Terms of Service

1. Agreement and eligibility

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are a binding agreement between you and Pawly governing your use of Pawly’s website, accounts, pet-care marketplace, caregiver application, support tools, and related services (the “Services”). By creating an account, applying as a caregiver, requesting or accepting a booking, or otherwise using the Services, you agree to these Terms and the Privacy Policy.

You must be at least 18 years old and legally able to enter contracts. You must provide accurate, current information, maintain account security, and notify Pawly promptly of suspected unauthorized access.

2. Pawly’s marketplace role

Pawly provides technology to help pet parents discover, evaluate, communicate with, and book independent pet-care providers. Unless Pawly expressly states otherwise in writing, caregivers are independent service providers—not Pawly employees, agents, joint venturers, or franchisees.

Pawly may provide verification status, matching, payments, care tools, support, and safety processes. Verification reduces uncertainty but does not guarantee a person’s identity, conduct, qualifications, future behavior, home conditions, or fitness for every pet. Pet parents remain responsible for assessing fit and sharing complete care information.

3. Accounts and acceptable use

You may not impersonate another person; create misleading profiles; scrape or reverse engineer the Services; introduce malware; evade fees; manipulate reviews or ranking; harass others; discriminate unlawfully; misuse personal information; submit fraudulent evidence; or use Pawly for illegal, unsafe, abusive, or exploitative conduct.

You may not share another person’s private address, identity documents, screening information, medical information, messages, or media except as needed for an authorized booking, safety report, legal process, or with valid consent.

4. Bookings, pricing, payments, and payouts

A booking is formed when the applicable request is accepted or confirmed through the Services. Review the displayed service, schedule, pets, caregiver, price, fees, cancellation terms, and protection summary before confirming.

• Payments: Pawly uses Stripe-hosted services to collect or store payment methods and facilitate caregiver payouts. You authorize applicable charges, adjustments, refunds, or payout offsets consistent with the booking and these Terms.
• Fees: Pawly will display fees before confirmation. Caregiver take-home amounts and platform fees may differ. Taxes may apply.
• Cancellations: the policy displayed for the booking applies. Pawly may support fair rebooking, replacement care, refunds, credits, or adjustments based on timing, evidence, service delivery, safety, and law.
• Off-platform activity: moving a Pawly-related booking or payment off-platform may remove payment, support, evidence, and protection features and may lead to restrictions.

5. Caregiver obligations

Caregivers must provide truthful application information; maintain required licenses, insurance, references, credentials, and tax information; complete required identity and screening steps; disclose relevant household or care conditions; and keep availability and capacity accurate.

Caregivers must personally provide accepted care unless the pet parent explicitly approves a substitute who has separately completed required verification. Caregivers may not exceed approved capacity, conceal other animals or caregivers, or accept pets they cannot safely accommodate.

Caregivers must follow care plans, lawful medication instructions, access instructions, communication expectations, emergency contacts, incident procedures, and animal-welfare laws. They must promptly report escapes, injuries, illness, bites, property damage, missed care, or suspected abuse and preserve relevant evidence.

A screening provider’s “consider” result is not an automatic rejection. Pawly uses a separate human-review process and may pause activation during incomplete verification, disputes, suspensions, safety reviews, or overdue re-screening.

6. Pet-parent obligations

Pet parents must provide complete information about each pet’s health, medications, vaccination status where relevant, behavior, bite or escape history, triggers, compatibility, routines, and emergency contacts. Material risks must be disclosed before acceptance.

You must provide safe, lawful access and sufficient supplies, medications, food, equipment, and instructions. You are responsible for veterinary and other pet-related expenses unless a displayed protection program expressly states otherwise.

7. Verification, incidents, and protection

Identity verification, criminal screening, reference checks, skills verification, payout readiness, and Pawly approval are separate statuses. Badges describe completed steps, not guarantees.

Any protection, reimbursement, or coverage program is subject to separately displayed terms, limits, deductibles, exclusions, documentation rules, and eligibility requirements. It is not pet insurance, homeowner’s insurance, renter’s insurance, or workers’ compensation.

For an incident, put immediate safety first, seek appropriate veterinary or emergency help, notify the other participant and Pawly, and retain messages, photos, care records, GPS or upload status, receipts, and medical records.

8. Content, reviews, and intellectual property

You retain ownership of content you submit and grant Pawly a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, display, transmit, format, and use it as necessary to operate, secure, support, and improve the Services and display authorized profiles or reviews.

Reviews must reflect genuine experiences and may not contain threats, discriminatory content, confidential information, manipulated evidence, or irrelevant promotion. The Pawly name, software, design, and original content are owned by Pawly or its licensors.

9. Pawly Copilot and automated features

Copilot may suggest services, explain displayed pricing or policies, and assist with support or booking preparation. Outputs can be incomplete or incorrect. Confirm important booking, safety, medical, legal, financial, and coverage details with an appropriate human or professional.

10. Suspension and termination

You may stop using Pawly and request account deletion, subject to open bookings, disputes, balances, safety investigations, and legal retention duties. Pawly may restrict or terminate access when reasonably necessary for safety, fraud prevention, legal compliance, nonpayment, material breach, repeated unreliability, expired verification, or marketplace risk.

11. Disclaimers and limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Services are provided “as is” and “as available.” Pawly does not warrant uninterrupted availability, a particular match, caregiver earnings, booking volume, screening outcome, or that every user will act as represented.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Pawly will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, punitive, or consequential damages, or for lost profits, data, goodwill, or opportunities. Pawly’s aggregate liability will not exceed the greater of the fees you paid Pawly during the six months before the claim or $100. These limits do not apply where prohibited by law.

12. Disputes and governing law

Before filing a claim, contact Pawly through the Support Center and provide enough information for a good-faith resolution attempt. Nothing prevents you from reporting concerns to a regulator or law-enforcement authority.

Unless applicable law requires otherwise, these Terms are governed by California law, and claims will be brought in state or federal courts located in Santa Clara County, California. Mandatory consumer rights remain unaffected.

13. Changes and general terms

Pawly may update these Terms as the Services or legal requirements change. We will post updated Terms with a new effective date and provide additional notice when required. If a provision is unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain effective.

14. Contact us

Questions about these Terms may be submitted through the Pawly Support Center. For urgent threats to a pet or person, contact local emergency or veterinary services first.