📜 Terms & Conditions

Any agreements or bookings entered into through the Platform are between the pet owner and pet sitter. Once you complete a booking, you agree to the terms of that booking.

• Pet sitters may generate quotes for pet owners
• A booking is formed once the pet sitter and pet owner agree to a time period, a pet owner accepts a pet sitter's quote and payment is made by the pet owner as per the process described in clause 4.2 below.

MyPetFriends does not guarantee that a booking will be accepted or completed.

Payments are facilitated through an independent third-party escrow service (TradeSafe). As soon as a pet owner agrees to a booking, it must secure the booking by paying the agreed amount to the third party escrow service. You agree to the escrow provider's terms and conditions when making this payment, available here. If you do not accept those terms, you can choose not to make the payment. The escrow provider is responsible for payment processing, fund holding, and release of funds in accordance with its own terms and conditions.

MyPetFriends does not receive, hold or control user funds at any time. For the avoidance of doubt, this does not include Subscription Fees payable under clause 10A, which are payable directly to MyPetFriends, belong to MyPetFriends upon payment, and do not pass through the escrow provider.

We may charge a platform or broker fee for facilitating bookings.

Payouts to sitters occur after service completion and may be subject to a processing delay.

Refunds, cancellations, and charge reversals are handled via the escrow provider and subject to its terms and conditions which you agree to at the time of making the payment. This clause applies to booking payments only. Refunds and cancellation of Sitter Plus Subscription Fees are governed by clause 10A.6.

You agree that as a Pet Owner, if you are late to fetch your pet or relieve the pet sitter of their obligations at the end of the agreed time period, you will be charged for the additional time pro-rated to the agreed rate.

All bookings must be requested, confirmed, and paid for through the Platform. If you arrange or pay for pet care services outside the Platform, whether or not you were introduced to the other party through MyPetFriends, no escrow or payment protection applies to that arrangement; we hold no record of it and cannot assist with any dispute arising from it; our cancellation, refund, and dispute processes do not apply to it; and the verification and screening described in clause 3, and any other rights and obligations in these Terms, do not extend to it. Any such arrangement is made entirely at your own risk.

Sitter Plus is an optional paid subscription available to pet sitters for a monthly fee in South African Rand as displayed on the Platform at the time of purchase (the "Subscription Fee"). Subscribing to Sitter Plus does not create an employment, partnership, or agency relationship between the sitter and MyPetFriends, and does not affect a sitter's status as an independent contractor under these Terms.

Sitter Plus is available only to individual sitters who provide pet care services personally. It is not available to agencies, or to businesses that employ, engage, or subcontract other people to provide pet care services. By subscribing, you warrant that you provide pet care services personally and do not operate as an agency or employ or subcontract others to provide those services. If this ceases to be true you must notify us and cancel your subscription, and we may suspend or cancel your subscription under clause 10A.11.

The Subscription Fee is billed in advance, on a recurring monthly basis, through our third-party payment provider, Paystack. You agree to the payment provider's terms and conditions governing recurring payments, available at https://paystack.com/terms.

By subscribing, you acknowledge that your Sitter Plus subscription commences immediately and you acknowledge that the service will begin before the expiry of any cooling-off period. You authorise us and our payment provider to charge your selected payment method the Subscription Fee on the date you subscribe, and on or about the same date in each month thereafter, automatically and without further authorisation from you, until the subscription is cancelled. Where the corresponding date does not occur in a given month, the charge will be made on the last day of that month. You are responsible for keeping your payment details current and valid.

You may cancel your Sitter Plus subscription at any time, without charge, from your account settings on the Platform. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the billing period for which you have already paid. No further Subscription Fee will be charged, and the consequences set out in clause 10A.9 apply from the start of the following billing period.

If the Subscription Fee is not successfully collected when due, we will notify you by email. We may allow a grace period during which we or our payment provider will attempt to collect payment again, and during which Sitter Plus features may remain active. If the Subscription Fee remains uncollected at the end of any grace period we allow, we may suspend Sitter Plus features in accordance with clause 10A.9. We are not obliged to allow a grace period.

We may change the Subscription Fee on at least 30 days' written notice to you by email. Any change takes effect from your next billing date after that notice period ends. If you do not wish to accept the change you may cancel before it takes effect; continuing the subscription after that date constitutes acceptance of the revised Subscription Fee.

MyPetFriends is not currently a registered VAT vendor, and no value-added tax is charged on the Subscription Fee. If we become liable to account for value-added tax on the Subscription Fee, we may adjust it accordingly on notice given under this clause.

Subscription Fees are non-refundable. No refund or partial refund is due where you cancel your subscription, delete your account, or have Sitter Plus features or Platform access suspended or terminated part-way through a billing period. Nothing in this clause limits any right you may have which cannot lawfully be excluded.

Subject to these Terms, an active Sitter Plus subscription entitles a sitter to:

• Display up to 10 profile photos (compared to 3 on a standard profile)
• Display their own name, or a business or trading name under which they personally provide services, website, and Instagram handle on their public profile
• Have their Sitter Plus status taken into account as one of the factors used to order search results, as described in clause 3. We do not guarantee any particular position in search results
• Collect independent reviews as described in clause 10A.8

We may add, remove, or change the features included in Sitter Plus at any time. We will give reasonable notice of any material reduction in features to active subscribers, in accordance with clause 15.

Sitter Plus sitters may generate a personalised link to invite independent reviews from past clients, whether or not those clients engaged the sitter through the Platform. The following rules apply:

• A reviewer must sign in to, or create, a MyPetFriends account with a verified email address to submit an independent review
• Each verified email address or MyPetFriends account may submit only one independent review per sitter
• Independent reviews are displayed separately from, and clearly labelled apart from, reviews arising from bookings completed through the Platform
• A sitter may choose which of their independent reviews are displayed on their public profile. The independent reviews shown on a profile may therefore not be all of the independent reviews that sitter has received. This is disclosed to pet owners under clause 11.2
• We do not verify the accuracy of independent reviews, or that the reviewer genuinely engaged the sitter's services, and reserve the right to remove any review that appears fraudulent, abusive, or in breach of these Terms
• Personal information provided by a reviewer is collected and processed in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Once Sitter Plus features are switched off, whether following cancellation under clause 10A.3, failed payment under clause 10A.4, or suspension under clause 10A.11:

• Profile photos beyond the first 3 in the sitter's chosen display order will be hidden
• All independent reviews will be hidden
• Business or trading name, website, and Instagram handle will be hidden
• The sitter's placement in search results will no longer take Sitter Plus status into account

Hidden content is not deleted and will be restored automatically if the sitter reactivates a Sitter Plus subscription within 12 months. We may permanently delete hidden content after 12 months without an active subscription.

Clause 10 of these Terms prohibits soliciting or taking bookings off the Platform. Sitter Plus does not change this prohibition. However, because a sitter using Sitter Plus means the business or trading name, website, and Instagram handle are displayed publicly on their profile with our permission, a sitter referencing these specific, already-displayed details in a Platform message will not, on its own, be treated as a breach of clause 10.

For the avoidance of doubt, a Sitter Plus subscription does not permit a sitter to:

• Share any contact detail not already displayed on their public profile (including phone numbers, email addresses, or other social media handles) within Platform messaging
• Actively solicit, propose, or arrange a booking, price, or date outside the Platform

Regardless of Sitter Plus status, MyPetFriends' verification and screening processes described in clause 3 apply only to a sitter's identity and status on the Platform, and do not extend to, warrant, or provide any assurance regarding any booking, transaction, or interaction that takes place outside the Platform. Clauses 6, 7, 8, and 9 (Warranties, Liability Disclaimer, Insurance & Guarantees, and Indemnity) apply in full to any off-platform interaction, booking, or dispute involving a Sitter Plus sitter, regardless of how the parties came into contact.

Breach of clause 10A.10, including repeated or clear solicitation of off-platform bookings, may result in suspension of Sitter Plus features, suspension of Platform access, or both, in our sole discretion, without refund of the Subscription Fee and subject to clause 10A.6.

Messages on the Platform may be accessed by MyPetFriends in its sole discretion where necessary for any reason, including but not limited to:

• Safety
• Fraud prevention
• Harassment investigations
• Customer support

Reviews must be honest and respectful. We may remove reviews that are abusive, misleading, or violate these Terms.

Reviews arising from bookings completed through the Platform cannot be removed or hidden by the sitter they concern. Independent reviews collected under clause 10A.8 are selected for display by the sitter. The independent reviews shown on a sitter's profile may therefore not be all of the independent reviews that sitter has received.

Users retain ownership of any content posted onto the Platform but grant MyPetFriends a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, display, and use such content for operating the Platform and its promotion.

You acknowledge that other users of the Platform may be able to leave reviews about your services or pets on the Platform, which may be shared publicly. We have no obligation to obtain your consent prior to a review being published about you.