Effective Date: October 15, 2026 Version: 1.0 Applies to: All Sellers who fulfill Orders through a supplier that ships directly to the Buyer.
Article 1: Introduction and Scope
1.1 This document states the conditions on which a Seller may fulfill an Order by having a supplier ship directly to the Buyer, the duties that remain with the Seller as seller of record, the disclosure and documentation duties, and the dropshipping practices that are prohibited. It binds every Seller that fulfills an Order in that manner and supplements the Fulfillment Policy.
1.2 Two forms of dropshipping exist on the Platform and are governed differently. First-party dropshipping is the Company's own sourcing, in which the Company buys from its own suppliers and fulfills Buyer Orders for Products sold as "Sold by Pawz Shop"; the Seller documents do not govern that activity. Seller dropshipping, governed by this document, is fulfillment by a marketplace Seller that does not hold the inventory and that causes a supplier to ship directly to the Buyer for a Product sold as "Sold by {Seller name}."
1.3 Brand gating applies to a dropshipping Seller in full. A Seller that dropships a gated brand shall hold the authorization required by the Brand Gating Policy (Sellers) (Brand Gating Policy (Sellers)); fulfillment by a supplier does not change the authorization requirement.
1.4 If a provision of this document conflicts with the Terms of Use, this document controls for the subject it governs. If a provision of this document conflicts with the terms of a program in which the Seller participates, the program terms control for that program. Policies and help pages explain this document; they do not amend it, and in any conflict this document prevails.
Article 2: Definitions
2.1 Account: the account a person or business establishes with the Company to use the Platform.
2.2 Buyer: a person who purchases Products or Services through the Platform.
2.3 Company: All About Pawz, LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company.
2.4 Handling Time: the number of business days between placement of an Order and handoff to the Carrier, as published on the listing and defined in the Fulfillment Policy.
2.5 Order: a Buyer's purchase of Products or Services through the Platform, accepted in accordance with the Order Formation and Acceptance Policy.
2.6 Platform: the websites, applications, and services the Company operates under the name All About Pawz, including aapawz.com.
2.7 Products: goods offered for sale through the Platform.
2.8 Seller: a person or business the Company has accepted to offer Products or Services through the Platform.
2.9 Seller of Record: the Seller identified on the offer, on the packing documentation, and in Buyer communications as the seller of the Product. For every Order governed by this document, the Seller is the Seller of Record.
2.10 Services: services offered through the Platform, including grooming, veterinary, pharmacy, and fulfillment services, as applicable.
2.11 Supplier: a wholesale or manufacturing source from which the Seller obtains Products and which ships a Product directly to the Buyer on the Seller's instruction. The Supplier is the Seller's subcontractor for fulfillment; the Supplier has no contract with the Buyer.
Article 3: Conditions of Permitted Dropshipping
3.1 Seller dropshipping is permitted only where each of the following conditions is satisfied: (a) the Seller is the Seller of Record, identified on the offer, on the packing documentation, and in every Buyer communication, and the Buyer's contract of sale is with the Seller; (b) every shipment carries tracking that satisfies the Tracking Policy: the Supplier's tracking is the Seller's tracking, and the Seller shall enter it against the Order and is responsible for its validity; (c) the Product satisfies every listing duty in the Selling Terms of Service, including accuracy, images, identifiers, and category placement; and (d) the Seller, and not the Supplier, is responsible for the Buyer's experience, including communications, returns, refunds, and resolution of problems. The Buyer shall not be directed to deal with the Supplier, and the Supplier's name shall not appear in a Buyer-facing communication unless the Supplier's brand is the Seller's own brand.
3.2 The Seller shall disclose to the Company, through the facility the Company provides, each Supplier the Seller uses for dropshipping and the Products sourced from that Supplier, before listing a Product fulfilled by that Supplier. A shipment from an undisclosed Supplier is a violation of this document.
3.3 The Seller shall record each supplier order, stating the Supplier, the Supplier's order reference, the status, the time the order was placed and the time of shipment, the Carrier, the tracking number, the items, and the ship-to address. That record is the audit trail from the Buyer Order to the Supplier shipment. A dropshipped Order without a supplier-order record is undocumented fulfillment.
3.4 The Seller shall record the fulfillment exchange with the Supplier, stating when the Order was sent to the Supplier, when the Supplier acknowledged it, each retry of a failed transmission, each error message, and the tracking numbers returned. A failed transmission to the Supplier does not suspend the Seller's Handling Time; the failure starts the Seller's incident response under Article 6.
Article 4: Duties That Remain with the Seller
4.1 The Seller's service obligations are not delegable to the Supplier. A Supplier's late shipment is the Seller's late shipment. A Supplier's stockout is the Seller's cancellation. A Supplier's packaging failure is the Seller's damage return under the Packaging Policy. A Supplier's shipment of a wrong item is the Seller's not-as-described violation. In no enforcement proceeding under the Company's documents is the conduct of the Supplier a defense for the Seller, because the Buyer has no contract with the Supplier. Performance is measured against the Seller without reattribution to the Supplier, under the Performance and Account Health Policy.
4.2 The Seller shall select a Supplier the Seller can hold to the service standards in the Fulfillment Policy, the Shipping Policy, and the Tracking Policy, or shall fulfill the Order directly. A Supplier whose Handling Time the Seller cannot verify, whose inventory position the Seller cannot confirm, or whose tracking the Seller cannot validate shall not be used. Vetting of a Supplier is completed before listing, not after a failure.
4.3 The Seller shall confirm the Supplier's inventory position from a feed, an interface, or another source the Seller monitors on a continuing basis. A statement of availability on a Supplier's sales page is not an inventory position. Listing against a Supplier's unverified stock is an inventory violation under the Inventory Accuracy Policy and, on cancellation, a cancellation violation under the Order Cancellation Policy. Where the Supplier's inventory information ceases to be current, the Seller shall pause the affected listings rather than sell against stale information.
4.4 The Supplier's compliance is the Seller's compliance. The Seller shall vet each Supplier for the regulatory requirements applicable to the Products sourced, including pesticide registration requirements for flea, tick, and pesticide Products, labeling requirements for food and treats, and prescription handling requirements for prescription Products, in each case as stated in the Selling Terms of Service and the applicable category policies.
Article 5: Prohibited Dropshipping Practices
5.1 Retail arbitrage is prohibited where the Seller cannot verify the authenticity of the Product. Ordering a Product from another retailer at the time of the Buyer's checkout and causing that retailer to ship to the Buyer is prohibited, because the Seller cannot verify that the Product is genuine, cannot control the packaging, and cannot prevent the retailer's branding and receipts from reaching the Buyer. A violation of this clause is enforced at counterfeit severity under the Counterfeit Policy for Sellers where authenticity cannot be verified.
5.2 A Seller shall not permit a Supplier packing slip that identifies a seller other than the Seller, and shall not permit a packing slip that states wholesale pricing. The Buyer ordered from the Seller, and the contents of the package shall be consistent with that fact.
5.3 Blind dropshipping from a marketplace the Seller does not control is prohibited. Where the Supplier is itself a third-party seller on another marketplace, the chain of custody is too long to verify authenticity, handling, and continuity of supply. The Seller's Supplier shall be a genuine wholesale or manufacturing source.
5.4 A Seller shall not present a dropshipped Product as held in the Seller's own inventory, shall not state a Handling Time the Supplier's fulfillment cannot meet, and shall not continue to list a Product of a Supplier that has ceased to perform, as governed by clause 6.4.
Article 6: Supplier Failure
6.1 Failure of acknowledgment: where the Supplier does not acknowledge a transmitted Order and retries accumulate on the record, the Seller shall contact the Supplier through the Seller's own channel and, if acknowledgment is not received within one-half of the Handling Time, shall source the Product elsewhere or cancel the Order under the Order Cancellation Policy.
6.2 Late shipment by the Supplier: the late shipment is recorded against the Seller's Late Shipment Rate without reattribution. The Seller's recourse for the failure is against the Supplier and does not affect the measure.
6.3 Wrong or damaged item shipped by the Supplier: the Seller shall resolve the Buyer's claim under the Return and Refund Policy: Sellers (Return and Refund Policy — Sellers), by refund or reshipment without delay, and shall resolve the Supplier's responsibility separately. The Buyer is not required to wait for the outcome of a dispute between the Seller and the Supplier.
6.4 Supplier cessation: where a Supplier ceases to respond or to ship, the Seller shall cancel each affected Order that cannot be fulfilled, refund each affected Buyer in full immediately, and remove that Supplier's Products from sale on the same day. Continued listing of a non-performing Supplier's Products is listing against phantom inventory under the Inventory Accuracy Policy.
6.5 Where the rate of Supplier-attributable failures: late acknowledgments, stockout cancellations, and wrong-item shipments: exceeds the threshold stated in the Performance and Account Health Policy, the Company may suppress the Supplier-sourced listings until the Seller demonstrates a reliable supply chain, by a new Supplier, by direct fulfillment, or by enrollment of the affected Products in Fulfillment by Pawz Shop: Program Terms (Fulfillment by Pawz Shop — Program Terms).
Article 7: Fees
7.1 A fee is payable under this document only if the fee is stated in the Seller Fee Schedule. No other charge of any kind is payable, and the Company shall not impose a fee that the schedule does not state.
Article 8: Liability
8.1 Exclusion of certain damages. To the fullest extent permitted by law, neither party is liable to the other for indirect, incidental, special, punitive, or consequential damages, or for lost profits, lost revenue, or loss of goodwill, arising out of or relating to this document, even if the party has been advised of the possibility of those damages.
8.2 Cap. To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Company's total liability arising out of or relating to this document shall not exceed the greater of (a) the amounts the Seller paid to the Company under this document in the twelve months before the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) one hundred dollars ($100).
8.3 Carve-outs. This Article does not limit (a) a party's indemnification obligations under this document; (b) liability for fraud or willful misconduct; (c) amounts the Seller owes for Orders, fees, chargebacks, or refunds under this document; or (d) liability that cannot be limited under applicable law.
8.4 Essential purpose. The parties agree that this Article allocates risk between them, that it is an essential part of the basis of their bargain, and that it applies even if a limited remedy fails of its essential purpose.
Article 9: Indemnification
9.1 Duty. The Seller shall indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Company and its members, managers, employees, and agents from and against every claim, demand, action, loss, liability, judgment, settlement, cost, and expense (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to: (a) the Seller's breach of this document; (b) the Seller's Products, Services, listings, or User Content; (c) the Seller's violation of any law or of the rights of any person; (d) product liability, intellectual property infringement, and product recall costs arising from the Seller's Products, including Products shipped by a Supplier; (e) the acts and omissions of a Supplier engaged by the Seller, to the extent those acts or omissions concern an Order placed through the Platform; and (f) taxes for which the Seller is responsible under this document.
9.2 Procedure. The Company shall give prompt written notice of a claim under this Article. The Seller shall control the defense with counsel reasonably acceptable to the Company. The Company may participate in the defense at its own expense. The Seller shall not settle a claim in a manner that imposes any obligation or restriction on the Company, or that does not release the Company fully, without the Company's prior written consent.
9.3 Survival. This Article survives the termination of this document.
Article 10: Enforcement and Appeals
10.1 Investigation. The Company may investigate any suspected violation of this document. The Seller shall cooperate with an investigation and shall produce the records this document requires the Seller to keep, including supplier-order records.
10.2 Notice. If the Company determines that the Seller has violated this document, the Company shall give written notice stating the provision violated and the facts relied on, except where notice would compromise an investigation of fraud, a safety risk, or a legal obligation.
10.3 Opportunity to cure. Where a violation is capable of cure, the Seller has ten (10) business days from notice to cure it and to confirm the cure in writing. No cure period applies to fraud, counterfeiting, a risk to the safety of a person or an animal, unlawful conduct, or a violation that by its nature cannot be cured.
10.4 Measures. If a violation is established and is not cured within the period allowed, the Company may, proportionate to the violation: (a) issue a written warning; (b) remove or suppress a listing or content, including suppression of Supplier-sourced listings under clause 6.5; (c) cancel an Order or a booking; (d) suspend the Account or a program participation, in whole or in part; (e) terminate this document and the Account; and (f) exercise any other right or remedy available under this document or at law. Dropshipping violations are fulfillment violations measured against the Seller without Supplier reattribution.
10.5 Disbursement hold. The Company may hold disbursements to the Seller while an investigation under this Article is pending, and shall release amounts not required to satisfy the Seller's obligations when the investigation closes.
10.6 Appeal. The Seller may appeal a measure under this Article by written notice to legal@aapawz.com within thirty (30) days of the measure, stating the grounds and attaching the records relied on. The appeal is decided by a person who did not make the original decision. The Company's decision on appeal is final. A measure remains in effect during an appeal unless the Company directs otherwise in writing.
10.7 No waiver by delay. The Company's delay in acting on a violation is not a waiver of the violation or of any later violation of the same kind.
Article 11: Term and Termination
11.1 Term. This document takes effect when the Seller is accepted to offer Products through the Platform and continues until terminated under this Article.
11.2 Termination by the Company. The Company may terminate this document and the Account on thirty (30) days' written notice for any reason, and immediately on written notice if the Seller materially breaches this document, engages in fraud, or becomes ineligible to participate.
11.3 Termination by the Seller. The Seller may terminate this document on thirty (30) days' written notice to support@aapawz.com, provided the Seller has no Order, booking, or investigation outstanding.
11.4 Effect of termination. On termination: (a) the rights granted under this document end; (b) obligations that arose before termination: including payment, refund, chargeback, record-keeping, and indemnification obligations, and fulfillment of Orders accepted before termination: survive until satisfied; and (c) the Company shall disburse amounts owed, less amounts the Company may set off under this document, within thirty (30) days, except amounts held in connection with an open investigation or dispute.
11.5 Survival. The Definitions, Fees (for accrued amounts), Liability, Indemnification, Enforcement and Appeals (for measures taken before termination), Dispute Resolution, and General Provisions Articles survive termination.
Article 12: Dispute Resolution
12.1 Any dispute arising out of or relating to this document, or to the relationship it governs, is governed by the Dispute Resolution Policy, which is incorporated into this document by reference.
Article 13: General Provisions
13.1 Amendments. The Company may amend this document by posting the amended document in the Document Center and giving notice to the Seller at the email address in the Account. An amendment that materially increases the Seller's fees or obligations takes effect thirty (30) days after notice; other amendments take effect on posting. Continued use of the Platform after the effective date of an amendment is acceptance of it. If the Seller does not accept an amendment, the Seller's remedy is to terminate under Article 11 before the amendment takes effect.
13.2 Notices. (a) Legal notices under this document shall be sent to legal@aapawz.com. Operational notices and all other communications shall be sent to support@aapawz.com. A notice to the Company is effective when the Company acknowledges receipt or, for email, one business day after sending, whichever is earlier. (b) Notices to the Seller are effective when sent to the email address in the Account or posted to the Account's notice facility in the portal, whichever occurs first. The Seller shall keep the email address in the Account current. (c) DMCA notices are given as provided in the DMCA and Copyright Policy, to the designated agent at legal@aapawz.com.
13.3 Governing law. This document is governed by the laws of the State of Tennessee, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Subject to the Dispute Resolution Policy, any proceeding arising out of this document shall be brought in the state or federal courts located in Shelby County, Tennessee, and the parties consent to personal jurisdiction there.
13.4 Severability. If any provision of this document is held unenforceable, the provision shall be enforced to the fullest extent permitted, and the remaining provisions continue in full effect.
13.5 Entire agreement. This document, together with the documents it incorporates by reference, is the entire agreement between the Company and the Seller for the subject it governs and supersedes every prior or contemporaneous statement, communication, or agreement on that subject, whether written or oral.
13.6 Assignment. The Seller shall not assign this document or any right or obligation under it without the Company's prior written consent, and an assignment without consent is void. The Company may assign this document to an affiliate or in connection with a sale of all or part of its business, on notice to the Seller.
13.7 Waiver. A waiver of any provision of this document is effective only in writing and only for the instance stated. No waiver is a waiver of any other provision or instance.
13.8 Interpretation. Headings are for convenience only. "Including" means "including without limitation." This document shall not be construed against a party as its drafter. The English-language text controls over any translation.
Related articles