1. Agreement and applicable law
These Terms and Conditions govern use of the Missing Pets South Africa website and related services (the "Service"). By using the Service, you agree to these Terms, the Privacy Policy and, where applicable, the Competition Terms. These Terms are intended to operate consistently with South African law, including ECTA, the CPA where applicable and POPIA.
2. What the Service provides
Missing Pets is a community information and coordination platform for reporting missing and found pets, browsing and sharing alerts, managing profiles, participating in points and competitions, purchasing optional memberships and accessing educational content. It is not an emergency, veterinary, law-enforcement or animal-control service and cannot guarantee recovery of a pet.
3. Eligibility and accounts
You must be at least 18 years old to create an account, purchase a membership or enter the weekly competition. Provide accurate information and keep your credentials secure. Signed-in sessions are automatically closed after five minutes without user activity. Do not create duplicate accounts to obtain extra points, affiliate rewards, entries, trial access, memberships or other benefits.
Before creating an account, the Service may check whether an email is already linked to a claimed or unclaimed profile. Reports submitted while logged out may be linked to an existing account or an unclaimed profile. Existing users should log in, use Google sign-in or use password recovery rather than creating another account.
4. Reports, pet profiles and user content
Only submit information and photographs that you are entitled to provide and that are reasonably relevant to identifying, finding or reuniting a pet. Information must be accurate to the best of your knowledge. You grant Missing Pets a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence for as long as reasonably necessary to host, resize, display, reproduce and distribute report content for operating, sharing and promoting the alert and Service.
Do not submit unlawful, fraudulent, defamatory, threatening, discriminatory, sexually explicit, infringing or malicious content; fabricated pet reports; unnecessary personal information; payment details; identity documents; impersonation; or content intended to harass, scam or manipulate another person.
5. Safe searches, ownership claims and reunions
If you claim a found pet, provide truthful contact details and reasonable proof of ownership. A registered-pet profile may be used as supporting evidence; logged-out claimants and signed-in users without a registered pet must upload proof. Submitting a claim does not establish legal ownership, and Missing Pets may review, reject, request more information or refer a dispute to a veterinarian, animal-welfare organisation or lawful authority.
Use reasonable caution when searching for or arranging a reunion. Verify ownership and identifying features, meet safely where practical, and involve a veterinarian, animal-welfare organisation or lawful authority if ownership or welfare is disputed. Do not trespass, enter unsafe areas, interfere with traffic, confront people or place yourself or an animal at risk. Never disclose one-time passwords, verification codes or banking credentials to a person claiming to have a pet.
6. Location and distance information
Browser location is used through browser or device permission controls. Where you grant permission, the Service may use your actual current device coordinates to populate an area, apply nearby filters or calculate estimated distance. The report destination is generally an approximate suburb location rather than the reporter's exact private coordinates. Location labels and distances are estimates and must not be relied on as emergency navigation or proof of a pet's exact position.
7. Editing, closing and moderation
Every new missing- or found-pet submission enters Review status and is not public until an authorised administrator changes it to Approved. As a limited exception, when a missing-pet report is submitted with a paid Alert Booster and PayFast verifies a successful payment, the linked Review report may be automatically changed to Approved and published. A cancelled, failed or unverified payment does not approve the report. Reports may later be marked Closed or Declined. Editing an approved report returns it to Review so the changed information can be checked before it is published again. Users may be given tools to edit, delete or close reports linked to their account and to mark a missing pet as found. Missing Pets may review, restrict, decline, close or remove content where reasonably necessary for safety, legal compliance, duplication, fraud prevention, platform integrity or enforcement of these Terms.
8. Social sharing and copied report links
Missing-pet alerts may be shared using report-specific links on Facebook, WhatsApp or through the copy-link control. Shared previews may contain the pet's photograph, name, type, breed, area, report reference and last-seen date. External platforms operate under their own terms and privacy practices. Share responsibly and stop circulating resolved alerts in a misleading way.
A signed-in user's shared link may include that user's affiliate code. Copying or opening a link does not transfer ownership of the report or give the affiliate user access to private reporter information.
9. Affiliate rewards
A signed-in user may receive 50 fixed points when a different incoming IP address or signed-in user opens a particular approved report through that user's affiliate link. The cap is one click reward for that affiliate/report combination per incoming IP address or signed-in visitor. A user may receive 500 fixed points once when a genuinely new profile registers through the user's affiliate reference.
Affiliate rewards do not apply to self-referrals, repeated visits from the same qualifying identity, existing-account logins, unclaimed profiles later claimed, fabricated registrations, duplicate accounts, bots, scripts, click farms, rotating or falsified network identities, collusion or other manipulated activity. Missing Pets may withhold, reverse or investigate rewards and suspend accounts where activity is suspicious or invalid. Affiliate rewards remain fixed at the published values and are not doubled by Homecoming Hero membership unless the platform expressly states otherwise in future.
Referral attribution may persist for up to 30 days only when the visitor enables Referral rewards in Cookie settings. Without that optional choice, attribution is limited to the current browser session.
10. Memberships, recurring payments and Alert Boosters
Community Spotter is the free membership. Homecoming Hero is an optional R59-per-month recurring membership that includes double points on standard rewardable events, access to the Hero Hub, Assisted Reunion Support and one free Alert Booster per South African calendar month, which may be used on an eligible approved alert owned by the member or donated to another eligible approved missing-pet alert. Core missing- and found-pet reporting does not require a paid membership.
PayFast processes recurring membership payments and once-off Alert Booster payments in its own environment. Missing Pets may receive transaction references, payment status and subscription-management information but does not intend to store full card or bank-account credentials. A paid subscription renews according to the checkout terms until cancelled.
A report owner may select a R99 once-off Alert Booster while submitting a missing-pet report or purchase one later for an eligible approved missing-pet report. Verified successful payment for a submission booster automatically approves the linked Review report. An Alert Booster provides priority placement for five days from successful payment or Hero-credit activation, a poster design intended to be sent through WhatsApp, and a Missing Pets social-media share. Each missing-pet report may receive only one Alert Booster. Priority placement does not guarantee impressions, a particular audience size, recovery of a pet or any specific outcome. Operational benefits are subject to accurate report information, platform availability and reasonable fulfilment time.
11. Points and weekly competition
Points recognise selected helpful actions in the published order: daily login; daily Reported Pets page visit; daily game completion; missing-alert sharing; qualifying affiliate alert visits; eligible reunion videos; eligible community videos; the first saved pet profile; an eligible Homecoming Hero Alert Booster donation; and a genuinely new referred member. The first saved pet profile awards 200 base points once per account. An eligible monthly Alert Booster donation awards 500 fixed points and is not doubled. Viewing the competition leaderboard and submitting a found-pet report do not independently award points. Creating, deleting and recreating pets does not create repeated rewards. Points have no cash value, are not transferable property and may be corrected, withheld or removed where activity is invalid, duplicated, automated, fraudulent or abusive. Current values and caps are displayed on the platform.
Every complete 10 eligible weekly points may create one entry into the weekly competition. Competition weeks run Friday through Thursday in South African Standard Time (SAST, UTC+2), and the weekly leaderboard starts a new cycle every Friday. Winner selection, eligibility, announcement, prize rules and record retention are governed by the separate Competition Terms.
12. Video and game rewards
Eligible community and reunion videos may award points once the signed-in user has genuinely watched at least 80% of the video. Each eligible playlist video can award points only once per account. Seeking, automation, replaying or manipulating playback does not create additional rewards.
The game may submit any valid non-negative whole-number score through the platform's game contract. The score is used only for the uncapped weekly game leaderboard. Completing a legitimate game awards 50 base competition points once per day, independently of the score, before applicable membership benefits. Attempts to bypass the game host, submit fabricated scores or call protected reward routes directly may result in reversal or suspension.
13. Cookies and optional tracking
Necessary storage supports login, security and saved choices. Analytics, external videos and persistent referral tracking are optional and controlled through Cookie settings. The Privacy Policy explains the information used for consent records, affiliate click limits and registration attribution.
14. Intellectual property
The Missing Pets name, branding, software, design, original text, graphics and platform features are owned by or licensed to Missing Pets and protected by applicable law. You may not scrape, reverse engineer, resell or commercially exploit protected parts of the Service except as permitted by law or written permission.
15. Third-party services
The Service may rely on Supabase, Google, YouTube, Vercel, PayFast, Cloudflare Turnstile, Resend, a configured SMTP provider and social-media platforms. Third-party services have their own terms, privacy notices, security controls and availability, which may be outside our reasonable control.
16. Security and prohibited technical activity
Do not attempt unauthorised access, injection, credential theft, cross-site attacks, automated scraping, rate-limit bypass, malicious uploads, denial of service, manipulation of database records or interference with another user's account. The platform may validate, normalise, reject and log inputs; enforce rate limits; apply anti-bot checks; and restrict access to protect users and the Service.
17. Availability and changes
We aim to provide a reliable Service but do not promise uninterrupted, secure or error-free availability. We may maintain, update, suspend, limit or discontinue features, and may update future point values, benefits or these Terms. Changes do not exclude rights that cannot lawfully be excluded.
18. Disclaimers and liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, Missing Pets does not guarantee that a pet will be recovered; a report is genuine; a claimant is the lawful owner; an image, location or distance is exact; a third-party service will remain available; an affiliate action will qualify; or a competition participant will win. Nothing in these Terms limits liability, remedies or consumer rights that cannot lawfully be limited under the CPA or other applicable law.
19. Suspension, termination and deletion
We may suspend or restrict access where reasonably necessary to protect users, animals, the public or the platform; investigate abuse; enforce these Terms; or comply with law. You may stop using the Service and request deletion of eligible information, subject to legal, audit, payment, competition, affiliate and fraud-prevention retention requirements.
20. Governing law, disputes and contact
These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa. Before formal proceedings, users are encouraged to contact contact@missingpets.co.za. Nothing removes a right to approach a competent court, regulator, ombud or consumer body where applicable.
Email: contact@missingpets.co.za
WhatsApp: +27 79 630 1001