Terms of Use

Legal mumbo jumbo - but hey, it's important

General Terms of Use

1. Overview

The following General Terms of Use shall apply exclusively to the business relationship between Pouncer and its Internet platform www.pouncer.com.au (hereinafter "Pouncer" or "the site") and our users. By using Pouncer the user accepts the following General Terms of Use, as well as the manner in which Pouncer and its Pet-Pouncer operate as described on the website www.pouncer.com.au. Variations or alterations in the following Terms of Use shall only be binding upon Pouncer if agreed to in writing. At times Pouncer will run specific promotions; these promotions will always be announced on Pouncer or in the email newsletter. Only promotions announced through these channels will be valid. Some promotions may be limited to specific auctions or to a specific time or date, in such cases the terms of said promotions will be announced on Pouncer or through the newsletter. Any information posted on Pouncer regarding bidding practices or strategies is to be used solely for educational purposes. This information is not an incitement to specific action but simply an overview of how the site may be used. Pouncer is not liable for any action taken based on information provided on Pouncer or any other website.

2. Registration / Eligibility / Account Termination

In order to place a bid on Pouncer a user must register an account and provide information to Pouncer. This information will be handled according to our Privacy Policy, which can be found here. After registering a user may then buy bids and uses these bids on Pouncer. Placing a bid on Pouncer is a declaration that the user is at least 18 years old and capable of entering into a binding contract with Pouncer. Relatives and Employees of Pouncer are strictly prohibited from participating in any aspect of Pouncer. Pouncer is intended to be used by individual parties and is not intended to be used by resellers or for any commercial purpose. Pouncer reserves the right to close any account found to be in violation of this policy at any time. User accounts are restricted to one per household, a valid residential Australian postal address is mandatory, PO boxes and or business addresses are not acceptable. When registering on Pouncer the user must select a username. Usernames must not be created in any way to mislead, offend or infringe upon the rights of any person or entity. Pouncer reserves the right to change any username that is in breach of these conditions or found to be illegal, immediately without notifying the user. Upon creation of a username the user must select a password for their account. This password is to be kept secret to prevent any unauthorised use of the account. Use of the account is restricted to the registered user; abuse of this policy will result in termination of account and restriction from registering using the same postal address unless authorised by Pouncer in writing. All account activity associated with the user account is the responsibility of the user provided the username and password have been entered on the site prior to the commencement of that activity. Pouncer at its sole discretion reserves the right to permanently or temporarily terminate the account of any user for any infringement of the Terms of Use or the violation of any applicable laws or statutes. Any actions committed by the user that are unauthorized by Pouncer and are deemed by Pouncer to result in manipulation of the site or to be detrimental to the operation of Pouncer will result in account termination. Actions such as fraudulent payments, multiple user accounts, fake addresses or use of unauthorized 3rd party bidding software will result in account termination. At times Pouncer may limit the amount of auctions any one user may participate in at a given time. Such restrictions will be announced on the site or through the newsletter.

3. Purchasing Bids / Payment / Validity of Bids

The user prior to bidding online pays for the right to bid, or "pounce" in advance. Packages of bids are available to purchase on the site. All payments are processed through Paypal, but it is not a requirement that a user have a Paypal account to purchase bids. Any payment not honoured by the user will result in account suspension until payment is received, penalties may apply for payments not honoured by the user. Upon winning an auction, the successful bidder will be emailed a notification. The item will then be available for purchase at the closing price. The user must pay for this item within seven days or the auction will be voided and the item may be put up for auction again. Pouncer is under no obligation to refund the successful user's bids on an auction in the situation where said bidder is unwilling or unable to pay the final price for the item. Purchased bids expire one year after they have been credited to the user's account. Free bids or promotional bids are valid until the stated expiry date in the particular promotion. If no date is specified they are valid for the same period as bids purchased through the site; one year. Once a bid is placed it is deducted from the users account and is no longer available to be used.

4. Bidding / Use of the Pet-Pouncer

A user can place a bid manually at any time by clicking on the pounce button on any active auction. There is also the option to place bids automatically using the Pet-Pouncer. The Pet-Pouncer is an automatic bidding agent that will place bids on a specific auction at a specific price and for a specific number of bids. There is more information available on the exact usage of the Pet-Pouncer service in the "Help" section of the site.

5. Price Structure

The most up to date price structure for bids can always be found here. This price structure is not fixed and may be changed at any time, users will be notified of any changes via the news section of the website. No refunds or adjustments will be made for bids purchased prior to any change in the price structure. There may also be one off or continuous promotions offering discounts on purchasing bids these discounts will not be reflected in the price structure but in the final invoice for the individual purchase. All Prices on Pouncer are inclusive of GST, when a payment is processed through Paypal the final invoice will reflect the GST component of the purchase price. Pouncer is registered to collect GST with the ATO, you can find our registered ABN with a link to Australian Business Registry at the bottom of every page on the site. Due to rounding errors in calculating GST occasionally Paypal will add one cent to the final invoice.

6. Disputed Payments

We have a very strict policy in regards to disputed payments on Paypal. All bid purchases are non refundable. Using the Paypal payment dispute process to circumvent this will result in the suspension of the account in question and may result in the loss of all bids. It will also delay any purchases pending delivery. There are no exceptions to this policy. If there is an issue with a payment it must be resolved through our feedback system. If it is an urgent problem we will make every effort to address it within a few hours.

7. How Pouncer works

Each time a user places a bid the timer on the auction increases by a specified time and the price of the auction increases by a specified amount. By placing a bid the user agrees to the terms set out in this document. The last bidder when the time runs out has the right but not the obligation to purchase the item at the specified price. All bids placed on the auction have then expired and will not be credited back. Pouncer determines the successful bidder according to the database information on the Pouncer servers and its decision based upon this information is final. The remaining time on the auction will countdown until it reaches zero at which time the auction is over. If a bid is placed before the timer reaches the zero, time will be added to the timer usually 10 seconds. For more information on specific situations and examples please see the "Help" section of the site.

8. Acceptance of Payment

At the end of the auction the successful bidder must go to the site and check their account page. The option to pay for the auction item will now be available. Payment must be made within seven days of the auction end date. Upon receiving payment Pouncer will send an email with details of the shipment date and tracking information.

9. Returns

Pouncer is an Australian company and as such is bound by Australian law, the Trade Practices Act stipulates that returns may only be made for faulty items or items that were misrepresented before purchase. All items we sell are covered by their respective manufacturers' warranties. In most cases the fastest method for remedying an issue with a purchased product will be to contact the manufacturer and speak to their technical support department. However, should this not be feasible we will endeavor to provide a remedy for the customer as per our obligations under the Trade Practices Act.

10. Delivery

All items are shipped directly from our suppliers to the successful bidder; items may only be shipped to locations within Australia. Items will be shipped out within a fortnight of Pouncer receiving and verifying payment. Delivery times are not guaranteed and will vary depending on shipping location and the destination of the item. Any damage to an item must be reported by email to Pouncer upon delivery, at which time Pouncer will contact the delivery agency to verify the information. In the event that an item is no longer available for delivery, Pouncer reserves the right to substitute an item of the same or higher specifications to the item purchased or to refund the purchase price at the user's discretion.

11. Use of Pouncer

By using Pouncer you expressly agree that said use is solely at the user's own risk. Neither Pouncer, its affiliates nor any of their employees, agents or any other associated party warrant that Pouncer will be error free or that the service will be uninterrupted. Additionally these parties do not make any claims or warranties in regards to any result or benefit that may be obtained through use of the Pouncer service. Finally no warrant is made in regards to the accuracy and content of any information appearing on the site, nor to the reliability of said information.

The site is provided by Pouncer on an "as-is" basis. As such you explicitly agree through use of the site that Pouncer its agents, employees and any other affiliated party will be under no liability to you the user in respect to any loss or damage, this includes any indirect or consequential loss or damage, which may be incurred or suffered by you the user or any other party affiliated with said user. Pouncer disclaims all representations and warranties, express or implied, with respect to any information, services, products and materials, including, but not limited to, warranties of merchantable quality or fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, freedom from computer virus; and implied warranties arising from any course of dealing or any course of performance. In addition, Pouncer does not represent or warrant that the information accessible via the site is accurate, complete or current. We are not responsible for typographical errors. This disclaimer extends and applies to any damages or injury caused by any failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer virus, communication line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, alteration of, or use of record, whether for breach of contract, negligence, or any other cause of action the user specifically acknowledges that Pouncer is not liable for the defamatory, offensive or illegal conduct of other users or third-parties and that the risk of injury from the foregoing rests entirely with the user. In no event will Pouncer, or any person or entity involved in use of a Pouncer auction, be liable for any damages, including, without limitation, direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages arising out of the use of or inability to use Pouncer. The user hereby acknowledges that the provisions of this section shall apply to all content on Pouncer. In addition to the terms set forth above neither, Pouncer, nor its affiliates, information providers or content partners shall be liable regardless of the cause or duration, for any errors, inaccuracies, omissions, or other defects in, or lack of timeliness or lack of authenticity of the information contained on Pouncer, or for any delay or interruption in the transmission thereof to the user, or for any claims or losses arising therefrom or occasioned thereby. None of the foregoing parties shall be liable for any third-party claims or losses of any nature, including, but not limited to, loss of profits, punitive or consequential damages. Neither Pouncer, nor its affiliates, information providers or content partners warrant or guarantee the timeliness, sequence, accuracy or completeness of this information. Additionally, there are no warranties as to the results obtained from the use of the information.

12. Warranty information for products sold by Pouncer

All items sold by Pouncer include the manufacturers warranty only. Items sold on the site are warranted by Pouncer to match the specifications provided for each product on the product description page. This warranty shall in no way void clause 9 of the Terms of Use Agreement in relation specifically to errors in the information contained on the site. Warranties vary by manufacturer and can be found on the respective manufactures website.

Except for the warranties set forth above Pouncer makes no other warranties, either express or implied, with respect to the products, or any related services performed by Pouncer or any of its agents or subcontractors in connection with any order, including, without limitation, any warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. All other warranties are expressly excluded and disclaimed. Pouncer shall not be liable for personal injury and property damage resulting from the improper handling, modification or misuse of the products by the customer or any other person following delivery by Pouncer. In no event shall Pouncer be liable to any person for incidental or consequential damages including but not limited to loss of profits or goodwill, loss-of-use damages or additional expenses incurred, whether pursuant to a claim in contract, tort or otherwise and whether in an action for breach of warranty or otherwise.

13. Disruption of Service / Temporarily Halted Auctions

In the case of data corruption on the server, Pouncer will revert back to the latest database version. If there is a disruption in the service during which time no bids can be placed Pouncer will suspend all auctions until the service can be reinstated. At such time the database will be consulted and the auction will be reset to its state before the disruption occurred.

It is impossible to develop a site that is completely error free and though Pouncer makes every effort to maintain the highest level of service possible the site cannot guarantee that errors will not occur. In placing bids the User agrees to indemnify Pouncer from any damage caused by errors or interruption of service whether Pouncer is directly or indirectly responsible for said errors. Pouncer can only rely on the information retained in the database that resides on our servers. If a bid is not registered in this database then it is not counted. If an error occurs that causes a bid to not be registered or to be registered late this bid will be void, however, any bids placed that are not registered by the server will not be deducted from the user's account.

14. Trademarks

The Pouncer name and logo is a trademark of WMK Enterprise Solutions Pty Limited and may not be reproduced without written permission. All rights reserved. All other trademarks appearing on the site are the property of their respective owners.

15. Service and Support for Products Purchased

All requests for technical service and support should be first made directly to the manufacturer in accordance with their terms and conditions. If the issue is not resolved to the customer's satisfaction Pouncer will work with the manufacturer to address the issue and remedy the situation in accordance with our obligations under the Trade Practices Act.

16. Privacy Policy

Pouncer is very concerned with the protection of user data and privacy; please see our separate Privacy Policy for more information on how we handle personal data.

17. Acceptable Use Policy

Pouncer allows and encourages users to interact and socialise with others on site using the various social networking services, including Facebook, Twitter and Google Friend Connect. We expect users to adhere to reasonable discourse, and not to make offensive or abusive comments. Users who do engage in offensive behaviour may have their accounts suspended. Repeat offenders will be banned from the site, forfeiting their entire bid balance.

18. General

The headings of this agreement are for convenience only and should not be used for the purposes of interpretation of the agreement. This agreement shall be governed by and in accordance with the laws of the State of New South Wales. In the event that a dispute arises as to enforcement, interpretation or implementation of this agreement, the parties in consent to the jurisdiction for any legal proceedings being in the State of New South Wales. No provision of this agreement may be waived, except by a written waiver signed by both parties. In the event that one or more of the provisions or portions of the provisions of the agreement is declared invalid, void, illegal or unenforceable, in any respect, the validity, legality and enforceability of the remaining provisions or portions of the provisions contained herein shall remain effective and binding, and shall not be affected or impaired thereby. This agreement shall be binding upon all parties hereto, as well as their agents, servants, successors, assignees, licensees and transferees.

NOTE: Pouncer encourages all users to be aware of their bidding practices at all times. Although items generally sell for below the manufacturer's recommended retail price (RRP) this is not guaranteed nor does the purchase of bids guarantee that any bid will be successful.