Terms of Service

These Terms are a binding contract between you and ThePetSwap LLC when you accept them through the Service. Section 27 contains an individual arbitration agreement and class-action waiver, with a 30-day opt-out right and exceptions for small claims and certain nonwaivable remedies. Please read that section carefully. These Terms govern use of ThePetSwap’s app, website, waitlist, community tools, and related services. Feature-specific provisions apply only when the corresponding functionality is made available.

Agreement and Scope

These Terms of Service (the “Terms”) govern access to and use of services operated by ThePetSwap LLC, a California limited liability company (“ThePetSwap,” “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). “Service” means the ThePetSwap mobile application, website, waitlist, account and profile features, community point ledger, messaging, verification, support, reporting, moderation, and other features that Company makes available from time to time. By clicking or tapping the acceptance control presented through the Service, including before posting a request, making an offer, or accepting a swap, you agree to these Terms.

If a feature has additional posted rules, such as a promotion or referral rule, those additional terms apply to that feature. If an additional term conflicts with these Terms, the more specific term controls for that feature to the extent of the conflict.

Eligibility and Geographic Availability

You must be at least 18 years old and legally capable of entering a contract. The Service is intended for users in the United States and may be opened by Company only in locations where Company chooses to operate. Company may use age, location, verification, or other eligibility controls. If Company learns that an account belongs to a minor, it may disable the account and delete or restrict associated information subject to legitimate safety, fraud, legal, and record-integrity needs.

The Service initially supports dogs and cats unless Company states otherwise. Particular features may have additional pet-health disclosure, geographic, or verification requirements shown in the Service before a member uses that feature. ThePetSwap requires members to provide each pet’s vaccination status, but does not currently require any particular vaccination or vaccination record.

Accounts and Account Security

You must provide accurate and current account information, maintain the confidentiality of your credentials, and promptly notify Company through the support channel made available in the Service if you reasonably believe your account has been compromised. You may maintain only one personal account unless Company expressly authorizes otherwise. Company may require reasonable information to verify account ownership before restoring or changing access.

What ThePetSwap Does - and Does Not Do

ThePetSwap provides digital tools that allow members to find one another, communicate, maintain profiles and pet information, record community points, arrange pet-care activities, and use safety, verification, support, and reporting features. Members decide whether to interact, whom to select, whether a proposed arrangement is suitable, the details of care, and whether to continue or end a relationship.

• Company does not take custody of pets and is not present while members provide care.

• Company does not employ members to provide pet care, set their work schedules, supervise the manner in which care is performed, or guarantee the quality of care.

• Company does not warrant that any member, pet, residence, profile, verification result, review, or proposed arrangement is safe, suitable, truthful, insured, or free of risk.

• Company may establish platform rules, administer the point ledger, operate verification and moderation features, address reports, and enforce these Terms. Those platform functions do not make Company the provider of the underlying member-to-member pet care.

Legal classifications depend on applicable law and the Service’s actual operation, not labels alone. These Terms describe the allocation of responsibilities based on the product model stated above and do not waive any legal duty that cannot lawfully be waived.

Profiles, Pets, Homes, and Care Information

You are responsible for information you provide about yourself, your pets, your home, availability, routines, supplements and instructions, behavioral history, veterinary information, access instructions, emergency contacts, and any other matter material to a proposed care arrangement. By creating a pet profile or arranging care, you represent that you own the pet or have authority from the pet’s lawful owner to arrange the care and provide the necessary instructions and emergency information. Before a swap begins, disclose facts that a reasonable member would consider important to safety or care, including aggression, escape risk, significant health conditions, known or suspected contagious illness, parasites or recent exposure, supplements and instructions relevant to the requested care, dangerous conditions, and material sanitation issues.

If the Service asks about children in a household, it may request broad age bands rather than names or exact birth dates and may limit that information to members who are arranging a particular swap. A pet-level statement such as whether a pet is friendly with children is distinct from household information about children.

Providing each pet’s vaccination status is required. Uploading a vaccination record is optional. ThePetSwap does not require particular vaccinations. Members decide whether the vaccination and health information provided is sufficient for a proposed swap. Displaying that information is not a veterinary diagnosis or a representation that an animal is free from disease or risk.

Identity and Address Verification

Company may offer or require identity or address verification for some or all users or features. Verification may involve a government identification document, a selfie, and proof of name and address. Unless Company expressly states that a different method is in use, verification is intended to confirm specified identity or address information and is not a criminal background check, financial check, animal-safety evaluation, home inspection, or endorsement of a member.

A verification badge or status means only what the Service expressly states was checked. Do not rely on a badge as a guarantee that another person, pet, residence, or arrangement is safe or suitable. If Company later introduces automated facial matching or another materially different verification technology, Company will provide any additional disclosures or consents required before using that technology.

Swap Points

Swap Points are internal accounting units used to record participation in the ThePetSwap community. Points have no cash redemption value, are not a bank deposit, and are not a promise by Company to pay money. Except as Company expressly permits within the Service, points cannot be transferred outside an authorized Service transaction, sold to another person, or redeemed for cash.

Points may be earned through eligible community activity or awarded through an announced promotion or referral program. Points cannot be purchased from Company or another member. Points do not expire.

Company may credit, debit, reverse, freeze, or correct points where reasonably necessary to implement a confirmed swap, an announced promotion, a cancellation rule, a safety decision, fraud prevention, abuse prevention, a system correction, or these Terms. Company may request taxpayer information or issue an information return if Company determines in good faith that tax law requires it. Each member remains responsible for the member’s own tax obligations.

Forming a Swap

A swap is formed only through the acceptance process made available by the Service. Members remain responsible for agreeing on dates, access, keys or codes, handoff, pet routines, feeding, supplements and instructions, emergency contacts, veterinary information, transportation, and other care details. A listing, profile, request, match, recommendation, verification result, or message is not a guarantee by Company that a swap should proceed.

The Service currently supports four types of care: Dog Walking, Drop-in Visits, Boarding, and House Sitting. Dog Walking and Drop-in Visits are up to 30 minutes per walk or visit, with no more than three walks or visits per day. Pet transportation is not included. For Boarding, the Pet Owner is responsible for drop-off and pickup.

Before care begins, each member should evaluate the other member and the proposed arrangement independently. A meet-and-greet is highly recommended when feasible so both members can decide whether the pet, home, instructions, and circumstances are acceptable.

Pet Owner and Helping Swapper Responsibilities

The Pet Owner must provide materially accurate pet, health, behavior, supplements and instructions, feeding, access, emergency, and veterinarian information and the items reasonably needed for the agreed care. The Helping Swapper must use reasonable care, follow material instructions to the extent consistent with immediate safety, communicate material problems, and avoid exposing a pet or residence to unreasonable risk.

• Keys, access cards, gate codes, alarm codes, and similar access information must be used only for the confirmed swap and must not be copied, disclosed, retained, or used afterward except as reasonably necessary to return them or address an emergency.

• If the Service asks whether cameras or other recording devices are present, the member responsible for the home must answer accurately and update the answer when necessary for a particular swap. The Service does not require members to list each camera’s exact location. Cameras and other recording devices are prohibited in bathrooms and in areas used for sleeping or changing clothes. Members must comply with applicable notice, consent, audio-recording, and privacy laws. Camera information is made available only to the confirmed Helping Swapper when relevant to the care arrangement.

• A member who transports an animal is responsible for using reasonable care and complying with applicable driving, restraint, and safety laws.

• Members should confirm their own renters, homeowners, auto, umbrella, pet, or other insurance and any exclusions that may apply. Company does not determine whether a member’s policy covers a swap.

Cancellations, Meet-and-Greets, and Safety Cancellations

Unless the Service displays a different rule before both members accept a particular swap, the following rule applies to a points-based care arrangement:

• More than 24 hours before care begins: a cancellation reverses the points reserved for the unperformed swap and does not trigger the late-cancellation adjustment.

• Within 24 hours before care begins: if the Pet Owner cancels, 30% of the points allocated to the confirmed swap will be credited to the Helping Swapper and the remaining 70% will be returned to the Pet Owner. If the Helping Swapper cancels, all reserved points will be returned to the Pet Owner and the Helping Swapper will receive no points for the unperformed care. These rules apply only when the applicable point amount or calculation was disclosed before confirmation.

• Meet-and-greet: A meet-and-greet is highly recommended before care begins when feasible. It is not mandatory and does not create an exception to the late-cancellation adjustment. Members should cancel more than 24 hours before care begins if they decide not to proceed, unless a reported serious safety issue requires review under the safety-cancellation rule below.

• Safety cancellation: if a member reports dangerous or aggressive animal behavior, a materially unsafe or unsanitary condition, a credible animal-welfare concern, harassment, threats, or another objectively serious safety issue, any automatic late-cancellation adjustment is paused while Company considers the report. Company may request available information from both members and make a point-ledger decision based on the record reasonably available to it.

“Materially unsafe” means a condition presenting a reasonably apparent risk of injury, unlawful conduct, or inability to provide the agreed care. “Materially unsanitary” means a condition materially inconsistent with safe occupancy or pet care, rather than a minor housekeeping disagreement. These standards are applied to the circumstances, not as guarantees that Company can determine every disputed fact with certainty.

Early Termination After Care Begins

Routine cancellation is not available once care begins. A member may nevertheless end care early when reasonably necessary for safety, animal welfare, emergency circumstances, or by mutual agreement. Company may adjust points to reflect care actually performed, a safety determination, a material breach, or a reasonable allocation of the disrupted arrangement. Company is not required to make a finding about civil or criminal liability in order to administer the point ledger.

Emergency Pet Handoff and Veterinary Decisions

ThePetSwap is not an emergency service. Submitting a report or using a support feature does not contact 911, law enforcement, animal control, a veterinarian, or another emergency responder. For an immediate human emergency, call 911. For a pet emergency, contact a veterinarian or other appropriate emergency service.

If care has begun and the Helping Swapper reasonably believes they must leave or cannot safely continue, the Helping Swapper should attempt to contact the Pet Owner and the listed emergency contact unless doing so would create an immediate danger. If the Pet Owner cannot be reached or refuses a reasonably necessary handoff, the Helping Swapper may contact a listed veterinarian, emergency veterinary provider, animal control, emergency boarding facility, law enforcement, or another appropriate service as reasonably necessary for the animal’s immediate safety.

The pet owner is responsible for reasonable third-party costs incurred for necessary veterinary care, emergency boarding, transport, or other emergency pet care, except to the extent a final allocation is required because another person’s wrongful conduct caused those costs. Nothing in these Terms authorizes abandonment, unnecessary surrender, or unnecessary disposition of an animal.

Messages and Contact-Information Filtering

The Service may automatically detect and restrict apparent telephone numbers, email addresses, or similar contact information before a swap is confirmed in order to reduce off-platform paid arrangements, circumvention of the point system, spam, fraud, and safety risk. Automated filtering may be imperfect and is not a promise that all prohibited content will be detected.

Company does not represent that it routinely reads private conversations. Company may access limited message content when reasonably necessary to address a report, safety or fraud concern, support request, suspected Terms violation, security incident, legal process, or other legitimate Service need. Company limits such access to authorized personnel and to information reasonably necessary for the purpose. Company may withhold or delay notice of a review if notice could compromise safety, privacy, fraud prevention, an investigation, security, or legal process. These Terms do not promise a particular logging screen, approval workflow, notice sequence, or appeal mechanism unless that mechanism is actually implemented and separately described.

Reviews, Reports, and Disputed Allegations

Public reviews should be based on first-hand experience and should use factual descriptions and genuine opinions rather than knowingly false assertions. Detailed allegations of aggression, neglect, abuse, harassment, theft, dangerous conditions, or other sensitive misconduct should be submitted through the private reporting channel when available rather than used as a public accusation.

Company may receive reports, request information, restrict or remove content, preserve evidence, adjust platform access, or decline to publish material. Company is not a court and does not guarantee the truth of a disputed allegation. A moderation or point decision is an administrative platform decision and does not adjudicate legal liability between members.

User Content and Operational License

You retain ownership of content you submit. You grant Company a worldwide, nonexclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, format, transmit, display, process, moderate, secure, back up, and otherwise use your content to operate, provide, improve, protect, and enforce the Service and to comply with law. This operational license includes the limited right to allow hosting, infrastructure, messaging, support, security, and other service providers to process the content on Company’s behalf for those purposes.

The operational license does not authorize Company to use a member’s identifiable content in advertising, social media promotion, App Store marketing materials, endorsements, or other promotional campaigns without separate permission where permission is required. Company may use deidentified or aggregated information to the extent permitted by law and the Privacy Policy.

Prohibited Conduct

• Sell or solicit paid pet-care services through the Service.

• Arrange or provide injections, forced or invasive medication, wound care, post-surgical care, medical procedures, continuous medical monitoring, or care for a serious condition requiring professional supervision through the Service. Routine supplements or simple oral medication may be requested only when clearly disclosed in the pet’s Supplements and instructions. A Helping Swapper may decline any such request.

• Dogs with known aggressive behavior toward people or other animals are not permitted on the Service and may not be listed or included in a swap.

• Harass, threaten, stalk, discriminate unlawfully, impersonate, defraud, or endanger another person or animal.

• Provide materially false information about identity, address, verification, a pet, a home, safety, care, or availability.

• Misuse reports, reviews, invitations, messages, points, promotions, or verification tools.

• Upload unlawful, infringing, malicious, deceptive, privacy-invasive, or exploitative content.

• Scrape, probe, disrupt, bypass access controls, introduce malware, or attempt unauthorized access.

• Use invitation or messaging features for bulk, deceptive, or unsolicited communications.

• Create multiple accounts to obtain duplicate promotions, manipulate points, evade enforcement, or mislead other members.

Safety, Moderation, Suspension, and Termination

Company may warn, restrict features, pause a swap, adjust points, suspend new activity, revoke verification, remove content, preserve information, or suspend or terminate an account when Company reasonably believes action is appropriate for a material Terms violation, fraud, safety risk, unlawful activity, repeated misuse, security risk, or protection of members, animals, or the Service.

Where practical and consistent with safety, privacy, fraud prevention, and legal obligations, Company may give a concise explanation and an opportunity to provide relevant information. Company does not promise a formal evidentiary hearing or appellate process. If a restriction occurs during active care, Company may preserve limited functionality or communication reasonably necessary to complete a safe handoff, unless immediate restriction is reasonably necessary.

Third-Party Services and Vendors

The Service may rely on third-party providers for database hosting, file storage, app distribution, authentication, maps, push notifications, web hosting, email, support, security, or other functions. Third-party services may have their own terms and privacy practices. Company is responsible for its own obligations but does not control a third-party provider’s independent service, outage, or policy change.

Apple App Store and Google Play

If you obtain the ThePetSwap app through Apple’s App Store and Company does not provide Apple with a separate custom end-user license agreement, Apple’s standard end-user license agreement applies to the license to the app itself, while these Terms govern your use of the ThePetSwap Service. If Company later supplies a custom Apple EULA, that EULA will include the minimum terms required by Apple and will be presented through the applicable App Store process.

If you obtain the app through Google Play, the app license and distribution relationship are also subject to applicable Google Play terms. Any separate developer EULA is between Company and the user, not Google, except to the extent Google’s terms expressly provide otherwise. You must comply with third-party platform terms that apply to your device or use of the app.

Privacy

The Privacy Policy is a separate notice explaining Company’s personal-information practices. It is not incorporated into these Terms as a contractual warranty of every operational detail. Nothing in these Terms reduces a privacy right or remedy that applicable law provides. If the Privacy Policy and these Terms address the same personal-information practice differently, the Privacy Policy governs that practice to the extent required by law.

No Company Insurance

Company does not provide pet, veterinary, property, renters, homeowners, automobile, health, workers’ compensation, professional, cyber, or general liability insurance for members, animals, homes, or swaps. Members are responsible for evaluating their own coverage and exclusions.

Assumption of Member-to-Member Risks

Pet care and home access involve inherent and ordinary risks, including bites, scratches, other injury, allergies, illness, escape, disappearance or death of an animal, veterinary emergencies, errors involving supplements or owner instructions, damage to property, lost or misused keys or codes, theft allegations, transportation incidents, unsafe or unsanitary premises, interpersonal conflict, and inaccurate member information. Each member decides whether to participate and assumes the ordinary risks of interacting with another member, another member’s pet, or another member’s residence, subject to rights that cannot lawfully be waived.

Release of Company Parties for Member-to-Member Events

To the maximum extent permitted by law, you release ThePetSwap LLC and its members, managers, officers, employees, agents, affiliates, licensors, and service providers acting on its behalf (the “Company Parties”) from claims and liabilities arising principally from the acts or omissions of another member, another member’s pet, another member’s residence, or a member-to-member care arrangement, including claims involving personal injury, pet injury or death, property damage, theft allegations, access to premises, veterinary decisions, transportation, or disputes between members.

CALIFORNIA CIVIL CODE SECTION 1542 WAIVER

To the extent this release is valid under California law, you waive California Civil Code section 1542 with respect to claims covered by the release. Section 1542 generally preserves unknown claims that, if known, would have materially affected a settlement or release.

This release does not apply to Company’s own fraud, willful misconduct, gross negligence to the extent it cannot lawfully be released, or any other liability that applicable law does not permit Company to disclaim or release.

This Section allocates risk between you and Company. It does not release another member from that member’s own legal responsibility to you.

Disclaimers

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE.” COMPANY DOES NOT GUARANTEE CONTINUOUS AVAILABILITY, A PARTICULAR MATCH, A PARTICULAR MEMBER OR PET, THE ACCURACY OF MEMBER CONTENT, A SUCCESSFUL CARE ARRANGEMENT, THE SAFETY OR SUITABILITY OF A PERSON OR RESIDENCE, INSURANCE COVERAGE, OR ANY PARTICULAR OUTCOME. VERIFICATION, FILTERING, REPORTING, REVIEWS, AND MODERATION MAY REDUCE SOME RISKS BUT DO NOT ELIMINATE THEM. NOTHING IN THESE TERMS DISCLAIMS A WARRANTY OR DUTY THAT APPLICABLE LAW DOES NOT PERMIT COMPANY TO DISCLAIM.

Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, COMPANY PARTIES WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING FROM THE SERVICE OR A MEMBER-TO-MEMBER EVENT. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE AGGREGATE LIABILITY OF THE COMPANY PARTIES FOR CLAIMS ARISING FROM THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) $100 OR (B) THE AMOUNT OF CASH FEES YOU PAID DIRECTLY TO COMPANY FOR THE SERVICE DURING THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM. THIS LIMIT DOES NOT APPLY TO COMPANY’S FRAUD, WILLFUL MISCONDUCT, OR LIABILITY THAT CANNOT LAWFULLY BE LIMITED.

Indemnity

To the extent permitted by law, you will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the Company Parties from third-party claims, losses, liabilities, damages, and reasonable costs arising from your pet, your residence, your care activities, your content, your material breach of these Terms, your unlawful conduct, or your infringement of another person’s rights. This obligation does not apply to the extent a claim results from Company’s own fraud, willful misconduct, or nonwaivable legal responsibility.

Individual Arbitration and Class-Action Waiver

PLEASE READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY

It affects legal rights. Unless you timely opt out, most disputes between you and Company must be resolved by individual arbitration rather than by a judge or jury, subject to the exceptions below.

27.1 Informal notice first. Before filing arbitration, either party must send the other a written notice describing the claimant, the factual basis of the dispute, the relief requested, and contact information. A member may send notice through the support channel made available in the Service or through the current contact channel at thepetswap.com. The parties will have 30 days after receipt to attempt an informal resolution.

27.2 Agreement to arbitrate. Except for excluded claims below, you and Company agree that any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its then-current Consumer Arbitration Rules, as modified by this Section. The Federal Arbitration Act governs the interpretation and enforcement of this arbitration agreement.

27.3 Consumer fees and location. Arbitration filing and administrative fees will be allocated as required by the AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules and applicable law. The arbitration may be conducted by video, telephone, documents, or at a reasonably convenient location consistent with those rules. The arbitrator may award the same individual remedies a court could award, subject to lawful limits in these Terms.

27.4 Excluded claims. Either party may bring an eligible individual claim in small claims court. Either party may seek temporary or preliminary injunctive relief in court when necessary to protect account security, intellectual property, confidential information, or safety pending arbitration. A request for public injunctive relief that California law does not permit to be waived or arbitrated will proceed in court to the extent required by then-current law, and the parties may request a stay of that portion while arbitrable issues are resolved.

27.5 Individual proceedings only. To the maximum extent permitted by law, arbitration will proceed only on an individual basis. Neither party may arbitrate as a class, collective, consolidated, coordinated, mass representative, or private-attorney-general proceeding except to the extent a particular form of relief cannot lawfully be waived. The arbitrator may award relief only to the individual claimant and only to the extent necessary to resolve that claimant’s individual claim.

27.6 Opt out. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement by sending Company a clear written opt-out notice within 30 days after you first accept Terms containing this arbitration provision. The notice must identify your account and state that you opt out of the arbitration agreement. Opting out does not affect the rest of these Terms.

27.7 Severability. If a court determines that a particular limitation in this Section is unenforceable as to a specific claim or remedy, that claim or remedy will proceed in court after arbitrable matters are resolved, while the remainder of this Section remains effective to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Governing Law and Court Venue for Non-Arbitrable Claims

California law governs these Terms, except to the extent federal law controls. Subject to nonwaivable consumer rights and Section 27, exclusive venue for a dispute that is not subject to arbitration will be the state or federal courts located in Los Angeles County, California. This forum choice does not deprive a consumer of a venue right that applicable law makes nonwaivable.

Changes to the Service and Terms

Company may change the Service or these Terms. For a material Terms change, Company will provide conspicuous notice and may require affirmative acceptance of a new version before a member uses specified transactional features, including posting a request, making an offer, or accepting a swap. Company may retain an acceptance record identifying the account, Terms version, date, and time. A change will not retroactively alter a completed transaction except as required for safety, law, fraud prevention, system correction, or the members’ agreement.

Account Deletion, Records, and Legal Holds

Members may use deletion tools Company makes available. Deletion and retention are described in the Privacy Policy. Company may retain or minimize information reasonably necessary for safety reports, fraud prevention, dispute records, legal compliance, a legal hold, another member’s independent transaction history, and system integrity. A backup-restoration process may temporarily restore data in a controlled recovery environment, but data previously designated for deletion should not be restored to ordinary member access and should be reprocessed under the deletion controls used for recovery.

Legal Requests and Emergencies

Company may preserve or disclose information with consent, in response to valid legal process, or in a good-faith emergency involving danger of death or serious physical injury to the extent permitted by law. An informal request from law enforcement does not by itself require Company to disclose private message content. Company may preserve responsive information while the appropriate legal process is evaluated.

General Terms

These Terms are the entire contractual agreement between you and Company concerning the Service, except for any feature-specific agreement that expressly supplements them. The Privacy Policy is a separate privacy notice rather than a contractual warranty. If a provision is unenforceable, it will be limited or severed to the minimum extent necessary and the remainder will continue. Failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. You may not assign your account or these Terms without Company’s consent. Company may assign these Terms in connection with a financing, merger, reorganization, sale, or transfer of the Service, subject to applicable law.

Contact

Routine support, privacy requests, legal notices, and arbitration opt-outs may be submitted through the support channel made available in the Service or through the current contact channel at thepetswap.com. Company intentionally does not publish a member-manager’s private residential address in these Terms. A person who requires a current nonresidential mailing address for formal legal notice or service should request it through Company’s published contact channel; nothing in this paragraph limits any method of service authorized by law.