PlantBookOS provides community features that connect users with each other — including the cutting and plant Marketplace, the Sits plant-sitter network, creator referrals, messaging, and any future in-person or peer-to-peer feature (collectively, the “Community Features”). These features are tools for finding each other. Every transaction, exchange, meeting, and arrangement happens directly between users and is entirely between those users.
1. PlantBookOS is a venue, not a party to your dealings
PlantBookOS is not a party to any sale, trade, gift, swap, shipment, sitter engagement, lease, employment relationship, in-person meeting, or other arrangement between users. We do not own, inspect, certify, screen, insure, transport, or stand behind any plant, cutting, seed, soil, container, or other item exchanged on the platform. We do not screen, certify, license, bond, insure, employ, or perform background checks on any user, including any sitter, host, buyer, seller, trader, or contact you find through the Community Features.
2. You vet your own counterparties
Before exchanging anything or meeting anyone, you are solely responsible for:
- verifying the identity, reputation, and reliability of the other user;
- inspecting plants, cuttings, and any other items for pests, disease, mold, root rot, regulated species, invasive species, or other defects;
- complying with all applicable laws on plant import/export, quarantine, CITES, agricultural inspection, customs, sales tax, and resale licensing in your and the other party's jurisdictions;
- meeting in a safe, public location and bringing a friend if appropriate;
- not allowing strangers into your home except by your own informed choice;
- arranging your own insurance, payment escrow, shipping insurance, and dispute backstops.
3. Marketplace — cuttings, plants, and items
Listings are written by sellers. We do not verify accuracy of species, age, size, cultivar, rarity, propagation method, parent plant, growing conditions, or pest-and-disease status. Photos may be stock photos or photos of a different plant. We do not guarantee that any plant or cutting will arrive alive, root successfully, survive shipping, be pest-free, or be true-to-name. Buyers and sellers are responsible for their own agreements regarding payment, refunds, returns, replacements, shipping risk, customs, and dispute resolution.
You acknowledge that live plants and cuttings can carry pests, pathogens, allergens, and toxic compounds. Quarantine new arrivals before introducing them to your collection. Wash hands after handling. Keep them away from pets and children where toxicity is unknown.
4. Sits — plant-sitter and house-access arrangements
The Sits feature helps you find other users who may care for your plants while you are away, or whose plants you may care for. PlantBookOS does not employ sitters, does not perform background checks, does not verify identity, does not bond or insure sitters, does not inspect homes, and is not a guarantor of any sitter's skill, honesty, reliability, or safety.
If you give another user access to your home, keys, alarm codes, plants, or property, you do so at your own risk. If you enter another user's home as a sitter, you do so at your own risk. We strongly recommend: a written agreement between the two of you, a key exchange in a public place, your own homeowner/renter or liability insurance, a trusted backup contact, and a clear scope of what is and isn't included. PlantBookOS has no role in setting, enforcing, or resolving any sitter arrangement.
5. Messaging and in-person meetings
Any decision to meet another user in person, share your address, or share personal contact details is yours alone. Use the in-app messaging for as long as you can; share personal information only when you are comfortable; meet first in a public, well-lit location. PlantBookOS does not monitor private meetings and is not responsible for what happens during them.
6. Reporting and removal
If another user behaves unsafely, misrepresents items, harasses you, or violates our Terms, report them in-app or email safety@plantbookos.com. We may remove listings, suspend users, and cooperate with law enforcement, but we have no obligation to do so and no liability for failing to act on any specific report.
7. Release of liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, you release, waive, and forever dischargePlantBookOS, its owners, employees, contractors, affiliates, suppliers, and licensors (the “Released Parties”) from any and all claims, demands, losses, damages, liabilities, costs, and expenses of any kind — whether known or unknown, anticipated or unanticipated, in contract or tort — arising out of or relating to:
- any item exchanged, sold, traded, gifted, or shipped between users;
- any in-person meeting, home entry, key exchange, or property access;
- any sitter, host, buyer, seller, trader, guest, or contact found through the platform;
- any conduct (including unlawful, negligent, or harmful conduct) by another user;
- any personal injury, illness, allergic reaction, property damage, theft, identity fraud, financial loss, lost or dead plants, pest infestation, pet injury, or emotional distress arising from any of the above.
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Released Parties from any third-party claim arising from your conduct, your listings, your messages, your meetings, or your sitter arrangements with other users.
8. No warranty
The Community Features are provided “as is” and “as available”without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, accuracy, or that any user is who they say they are.
9. Mandatory cooperation with authorities
Nothing in this waiver prevents you from reporting unlawful conduct to law enforcement. PlantBookOS will cooperate with valid legal process.
10. Severability and local law
If any portion of this waiver is found unenforceable in your jurisdiction, the remainder stays in effect, and the unenforceable portion will be limited to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable. Some jurisdictions do not permit certain limitations of liability or releases of future negligence; in those jurisdictions, the limitations apply only to the maximum extent permitted by law.
11. Questions
safety@plantbookos.com — safety, abuse, and trust & safety. legal@plantbookos.com — legal notices.
This document is a draft and will be finalized by counsel before public launch. Where local consumer-protection law overrides any clause above, that local law controls.