Marketplace Terms of Use

Last updated · October 6, 2026

1. Agreement and eligibility

By accessing Cavvyo, creating an account, applying to sell, registering for an auction, placing a bid, listing an equine, completing a purchase, or otherwise using the service, you agree to these Terms of Use (“Terms”). You must be at least 18 years old and legally capable of entering binding contracts. If you use Cavvyo for a business or other entity, you represent that you have authority to bind that entity.

2. What Cavvyo is

Cavvyo provides technology and marketplace services for online live timed equine auctions, including seller tools, listings, bidder registration, authoritative online bidding records, Max Bid functionality, payment and settlement tools, release workflows, seller reviews, support, market data, and related services. Unless Cavvyo expressly states otherwise for a specific transaction, Cavvyo does not own the horses listed, is not the buyer or seller, does not provide veterinary, training, transportation, insurance, tax, or legal advice, and does not guarantee a horse or a transaction.

3. Accounts and security

You must provide accurate, current, and complete information and keep your account secure. You are responsible for activity performed through your account unless caused by Cavvyo's own unauthorized action. Do not share passwords, MFA recovery information, passkeys, or other credentials. Notify Cavvyo promptly if you believe an account or transaction has been compromised.

Cavvyo may require email, phone, identity, address, payment, seller-business, tax, or other verification. Verification is a risk-control measure, not a guarantee of a user's honesty, financial ability, horse quality, or transaction performance.

4. Seller approval and responsibilities

Only approved sellers may publish auctions or equine listings. A seller represents and warrants that they own the listed equine or have legally sufficient authority from the owner to sell it; all material listing information is truthful and supportable; photos and videos are current and lawfully used; known material health, behavior, training, maintenance, registration, ownership, and suitability information is not intentionally concealed or misrepresented; and the seller will honor a valid completed auction and the posted sale terms.

Once an auction closes with a winning bidder and any applicable reserve is satisfied, the seller may not withdraw the sold equine, refuse to complete the sale, cancel because of a change of mind or dissatisfaction with the winning price, or accept a different post-auction offer in place of the winning buyer. A sold transaction may be cancelled, voided, or released for resale only when Cavvyo authorizes the action because of buyer nonpayment/default, documented fraud or security concerns, a legal or safety requirement, a material auction-integrity issue, or another basis permitted by the applicable sale terms or non-waivable law.

Cavvyo may review, request evidence for, reject, pause, correct, or remove a listing that appears incomplete, inaccurate, unlawful, unsafe, deceptive, duplicative, or inconsistent with Cavvyo requirements. Seller verification and listing review do not transfer the seller's disclosure obligations to Cavvyo.

5. Buyer responsibility and due diligence

Buying a horse involves material financial and safety risk. Buyers are responsible for reading the complete listing and auction terms, communicating with the seller, reviewing available media and records, assessing rider fit, and performing any desired independent evaluation before bidding. Cavvyo strongly recommends an independent pre-purchase examination by a licensed veterinarian when appropriate, along with any trainer, farrier, registration, genetic, drug, imaging, or other review important to the buyer.

Seller-reported Rider Level and Energy & Sensitivity information is descriptive only. It is not a Cavvyo safety rating, quality score, guarantee of temperament, or substitute for independent evaluation.

6. Auction registration

Cavvyo may require buyers to complete account readiness and accept the current buyer and auction terms before registering to bid. Cavvyo may restrict or revoke bidding access when reasonably necessary for fraud prevention, account security, nonpayment, policy violations, legal compliance, or marketplace integrity.

7. Bids are binding

Each accepted bid is a binding offer to purchase the listed equine under the applicable auction terms. If you are the winning bidder when the auction closes and any applicable reserve requirement is satisfied, you enter a binding purchase obligation with the seller and must timely pay the winning purchase price and complete the transaction. Do not bid on multiple horses unless you are prepared to purchase each horse you may win. A winning buyer has no contractual right to cancel, return the equine, or obtain a refund merely because the buyer changed their mind, failed to complete desired diligence, misunderstood a Max Bid, encountered transportation or financing difficulty, later found another horse, or decided the equine is not a preferred fit. This section does not eliminate any right that cannot lawfully be waived.

8. Max Bid and bid increments

A Max Bid is the highest amount you authorize Cavvyo's auction engine to bid on your behalf, subject to the published increment and competing accepted bids. Cavvyo does not publicly reveal your private Max Bid. The displayed current bid may be lower than your Max Bid. If competing Max Bids overlap, the authoritative Cavvyo bid record, timestamps, and auction rules determine priority and the current price.

9. Timed close and soft closing

Cavvyo uses timed online auctions. Unless a specific auction expressly states otherwise, a qualifying bid accepted during the final two minutes extends the affected lot by two minutes. Additional qualifying late bids may extend the lot again. The purpose of soft closing is to provide a fair opportunity to respond instead of rewarding last-second bid timing.

10. Authoritative auction record and technical issues

The Cavvyo server clock, accepted bid record, bid-event history, published increment, reserve status, and extension rules control the auction. Browser clocks, screenshots, delayed notifications, email, SMS, or a bidder's local display do not override the authoritative server record.

Cavvyo may pause, extend, reopen, void, or correct a lot or bid only when reasonably necessary to address a documented technical failure, fraud, security concern, material listing correction, legal requirement, or other integrity issue. Material administrative actions may be logged. Cavvyo does not guarantee uninterrupted internet, device, browser, payment-provider, email, or telecommunications availability.

11. Reserves, withdrawals, and seller bidding

If a reserve applies, the listing may show only whether the reserve has been met rather than the reserve amount itself. A horse is not sold through the auction if the applicable reserve is not satisfied at close unless buyer and seller later enter a separate lawful agreement. Sellers are strictly prohibited from bidding, directly or indirectly, on their own auctions or on any equine they have listed for sale, including through another account, household member, employee, agent, representative, or any other person or method. Sellers may not place or cause bids intended to increase, support, manipulate, or artificially inflate the price of their own auction. Shill bidding and coordinated bid manipulation are prohibited. If Cavvyo determines through its Trust & Safety review that a seller violated this seller-bidding prohibition, the seller's Cavvyo account or accounts will be terminated immediately. Termination does not eliminate any existing payment, commission, transaction, dispute, or other obligations arising before termination.

12. Sale finality and warranties

Unless Cavvyo authorizes a cancellation or refund under these Terms, the applicable auction terms expressly provide otherwise, the seller expressly agrees in writing, or non-waivable law requires otherwise, a completed auction sale is final and is not subject to a buyer return, rescission, cancellation, or refund after the winning bid solely because of buyer's remorse or post-auction preference. Cavvyo makes no independent warranty regarding a horse's health, soundness, temperament, training, behavior, suitability, fertility, registration, pedigree, show record, earnings, genetic status, merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose. Any seller warranty or representation is the seller's responsibility. Buyers must complete desired inspections and evaluations before bidding.

13. Payments

The winning buyer must pay according to the methods and deadline shown for the applicable sale. Depending on the seller and auction, payment may include direct wire instructions or card/ACH processing through Cavvyo Payments and a seller's connected Stripe account. For a supported Cavvyo Payments direct charge, the connected seller is the merchant of record for the equine sale and the buyer's payment is processed on that seller's connected payment account; Cavvyo may receive its disclosed seller commission as a platform/application fee. Cavvyo may facilitate payment technology and transaction records without becoming the seller of the horse or a general escrow service.

Cavvyo does not add a Cavvyo buyer marketplace premium to the winning bid. A payment processor or disclosed payment method may impose a processing fee, which will be shown before the buyer confirms that payment method when applicable.

14. Seller commission

Sellers owe Cavvyo the published commission rate and any minimum disclosed in the seller workspace and locked for the applicable auction. The same published seller commission policy applies to every seller. For supported card or ACH transactions, Cavvyo may collect its seller commission automatically from the payment as a platform/application fee before or as the seller receives the remaining proceeds. Other payment methods may require separate seller-side commission collection. The seller remains responsible for all Cavvyo fees applicable to the sale.

If a sale is canceled or refunded before the equine has been physically released to the buyer or the buyer's authorized receiving party, Cavvyo will refund the Cavvyo seller commission associated with the refunded payment. A full pre-release cancellation or full refund returns the full Cavvyo commission; a partial pre-release refund returns the Cavvyo commission proportionally to the refunded payment. Once the Cavvyo pickup/release workflow records the physical handoff as completed, the Cavvyo seller commission is earned and is not automatically refundable because of a later buyer dispute, chargeback, or payment reversal. Any post-release commission exception must be expressly approved through Cavvyo's dispute-resolution process.

15. Taxes

Horse-sale tax treatment varies by jurisdiction and facts. Unless Cavvyo expressly shows that tax is being collected for a transaction, Cavvyo's default workflow records $0 tax collected by Cavvyo and requires the buyer to determine, report, and pay applicable sales or use tax directly to the proper taxing authority. This allocation does not override a collection obligation imposed on Cavvyo or a seller by law. Tax information shown by Cavvyo is administrative information, not tax advice.

16. Payment confirmation, pickup, and release

A horse may not leave the seller's custody through the Cavvyo completion workflow until required payment conditions are satisfied and the seller authorizes release. Cavvyo may provide a pickup plan and release-code workflow so buyer and seller can document handoff. The parties are responsible for the accuracy of pickup details, authorized agents, registration paperwork, health documents, boarding arrangements, and any seller-disclosed charges.

17. Transportation

Transportation is the buyer's responsibility unless the applicable sale terms state otherwise. Cavvyo may provide a directory of approved transport providers for convenience, but Cavvyo does not broker transport quotes, negotiate transport contracts, collect transport-provider payment, dispatch carriers, or guarantee a carrier's authority, insurance, timing, conduct, or performance. Buyers should independently confirm current operating authority, insurance, route, timing, pricing, and terms directly with the carrier.

18. Risk of loss and title

Risk of loss, responsibility for care, and transfer of title are governed by the applicable sale terms, the parties' agreement, and applicable law. Buyers and sellers should not assume that Cavvyo possession of a payment record or release code changes legal title by itself. The seller remains responsible for the horse while in the seller's custody to the extent required by law and the applicable agreement, and the buyer assumes post-transfer responsibilities as provided by the applicable sale terms and law.

19. Nonpayment and default

A winning bidder who does not timely complete a binding purchase may be placed in default, lose bidding privileges, be responsible to the seller for resulting losses or costs to the extent permitted by law, and be subject to collection or legal action. If buyer funds have not been confirmed and the payment deadline or an authorized extension has expired, Cavvyo may administratively declare the buyer in default, close or cancel the unpaid settlement, block release, and authorize the seller to return the same equine to inventory and offer it in a new auction. The defaulting buyer has no ownership, release, or priority right in a Cavvyo-authorized resale merely because the buyer was the prior winning bidder.

Cavvyo preserves the original auction result, winning-bid record, transaction history, and default record when a defaulted equine is authorized for resale. Cavvyo may preserve relevant bid, account, payment, and communication records and may cooperate with the seller, payment providers, law enforcement, courts, or regulators as lawfully required.

20. Refunds, chargebacks, and disputes

Because equine auction sales are generally final, a payment dispute or chargeback is not an appeal from the auction result and is not a substitute for completing buyer diligence, honoring a binding winning bid, or first attempting to resolve a transaction issue through the seller and Cavvyo. A buyer must not knowingly initiate a false, misleading, or abusive payment dispute to avoid a valid auction obligation. Nothing in these Terms waives a cardholder or consumer right that cannot lawfully be waived or prevents a buyer from using a payment-network dispute process when the buyer has a legitimate basis under applicable law and network rules.

By registering, bidding, paying, arranging pickup, or accepting release, each user authorizes Cavvyo and the applicable seller to preserve and, when reasonably necessary to respond to a refund request, payment reversal, dispute, chargeback, fraud inquiry, or legal claim, provide relevant transaction evidence to Stripe, another payment provider, card networks, financial institutions, insurers, courts, regulators, or law enforcement as permitted by law. Evidence may include the version of terms accepted, auction-specific terms, timestamps, IP address and user-agent records, identity/account-verification status, bid and Max Bid records, invoice and payment records, communications, seller disclosures, pickup plans, transport or receiving-party details, release-code verification, handoff acknowledgments, registration or health-document transfer records, and other records showing authorization, disclosure, payment, delivery, or release.

For a Cavvyo-authorized cancellation or refund before physical pickup/release is completed, Cavvyo's seller commission is refunded with the transaction in full or proportionally, as applicable. After the seller verifies the buyer release code and Cavvyo records pickup/release as completed, a later dispute or chargeback does not automatically refund the Cavvyo seller commission to the seller. Post-release disputes are handled through Cavvyo's dispute workflow and the applicable payment-provider process. For seller-connected direct charges, the seller remains responsible for payment-provider refunds, reversals, disputes, and related processor obligations allocated to the seller's connected account, and the seller must reasonably cooperate in providing timely evidence.

21. Reviews and marketplace content

Verified-purchase reviews and other user content must be based on genuine experience and may not be fraudulent, extortionate, defamatory, abusive, discriminatory, or intentionally misleading. Cavvyo may moderate content for policy or legal reasons without adopting the content as Cavvyo's own statement.

22. User content and media rights

You retain ownership of content you lawfully own. By submitting listing media, descriptions, profile content, reviews, or other material to Cavvyo, you grant Cavvyo a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, reproduce, resize, format, display, distribute, and promote that content as reasonably necessary to operate and market the listing, auction, seller profile, marketplace, sold-results archive, and Cavvyo services. You represent that you have all rights and permissions required for the content you submit.

23. Cavvyo intellectual property

Cavvyo owns or licenses the marketplace software, auction engine, source code, databases, designs, text, branding, logos, and other platform content except user-provided material and third-party content. You may not copy, scrape, reverse engineer, decompile, reproduce, resell, or exploit Cavvyo technology or protected content except as permitted by law or written permission.

24. Prohibited conduct

You may not use Cavvyo for fraud, shill bidding, bidding on your own auction or arranging for another person or account to do so, bid manipulation, false identities, account sharing, abusive or threatening communications, stolen media, misrepresentation, unlawful sales, malware, scraping, unauthorized automation, security testing without permission, payment fraud, chargeback abuse, attempts to obtain another user's credentials or private Max Bid, or efforts to circumvent Cavvyo safety, verification, commission, or transaction controls.

25. Suspension and termination

Cavvyo may restrict, pause, suspend, or terminate accounts, listings, auctions, bidding, messaging, payment access, or other features when reasonably necessary to enforce these Terms, protect users or the platform, investigate fraud or security concerns, comply with law, or address nonpayment. Existing binding transaction obligations, payment duties, commission duties, dispute records, and provisions that by their nature should survive termination remain enforceable.

26. Third-party services

Cavvyo uses and may link to third-party services, including payment, identity-verification, email, support, and transport-provider services. Their services may be governed by separate terms and privacy policies. Cavvyo is not responsible for third-party services outside Cavvyo's reasonable control.

27. Disclaimer of platform warranties

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, CAVVYO AND ITS SERVICES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE.” CAVVYO DISCLAIMS IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT AS TO THE PLATFORM, EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT A WARRANTY CANNOT LEGALLY BE DISCLAIMED. CAVVYO DOES NOT GUARANTEE THAT A HORSE WILL SELL, THAT A BUYER WILL PERFORM, THAT A SELLER'S STATEMENTS ARE ACCURATE, OR THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE.

28. Limitation of liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, CAVVYO, ITS OWNERS, AFFILIATES, PERSONNEL, AND SERVICE PROVIDERS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES; LOST PROFITS; LOST DATA; LOSS OF GOODWILL; OR DAMAGES ARISING FROM THE CONDITION, HANDLING, TRANSPORT, USE, INJURY, ILLNESS, OR DEATH OF A HORSE, EXCEPT WHERE LIABILITY CANNOT LEGALLY BE LIMITED.

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, CAVVYO'S AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR A CLAIM RELATING TO THE SERVICES WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF THE AMOUNT THE CLAIMANT PAID DIRECTLY TO CAVVYO FOR THE SERVICE GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM DURING THE SIX MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT OR $250. THIS LIMIT DOES NOT APPLY WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

29. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Cavvyo and its owners, affiliates, personnel, and service providers from third-party claims, losses, liabilities, and reasonable costs arising from your material breach of these Terms; your listing, content, horse, transaction, or conduct; your infringement of another person's rights; your fraud or unlawful activity; or your failure to perform a binding buyer or seller obligation, except to the extent caused by Cavvyo's own conduct for which indemnification cannot lawfully be required.

30. Electronic communications and signatures

You consent to the use of electronic records, electronic acceptance, typed signatures, account actions, emails, and other electronic communications for agreements and transaction records to the fullest extent permitted by law. Transactional email, in-app notifications, and other service messages may be necessary to operate your account or transaction. Marketing communications are subject to applicable opt-out rights.

Optional SMS notifications require separate consent and are not a condition of purchase, bidding, selling, booking services, or account access. If you opt in, message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out or HELP for help. Cavvyo's current SMS program disclosure, message-frequency limit, privacy protections, and preference controls are published at Cavvyo SMS Notifications.

31. Governing law and venue

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Subject to non-waivable law and any claim that must be brought elsewhere, disputes relating to Cavvyo or these Terms will be brought in the state courts located in St. Lawrence County, New York, or the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York.

32. Changes to these Terms

Cavvyo may update these Terms as the service, marketplace rules, or law changes. Material changes may require renewed acceptance before you can continue certain account, bidding, selling, or payment activity. The date above identifies the current published version.

33. Miscellaneous

If any provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain effective to the fullest extent permitted by law. Failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. Cavvyo may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, reorganization, financing, or sale of the business or assets. You may not assign your account or obligations without Cavvyo's written consent. Headings are for convenience only.

34. Contact

Questions about these Terms may be sent to support@cavvyo.com.

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