Terms of Use

1. Who we are and what these Terms are

These Terms of Use ("Terms") are an agreement between you and Barn2Buyer Holdings, LLC, an Illinois limited liability company ("Barn2Buyer", "we", "us"). They cover barn2buyer.com and the Barn2Buyer web app, including a copy you add to your phone's home screen (together, the "Service").

When you create an account you tick a box that says "I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge the Privacy Policy." Ticking it means you accept these Terms. If you don't agree, don't create an account or use the Service. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle your information.

Contact: [email protected], or the Contact us form on our website.

2. What Barn2Buyer is, and what it is not

Barn2Buyer is a members-only online marketplace. Members list and find horses and ponies, and tack and equipment. Members contact a seller, or the person the seller names as the contact, directly by phone, text or email, or through in-app messages.

• We are not part of any sale. We are not a broker, agent, dealer, auctioneer, consignor or escrow service. We never own, inspect, hold, ship or take possession of any horse or item.
• We don't take a commission and we don't hold money. We charge only membership and listing fees. Any price, deposit, payment, vetting, shipping, pickup or transfer of ownership is agreed and handled between the buyer and the seller, outside the Service. We never ask for payment or financial details in a message.
• We don't verify anything. Sellers write their own listings and supply their own photos, videos and documents. We don't check anyone's identity, ownership, title, registration, papers, age, breeding, health, soundness, training, temperament, condition, suitability, location, price or value. A document on a listing doesn't mean we checked it. A safety warning on a message doesn't mean an unflagged message is safe.
• Listings aren't reviewed before they go live. Sellers publish their own listings. We act after a member reports a problem (Section 12).

3. Who can use the Service

• You must be a U.S. resident, at least 18 years old, with a U.S. billing address. You confirm your age in its own checkbox ("I confirm that I am at least 18 years old.") before we create your account. We don't ask for your birth date or ID. If we learn that an account belongs to someone under 18, we close it and delete its information.
• Payments are in U.S. dollars. Our checkout refuses a card whose billing country isn't the United States.
• Horses and items you list must be located in one of the 50 U.S. states or Washington, D.C. (not U.S. territories or military addresses).
• One person, one account. Don't create an account for someone else, or for a business without its authority.

4. Your account and keeping it secure

• Give your real first and last name and an email address you control, and keep them up to date. We use your name for your account and for service emails. We don't treat it as verified legal identity.
• You must confirm your email address before you can see listings.
• Your password must be at least 15 characters. We check new passwords against lists of passwords exposed in data breaches and may ask you to change yours if it shows up in one. Don't reuse a password from another site.
• You're responsible for activity under your account. Don't share, sell or lend it. Tell us straight away at [email protected] if you think someone else has used it.
• You're signed out after 7 days without use, and after 30 days in any case. You can sign out of all your devices from Your account.
• We may sign you out, require a new password, or limit access if we see a security risk.
• We will never ask for your password, a sign-in or verification code, or your card number by email, message or phone.

5. Membership, free trial, automatic renewal and cancellation

What membership gives you. Browsing the listings, full horse and item details, seller contact details and messages, saving horses and searches, and listing your own horses and items.

Free trial. New members get a 30-day free trial. To start it you confirm your email, choose a monthly or annual plan, and add a card on Stripe's secure checkout page. The trial starts only when all three are done; an unfinished sign-up uses up no trial time. Before you finish, we show the date the trial ends and the amount of the first charge. You get one free trial.

Price after the trial. $14.99 a month or $149.99 a year, plus applicable taxes, for the plan you chose. Prices are shown before tax; checkout shows the tax and total before you confirm.

Special pricing. We may offer special pricing to some members.

Automatic renewal. Your membership renews automatically at the end of the trial and at the end of each month or year, and we charge the card on your membership, until you cancel. You agree to this in its own checkbox that shows the price and how often you'll be charged.

Reminders. We email you 7 days and 1 day before the trial ends and you're first charged; 3 days before each monthly renewal; and 30 days and 7 days before each annual renewal. Stripe emails you a receipt after each successful charge.

Canceling. You can cancel online at any time in Your account. If you cancel during the free trial, you pay nothing. Canceling ends your membership right away, even if you've paid for time that remains: your access ends, any listings you have live come down, and future charges stop. Payments already made are not refunded, except as described below.

Failed payments. If a membership payment fails, we email you straight away and again 12 hours before the deadline. Stripe retries the card about 24 and 48 hours after the first attempt. Your access and your listings stay up for 72 hours from the first failed attempt. If the payment hasn't gone through by then, your membership ends, your listings come down, and the unpaid invoice is canceled so nothing is owed or collected later. You can then rejoin straight away with a new paid membership, without a second free trial; listings that came down stay down until you reactivate each one.

Refunds. We don't give refunds, except for duplicate charges, billing errors by us or our payment provider, a purchase we failed to deliver because of a fault on our side, and where the law requires a refund. We may make a goodwill refund at our discretion; that doesn't create a right to one later.

Disputed payments (chargebacks). If you dispute a Barn2Buyer charge with your card issuer, we suspend what the charge was for while the dispute is open: a disputed membership charge suspends your membership and hides your listings, and a disputed listing fee hides that listing. No further charges are made. If the dispute is decided in your favor, you may rejoin (paid, with no free trial) and reactivate your listings. If it is decided against you, the account stays closed unless we decide otherwise.

Payment provider. Stripe processes all payments. You enter your card on Stripe's pages; we never see or store your full card number.

Taxes. We add sales or similar taxes where the law requires us to collect them on our fees.

Price changes. If we change the price of membership or of listing renewals, we'll email you at least 30 days before the new price applies to your renewal, and you can cancel before then. A listing never renews automatically at a higher price than the one you confirmed for it; to keep it renewing at a new price, you confirm the new price.

6. Horse listing fees and terms

These are the exact rules. The listing form repeats them, and you confirm them in a checkbox before you publish.

• Your first horse is free for exactly 180 days from when you publish it. You get one free first horse per account.
• Each additional horse costs $99.99 plus applicable taxes, paid when you publish it, for exactly 180 days.
• After its first 180 days, each horse listing renews automatically every 90 days for $24.99 plus applicable taxes, charged to the card on your membership, until you mark the horse sold or remove it. This applies to the free first horse too: its renewals are charged.
• The 180-day and 90-day periods are exact counts of days, not calendar months.
• Reminders: we email you 14 days and 3 days before each renewal, with the amount, the date and time of the charge, the horse, and a link to remove the listing.
• Marking a horse sold or removing its listing stops future renewals. If you do it before the renewal time shown, you won't be charged for the next period.
• No refund for an early sale or removal. If you sell or remove a horse before a paid listing period ends, that period is not refunded. This includes an additional horse's $99.99 first 180 days and every $24.99 renewal. The only exceptions are the ones in Section 5.
• Listings need an active membership. If your membership ends for any reason, including canceling, your live listings come down at once. They aren't deleted. When your membership is active again, you can reactivate each one from My listings. A listing's period keeps running while it is down; if it ends first, you renew it at the normal renewal price.
• Failed renewal payments. If a renewal payment fails, the listing stays up for 72 hours from the renewal time while the card is retried. If it still isn't paid, the listing comes down and the unpaid invoice is canceled. If there's no card on your membership at renewal time, the listing expires; you can renew it yourself later.
• Expired listings leave search. You can renew an expired listing from My listings after confirming the terms again.
• If a paid listing can't go live because of a fault on our side, we'll fix it or refund that fee. Don't pay twice.

7. Tack and equipment listings

• Categories: Saddles & Bridles, Show carts, Harnesses, Tail switches, Showing suits & accessories, and Other.
• Your first tack item is free. It's listed for 90 days and then renews for another 90 days at no charge, while your membership is active and the item is still for sale.
• Check-ins. Before each renewal we email you to ask whether the item is still for sale. If you don't confirm within 7 days, the item becomes inactive; you can reactivate it free.
• The free period lasts up to 12 months from the item's first publish. After that it can't renew for free and it comes down.
• Additional tack items aren't open yet. If we open them, you'll see the price and confirm it before you publish.
• Marking an item sold or removing it ends its listing, and it won't renew. If your membership ends, your active tack items come down.
• Each item needs a title, category, condition, a description that lists any known defects or repairs, a price or Price on request, how it can reach the buyer (local pickup, shipping, or both; show carts are local pickup only), the city, state and ZIP code, one to three photos, and a contact you're allowed to share. Documents and videos can't be added to tack listings.
• Before you publish an item you confirm: "I am authorized to sell this item, and if the designated contact is someone else, I have their permission to publish their contact details."

8. What you can list, and your duty to be accurate and have permission

What can be listed: horses and ponies for sale, and tack and equipment. Leases, stud services and "wanted" ads aren't allowed.

Before you publish a horse, you confirm: "I am authorized to advertise this horse, and if the designated contact is someone else, I have their permission to publish their contact details." By publishing a horse or item, you also promise that:

• you're allowed to advertise or sell it (you own it, or its owner has authorized you);
• every contact detail you show has the person's permission. If the contact is someone else (a trainer, agent, farm office or other representative), they have agreed to their name, phone number and email being shown to members;
• you own or have permission to use every photo, video and document you add. If someone else took a photo (for example a professional or show photographer), you have their permission to post it;
• the listing is accurate and not misleading, including breed, sex, age, height, pedigree, show record, condition, price and location, and the horse or item is actually available;
• you keep it accurate. Edit it if something changes, and mark it sold or remove it promptly when it is sold or no longer available;
• you follow the laws that apply to your sale, including any testing, health paperwork, disclosure or transport rules.

Location. You give the city, state and 5-digit ZIP code. Members see only the city and state. We never ask for a street address and never show the ZIP.

Photos, videos and documents for horses.

• Up to 3 photos and up to 2 PDF documents per horse, each up to 10 MB (PDFs up to 10 pages). At least one photo is required to publish.
• We remove location and camera details from photos, but we can't promise every detail is removed.
• Allowed documents: pedigree records, breed or registration papers, non-veterinary breeding records, show or performance records, and your own sale sheet. Before uploading you confirm you're allowed to share the document and have removed personal information that isn't needed.
• Not allowed: veterinary, health, laboratory or medication records; financial, banking, tax or payment papers; ID documents; signed contracts, bills of sale or ownership transfers; anything with a signature; and anyone else's sensitive information without their permission.
• Documents are scanned for malware and shown to members as page images. Members can't download your original file.
• Videos are up to three YouTube links per horse. YouTube hosts them, not Barn2Buyer, and our member sign-in doesn't protect them: anyone with an unlisted link can share it. Don't use YouTube for anything private. If YouTube reports a video removed or private, we hide it and tell you; the listing stays up.

Some details lock after you publish. A horse's breed, sex and foaling year, and a tack item's category, can't be changed after first publish, and sire and dam lock once filled in. If one is wrong, contact us and we'll correct it, or copy the listing to a new draft.

9. Buying: your responsibilities and risks

If you contact a seller or buy a horse or item, you do it at your own risk and on your own judgment.

• Do your own checks before you pay or arrange shipping: ask for a video call or a visit, a pre-purchase exam by a veterinarian you choose, and proof of ownership and registration.
• Be careful with payment methods that are hard to reverse, such as wire transfers, gift cards, cryptocurrency and payment apps, and with offers to sell or ship a horse you haven't seen. These are common in horse-sale scams.
• We aren't part of your purchase. We aren't responsible for what a seller says, for a horse's or item's condition, for whether a sale happens, or for anything that goes wrong in it.

10. Messages

Members can message a seller about a specific listing.

• Only a buyer starts a conversation, from a listing, with Message seller. There is one conversation per buyer per listing. Sellers reply; they can't message someone who hasn't messaged them. There is no member directory.
• Messages go to the account holder who created the listing, who may not be the person shown as the listing contact.
• You appear by first name and last initial (for example "Mary D."). Your email, phone number and account details are never shown in messages, unless you type them yourself.
• Text only. Up to 2,000 characters per message. Links show as plain text and can't be clicked. No photos, files or attachments. Messages can't be edited or unsent.
• Limits: 30 messages an hour, 100 a day, and up to 10 new conversations a day. Repeating the same text is refused.
• Use messages only for genuine questions about the listing or buying. Don't harass, threaten or abuse anyone, send spam, or try to defraud anyone, including asking for untraceable payment.
• Automated safety checks. Every message is checked when it's sent by automated, rule-based checks that run inside Barn2Buyer. No outside AI service or other company reads your messages. If a message mentions paying by wire, gift card, crypto or a payment app, buying a horse unseen or shipped sight unseen, or uses abusive language, the person receiving it sees a safety warning with a Report button. The message is still delivered, and the sender isn't told. A warning isn't an accusation and never by itself suspends or penalizes anyone. The checks won't catch everything.
• Who can read messages. Only the two people in the conversation. Barn2Buyer staff can read a conversation only after one of you reports it, or under a legal hold or legal process, and every such view is recorded. We may give a conversation to authorities when the law requires it.
• Blocking. You can block the other person. It stops new messages both ways in all your conversations with them, and they aren't told. It doesn't hide listings or contact details already shown.
• When a membership ends, the conversation becomes read-only for the other person.
• If a member deletes their account, they show as "Former member" and their messages show as "Message removed".
• Retention. A conversation is deleted 12 months after its last message, unless it was reported or is under a legal hold. See the Privacy Policy.
• Email alerts say only that you have a new message about the horse or item, never the message text. You can turn them off.
• Never send passwords, sign-in codes, card numbers or veterinary records in a message.

A conversation is not an offer, a contract or a record of a sale.

11. Rules for everyone

Don't:

• post anything false, misleading or fraudulent, including a horse or item you aren't authorized to advertise, one that doesn't exist or isn't available, or a fake price;
• use someone else's photos, videos, documents or contact details without permission;
• ask for, or pressure anyone into, payment by a method designed to defraud or hard to reverse;
• harass, threaten, abuse or discriminate against anyone, or send spam or unwanted sales messages;
• post anything unlawful, hateful, sexually explicit, or showing animal cruelty or neglect;
• put contact details, links or advertising for other services into places meant for listing details;
• copy, scrape or collect listings, photos or member information, or use them for marketing or to build another service;
• upload malware, probe or test our security, get around limits, or interfere with the Service;
• open more than one account, or open a new account after we've closed yours, without our permission;
• list anything we don't allow (Section 8); or
• break the law, or help anyone else do so.

Items not allowed in tack and equipment: medication, supplements, feed and veterinary items; used safety helmets; recalled or counterfeit goods; motor vehicles and road trailers; animals; real estate; services and jobs; items you aren't authorized to sell; and goods unrelated to horses.

12. Reports, moderation, takedown and appeals

• Reporting. Signed-in members can report a listing, a member account or a conversation, giving a reason (suspected scam or misrepresentation, ownership or photo concern, prohibited or unsafe content, privacy or contact concern, harassment or account concern, or other). We don't tell the reported person who reported them. When you report a conversation, we keep a copy of it as it was when you reported it, and staff can then read it.
• A person decides. A report, or any number of reports, never removes anything automatically. Barn2Buyer staff review each report and may dismiss it, ask for more information, hide a listing, suspend an account, or escalate it. We check reports at least once each business day (Monday to Friday, Central time, excluding U.S. federal holidays). That is a target, not a guarantee, and we don't monitor around the clock. If someone is in danger, call local emergency services.
• We may act without a report. We may remove content, hide a listing, or suspend or close an account at any time if we believe it breaks these Terms or the law, or to protect members, an animal or the Service. If we hide your listing or suspend your account, we tell you the general reason when it's safe to do so.
• Appeals. If we hide your listing after a report, you may appeal once, within 14 days. The listing stays hidden while we review. We aim to decide within three business days. If the appeal succeeds, the listing comes back as inactive on its original period and you reactivate it yourself at no charge.

13. Your content, our content, and copyright

• You keep ownership of what you post: listing text, photos, videos, documents and messages.
• You give us a license to use it to run the Service. The license is non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, and lasts as long as we hold the content. It lets us host, store, copy, resize, convert (for example PDF pages into images), display and send it as needed to run the Service, including showing it to members and in emails about your listing. It ends when the content is deleted, except for copies we must keep under the Privacy Policy and copies in backups until they expire.
• We won't use your listing photos in our advertising without asking you first.
• Our property. The Barn2Buyer name, logo, software and design belong to us or our licensors. Don't copy or reuse them without permission.
• Copyright complaints. If you believe something on the Service infringes your copyright, email [email protected] with: your contact details; the work you own; where the infringing material is on the Service; a statement that you believe in good faith the use isn't authorized; a statement that your notice is accurate and that you're the owner or authorized to act for the owner; and your signature. If your content was removed and you believe that was a mistake, you can send a counter-notice to the same address. We may remove content, and we close the accounts of repeat infringers.

14. Third-party services

The Service relies on other companies, including Stripe for payments and providers for hosting, database, file storage, malware scanning, email and our domain. YouTube hosts listing videos. Those companies have their own terms and privacy policies; we aren't responsible for them. The Privacy Policy lists them.

15. Ending your account

• You can cancel your membership at any time (Section 5).
• We may suspend or close your account under Section 12, or if a payment is disputed (Section 5).
• When your account or membership ends, your right to use the Service ends and your listings come down. Billing obligations that had already arisen, and Sections 13 and 16 to 22, survive.
• Deleting your account and getting a copy of your data. At launch, ask by emailing [email protected], and we'll handle it by hand. The Privacy Policy explains what we delete, what we must keep, and for how long.

16. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE". TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, BARN2BUYER DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DON'T PROMISE THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE. WE MAKE NO PROMISE ABOUT ANY HORSE, ITEM, LISTING, MEMBER OR SALE, INCLUDING ANY HORSE'S IDENTITY, OWNERSHIP, TITLE, REGISTRATION, HEALTH, SOUNDNESS, TEMPERAMENT, SUITABILITY OR VALUE, ANY ITEM'S CONDITION, THE ACCURACY OF ANY LISTING OR DOCUMENT, OR WHETHER A SALE, PAYMENT OR SHIPMENT WILL HAPPEN OR WORK OUT. WE DON'T GIVE VETERINARY, LEGAL, TAX OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL ADVICE, AND NOTHING ON THE SERVICE, INCLUDING OUR SAFETY WARNINGS, IS SUCH ADVICE.

17. Limits on our liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, BARN2BUYER AND ITS MEMBERS, MANAGERS, EMPLOYEES AND CONTRACTORS WON'T BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, LOST SALES, OR THE LOSS, INJURY OR DEATH OF A HORSE OR LOSS OF ITS VALUE, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE OR ANY DEALINGS BETWEEN MEMBERS. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THE SERVICE WON'T EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM AND (B) $100. SOME STATES DON'T ALLOW THESE LIMITS, SO THEY MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. NOTHING HERE LIMITS LIABILITY THAT THE LAW DOESN'T ALLOW US TO LIMIT.

18. Your responsibility to us (indemnity)

If someone makes a claim against Barn2Buyer or its members, managers, employees or contractors because of your listings, your content, your dealings with another member, or your breaking these Terms or the law, you'll cover our reasonable losses and costs, including reasonable legal fees.

19. Disagreements and governing law

• Talk to us first. Before starting any claim, email [email protected] with a description and give us 30 days to try to sort it out.
• Governing law. These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules.
• Where disputes are decided. Any dispute about these Terms or the Service will be decided only by the state courts located in McLean County, Illinois, and you and we agree to those courts' jurisdiction. Either of us may instead bring a claim in a small claims court that has jurisdiction.
• Nothing in these Terms takes away a right you have under consumer-protection laws that can't be waived.

20. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. We'll post the new version with its date. For a material change we'll email you before it applies, and we may ask you to accept the new Terms before you continue using the Service. Price changes follow Section 5. If you don't accept a change, cancel before it applies.

21. Notices and email

You agree that we may send notices electronically: by email to your account address, in the Service, or on our website. Service emails (receipts from Stripe, renewal and payment reminders, security notices, listing notices, message alerts, saved-search and price-drop alerts) are part of the Service. You can turn off saved-search, price-drop and message alerts; you can't turn off security, billing or account notices while you have an account. Our emails come from a no-reply address. To reach us, email [email protected] or use Contact us. We aim to reply within one business day, but we don't guarantee a response time.

22. General

These Terms, the Privacy Policy, and the checkout and listing confirmations you accept are the whole agreement between you and Barn2Buyer about the Service. If a court finds part of them unenforceable, the rest still applies. If we don't enforce a right, we haven't given it up. You can't transfer your account or these Terms; we may transfer ours as part of a business sale or reorganization. We aren't responsible for delays or failures caused by events outside our reasonable control.

23. Contact

Barn2Buyer Holdings, LLC, an Illinois limited liability company. Email: [email protected]. Mail: PO Box 112, Bloomington, IL 61701.