Searchfirst - Help Desk

I've placed an order. What happens next?

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Orders are generally processed within 2 hours during normal business hours (Mon-Fri 0830 - 1730 hours) from when we receive your payment confirmation.

Some databases are available after hours and if possible, we'll process your search after hours aswell.

All results are emailed back to you in PDF or image format. Originals are not posted, as all results are printable PDF's or image files.

If you paid with your credit card or your PayPal account through our online shopping cart, we receive your email address from PayPal along with your order, so don't worry if you think it's strange we don't ask for your email address - PayPal does when securely processing your order. We choose PayPal for our online payment solutions for your safety and security, so you can rest assured knowing we don't store your personal details and you are therefore not vulnerable to hackers obtaining your details from us.

If you haven't received your receipt and/or results within 2 hours during normal business hours, please check your spam/junk mail filter to make sure it's not in there!

If you've received your confirmation of order, but not the results, don't panic - sometimes the databases are not available and results may not be available to us within the usual 2 hours. Rest assured, we'll complete your order as soon as they're available.

If you haven't received your results with one business day, please contact us and let us know so we can follow it up.

You can also visit our Thank You page for more information.

Payment Options

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Shopping Cart Orders

For any of the searches offered on the shopping cart pages, you can pay by credit card or bank account securely and at the time of your order via PayPal, or you can choose the Direct Order option to pay via internet banking or direct deposit to our account later. These options are presented to you when you go through the checkout.

Special Orders

If you have a special order you can email us to let us know what information you need and we will provide you with a quote which you can pay via the same methods described above.

Searchfirst Pro Account Holders

Payment options will be provided with your account application.

Refund Policy

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Please contact us before you place an order if you have an enquiries or do not understand any of this policy.

In general, there are two circumstances where incorrect search results may be returned to you:

A) We have provided the incorrect information

If WE have provided the wrong information, you will offered a replacement search at no additional cost, on a like-for-like basis.

For example, if you order a title search on 1 Example Street, Anytown, and we provided 11 Example Street, Anytown (the results returned being a clearly different subject to what was ordered), we will forward you a new search over the correct subject as initially ordered at no additional cost.

B) You have ordered the incorrect information

If YOU have ordered the wrong information and we have successfully returned a result that matched what you ordered, no refund or replacement will be due in this circumstance.

For example, if you order a title search on 1 Example Street, Anytown, but you meant to order 11 Example Street, Anytown, and we return a result on 1 Example Street, Anytown because that property actually existed and returned a valid search result, then you will need to re-order with the correct details at your own cost. As we have returned valid results that matched your order, the initial search fees will stand in this circumstance.

If we detect any contentious or ambiguous results before we process your order, we will contact you for further instructions, before we incur any third party provider fees.

If you have paid by our PayPal Pick'n'Click option where your credit card or account has been charged on submitting the order before the results have been returned and we are unable to fulfil your order due to no matching results being available, you will be refunded for the portion of our fees that were attributable to our information supplier's charge, and we may retain the balance as our administration fee for our processing costs. As these fees are un-ascertainable until a confirmed scenario is in place, we will outline these fees and refunds to you if such situation arises.

We will, in all cases, attempt to ascertain the correct information necessary to fulfil your order.

In essence, we will never charge you for an outlay that has not been incurred by us.

Why search first?

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When dealing with valuable assets like real estate, businesses, cars, trucks, trailers, caravans or boats, it's important you do everything you can to ensure you've got the whole story before you commit. Make sure you search first - it's the surest way you can protect yourself.

Similarly, if you're contemplating going into business, researching an investment or are considering dealing with a company or business, being armed with relevant and current information about the property, person, company or business can make all the difference and help protect you, your family, your assets and your investment.

With 15 years legal searching experience, we know information is everything and how best to provide the information you need.

Whether it's legal, conveyancing, property, investment, company, business, personal or vehicle info you need, make sure you search first - before it's too late!

About Searchfirst

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At Searchfirst, our aim is to give you access to all sorts of useful and important information that you may never have thought was so easy or affordable to obtain.

If you need information but not necessarily advice, why pay a solicitor or other professional hundreds of dollars when you can order an identical search at wholesale rates?

With 15 years legal searching experience, we know information is everything and how to go about finding it for you and delivering it to you without the expensive overheads.

We've strived to make our site clear and easy-to-use, with easy ordering and fast response times - and we really hope you like it!

We're confident you'll not find a more friendly way to find the information you're looking for.

Casual and one-off orders are welcome, and we've included the most common and popular searches in our shopping cart pages.

If you're a power searcher and search everyday, learn more about:

Professional Grade On-line Information Services

Searchfirst Pro is an enhanced product geared toward industry professionals that delivers the most comprehensive range of live and off-line information in Australia today, all from within the one portal at very competitive pricing.

Searchfirst (including our Pro portal) is an authorised Channel Partner of GlobalX Information Services Pty Ltd ABN 99 073 436 414.

We source all our information exclusively from GlobalX - unquestionably Australia's leading information broker.

If you have any questions or would like any further information, please contact us.

Terms of Use

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Privacy Policy

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We know that your privacy is important to you, so that means your privacy is important to us as well.

You can read the full details of our privacy policy below. As a quick summary:

            We only ask for personal information that we require.
            We'll tell you what information we have recorded about you.
            If you would like any personal information changed or deleted, just ask.

Who we are:

This Web site is operated by Searchfirst. You can reach us via e-mail at admin@searchfirst.com.au or by telephone at 0418 715 022 (International +61 4 18 715 022). Our postal address is PO Box 1420, Stafford, Qld, 4053.

What we know about you:

When you visit our Web site, our Web server automatically records some general information about your visit, but does not recognise or record any individual information about you. The information we record and use for statistical purposes is:

            Your server address
            The date and time
            The pages accessed and documents downloaded
            The type of browser used

We can only identify you personally if you give us this information voluntarily.

We use cookies on our Web site on log-in pages only.

Your e-mail address:

We do not know your e-mail address unless you give it to us. We only record your e-mail address if you send us a message, either directly or by signing up to our newsletters or on-line orders. We will use it only internally within the organisation, and will not sell it to other organisations.

If you have given us your e-mail address, but do not want to receive e- mail from us in the future, please let us know by sending us e-mail at the above address.

How we use this information:

We may use this information to improve the content of our Web site and analyse what pages people visit, and to keep in touch with you.

If you supply us with your e-mail address or postal address, we might send you information on new products and services or upcoming events. If you do not wish to receive such mailings, please let us know by sending us e-mail at the above address or writing to us at the above address.

Who has access to your information?

We use this information internally and share it with other people or organisations who need to know it as part of working with us in our normal business activities (e.g. Government Departments that we conduct searches at).

We do not share your personal information with others except under these conditions, or when ordered by a properly enforceable warrant and we do not disclose or sell your personal information to others for use in mailing lists or databases.

Future Variations

If our information practices change at some time in the future we will post the policy changes to our Web site to notify you of these changes and provide you with the ability to opt out of these new uses. If you are concerned about how your information is used, you should check back at our Web site periodically.

Corrections

Upon request, we'll tell you what information we have recorded about you. For your own protection, we generally ask you to make this request in writing, so that we can verify your identity.

If any of the information is incorrect, or you want us to remove all information about you, please contact us and we'll amend it promptly.

If you feel that this site is not following its stated information policy, please contact us at the above addresses or phone number.

More Information

If you would like to know more about on-line privacy, visit The Australian Privacy Commissioner's Web site.

PPSR Information in-depth: details and samples

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The PPSR replaces individual state and territory based registers for charges (security interests) over personal property. The Act defines personal property as anything other than land. It includes tangible assets such as goods, crops and livestock, and intangibles such as licenses, investment instruments and accounts.

A personal loan that is secured against motor vehicle is a common example of such a security interest, and therefore, the separate state based REVS registers will be replaced with a search of the PPSR. Other examples of security interests covered by the PPS Act include fixed and floating charges, chattel mortgages, finance leases, margin loans, commercial consignments and the factoring of book debts.

With our easy Shopping Cart pages, you can order the most popular types of searches, pay with your credit card or PayPal account, and have the results delivered to your inbox in a matter of hours.

Choose from: Motor vehicle searches, watercraft searches, serial number searches, grantor (individual) name searches, organisation searches.

Perfect for: Second-hand vehicle or pleasure boat purchases, bill of sale searches, crop liens, book debts and any asset other than real estate.

Order Here

Sample Certificate

Personal Information in-depth: details and samples

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When dealing with people, it's important you do everything you can to ensure you've got the whole story before you commit. Make sure you search first - it's the surest way you can protect yourself.

Being armed with relevant and current information about a person can make all the difference and help protect you, your family, your assets and your investment.

Find a person's address, who owns a property or who lives at an address, find out if someone owns any real estate, is involved with any companies or businesses and check their credit history. Search first - before it's too late.

With our easy Shopping Cart pages, you can order the most popular types of searches, pay with your credit card or PayPal account, and have the results delivered to your inbox in a matter of hours.

Choose from: Person Locator, Address & Occupancy History, Director Reports, Public Record Reports and Bankruptcy Searches.

Perfect for: Conveyancing, Asset Discovery, Property Matters or Disputes, Litigation Investigation, Credit Worthiness, Investment Research, Public Record Information

Order Here

Person Locator Search - use to find address of a known name, or occupant of a known address

Address History - find previous addresses of a person. Enter both fields to narrow results

Occupancy History - find previous occupants of a given address

Director Search - Find out a person's current or past association with a company

National Property Ownership Report - Use this report to search on an individual or company to discover whether they currently hold any properties throughout Australia.

Public Record Information - Find out any judgements, claims or court actions against an individual

Bankruptcy Search - Find out the bankruptcy status of an individual - can be an un-discharged bankrupt, discharged or clear, and provide administrative details if a bankruptcy if recorded

Company & Business Information in-depth: details and samples

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When dealing with companies and businesses, it's important you do everything you can to ensure you've got the whole story before you commit. Make sure you search first - it's the surest way you can protect yourself.

Being armed with relevant and current information about a company or business can make all the difference and help protect you, your family, your assets and your investment.

Find out an organisation's legal status, who's in charge and their addresses, do they owe money and do they pay their bills. Search first - before it's too late.

With our easy Shopping Cart pages, you can order the most popular types of searches, pay with your credit card or PayPal account, and have the results delivered to your inbox in a matter of hours.

Choose from: Company Searches, Business Name Searches, ASIC Documents, Director Searches, Credit Reports and Commercial Bureau Reports.

Perfect for: Conveyancing, Business Research, Company Investigation, Credit Worthiness, Investment Research, Public Record Information

Order Here

Company Extracts - Information from ASIC that includes company name, ACN number, addresses, directors details, shareholding details, registered charges and documents lodged.

Business Name Search - Information from the Office of Fair Trading in each state about current details of ownership data on a business name. Includes names, address, date registered etc. If a company owns a business name, you should also do a search on the company.

Director Search - Returns a list of entities a name is associated with.

ASIC Documents - Returns a copy of a document previously lodged with ASIC. To ascertain the document number, do a Company Search first, then come back wth the document number you're after You'll receive a full copy of the document lodged with the ASIC. You can also visit www.asic.gov.au, enter the company name or ACN in the search box at the bottom right hand corner of the screen and see a list of documents lodged by the company. This free search doesn't show as much as a Company Search, but it may help as a starting point for what you are looking for.

Credit Report - eCheck3 Report - provides Australian Tax Office Data (ABN Match), ASIC Company Document Listing, Litigation Check on the entity (ACN, ARBN or Sole Trader) Fresh ASIC Business Name / Company Extract, Litigation Check on the Principals.

Full PDF Sample

Commercial Bureau Report - Commercial Bureau Report can give you supply/not supply advice on every company in Australia. It functions as a safety check about any adverse information that may signal trouble ahead, while verifying that a company exists. Commercial Bureau Enquiry provides Legal verification of the company, daily updates of public filings such as collections, court actions and registered charges.

Full PDF Sample

Property Information in-depth: details and samples

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When dealing with a valuable asset like real estate, it's important you do everything you can to ensure you've got the whole story before you commit. Make sure you search first - it's the surest way you can protect yourself.

Being armed with relevant and current information about the property can make all the difference and help protect you, your family, your assets and your investment.

If you're researching a particular property, street or suburb, want information about your own property or doing your own conveyancing, search first - before it's too late.

With our easy Shopping Cart pages, you can order the most popular types of searches, pay with your credit card or PayPal account, and have the results delivered to your inbox in a matter of hours.

Choose from: Title Searches, Registered and Strata Plans, Titles Office Documents, Valuation and Sales Data, Aerial Maps and more.

Perfect for: Conveyancing, Pre-purchase Research, Wills & Estates, Property Enquiries, Boundary Information, Investment Research...

Order Here

Current Title Search - Information from the Land Titles Office that includes registered owner, the real property description, encumbrances (mortgages, caveats, easements, covenants) and other administrative advices. If you're investigating a particular property for any reason, a Current Title Search should be first on your list. It provides the necessary information you need to order more in-depth searches.

Historical Title Search - Similar to a current title search, but also provides historical information. Useful to track ownership changes, for example.

Registered Plan - Like a map of the subject land that provides the drawings prepared by a Surveyor that established the block when the plan was registered. Provides specific boundary measurements, whereabouts of marker pins, layout of easements etc. If buying property or using a property as security, this search is a must to confirm that the subject property is one-and-the-same as detailed in any documentation. For example - if you're looking at a particular house or land, you can make a visual comparison to the registered plan to make sure it's the same property.

Dealings - Easement - Not a map, but the easement document gives the wording of the purpose of the easement. Easements can benefit or encumber the land. Easements should always be investigated fully as they can restrict any future building, development or other dealings with the land.

Dealings - Transfer - Provides a copy of the document that changed ownership of the land. Provides names, dates, duty payments, signatures and purchase price or reason for change of ownership.

Dealings - Mortgage - Provides a copy of a mortgage document.

Aerial Photo - Like a Google Maps satellite photo, but provides official property boundaries imposed over official land titles satellite images. Useful if planning new fencing or building additions, or if there is an adjacent vacant lot to get an idea of exactly what the property boundaries are. Also a useful tool to get an idea of what nearby properties may be comprised of - e.g. future possible subdivisions where a property that looks like one large lot may be comprised of several separate titles able to be developed or sold-off individually without consultation or Council approval.

Queensland Valuation and Sales Data - Various searches are available that provide Valuer General's and Titles Office data. Land Tax and Council Rates are calculated from the Valuer General's valuations (this is the value of the land only, and does not include any improvements (buildings etc)). You can also access data relative to the sales history of a property including last sale price and date, historical sales data that includes all available recorded sale prices and dates and other property information. See the samples below to decide what searches suit your information needs. These searches are a useful tool for property investors and owners to investigate and evaluate property values and ascertain the sales history of a property.

Home Price Guide (Premium) - This Property Report is used by some of Australia's largest financial institutions and real estate agents to estimate the value of an individual property.

With each Property Report, you will receive:

Current market price estimate - Decide what to offer or see if your asking price is too low?
Forecasted price estimate - Should you buy/sell now, or in a year’s time?
Sales history for the property (if available) - Find out when the home has been sold in the past and what price was paid over time.
Median price trends for the suburb (if available) - Compare the value of this property to the suburb median price.
Auction clearance rates for the suburb.
Comparable homes sold - Compare the value of your property to others in the neighbourhood*.

Full PDF Sample

Home Price Guide (Postcode Level) - The Postcode Report will help you estimate the true value of real estate for any suburb or postcode. Each report lists the prices paid for residential property within the past 12 or 24 months for a suburb(s) or postcode(s) of your choice.

Up-to-date Auction Results for the last 12 or 24 months,including the price each property last sold for. And if the property didn’t sell at the auction, we’ll tell you the highest bid (if available).
Private Treaty sales results for the last 12 or 24 months,including the exact price the property sold for & when the sale was made.
The address of the property(except Victoria) including street name and number, which will allow you to drive by and inspect the residence.
Descriptive detail((if available), such as the numbers of bedroom and bathroom, land size, parking space, construction material, selling agent etc.
The method of sale – eg. was the property sold after the auction?

Full PDF Sample

Home Price Guide (Street Level) - Each report lists the prices paid for residential property within the past 15 years for a street(s) of your choice.

Up-to-date Auction Results for up to the last 15 years, including the price each property last sold for. And if the property didn’t sell at the auction, we’ll tell you the highest bid (if available).
Private Treaty sales results for up to 15 years, including the exact price the property sold for & when the sale was made.
The address of the property(except Victoria) including street name and number, which will allow you to drive by and inspect the residence.
The type of property sold – house, unit, block of land, townhouse or villa?
Descriptive detail(if available) such as the numbers of bedroom and bathroom, land size, parking space, construction material, selling agent etc.
The method of sale – eg. was the property sold after the auction?

Full PDF Sample

Searchfirst Pro Support

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Searchfirst Pro national support via phone is available weekdays 6.00 am - midnight EST Mon - Fri and 6.00 am - midday Saturday, with email support available outside these times

Helpdesk Phone: 1300 362 585

Helpdesk Email: helpdesk@gxs.com.au

Searchfirst Support

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Business hours for searching are Mon - Fri 8.30am to 5.30pm.

Email support is available after hours and on weekends via our submission form.

Generally, you can expect your search results back in your inbox within 2 business hours after receipt of your order, and as soon as is possible if placed after-hours.

Some information databases are available outside of business hours, and if we can, we'll complete your search request outside of normal hours aswell.

Searchfirst Pro subscribers please see the next topic for your extended support.