Effective Date: October 15, 2026 Version: 1.0 Applies to: The Company and all Sellers who offer products through the Platform.
Article 1: Introduction and Scope
1.1 This document states the Company's compliance position under the INFORM Consumers Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 4701–4711, for the collection and verification of third-party seller information on the Platform: the information the law requires the Company to collect, the verification the Company performs, the annual re-verification cycle, and the suspension the Company applies when a Seller does not comply.
1.2 The Act imposes its duties on the marketplace. The Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general enforce the Act against the Company, not against the Seller directly. The Seller's corresponding duties: to provide the information, to keep it current, and to certify it annually: are governed by the INFORM Act Compliance Policy and the Selling Terms of Service. This document states the Company's duty and control; it does not restate the Seller's duties.
1.3 This document is a statement of the Company's compliance position. It creates no private right of action beyond what the INFORM Consumers Act provides.
1.4 If a provision of this document conflicts with the Terms of Use, this document controls for the subject it governs. If a provision of this document conflicts with the terms of a program in which the Seller participates, the program terms control for that program. Policies and help pages explain this document; they do not amend it, and in any conflict this document prevails.
Article 2: Definitions
2.1 Account: the account a person or business establishes with the Company to use the Platform.
2.2 Company: All About Pawz, LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company.
2.3 Platform: the websites, applications, and services the Company operates under the name All About Pawz, including aapawz.com.
2.4 Seller: a person or business the Company has accepted to offer Products or Services through the Platform.
2.5 Verification Record: the single record the Company maintains for each Seller stating the Seller's verification status, each verified element, the date and method of each verification, and the annual re-verification due date.
Article 3: The Statutory Duty
3.1 For every third-party Seller, the Company shall collect all of the following before the Seller's first listing is published: (a) bank account information for the account to which disbursements are made; (b) government-issued photo identification; (c) a tax identification number; and (d) current working contact information, consisting of a working email address and a working telephone number. No exception applies based on a Seller's size or sales volume.
3.2 Collection alone does not satisfy the Act. The Company shall verify the information collected: the name shall match across the identification, the tax identity, and the bank account; the bank account shall belong to the named Seller; and the contact information shall reach the Seller.
3.3 The Company shall repeat the collection and verification cycle annually, shall notify each Seller to keep the Seller's information current, and shall obtain the Seller's annual certification that the information is current.
3.4 The Company shall disclose its verification procedures to the Federal Trade Commission or to a state attorney general on request, as the Act requires.
Article 4: The Company's Controls
4.1 Verification Record and publication gate. The Company shall maintain one Verification Record for each Seller, with a status of unverified, pending, verified, failed, or expired. The Company shall not publish a listing for a Seller whose status is other than verified. The Compliance function is responsible for the Verification Record.
4.2 Collection points. The Company collects the four elements of clause 3.1 through seller onboarding: government-issued photo identification and business documentation at business verification; business type and tax identification at the tax-identity step; the disbursement account at the bank-information step; and working contact information at account creation, confirmed as deliverable before onboarding is complete. The Company shall record a verification outcome for each element, not collection alone.
4.3 Enhanced verification. In addition to the statutory minimum in Article 3, the Company may require enhanced verification: including beneficial-owner identification and business-license confirmation, and, for Sellers of live animals and prescription-adjacent products, jurisdiction licensing: for Sellers at or above the volume threshold, in gated categories or brands, or presenting risk indicators, as provided in the Selling Terms of Service. Enhanced verification never reduces the statutory minimum.
4.4 Annual cycle. Re-verification runs on the anniversary of the initial verification. The Company shall notify the Seller thirty (30) days and seven (7) days before expiry, and on the expiry date. On expiry without re-verification, the Company shall suppress the Seller's listings, and shall restore them within twenty-four (24) hours of successful re-verification. The annual notice serves as the keep-current certification request under clause 3.3.
4.5 Change-triggered re-verification. A change to a Seller's legal name, business address, tax identity, ownership, or disbursement account triggers re-verification of the changed element before the change takes effect. Disbursements to a changed disbursement account shall not resume until the changed account is re-verified.
Article 5: Notice, Cure, and Suspension
5.1 When a Seller fails to provide, verify, or keep current the information required by Article 3, the Company shall follow the sequence the Act prescribes: written notice stating the element that failed and the evidence that cures the failure; a period of ten (10) days to cure; and, if the failure is not cured, suspension of selling privileges until the Seller complies.
5.2 On suspension, the Company shall suppress the Seller's listings and shall accept no new Orders for the Seller. Orders already accepted are fulfilled or refunded, and amounts held for the Seller remain subject to the disbursement and hold rules of the Selling Terms of Service. Cure at any point lifts the suspension.
5.3 The Company shall record the notice, the deadline, and the suspension on the Verification Record.
5.4 A Seller that submits falsified verification material: including a forged identification document, a tax identity that is not the Seller's, or a bank account that does not belong to the Seller: is subject to termination without a cure period under the Seller Enforcement Policy, and the Company shall preserve the incident record for referral to law enforcement.
Article 6: Records and Responsible Roles
6.1 The Company shall retain each Verification Record, including notices, certifications, and suspension records, for five (5) years from the end of the Seller relationship, as provided in the Regulatory Record Retention statement.
6.2 The Compliance function owns seller verification. Legal owns regulator correspondence under this document, through legal@aapawz.com. Operational questions from Sellers are directed to support@aapawz.com.
Article 7: Liability
7.1 No private right. This document states the Company's compliance position under the INFORM Consumers Act. It creates no private right of action beyond what the Act provides, and no person acquires a claim against the Company under this document that the Act does not give that person.
7.2 Statutory liability preserved. Nothing in this document limits liability that the INFORM Consumers Act or other applicable law imposes and does not permit to be limited.
7.3 Exclusion of certain damages. To the fullest extent permitted by law, neither party is liable to the other for indirect, incidental, special, punitive, or consequential damages, or for lost profits, lost revenue, or loss of goodwill, arising out of or relating to this document, even if the party has been advised of the possibility of those damages.
7.4 Cap. To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Company's total liability arising out of or relating to this document shall not exceed the greater of (a) the amounts the Seller paid to the Company under the Selling Terms of Service in the twelve months before the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) one hundred dollars ($100).
7.5 Carve-outs. This Article does not limit (a) a party's indemnification obligations under this document; (b) liability for fraud or willful misconduct; (c) amounts the Seller owes for Orders, fees, chargebacks, or refunds; or (d) liability that cannot be limited under applicable law.
7.6 Essential purpose. The parties agree that this Article allocates risk between them, that it is an essential part of the basis of their bargain, and that it applies even if a limited remedy fails of its essential purpose.
Article 8: Indemnification
8.1 Duty. The Seller shall indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Company and its members, managers, employees, and agents from and against every claim, demand, action, loss, liability, judgment, settlement, cost, and expense (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to: (a) the Seller's breach of this document or of the INFORM Act Compliance Policy; (b) false, incomplete, or stale verification information the Seller supplied; (c) the Seller's Products, listings, or content the Seller submits to the Platform; and (d) the Seller's violation of any law or of the rights of any person.
8.2 Procedure. The Company shall give prompt written notice of a claim under this Article. The Seller shall control the defense with counsel reasonably acceptable to the Company. The Company may participate in the defense at its own expense. The Seller shall not settle a claim in a manner that imposes any obligation or restriction on the Company, or that does not release the Company fully, without the Company's prior written consent.
8.3 Survival. This Article survives the termination of this document.
Article 9: Enforcement and Appeals
9.1 Regulatory cooperation. The Company shall cooperate with the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general in matters under the INFORM Consumers Act, including by producing verification procedures and Verification Records as the Act and lawful process require.
9.2 Investigation. The Company may investigate any suspected failure of verification under this document. The Seller shall cooperate with an investigation and shall produce the records this document requires the Seller to keep.
9.3 Notice and cure. Notice, cure, and suspension follow Article 5. No cure period applies to falsified verification material, fraud, or unlawful conduct.
9.4 Internal escalation. A verification failure that is not cured within the period in Article 5 escalates from the Compliance function to Legal. A regulator inquiry under this document escalates to Legal on the day it is received.
9.5 Appeal. A Seller may appeal a verification measure by written notice to legal@aapawz.com within thirty (30) days of the measure, stating the grounds and attaching the records relied on. The appeal is decided by a person who did not make the original decision. The Company's decision on appeal is final. A measure remains in effect during an appeal unless the Company directs otherwise in writing.
9.6 No waiver by delay. The Company's delay in acting on a violation is not a waiver of the violation or of any later violation of the same kind.
Article 10: Term and Termination
10.1 Currency. This statement takes effect on the Effective Date in the caption and remains in effect while the Company operates the Platform as a marketplace for third-party Sellers. The Company shall review this statement at least annually, and on any amendment of the INFORM Consumers Act or its implementing guidance, under the Regulatory Change Management statement.
10.2 Termination of a Seller's participation. Termination of a Seller's participation is governed by the Selling Terms of Service. Termination does not end the Company's record-retention duty under Article 6 or the Seller's indemnification duty under Article 8.
10.3 Survival. The Definitions, Liability, Indemnification, Enforcement and Appeals (for measures taken before termination), Dispute Resolution, and General Provisions Articles survive termination.
Article 11: Dispute Resolution
11.1 Any dispute arising out of or relating to this document, or to the relationship it governs, is governed by the Dispute Resolution Policy, which is incorporated into this document by reference.
Article 12: General Provisions
12.1 Amendments. The Company may amend this document by posting the amended document in the Document Center and giving notice to the Seller at the email address in the Account. An amendment that materially increases the Seller's fees or obligations takes effect thirty (30) days after notice; other amendments take effect on posting. Continued use of the Platform after the effective date of an amendment is acceptance of it. If the Seller does not accept an amendment, the Seller's remedy is to terminate under Article 10 before the amendment takes effect.
12.2 Notices. (a) Legal notices under this document shall be sent to legal@aapawz.com. Operational notices and all other communications shall be sent to support@aapawz.com. A notice to the Company is effective when the Company acknowledges receipt or, for email, one business day after sending, whichever is earlier. (b) Notices to the Seller are effective when sent to the email address in the Account or posted to the Account's notice facility in the portal, whichever occurs first. The Seller shall keep the email address in the Account current. (c) DMCA notices are given as provided in the DMCA and Copyright Policy, to the designated agent at legal@aapawz.com.
12.3 Governing law. This document is governed by the laws of the State of Tennessee, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Subject to the Dispute Resolution Policy, any proceeding arising out of this document shall be brought in the state or federal courts located in Shelby County, Tennessee, and the parties consent to personal jurisdiction there.
12.4 Severability. If any provision of this document is held unenforceable, the provision shall be enforced to the fullest extent permitted, and the remaining provisions continue in full effect.
12.5 Entire agreement. This document, together with the documents it incorporates by reference, is the entire agreement between the Company and the Seller for the subject it governs and supersedes every prior or contemporaneous statement, communication, or agreement on that subject, whether written or oral.
12.6 Assignment. The Seller shall not assign this document or any right or obligation under it without the Company's prior written consent, and an assignment without consent is void. The Company may assign this document to an affiliate or in connection with a sale of all or part of its business, on notice to the Seller.
12.7 Waiver. A waiver of any provision of this document is effective only in writing and only for the instance stated. No waiver is a waiver of any other provision or instance.
12.8 Interpretation. Headings are for convenience only. "Including" means "including without limitation." This document shall not be construed against a party as its drafter. The English-language text controls over any translation.
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