Refund policy

Hoofine stands behind every transaction processed on the platform. Refunds follow the rules below and are designed to protect buyers from misrepresentation while keeping sellers solvent against capricious cancellations.

Nothing in this policy reduces consumer rights you have under the laws of your country. Where local law mandates broader refund rights, those rights apply.

If you are a consumer resident in the EU or EEA, you have the right to withdraw from a contract for a paid Hoofine product (a Feature, Feature Plus or Feature Max placement, a Hoofine Verified badge subscription, a KYB or KYH verification application, an auction listing fee, or a Breeding Lead) within 14 days without giving any reason. The withdrawal period is 14 days from the day the contract was concluded (i.e., the day of purchase). This statutory right is separate from, and additional to, the product-specific rules below.

To exercise the right of withdrawal, you must inform us (Growvit GmbH, Hinterm Stern 24, 22041 Hamburg, Germany; [email protected]) of your decision by a clear statement (e.g., a letter or email). You may use the model withdrawal form below, but it is not obligatory. To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient that you send your communication concerning the exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.

Effects of withdrawal: if you withdraw, we reimburse all payments received from you without undue delay and no later than 14 days from the day we are informed of your withdrawal, using the same means of payment you used, at no cost to you.

Early performance and loss of the right: for digital services, we begin performance only after you have expressly requested it AND acknowledged that you will lose your right of withdrawal once the service has been fully performed. Where you give that consent at checkout and we then fully perform within the 14-day period (for example, a featured placement that begins immediately, or a Breeding Lead delivered to your dashboard), the right of withdrawal is extinguished on full performance. If performance has begun but is not yet complete when you withdraw, you pay an amount proportionate to what has been provided up to that point.

Subscriptions (Hoofine Verified badges): the 14-day right of withdrawal applies to the initial subscription contract. Because the badge service begins immediately with your express consent at checkout, withdrawal within the 14-day period entitles you to a refund less a proportionate amount for the period during which the badge was already provided. After the withdrawal period, cancelling a subscription stops further renewals — see §5.

Model withdrawal form — To Growvit GmbH, [email protected]: “I/We hereby give notice that I/We withdraw from my/our contract for the following service: ______. Ordered on: ______. Name: ______. Address: ______. Date: ______. Signature (only if this form is notified on paper): ______.”

Funds held in escrow remain refundable to the buyer until the buyer presses Release in the inspection window. If the buyer opens a dispute during inspection, the platform freezes the funds and our trust team reviews evidence from both parties before issuing a refund or release.

Once a buyer releases funds, those funds become non-refundable through the platform — disputes after release must be settled directly between the parties or through the dispute-resolution process described in our Terms.

Stripe network fees on the original charge are returned by Stripe alongside any platform-issued refund. The buyer-side platform fee (3% of the agreed price, added on top of that price and disclosed before funding) is returned to the buyer in full whenever the escrowed amount is refunded in full before any release. Seller-side fees (4.8% of the agreed price plus the fixed fee) are deducted only from completed payouts — they are never charged on a refunded escrow, so there is nothing to refund on the seller side. An escrow keeps the fee terms that were in force when it was opened.

Featured placement comes in three tiers — Feature ($9.99), Feature Plus ($19.99) and Feature Max ($39.99), each buying 30 days of premium placement for a listing, auction or stud profile (launch prices; see the Note on pricing above). Subject to the EU/EEA right of withdrawal in §2, the fee is non-refundable once the placement begins.

Feature Max includes an automatic post on Hoofine's social channels, so a substantial part of its value is consumed at the start of the period; if you withdraw under §2 after the social share has been posted, the proportionate deduction reflects that front-loaded value.

If a featured placement fails to publish for technical reasons attributable to Hoofine, we will either re-run the placement or refund the fee at our option.

The Hoofine Verified badge is a subscription ($9.99/month or $99.99/year). The badge displays while your subscription is active. Cancelling a subscription stops further renewals; the badge remains visible until the end of the period already paid for and lapses at that point. We do not refund partial subscription periods after the §2 withdrawal window has passed, except where required by law.

The first subscription charge is refundable in full if the identity verification cannot be completed for reasons attributable to Hoofine or Stripe (e.g., service outage, system error).

If you fail Stripe Identity for reasons within your control (poor document image, expired ID, mismatch with your profile), you may retry the verification under the same subscription at no additional charge. We do not refund subscription charges for failed verifications that were attempted with valid documents.

Verified Business (KYB) and Verified Horse (KYH) applications carry a one-time application fee — $99.99 for KYB and $129.99 for KYH — charged before document submission. It covers the manual review of business documentation or horse papers, ownership history, microchip and passport records, and is non-refundable once review begins.

The application fee is refundable in full if our team determines, before review begins, that the business or horse is ineligible for verification, or if the review cannot be completed within 30 calendar days. If the application is rejected after review (e.g., paperwork defects, ownership cannot be confirmed), the fee is retained — it covers reviewer time already spent — and no badge subscription starts.

On approval, the recurring badge subscription begins at the prices shown on the /pricing page. Cancellation and refunds for badge subscriptions follow the rules in §5: the badge displays while the subscription is active and lapses at the end of the paid period after cancellation.

Subject to the EU/EEA right of withdrawal in §2, breeding lead purchases ($24.99 each) are non-refundable once the lead has been delivered to your dashboard. If a delivered lead turns out to be a duplicate of one you have already purchased within the previous 90 days, contact support and we will refund the duplicate.

The auction listing fee ($159.99) is charged when you create an auction; the auction does not go live until the fee is paid. Subject to the EU/EEA right of withdrawal in §2, the fee is non-refundable once the auction is published. If the auction never goes live for reasons attributable to Hoofine (e.g., a technical failure on our side), we refund the listing fee in full.

The winner's buyer's premium (4.8% of the hammer price, added on top of the hammer price) and the initiator's commission (9.5% of the hammer price, deducted from the payout) follow the escrow rules in §3: the buyer's premium is returned to the winner in full if the escrowed amount is refunded in full before any release, and the commission is deducted only from a completed payout.

If you initiate a chargeback through your card issuer for a transaction processed on Hoofine, your account will be suspended pending review. We strongly prefer to resolve disputes through the in-app process, which is faster, free, and more flexible than chargeback adjudication.

Where a chargeback is upheld against Hoofine for an escrow that has already been released to a seller, Hoofine may withhold future seller payouts to recover the loss.

Email [email protected] with your account email, the transaction ID, and a short description. We acknowledge requests within 1 business day and complete eligible refunds within 5 business days. Refunds return to the original payment method.