that such advice or opinion will be valuable, correct, and appropriate. Sharlo disclaims any responsibility or liability related to the advice and information you get.
11. Safety
We take the safety of our users seriously.
Although Sharlo takes action to identify and verify the identity and background of its users and strives to encourage a respectful user experience through features like video chat to share personal experience and knowledge, we are not responsible for the conduct of any user on the Platform.
You agree to be cautious in all interactions with other users and you are solely responsible for your interactions with other users and understand that Sharlo does not conduct criminal background checks on its users. Sharlo suspends users with inappropriate conduct, however, the platform makes no representations or warranties as to the conduct of its users.
12. Our function
Our Platform is an online market for individuals to buy and sell consultation sessions with other individuals. We are not a party to any transaction between a buyer and a seller or two individuals who agree to an exchange, except for the Services we provide to facilitate transactions.
13. Requirements to use the Services
To use the Services, you must register with us by completing the registration form. The Services are not intended for use by children under the age of 18 years old.
Business sellers are not permitted to use the Services. When business sellers transact with consumers they are subject to more legal requirements than non-business sellers. By using the Services you warrant that you are not a business seller.
You undertake to keep all information about you on the Platform up to date. You warrant that any information you provide to us is true, accurate, and complete.
14. Your account and password
If you choose, or you are provided with, a password or any other piece of information as part of our security procedures, you must treat such information as confidential. You must not disclose it to any third party and you must ensure that you log out from your account at the end of each session.
You must immediately notify us if you know or suspect that anyone other than you knows your password, or that there has been any unauthorised use of your password or account or any other security breach.
We have the right to disable any password, whether chosen by you or allocated by us, at any time, if we have reason to suspect there has been a security breach or if in our reasonable opinion you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of these Terms.
Sharlo does not allow multiple accounts on its Platform. Should Sharlo have a reasonably grounded suspicion that a user has created (is using) more than one account on the Platform – it may block or delete any of the involved accounts.
Sharlo may request to make certain confirmations with respect to your account for security and quality purposes. Such confirmations among other things may be providing an ID or any other confirmations that Sharlo may introduce in its sole discretion.
All data collected as a result of such confirmation will be processed following our Privacy Policy, which is a part of Sharlo- user contractual arrangement.
15. Content you provide, feedback and private messaging
Any content you provide to us or any contact you make with other users, whether privately or publicly, must comply with our Terms.
You warrant that any such content or contact complies with the Terms, and you will be liable to us and indemnify us for any breach of this warranty. This means you will be responsible for any loss or damage we suffer as a result of your breach of that warranty.
We will not be responsible, or liable to any third party, for the content or accuracy of any content provided by you or any other user of our Platform.
You grant us a non-exclusive, irrevocable, perpetual, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, unconditional, worldwide license to use, copy, distribute and disclose to third parties any content you provide to us.
Sharlo provides a direct user messaging functionality for the sole purpose of facilitating transactions between the users on the Platform. We will not access the content of such messages unless one of the involved users grants an access right to Sharlo by raising a dispute with our Customer Support. Please note that Sharlo may use automatic scanning tools/filters in order to detect and prevent spam and/or fraud and/or any other activity contrary to applicable legal acts on the Platform. In such cases, our authorized staff will cross-check automatic-scanning/filtering results (without accessing messages) in order to determine what preventative action should be taken to ensure the security of the platform.
16. Fee for Sharlo Services
When the payment Services are used for a paid consultation session transaction, you agree that Sharlo shall receive a Fee.
17. Removal, warnings, blocking, suspension and termination
We may at our option, issue warnings, suspend, block, or terminate your access to this Platform and/or the Services (or any part of them) if:
you are in breach of these Terms;
you act in any manner which we consider may damage our reputation; or
you use the Platform or Services in a manner that we consider to be fraudulent or contrary to law.
18. Access to this Platform and its Services and content
We do not guarantee that this Platform, or any Services or content on it, will always be available or be uninterrupted. We reserve the right at any time and without notice to enhance, modify, alter, suspend or permanently discontinue all or any part of this Platform, or any Services or content on it, and to restrict or prohibit access to it.
19. Viruses or bugs
We do not guarantee that this Platform will be secure or free from bugs or viruses. You are responsible for configuring your information technology, programs, and platform in order to access this Platform. You must not misuse this Platform by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs, or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorized access to this Platform, the server on which this Platform is stored, or any server, computer, or database connected to this Platform. You must not attack this Platform via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of-service attack. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will cooperate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use this Platform will cease immediately.
20. Liability
Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes our liability to you for:
death or personal injury caused by our negligence;
fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or
any other type of liability which cannot by law be excluded or limited.
We make no warranties or representations, whether express or implied that this Platform, any content and the Services on it:
are accurate, complete, up-to-date or suitable for any purpose; or
are free of error or omission.
To the extent permitted by law, we exclude all conditions, warranties, representations or other terms which may apply to this Platform, any content or the Services on it. We provide an online facility to introduce individuals to one another, to enable the purchase and/or sale of meetings between them and to allow them to communicate with one another in public and in private. Buyers and sellers are solely responsible for transactions entered into using the Platform. We are not responsible for any action or inaction of users of the Platform or Services, or content provided by users of the Platform including, without limitation:
the descriptions, videos or photos;
the quality, legality or safety of the talk options;
any seller’s or buyer’s right to enter into a sale;
any buyer’s obligations to declare expenditure through the Platform;
any seller’s obligations to declare income through the Platform;
any seller’s obligations to pay taxes.
You agree to indemnify us for any loss, liability, cost or expense for any third party claim arising from or connected to your misuse of the Platform or Services or any use that is in breach of these Terms. In respect of any dispute you may have with another user of the Platform, you agree to:
waive any claim you may have against us in connection with such dispute; and
indemnify us for any loss or liability we incur as a result of any claim made against us by such user or any other third party as a result of such dispute.
21. Third party links and resources in this Platform
Where this Platform contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your information only. We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources. We assume no responsibility for the content of websites linked on our Platform. Such links should not be interpreted as endorsement by us of those linked websites. We will not be liable for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them.
22 Events beyond our control
We shall not be in breach of these Terms nor liable for delay in performing, or failure to perform, any obligations under these Terms agreement if such delay or failure result from events, circumstances, or causes beyond our reasonable control. In such circumstances, we shall be entitled to a reasonable extension of the time for performing such obligations.
23. Severance
If any part of the terms contained in these Terms shall be determined by any competent authority to be invalid, unlawful or unenforceable to any extent, such term shall to that extent be severed from the remaining terms which shall continue to be valid and enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by law.
24. Entire agreement
These Terms and all documents referred to in these Terms constitute the entire agreement between us and you and supersede and extinguish all previous agreements, promises, assurances, warranties, representations and understandings between us and you, whether written or oral, relating to its subject matter. We and you agree that in entering into these Terms have relied on any statement, representation, assurance or warranty (whether made innocently or negligently) that is not set out in these Terms or any document referred to in them. Neither us nor you shall have any claim for innocent or negligent misrepresentation based on any statement in these Terms or any document referred to in them.
25. Applicable law
Please note that these Terms, their subject matter and formation, are governed by HKSAR law.
26. Changes and amendments
We may change these Terms from time to time by posting an amended version on this page in the following circumstances:
to reflect changes or expected changes in relevant laws and regulatory requirements;
to reflect any ruling by a court, regulator or any other similar body having authority;
to make these terms clearer or fairer;
to reflect changes and developments in how we operate our business;
to rectify any error which we may discover at a later date; or
to reflect changes in market conditions or standard industry practice.
We recommend that you check this page from time to time, as your continued use of this Platform after these Terms are amended shall mean that you agree to be bound by such changes.
27. Acceptance of these Terms
You acknowledge that you have read this Agreement and agree to all its terms and conditions. By using the Platform or its Services you agree to be bound by this Agreement. If you do not agree to abide by the terms of this Agreement, you are not authorized to use or access the Platform and its Services.
28. Contact
For all enquiries, you can contact our Customer Service through admin@sharlohk.com.
