Terms of Service

These terms are a contract between you and PAWCAP (the Partnership for Animal Wellbeing & Credentialed Animal Professionals), [legal entity name and mailing address] ("PAWCAP", "we", "us"). They cover pawcap.org, the Find a Trainer site and its booking pages, the installable app, our emails, and every feature we offer through them (the "Service"). By creating an account or using the Service you agree to them. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

Who can use PAWCAP

• You must be at least 18 years old.

• Membership is for animal professionals who hold a credential from a recognized organization, and for the staff of those organizations. We verify credentials with the issuing organization or by hand, and we may decline or pause an account when a credential cannot be confirmed or has ended.

• Pet owners and other visitors may use the public pages, book a professional, and message a professional without an account.

• You must give true information and keep your account details current. One person, one account.

Membership, fees, and billing

• Membership is billed once a year in US dollars. Members of a partner organization that shares its member list with us pay no membership fee. Current prices are on the Pricing page.

• Plus is an optional yearly add-on. It renews each year until you cancel. Cancelling stops the next renewal; the current year is not refunded.

• A card you put on file during sign-up is charged only when your application is approved.

• Membership fees are not refundable. Taxes are added where the law requires.

• PAWCAP takes a 10 percent platform fee on paid course sign-ups and paid mentoring sessions. We take no fee on bookings made through your scheduler, on free courses, or on free sessions. Organizations set their own CE review fees; we add nothing to them.

• Prices may change. We tell you by email at least 30 days before a change takes effect for you.

Your credential and your access

Full access to the Service depends on holding a current credential. When your last credential ends, or its organization tells us it is no longer in good standing, your account pauses. While paused you keep your settings, your billing, your meetings for 30 days, and the ability to download your clients and bookings. Nothing is deleted and no booking is cancelled by a pause. Access returns when the credential is renewed.

Your content

• You own what you post: articles, courses, forum posts, messages, files, and your profile. You give PAWCAP a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, copy, display, and distribute that content as needed to run the Service, including showing public content to visitors, sending it in the weekly newsletter, and generating previews. The license ends when you delete the content, except for copies kept in backups for a limited time and content others have already received.

• You are responsible for having the rights to what you post, including photos, video, slide decks, and handouts.

• You must not post content that is unlawful, infringing, hateful, harassing, sexually explicit, or that gives veterinary medical advice you are not licensed to give.

• Courses, articles, and forum posts are reviewed by PAWCAP staff or organization staff. We may remove content that breaks these terms or an organization's rules.

Bookings, payments, and your clients

• The scheduler, booking pages, messages, and website chat are tools for your own business. The contract for a session, class, or course is between you and your client. PAWCAP is not a party to it and does not guarantee attendance, payment, or results.

• Payments go through your own Stripe or PayPal account. Their terms apply to you. PAWCAP never holds your clients' card details.

• You set your own prices, cancellation terms, and taxes, and you are responsible for collecting and remitting the taxes you owe.

• You must treat the personal information of your clients, their animals, and other members with care and only for the purpose it was shared. See the Privacy Policy.

Community rules

• Real names only. Every post, reply, and comment carries your name and credential.

• Be useful and be kind. Upvote what helps. Report what does not.

• No spam, no scraping, no mass messaging. Daily limits on new conversations are part of the Service.

• Do not try to reach another member's private data, bypass access rules, or disrupt the Service.

• Organization staff moderate their own private spaces. PAWCAP staff moderate everything else and can pin, lock, hide, or remove content, and suspend accounts that break these rules.

Organizations

A partner organization that shares a member list with us confirms which people hold its credential. It is responsible for the accuracy of that list and for having the right to share it. An organization is responsible for the CE decisions, course approvals, surveys, and moderation it performs through the Service.

Sponsors and advertising

PAWCAP shows a small number of clearly marked sponsored placements: a sponsor in the weekly newsletter, a featured course or event, or a professional boost in Find a Trainer. Search ranking and the Mentors list are never for sale. Sponsors agree to separate terms.

Our rights and limits

• The Service, its design, software, and trademarks belong to PAWCAP or its licensors. You may not copy or resell them.

• We may change or retire features. We will not remove a paid feature during a paid year without a refund of the unused portion for that feature.

• The Service is provided "as is". To the extent the law allows, we disclaim warranties of any kind, and our total liability to you for any claim is limited to the fees you paid us in the 12 months before the claim.

• We are not liable for the acts of members, organizations, clients, sponsors, or outside services such as Stripe, PayPal, Google, Microsoft, Cloudflare, or your email tool.

Ending your account

• You can stop using the Service at any time. Ask us by email to close your account and we remove your profile, listing, and private content within 30 days, keeping only what the law or our finance records require.

• We may suspend or close an account that breaks these terms, after telling you why when the law allows.

• Learners keep access to courses they enrolled in even if the author's account closes.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. For a change that matters we tell you by email or in the app at least 30 days before it takes effect. Using the Service after that date means you accept the new terms.

Law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of [State], United States. Before any claim, you agree to contact us at hello@pawcap.org and give us 30 days to work it out.

Contact

PAWCAP, [legal entity name and mailing address]. Email hello@pawcap.org, or use the chat button on pawcap.org.