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Sitter Terms of Service

Version: 1.0-draft

Last Updated: May 2, 2026

Draft — Pending Legal ReviewThis document is a working draft prepared for legal review and is not yet effective. It is provided to assist legal counsel in preparing the final version of CritterTrust's Sitter Terms of Service. Bracketed comments labeled [LAWYER REVIEW: ...] flag specific areas requiring attention. Do not present this document to sitters as the operative Terms of Service until it has been reviewed, finalized, and approved by qualified legal counsel.

Welcome to CritterTrust

These Sitter Terms of Service ("Terms") form a binding contract between you ("you" or "Sitter") and CritterTrust, LLC, an Ohio limited liability company ("CritterTrust", "we", "us", or "our"). By creating a Sitter account, paying for a Sitter subscription, or otherwise using CritterTrust as a Sitter, you agree to these Terms.

CritterTrust operates a marketplace platform that helps independent pet sitters find, communicate with, and serve pet owners. We are a software platform — not a pet sitting service. You are the pet care professional. Your clients are your clients. Your business is your business. We provide the tools.

If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use CritterTrust as a Sitter.

These Terms include a binding arbitration clause and a class action waiver in Section 18. By agreeing to these Terms, you waive your right to a jury trial and your right to participate in class actions against CritterTrust, except as specifically provided. Please read Section 18 carefully.

1. Eligibility

To use CritterTrust as a Sitter, you must:

CritterTrust may, at our sole discretion, reject any Sitter application or suspend any Sitter account where we reasonably believe these eligibility requirements are not met.

2. Your Relationship with CritterTrust

You and CritterTrust are independent of one another. You are not an employee, agent, partner, joint venturer, or franchisee of CritterTrust. You are an independent business owner using CritterTrust as a tool to operate your own pet sitting business.

This means:

You agree to represent yourself as an independent business owner — not as a CritterTrust employee or representative — to clients, regulators, and any third party.

For Legal ReviewIndependent contractor language is the single most important provision in these Terms. Please review against current Ohio independent-contractor classification standards, federal ABC test considerations, and any recent NLRB or FTC guidance on platform worker classification. Consider whether stronger ABC-test-aligned language is appropriate.

3. Your Account and Profile

When you create a Sitter account, you agree that:

Your public Sitter profile may include your name or business name, photo, location, services offered, pricing, bio, reviews, and verification badges. You grant CritterTrust a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to display this content on the CritterTrust platform and in CritterTrust marketing materials. You retain ownership of your content. See Section 11 for full content licensing terms.

You may have only one active Sitter account. Operating multiple Sitter accounts to circumvent platform policies, suspensions, or limits is a violation of these Terms.

4. Sitter Subscriptions

CritterTrust offers tiered subscription plans for Sitters. Current plans, prices, and features are described on the platform and may change. As of the date of these Terms, the available plans are:

By subscribing to a paid plan, you agree to the following:

Subscription term and renewal. Paid subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each billing cycle (typically monthly) at the then-current rate, charged to the payment method on file, unless you cancel before the renewal date. By subscribing, you authorize CritterTrust and our payment processor (Stripe) to charge your payment method for recurring subscription fees until you cancel.

Cancellation. You may cancel your subscription at any time through your account settings. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period. You will retain access to paid features through the end of that period. No refunds will be issued for the unused portion of any billing period, except where required by applicable law.

Price changes. CritterTrust may change subscription prices. We will provide at least 30 days' notice of any price increase by email, and the new price will take effect on your next billing cycle after the notice period. Continuing to use the paid subscription after the new price takes effect constitutes acceptance of the new price.

Trials. CritterTrust may offer free or discounted trial periods. Unless you cancel before the trial ends, your subscription will automatically convert to a paid subscription at the end of the trial and you will be charged the standard rate.

Failed payments. If a subscription payment fails, CritterTrust may suspend your access to paid features. CritterTrust and Stripe will attempt automatic retries for a period determined by Stripe's standard dunning process. If payment cannot be collected, your subscription will be cancelled and your account will be downgraded to the Starter plan.

California, Oregon, and other state auto-renewal disclosures. This subscription auto-renews at the standard rate at the end of each billing period until cancelled. You may cancel at any time through your account settings without penalty.

For Legal ReviewCalifornia Automatic Renewal Law (Bus. & Prof. Code § 17600 et seq.), Oregon ORS 646A.295, and similar state statutes have specific disclosure and consent requirements at signup, in confirmation emails, and on the cancellation page. Please verify the disclosure language and signup-flow consent meet the strictest applicable standard.

5. Sitter Conduct and Quality Standards

CritterTrust is a platform built on trust. As a Sitter, you agree to maintain professional standards of conduct in all interactions with Owners, pets, and CritterTrust.

You will:

You will not:

CritterTrust reserves the right, at our sole discretion, to investigate any reported violation of these conduct standards and to suspend or terminate Sitter accounts that we reasonably believe have violated these Terms.

6. Background Checks

To protect Owners and their pets, CritterTrust requires Sitters to complete a background check before their public profile becomes visible to Owners on the platform.

Background check provider. CritterTrust uses a third-party background check provider (currently a consumer reporting agency under the Fair Credit Reporting Act) to perform background checks. CritterTrust does not perform background checks directly and does not have access to the underlying records.

What we receive. CritterTrust receives only the pass/fail or "consider" status of your background check. We do not store the underlying criminal history report or any specific findings.

Who pays. The background check fee is paid by the Sitter directly to the background check provider, not to CritterTrust. CritterTrust may, in our discretion, subsidize this fee for Founding Sitters or other promotional groups.

Annual re-checks. Your background check is valid for one year from the date the check is completed. You will receive email reminders 30 days and 7 days before expiration. After expiration, your public profile will revert to a "Coming soon" state and Owners will not be able to book you until you complete a new background check.

FCRA rights. If your background check returns adverse results, you have the right under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act to receive a copy of the report from the consumer reporting agency, dispute any inaccurate information, and require the agency to investigate disputed items. CritterTrust will provide you with the contact information for the consumer reporting agency upon request.

No guarantee. A passed background check is a baseline screening, not a comprehensive endorsement. CritterTrust does not guarantee that any Sitter is suitable for any particular Owner, pet, or situation. Owners are encouraged to interview Sitters and make their own informed decisions.

For Legal ReviewConfirm FCRA-compliant disclosure and authorization language at the moment of background check submission. Some states (CA, NY, MA, others) have additional requirements (state FCRAs, Ban-the-Box, etc.). Confirm whether annual re-check messaging needs FCRA notice on each renewal.

7. Bookings and Payments

CritterTrust does not provide pet sitting services. We provide a platform that facilitates direct contracts between Sitters and Owners.

Direct contracting. When an Owner books you for a visit, the resulting agreement is between you and the Owner — not between you and CritterTrust. You are responsible for performing the service. The Owner is responsible for paying you. CritterTrust is not a party to the booking.

Payments through Stripe Connect. When Owners pay through the platform, payments are processed by Stripe, Inc. through Stripe Connect. Stripe is the payment processor and the funds flow directly from the Owner to your Stripe Connect account, which is your account with Stripe. CritterTrust does not custody, hold, or control these funds at any time. Your relationship with Stripe is governed by Stripe's separate Connected Account Agreement (https://stripe.com/connect-account/legal), which you must accept to receive payments through the platform.

Off-platform payments. You may accept payments outside the platform (cash, Venmo, Zelle, etc.). When you do, CritterTrust does not facilitate, process, or guarantee those payments. You may log off-platform payments in your earnings record for your own bookkeeping purposes; doing so does not create any obligation on CritterTrust's part with respect to those payments.

Disputes between Sitters and Owners. If a dispute arises between you and an Owner — for example, over service quality, payment, damage, or scheduling — CritterTrust may, in our sole discretion, attempt to facilitate communication, but we are not responsible for resolving the dispute and are not a party to it. Disputes are between you and the Owner. Where Stripe is involved (e.g., chargebacks), Stripe's dispute process governs.

Refunds. CritterTrust does not issue refunds for visits performed by Sitters. Refunds, if any, are between you and the Owner directly. If an Owner initiates a chargeback through their card issuer, Stripe's chargeback process applies and the funds at issue may be debited from your Stripe Connect account.

Taxes. You are solely responsible for reporting and paying all taxes on income earned through CritterTrust. CritterTrust will not withhold taxes from your earnings. Stripe will issue Form 1099-K to you when required by law, based on your payment volume thresholds in effect at the time.

8. Reviews

Owners may leave reviews of you after completed bookings.

CritterTrust does not guarantee any particular review outcome and is not liable for the impact of reviews on your business.

9. Off-Platform Activity

We understand that Sitters and Owners build genuine relationships and that long-term clients may operate partly or fully outside any platform. CritterTrust does not prohibit you from communicating with clients outside the platform, accepting payments outside the platform, or maintaining a client relationship that predates your CritterTrust account.

However, you agree that you will not:

Casual off-platform communication and payment with established clients is permitted and expected. The line is intentional, repeated solicitation specifically aimed at evading platform fees.

For Legal ReviewThis section walks a line between protecting platform economics and respecting independent contractor status. The "deliberate solicitation" language is intentional but may benefit from refinement. Avoid restraint-of-trade or non-compete framing, which would weaken independent contractor classification.

10. Intellectual Property

Your content. You retain ownership of content you upload to CritterTrust (profile photos, bio, services, photos in report cards, messages, etc.). You grant CritterTrust a non-exclusive, transferable, sublicensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use, display, reproduce, and distribute your content for the purposes of operating, promoting, and improving the CritterTrust platform. This license ends when you delete the content or your account, except for content already shared with Owners (which they retain for their records) and aggregate, non-identifying analytics derived from the content.

Owner-shared photos. When you take photos of pets during a visit and share them with Owners through the platform's report card feature, the photos are the Owner's property. You may not use those photos for marketing or any purpose other than the service to that specific Owner without the Owner's express written permission.

CritterTrust IP. All CritterTrust trademarks, logos, software, designs, and platform content are the property of CritterTrust or its licensors and are protected by U.S. and international intellectual property law. You may not copy, modify, reverse engineer, or create derivative works of the platform.

Feedback. If you provide CritterTrust with feedback or suggestions, you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free license to use the feedback without obligation to you.

11. Suspension and Termination

Your right to terminate. You may terminate your Sitter account at any time through your account settings, by contacting support@crittertrust.com, or by ceasing to use the platform. Termination does not entitle you to a refund of any subscription fees and does not relieve you of obligations incurred before termination.

CritterTrust's right to suspend or terminate. CritterTrust may suspend or terminate your account, with or without notice, if we reasonably believe that:

Effect of termination. Upon termination:

Appeals. If your account is suspended or terminated, you may appeal by emailing support@crittertrust.com within 30 days. CritterTrust will review the appeal and respond within a reasonable time. Reinstatement is at our sole discretion.

12. CritterTrust's Role and Disclaimers

CritterTrust is a platform, not a pet care provider.

CritterTrust does not employ, supervise, train, certify, or guarantee the performance of any Sitter. We provide background checks, identity verification, and a venue for Sitters and Owners to find each other. We do not:

Owners contract directly with Sitters. When an Owner books a Sitter, the resulting agreement is between the Owner and the Sitter. CritterTrust is not a party to this agreement. Sitters are independent contractors solely responsible for their own actions and the services they provide.

Sitter independence. Each Sitter sets their own prices, schedule, services, and policies. Sitters are not employees, agents, or representatives of CritterTrust.

No guarantees about Owners. While CritterTrust may collect basic information about Owners (such as email and phone number), we do not background-check Owners and cannot guarantee any Owner's identity, pet ownership, home environment, or character. Use your own judgment when accepting bookings.

Platform availability. CritterTrust will use commercially reasonable efforts to keep the platform operational but does not guarantee uninterrupted, error-free, or perpetually available service. Scheduled maintenance, outages, third-party failures, and force majeure events may interrupt service.

THE PLATFORM AND ALL CONTENT ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, ACCURACY, AND THE WARRANTY ARISING FROM COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE. CRITTERTRUST DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE PLATFORM WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR FREE FROM HARMFUL COMPONENTS.

13. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless CritterTrust, its officers, directors, employees, agents, and affiliates from and against any and all claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to:

CritterTrust reserves the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you, in which case you agree to cooperate with CritterTrust's defense.

14. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law:

CritterTrust shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including but not limited to lost profits, lost data, loss of goodwill, business interruption, personal injury, property damage, or pet injury or death, arising out of or related to your use of the platform — even if CritterTrust has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

CritterTrust's total cumulative liability to you for any claim arising out of or related to these Terms or the platform shall not exceed the greater of (a) the total subscription fees you have paid CritterTrust in the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the claim, or (b) one hundred U.S. dollars ($100).

This limitation applies regardless of the legal theory (contract, tort, strict liability, or otherwise) and whether or not CritterTrust has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages, in which case the foregoing limitations apply to the maximum extent permitted by law.

15. Insurance

You are responsible for any insurance you choose to carry. CritterTrust does not provide insurance coverage to Sitters, does not require any specific insurance, and does not endorse any particular insurance provider. We strongly recommend that you obtain pet sitting business insurance, including general liability and care/custody/control coverage. The decision is yours.

CritterTrust's own insurance policies do not cover Sitters, Sitters' actions, or services provided by Sitters.

For Legal ReviewWhether to require Sitters to carry insurance is a business and legal decision. Consider whether requiring it strengthens or weakens independent contractor classification, and how it interacts with limitation of liability above.

16. Privacy

CritterTrust's collection and use of personal information is governed by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference. By using the platform, you agree to the data practices described in the Privacy Policy.

You agree to comply with all applicable privacy laws when handling Owner information, pet information, or any other personal data you receive through the platform. You will not use Owner information for any purpose other than providing services as a Sitter and managing your CritterTrust account.

17. Changes to These Terms

CritterTrust may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we will:

If you do not agree to updated Terms, you may terminate your account before the new Terms take effect. Continuing to use the platform after the new Terms take effect constitutes your acceptance of the new Terms.

18. Dispute Resolution — Binding Arbitration and Class Action Waiver

Please read this section carefully. It limits your legal rights.

18.1 Informal resolution first. Before initiating any formal dispute, you agree to first contact CritterTrust at legal@crittertrust.com with a written description of the dispute and requested resolution. CritterTrust will respond within 30 days. The parties will attempt in good faith to resolve the dispute informally for a period of at least 60 days before initiating arbitration. The statute of limitations and any filing fee deadlines will be tolled during the informal-resolution period.

18.2 Binding arbitration. Any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or related to these Terms or the platform that is not resolved through informal resolution shall be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules (or, if you are acting in a commercial business capacity, the Commercial Arbitration Rules), and judgment on the award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.

The arbitration will be conducted by a single arbitrator. The arbitrator will be empowered to award any relief that would be available in a court of law, but only on an individual basis.

18.3 Location and procedure. The arbitration will be conducted by telephone, video, or written submissions where possible. If an in-person hearing is required, it will be held in Montgomery County, Ohio, or another location mutually agreed by the parties.

18.4 Costs. AAA's filing fees and arbitrator fees will be allocated according to AAA's rules, except that CritterTrust will pay any portion of those fees that exceeds what you would have paid to file in court, where required by law. Each party is responsible for its own attorneys' fees, except where applicable law or these Terms provide otherwise.

18.5 CLASS ACTION WAIVER. You and CritterTrust agree that any dispute will be resolved on an individual basis. Neither you nor CritterTrust may bring a claim as a plaintiff or class member in any class, collective, or representative action. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims and may not preside over any form of representative or class proceeding.

If a court determines that this class-action waiver is unenforceable as to a particular claim or remedy, that claim or remedy (and only that claim or remedy) shall be severed from arbitration and may proceed in a court of competent jurisdiction; all other claims will proceed in arbitration.

18.6 Exceptions. Notwithstanding the above, either party may bring a claim in small claims court for a dispute within that court's jurisdiction, and either party may seek injunctive or equitable relief in court for intellectual property, confidentiality, or unauthorized access claims.

18.7 Right to opt out. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement by sending written notice to legal@crittertrust.com within 30 days of first agreeing to these Terms. The notice must include your full name, the email address associated with your account, and a clear statement that you wish to opt out of arbitration. Opting out does not affect any other provision of these Terms.

18.8 Survival. This Section 18 survives termination of these Terms and your account.

For Legal ReviewConfirm AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules vs Commercial Rules application for sitters as small business operators. Consider whether Ohio venue is appropriate or whether sitter's home county should govern. Confirm 30-day opt-out window is sufficient under current case law (Brewer v. Missouri, etc.).

19. General Provisions

Governing law. These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Ohio, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. The Federal Arbitration Act governs the arbitration provisions in Section 18.

Venue. Subject to Section 18, any dispute that proceeds in court (e.g., the small claims or injunctive-relief exceptions) shall be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Montgomery County, Ohio, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.

Severability. If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in full force.

No waiver. A failure or delay by CritterTrust in enforcing any provision is not a waiver.

Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without CritterTrust's written consent. CritterTrust may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, sale, or other corporate transaction.

Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any other policies referenced, constitute the entire agreement between you and CritterTrust and supersede all prior agreements.

Force majeure. Neither party will be liable for any failure to perform due to events beyond reasonable control, including acts of God, natural disasters, war, terrorism, pandemics, government actions, and infrastructure outages.

Notices. CritterTrust may provide notices to you by email at the address associated with your account, by posting on the platform, or by any other reasonable means. You may provide notices to CritterTrust at legal@crittertrust.com.

Contact. CritterTrust, LLC [Street Address] [City], Ohio [ZIP] legal@crittertrust.com

For Legal Review — Summary

Key items flagged for review:

End of Sitter Terms of Service v1.0-draft