1. Platform Overview & Intermediary Status

DostBiz operates as a decentralized, community-driven social commerce and business directory platform. DostBiz provides:

• A public directory for locating independent and dost-owned commercial merchants.
• A social activity feed for verified updates, announcements, and customer engagement.
• The Global Business Wire for real-time syndicated business insights.
• Multi-tier loyalty and reward tracking engines, including Sparks, Cashback Points, Business Ad Points, and the Helping Friends Pool.

Intermediary Role: Under the Information Technology Act, 2000 (and comparable global electronic commerce regulations), DostBiz acts strictly as an intermediary connecting buyers and independent merchants. We are not a direct vendor of the physical goods, appointments, or services provided by merchants listed in our directory.

2. Eligibility & Account Responsibilities

To register for an account on DostBiz, you must be at least 18 years of age (or the age of legal majority in your jurisdiction). By registering, you warrant that:

• All registration details, contact credentials, and profile photos submitted are accurate, current, and authentic.
• You will maintain the confidentiality of your authentication credentials and notify DostBiz immediately of any unauthorized access.
• You will not operate multiple dummy or proxy accounts to manipulate engagement points, referral pools, or cashback balances.

3. Reward Ledgers & Virtual Assets

DostBiz features multiple proprietary token mechanisms designed to incentivize local commerce. Their operational parameters and legal boundaries are outlined below:

Prohibition of Arbitrage & Fraudulent Accumulation

Any attempt to generate artificial Sparks or Cashback through scripted bots, automated scrapers, fictitious purchase orders, or coordinated refund exploitation will result in immediate forfeiture of balances and permanent account termination.

4. Merchant Terms & Cost-Per-Action (CPA) Rules

Merchants advertising or accepting rewards via DostBiz agree to the following operational standards:

• Offer Integrity: Merchants must honor the exact cashback discounts, service scopes, and booking rates advertised on their DostBiz listing.
• Sale Verification: Merchants utilizing the DostBiz cashback connector or webhook endpoints must report transactions honestly and maintain accurate customer ledgers.
• 70% Ad Points Reinvestment: Participation credits awarded to merchants are strictly restricted to on-platform promotional distribution and cannot be converted into liquid cash withdrawals.
• Legal Compliance: Merchants bear full responsibility for the quality, safety, taxation, licensing, and consumer dispute resolution associated with their offerings.

5. Content Publishing & The Global Business Wire

Members and merchants publishing news stories, posts, images, or deal broadcasts on the Global Business Wire or Activity Feed grant DostBiz a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, distribute, index, and surface that content across search engines and AI models.

You strictly agree NOT to post content that:

• Is defamatory, obscene, fraudulent, deceptive, or promotes unlawful activities.
• Infringes on any third party’s intellectual property, trademark, or copyright.
• Contains automated malware, malicious payloads, phishing hooks, or executable script vectors (including SVG exploits).
• Constitutes spam, repetitive multi-posting, or misleading keyword stuffing.

6. Security, Scraping & Reverse Engineering

To protect platform integrity and user data, you explicitly agree not to:

• Perform automated enumeration attacks against author endpoints (`?author=`) or the REST API user tables.
• Harvest, mine, or scrape merchant contact records, member profiles, or platform transaction ledgers via automated scripts or web spiders.
• Bypass rate-limiting thresholds, transient security locks, or brute-force mitigations implemented on server authentication gateways.

7. Limitation of Liability & Disclaimers

“As-Is” Service: The DostBiz platform, directory listings, search indexing pings, and loyalty ledgers are provided on an “AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE” basis without warranties of any kind, express or implied.

Merchant Transactions: DostBiz does not endorse, guarantee, or warranty any goods or services procured from listed merchants. Any disputes regarding damaged products, service cancellations, or billing issues must be settled directly between the buyer and the vendor.

Financial Cap: To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, DostBiz’s total cumulative liability for any claim arising out of your platform usage shall not exceed the total amount paid by you to DostBiz (if any) during the preceding three (3) months.

8. Account Suspension & Termination

We reserve the right, without prior notice or liability, to suspend, terminate, or restrict access to any account that:

• Breaches these Terms of Service or any incorporated guidelines.
• Engages in suspicious, illegal, or abusive conduct harming other members or our server infrastructure.
• Fails to clear compliance reviews for merchant verification.

9. Governing Law & Dispute Resolution

These Terms of Service are governed by and construed in accordance with the substantive laws of India, without regard to conflict of law principles. Any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the competent courts located in Patiala, Punjab, India.

10. Modifications to Terms

DostBiz reserves the right to modify, amend, or update these Terms at any time to reflect operational, legal, or regulatory adjustments. Continued usage of the platform after revised Terms are posted signifies affirmative acceptance of the changes.