Terms and conditions for auction.fish

Use of the auction.fish website and the content contained herein (collectively referred to as "this site") is governed by the terms of this Agreement (the "agreement" or "terms and conditions") between you and auction.fish. This is a legally binding agreement and your use of this site constitutes your unconditional agreement to be bound by the terms outlined herein. Your use of this site indicates that you have read, understand and agree to this site's terms and conditions and our privacy policy. If you do not agree with the terms and conditions of this Agreement, you must immediately cease using this site.

Who can use this site

You must be at least 13 to have an account. If you are under 18, a parent or guardian must be the one agreeing to buy or sell, because a bid is a binding agreement.

Content

Lots listed on this site are submitted by users. This site does not have control over the lots listed, and makes no guarantees about the quality of lots, accuracy of descriptions, images, or any other information regarding lots, auctions, locations, feedback, or anything else on this site.

This site is in no way responsible for problems, including, without limitation, issues regarding: auctions, lots, lot exchanges, shipping, or payments. The information presented on or through this site is made available solely for general information purposes. Use of this site is at your own risk. All content is presented "as-is" without a warranty or guarantee of any kind, and this site is not liable for any damages resulting from your visit to this site.

Availability of service

Under no circumstances should you expect this site to be available or functional in any way. If it goes down unexpectedly for any reason, you were warned and this site cannot be held liable.

This site may amend or update its privacy policy and/or these terms and conditions at any time and for any reason, or for no reason. These amendments or updates will be effective immediately and your continued use of this site indicates your acceptance of and agree to these updates and amendments.

Auctions

If you choose to participate in an auction as indicated by confirming your pickup location, you are entering into a binding agreement with the person or club running the auction and understand that if you win or sell any lot(s), you will meet at your selected pickup location and exchange any lots you bought or sold. You also agree to any auction-specific rules described by the person running the auction.

If you create an auction on this site, we may or may not provide any sort of assistance with your auction, including but not limited to answering questions, adding additional features, or assisting directly with lot exchanges. The extent of any assistance provided or not provided is at this site's sole discretion.

Bids

Site admins will not remove or alter any bids. The creator of an auction has the ability to remove bid(s) on any lot(s) in their auction, and may do so at their own discretion.

When you place a bid, you are entering into a binding agreement with the seller of the lot you are bidding on. If your bid is the highest bid, or in the case of a tie, if your bid is placed first, you are the winner once the lot sells. If the lot is part of an auction, the winner is obligated to meet at your selected pickup location and provide payment to the person or club running the auction. If the lot is not part of an auction, the winner is obligated to coordinate payment in full with the seller.

Under no circumstances are you permitted to bid on a lot that is illegal in your state/location.

Selling

You must own the rights to any pictures you post of lot(s), or have permission from the original author to post their picture as representative of your lot(s). Any representative pictures should be representative of the actual lot being sold.

The description and other information of any lots you enter should be honest and accurate.

You must be aware of, and abide by, any state and federal laws regarding buying or selling species in your state/location.

If you submit lot(s) as part of an auction, you must agree to any terms and conditions specific to that auction, including the authority of the person running the auction to remove your lot(s) for any reason, or for no reason.

Once your lot(s) are sold, if they are part of the auction, you must deliver your lot(s)

"Spam" or repeated posting of items is discouraged, and posting more than 3 lots of the same species/product at any given time may result in a temporary ban from the site, and/or the removal of those lots.

Any lots you have submitted may be removed for any reason, or no reason, at the sole discretion of this site's administration.

User feedback

It is your responsibility to provide honest and accurate feedback, both as a buyer or as a seller. All user feedback posted on this site is done by users of this site, and this site makes no guarantees about the accuracy of this feedback.

Clubs

Clubs on this site are independent organizations. This site is the tool a club uses; it is not the club. When you join a club, or take part in an auction it runs, the club receives your contact details, and it may export its member list and use it to run its own mailing lists, announcements and records. What a club does with what it collects is the club's responsibility, not this site's.

You can get a copy of your own data at /account/data/, and delete your account at /account/delete/.

Email

Email about your account and your transactions -- invoices, outbid notices, auction reminders, password resets -- comes with having an account. Promotional email carries an unsubscribe link in every message. Unsubscribing stops promotional email only; it does not stop invoices, outbid notices, or anything else you need in order to take part in an auction.

AI assistants and API access

You can connect an AI assistant to your account with an API key. Anything it does with your key is your action, exactly as if you had clicked it yourself; keep the key to yourself, and we may rate-limit or revoke a key. Where the site writes or reads text for you, that text is sent to a language model provider -- see the privacy policy.

Using the app

If you use the auction.fish app on an Apple device, the following also applies. This agreement is between you and auction.fish only, and not with Apple; auction.fish, not Apple, is responsible for the app and its content. Apple has no obligation whatsoever to provide any maintenance or support for the app. If the app fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price of the app, if any; to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Apple has no other warranty obligation whatsoever with respect to the app. auction.fish, not Apple, is responsible for addressing any claim relating to the app, including product liability claims, any claim that the app fails to conform to any legal or regulatory requirement, claims arising under consumer protection or privacy law, and any third-party claim that the app infringes intellectual property rights. You represent that you are not located in a country subject to a U.S. Government embargo, or that has been designated as a "terrorist supporting" country, and that you are not listed on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these terms, and upon your acceptance of them Apple has the right (and is deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce them against you.

Unauthorized access

You are prohibited from violating or attempting to violate the security of this site, including, without limitation, accessing data not intended for your use or logging in using an account which you are not authorized to access.

Miscellaneous

Failure to abide by these terms and conditions may result in your account being suspended from this site, temporarily or permanently. Attempting to circumvent the suspension of your account by creating a new account may result in further actions against you, including your IP address being banned.

Cookies

Cookies are pieces of text that can contain information. This site sets cookies to keep you signed in, to remember your location, timezone and theme, and to remember that you've dismissed the terms banner. Third-party cookies come from Google, Apple or Facebook if you use one of them to sign in, from Google reCAPTCHA on the sign-up form, and from Google Maps where a map is shown. This site does not run advertising and does not use analytics cookies. You may disable cookies in your browser, but you will not be able to sign in.

This site does not have control over third party cookies or the type of information sent to third party companies. Here are the instructions for disabling cookies in Google Chrome.

Payments

These Payments & Liability Terms apply to all users and guests of auction.fish, a Vermont-based nonprofit platform operating in the United States. By initiating, sending, or receiving a payment through auction.fish, you agree to the terms below.

1. Role of auction.fish

auction.fish provides online tools that allow users and guest payers to initiate peer-to-peer payments to other users or organizations using Square, Inc. or PayPal, Inc. as the third-party payment processor.

auction.fish does not process, hold, receive, control, or transfer funds. All payments flow directly from the payer to the selected recipient through Square or PayPal. auction.fish is not a party to any payment transaction and does not act as the merchant of record.

2. Payment Processing by Square or PayPal

All payments initiated via auction.fish are processed exclusively by Square, Inc. or PayPal, Inc., depending on which the recipient has connected, and are subject to that processor's terms of service, privacy policy, and dispute resolution procedures: Square's terms and PayPal's terms. By making a payment, you agree to be bound by the applicable processor's terms.

auction.fish does not control Square's or PayPal's infrastructure, uptime, security systems, authorization decisions, fraud detection, or transaction approval processes.

3. No Financial Custody or Fiduciary Role

At no time does auction.fish:

• Take possession of funds
• Hold payments in escrow
• Guarantee delivery of funds
• Provide financial advisory or fiduciary services

auction.fish does not assume responsibility for the financial conduct, reliability, or legitimacy of any recipient, whether an individual or organization.

4. User Responsibility & Transaction Accuracy

You are solely responsible for verifying all transaction details before confirming payment, including but not limited to:

• Recipient identity
• Payment amount
• Item descriptions or purpose
• Accuracy of all entered information

Once a transaction is submitted to Square or PayPal, auction.fish cannot modify, reverse, cancel, or refund the payment.

5. Guest Payments

Payments may be made by registered users or guests. Guest payers acknowledge that:

• They create a direct financial relationship with the recipient
• auction.fish has no ability to intervene in payment disputes
• Refunds and chargebacks are handled through Square, PayPal, or the recipient

6. Disputes, Refunds & Chargebacks

All disputes, refund requests, and chargebacks must be resolved directly between the payer, the recipient, and/or the payment processor -- Square or PayPal, whichever handled the payment.

auction.fish does not mediate, adjudicate, or resolve payment disputes and shall not be obligated to intervene in any financial disagreement between users or guests.

7. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by Vermont and United States law, auction.fish, its officers, directors, volunteers, employees, and affiliates shall not be liable for any loss or damage arising from or related to:

• Incorrect or misdirected payments
• Duplicate or unauthorized transactions
• Square or PayPal service outages or failures
• Payment delays or processing errors
• Disputes between payers and recipients
• Failed refunds or denied chargebacks

This limitation includes all direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or punitive damages, including loss of funds, business, reputation, or data.

8. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless auction.fish, its operators, officers, directors, volunteers, employees, affiliates, licensors, and service providers from and against any and all claims, demands, actions, liabilities, damages, judgments, settlements, penalties, fines, costs, and expenses, including reasonable attorneys' fees, arising out of or relating to:

• Your use of the Service;
• Your violation of these Terms;
• Your violation of any applicable law or regulation;
• Any payment dispute, chargeback, refund request, or claim involving transactions you initiate or receive;
• Your negligence, misconduct, or fraudulent activity; or
• Your infringement of the rights of any third party.

This obligation will survive the termination of your account or your use of the Service.

Photos and other content you upload

You keep ownership of the photos, descriptions, and other content you upload. By uploading it, you grant Tropical Fish Club of Burlington a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to store, display, resize, and distribute that content for the purpose of operating this site, including through the hosting and content delivery providers we use.

You may only upload photos that you took yourself, or that you have the copyright owner's permission to use. Do not upload photos taken from other websites, social media, sellers' listings, or image search results unless you have permission to use them. If you are not sure whether you have permission, do not upload the photo.

Copyright complaints

We respond to notices of claimed copyright infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If you believe material on this site infringes a copyright you own or represent, see our copyright and DMCA policy, which explains how to send a notice to our designated agent, and how to send a counter-notice if your material was removed by mistake.

Repeat infringers

We keep a record of valid copyright notices we receive about each account. It is our policy, in appropriate circumstances, to disable or terminate the accounts of users who repeatedly infringe the copyright of others. An account will usually be warned on the first and second occasion and terminated on the third, but we may act sooner where the infringement appears deliberate or serious. We do not count notices that are withdrawn, that we believe to be invalid, or where the material was restored following a counter-notice. A termination under this section is subject to the account suspension terms above, including the rule against creating a new account to evade one.

Disputes, governing law, and severability

These terms and conditions, and any dispute arising out of them or out of your use of this site, are governed by the laws of the State of Vermont, without regard to its conflict of law rules. Any such dispute will be brought only in the state or federal courts located in Vermont, and you consent to the jurisdiction and venue of those courts.

Any provision of these terms and conditions that is prohibited or unenforceable in any jurisdiction shall, as to such jurisdiction, be ineffective to the extent of such prohibition or unenforceability without invalidating the remaining provisions hereof, and any such prohibition or unenforceability in any jurisdiction shall not invalidate or render unenforceable such provision in any other jurisdiction.

These terms and conditions, together with our privacy policy, are the entire agreement between you and auction.fish regarding your use of this site, and replace any earlier agreement or understanding about it.