Terms of use

Who we are

BestLocal (bestlocal.ca) is operated by [legal company name], 80 Atlantic Avenue, Toronto, ON M6K 1X9, Canada (“BestLocal”, “we”). Questions about these terms: support@bestlocal.ca.

What BestLocal is

BestLocal is a directory of local businesses that passed our published checks. Lists are ordered by a published formula, explained on “How we choose”. Top 10 positions are sponsored and labelled “Sponsored”; claimed businesses pay a listing fee, which never changes the order.

We check businesses carefully, but we don't guarantee any business's work, prices, licences or conduct. Your agreement for any job is with the business, not with BestLocal. Check credentials that matter to you before you hire.

Reviews

Reviews must follow our review guidelines. Every review is checked before it posts, by automated rules and an AI model, and some go to a person. We never remove a review for being negative.

You keep ownership of your review, and you give BestLocal a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to publish, translate, display and share it (with your first name and last initial) on BestLocal and in our structured data, for as long as it stays published. You can edit or delete it from the private link in your emails.

Don't post a review if you have a conflict of interest, were paid or offered something for it, or didn't deal with the business.

Inquiries

When you send an inquiry, we send it to the business, which may reply to you directly. Don't send anything you wouldn't want the business to see. The business, not BestLocal, is responsible for its reply and its work.

Business accounts

Only a person authorised by the business may claim or add it. What you tell us must be true, and you must keep it up to date. We may ask for proof (a registry entry, a licence, insurance) and may refuse, hide or remove a listing that doesn't meet the listing criteria, as described on “How we choose”.

You're responsible for what you publish on your profile, in replies to reviews and in feature articles, and for having the rights to the photos you upload. You give BestLocal a non-exclusive licence to publish them on BestLocal, in badges and in our structured data while your listing is active.

Badges and award badges may be resized but not edited, and must link to your listing.

Fees and billing

Listing fees and Top 10 positions are billed monthly in Canadian dollars through Stripe, plus applicable taxes. Prices are shown before you pay. Subscriptions renew each month until cancelled; you can cancel any time from the billing portal, and the cancellation takes effect at the end of the paid month.

If a business stops qualifying, the one-month grace period on “How we choose” applies. If it fails a verification check, it's removed straight away and receives a prorated refund for the unused part of the month. Otherwise fees already paid are not refunded, except where the law requires it.

We may change prices with at least 30 days' notice by email. The new price applies from your next billing date after the notice period.

Acceptable use

Don't use BestLocal to break the law, send spam, impersonate anyone, collect personal information about others, or interfere with the site (for example by scraping it at a rate that harms it, probing for vulnerabilities, or getting around our limits). Search engines and AI assistants may crawl the public pages as allowed in robots.txt.

Our content

The site's design, text, rankings, badges and the BestLocal name and logo belong to BestLocal. You may quote and link to our pages. You may not copy the directory, or present our lists or badges as your own.

Liability

BestLocal is provided “as is”. To the extent the law allows, BestLocal is not liable for indirect or consequential losses, or for the acts of any business listed, and our total liability to a business is limited to the fees it paid us in the 12 months before the claim. Nothing in these terms limits rights you have under consumer protection law, including Quebec's Consumer Protection Act.

Changes and ending your account

We may update these terms. We'll change the date at the top and, for important changes, email account holders before they take effect. You can close your account any time by contacting us; we can suspend an account that breaks these terms.

Law

These terms are governed by the laws of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada that apply there, except where your province's consumer law says otherwise. The English and French versions are equally valid.