PhyTu Marketplace

Live Animals, Wildlife, Beneficial Organisms & Biological Materials

Marketplace Policy and Risk Acknowledgment  ·  Last Updated: July 14, 2026  ·  Version 1.0

PhyTu Does Not Ship or Take Custody of Covered Items

PhyTu provides an online marketplace and related technology. PhyTu does not own vendor inventory, take possession of covered animals or organisms, inspect them before transfer, pack them, transport them, deliver them, or ship them. The applicable independent vendor or service provider is responsible for the listing, lawful possession, care, handling, transfer, pickup, transport, shipment, and fulfillment.

1. Purpose and Scope

This Policy establishes minimum marketplace requirements and risk disclosures for listings, transactions, adoptions, services, events, and interactions involving: domestic companion animals, farm animals, poultry, aquatic animals, and other lawfully transferable animals; hatching eggs, fertile eggs, germplasm, and reproductive materials; animal rescue, adoption, rehoming, transportation, boarding, training, handling, educational, and encounter services; wildlife conservation, referral, relocation, transport, and rehabilitation-related services by authorized professionals; beneficial insects, mites, nematodes, worms, microbial products, biological-control organisms, and pollinators; fungi, mushroom cultures, spores, mycelium, inoculants, soil organisms, and other biological materials; and classes, demonstrations, visits, encounters, or events involving covered animals, organisms, or materials.

This Policy supplements the applicable listing, vendor terms, Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Return & Refund Policy, and any category-specific policy. If a mandatory law provides greater protection or imposes a stricter duty, that law controls.

2. Marketplace Role and Independent Vendors

Unless a listing expressly states otherwise, the vendor or provider identified in the listing is the independent seller, rescue, adoption organization, breeder, farm, organization, professional, or service provider responsible for the covered item or service.

PhyTu may provide marketplace technology, listing tools, payment-processing support, messaging, order records, documentation requests, customer-service tools, and policy enforcement. These activities do not make PhyTu the grower, breeder, seller, owner, custodian, veterinarian, wildlife rehabilitator, carrier, transporter, laboratory, handler, or guarantor of a vendor's animal, organism, material, or service. PhyTu may review credentials for marketplace purposes but does not guarantee that every license, permit, health statement, or representation remains complete, current, or applicable to every destination or use.

3. Definitions

Applicable vendor or provider: the independent person or entity identified in the listing or order as offering the covered item, adoption, transfer, activity, or service. Covered item: a live animal, hatching egg, reproductive material, beneficial organism, fungus, culture, microbial product, biological-control organism, specimen, or other biological material. Customer: a purchaser, adopter, recipient, participant, visitor, or person arranging a transaction or service. Wildlife: a wild animal, native or non-native wild species, protected species, migratory bird, wild-caught animal, or animal held under wildlife, rehabilitation, conservation, or similar authority. Transfer: a sale, adoption, rehoming, pickup, delivery, release, exchange, placement, or other change in possession or control.

4. Vendor and Provider Eligibility

A vendor or provider may list or perform a covered transaction or service only when legally authorized and qualified. The vendor is responsible for determining and maintaining every license, registration, permit, certificate, inspection, veterinary document, business authorization, and professional credential required for the species, activity, origin, destination, and method of transfer — which may include federal, state, tribal, territorial, county, municipal, agricultural, animal-health, wildlife, import/export, environmental-release, and professional-practice rules. Upon request, the vendor must promptly provide PhyTu with sufficient documentation. PhyTu may reject, suspend, or remove a listing or account when documentation is missing, expired, inconsistent, unverifiable, or insufficient.

5. Prohibited Listings and Activities

The following are prohibited on PhyTu:

• Any animal, organism, specimen, or material that is illegally possessed, obtained, imported, exported, transported, sold, adopted, released, or transferred;
• Poached, trafficked, unlawfully captured, stolen, or fraudulently documented wildlife or animals;
• The sale, private adoption, or ordinary pet placement of wildlife;
• Protected, threatened, endangered, migratory, injurious, invasive, or otherwise regulated species without every required authorization;
• Wildlife held for rehabilitation, rescue, sanctuary, research, conservation, or temporary care offered for private ownership or an unauthorized purpose;
• Animal fighting, cruelty, neglect, abandonment, hoarding, exploitative encounters, harmful breeding, or activities that violate welfare standards;
• Materially false or misleading claims about species, breed, sex, age, source, legal status, health, temperament, fertility, hatchability, disease status, permit status, or intended use;
• Shipment or transport through any carrier, route, package, container, or method that is unlawful, prohibited, unsafe, or inhumane;
• Environmental release of an organism where release is prohibited or requires authorization that has not been obtained;
• Biological materials represented for illegal, dangerous, or unauthorized medical, veterinary, pesticidal, experimental, or environmental use; and
• Instructions or services that encourage untrained persons to capture, restrain, treat, relocate, or handle dangerous or injured wildlife unlawfully or unsafely.

6. Vendor and Provider Responsibilities

The applicable vendor or provider is solely responsible for the covered item or service and must: provide an accurate, current, non-misleading listing; confirm lawful ownership, custody, or authority to offer; identify species, breed, variety, life stage, quantity, and material characteristics accurately; disclose known health, disease, injury, behavioral, reproductive, environmental, or handling information material to a reasonable customer; provide required permits, certificates, records, veterinary documents, test results, or transfer documents; use species-appropriate housing, care, containment, packaging, handling, and transport; comply with origin, destination, carrier, interstate, international, quarantine, reporting, and environmental-release requirements; provide accurate pickup, delivery, shipment, scheduling, and contact information; respond promptly to safety concerns, illness reports, escape, non-delivery, injury, or other problems; maintain sufficient records; and fund and perform any refund, replacement, corrective action, veterinary reimbursement, or other remedy approved or legally required. A vendor may not rely on this Policy to avoid liability for its own negligence, misconduct, false statements, unlawful acts, or nonwaivable duties.

7. Customer, Adopter, and Participant Responsibilities

Before completing a transaction or participating, the customer must review the listing and independently determine whether the species, item, service, possession, destination, intended use, housing, transport, and release are lawful and suitable. The customer is responsible for: accurate identity, billing, delivery, pickup, destination, and contact information; obtaining customer-side permits, approvals, landlord consent, zoning approval, or other authorization; providing species-appropriate housing, containment, temperature, ventilation, nutrition, water, sanitation, enrichment, veterinary care, and supervision; following lawful care, biosecurity, handling, incubation, quarantine, release, and safety instructions; preventing escape, abandonment, unlawful release, neglect, breeding, exposure, or harm to people, animals, agriculture, or ecosystems; promptly seeking qualified veterinary, medical, public-health, poison-control, wildlife, agricultural, or emergency assistance when appropriate; and informing household members, employees, visitors, participants, or caretakers of material risks and instructions. The customer must not purchase or receive a covered item when unable or unwilling to satisfy these responsibilities.

8. Animal Health, Behavior, Identity, and Natural Variability

Animals and other living organisms have natural biological variability. Unless a vendor expressly provides a written guarantee, neither PhyTu nor the vendor guarantees a particular temperament, compatibility, fertility, breeding outcome, hatch rate, lifespan, future health, growth rate, production level, behavior, trainability, or performance. A vendor must accurately disclose known material information but cannot guarantee freedom from every latent, incubating, asymptomatic, genetic, parasitic, bacterial, viral, fungal, or other condition; animals may appear healthy while carrying organisms capable of causing illness. Customers should arrange appropriate veterinary or professional evaluation when warranted. Any health certificate, examination, test, or vaccination record applies only as stated and does not create a broader guarantee unless the vendor expressly provides one in writing.

9. Legal Status, Permits, and Movement Requirements

Species and movement rules vary by jurisdiction and can change. The vendor must verify that offering, possessing, handling, transporting, shipping, and transferring the covered item or service is lawful; the customer must verify that receiving, possessing, housing, using, incubating, releasing, or transporting it at the destination is lawful. When applicable, both must comply with requirements concerning animal welfare and dealer/exhibitor licensing; certificates of veterinary inspection, identification, testing, vaccination, quarantine, and animal-health movement documents; wildlife, endangered-species, migratory-bird, injurious-species, and anti-trafficking laws; CITES and other import/export permits; agricultural, plant-pest, soil, insect, mite, microbial, biological-control, and environmental-release permits; carrier restrictions and humane transport requirements; food-animal, egg, residue, slaughter, and biosecurity rules; and state, tribal, territorial, county, municipal, zoning, and destination-specific restrictions. A successful payment, order confirmation, vendor approval, or listing does not establish that a transaction is legal in every jurisdiction. PhyTu may request documentation, delay or cancel an unfulfilled transaction, or restrict an account when legality is uncertain.

10. Wildlife Restrictions and Conservation Services

PhyTu does not permit wildlife to be marketed as ordinary pets or transferred to private persons for unauthorized ownership. Wildlife-related listings must be limited to lawful conservation, education, referral, rescue coordination, relocation, transport, rehabilitation, habitat, research-support, or professional services within the provider's authority. A wildlife provider must identify its role and permits accurately and must not imply that a listing authorizes the public to capture, possess, transport, treat, release, or keep wildlife. Wildlife held for rehabilitation remains subject to government control and permit conditions.

11. Wildlife Emergencies

A person who encounters injured, orphaned, trapped, dangerous, or potentially rabid wildlife should contact the appropriate wildlife agency, animal-control authority, emergency service, veterinarian, or permitted wildlife rehabilitator. Do not approach, capture, restrain, transport, feed, medicate, relocate, or release wildlife unless it is safe and lawful. Call emergency services when there is an immediate threat to human safety. PhyTu is not an emergency-response service and cannot assess an animal or scene remotely.

12. Beneficial Organisms and Environmental Release

Beneficial organisms may include predators, parasitoids, pollinators, nematodes, mites, insects, worms, microbial organisms, pathogens used for biological control, and other living agents. The vendor must determine whether any permit, registration, labeling, containment, destination approval, or environmental-release authorization is required. The customer must use and release the organism only as lawfully directed and only in a location, climate, crop, structure, or environment for which it is suitable and authorized, and must not release when the label, instructions, permit, destination law, or public authority prohibits it. Escape, establishment, non-target effects, allergic reactions, bites, stings, crop injury, ecological effects, and failure to control a target pest are inherent or potential risks.

13. Fungi, Cultures, Spores, Microbes, and Biological Materials

Fungi, cultures, spores, mycelium, inoculants, soil organisms, and microbial materials may contain living organisms, allergens, contaminants, or substances capable of affecting people, animals, plants, food, structures, or the environment. A vendor must describe the material and intended use accurately and provide required storage, containment, handling, disposal, labeling, or safety information. A customer must use the material only for a lawful, intended purpose and follow applicable sanitation, protective-equipment, ventilation, containment, disposal, and release requirements. Do not consume a mushroom, fungus, culture, specimen, or biological material based solely on a photograph, marketplace message, community identification, or educational content. Only consume products expressly sold as food by a vendor legally authorized to offer them for human consumption, and follow all preparation and safety instructions. PhyTu does not provide laboratory verification, species authentication, sterility certification, toxicology advice, medical advice, or a contamination-free guarantee, and does not currently offer such a service.

14. Hatching Eggs, Fertility, and Reproductive Materials

Hatching eggs and reproductive materials are biologically variable. Unless a vendor provides a specific written guarantee, fertility, viability, hatchability, sex, genetics, incubation outcome, birth outcome, and survival are not guaranteed. The vendor must disclose material information reasonably available concerning species or breed, quantity, collection or shipment timing, storage conditions, required documents, and any express guarantee. The customer is responsible for lawful receipt, incubation, sanitation, biosecurity, equipment, temperature, humidity, turning, monitoring, veterinary support, and humane care after hatch or birth. Carrier handling, delay, temperature, vibration, storage, and incubation methods outside the vendor's control may affect results.

15. Adoption, Rescue, Rehoming, and Placement Services

For domestic-animal adoption, rescue, rehoming, or placement, the applicable rescue, shelter, owner, foster, or provider is responsible for confirming its authority to place the animal, conducting required screening, providing the applicable agreement, and disclosing known material health and behavioral information. PhyTu may provide listings, applications, messaging, records, and referral tools, but does not take custody of the animal, independently approve the placement, guarantee the adopter or provider, or guarantee compatibility or outcome. The provider may impose lawful adoption, return, sterilization, veterinary, housing, follow-up, or no-transfer terms, which must be clearly presented before the customer commits.

16. Services, Classes, Visits, Encounters, and Events

Activities involving animals or biological organisms may involve bites, scratches, kicks, crushing, falls, stings, allergic reactions, zoonotic disease, exposure to urine or feces, spores, toxins, tools, equipment, uneven ground, weather, and unpredictable behavior. The applicable provider is responsible for lawful operations, appropriate supervision, staff qualifications, facility safety, animal welfare, sanitation, instructions, emergency procedures, and any required waiver or insurance. Participants must follow safety instructions, disclose relevant accessibility or safety concerns when appropriate, supervise minors, avoid provoking or feeding animals without permission, use required protective equipment, and leave when directed for safety or welfare. PhyTu does not operate or supervise vendor activities and does not inspect each site, animal, enclosure, staff member, or safety practice.

17. Zoonotic Disease, Allergies, Toxins, and Exposure Risks

Contact with animals and biological materials can expose people or other animals to bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi, allergens, toxins, venom, dander, dust, soil, spores, bodily fluids, and contaminated surfaces; an animal may appear healthy while carrying germs capable of causing illness. Customers and participants should use appropriate hygiene and safety practices, including handwashing, preventing contact between animal materials and food-preparation areas, supervising children, using protective equipment when appropriate, and obtaining professional advice when pregnant, immunocompromised, elderly, very young, allergic, or otherwise at increased risk. Seek prompt medical or veterinary attention after a serious bite, scratch, sting, exposure, suspected poisoning, breathing difficulty, allergic reaction, or illness, and report legally reportable diseases, bites, exposures, escapes, or releases to the appropriate authorities.

18. No Veterinary, Medical, Wildlife, or Laboratory Advice

Marketplace listings, messages, articles, care instructions, community content, and customer-service communications are general information and do not replace veterinary, medical, public-health, poison-control, wildlife, agricultural, environmental, legal, or laboratory advice. Unless the listing clearly identifies a properly licensed professional acting within scope, a vendor's comments should not be treated as diagnosis, treatment, prescription, certification, species verification, disease clearance, or professional advice. PhyTu is not a veterinary clinic, medical provider, wildlife agency, wildlife rehabilitation facility, diagnostic laboratory, poison-control center, or emergency service.

19. Pickup, Delivery, Shipment, and Transport

The applicable vendor or provider — not PhyTu — is responsible for arranging and documenting pickup, delivery, shipment, or transport, and must select a lawful, carrier-approved, species-appropriate, humane method complying with temperature, ventilation, container, labeling, timing, routing, documentation, and destination requirements. The customer must provide accurate destination and contact information, be available when required, monitor tracking or scheduling, and promptly retrieve or receive the covered item, and must not request an unlawful shipping method or destination. PhyTu does not pack, tender, transport, deliver, or ship covered items. A tracking number, payment confirmation, or marketplace status does not replace the vendor's obligation to comply with law or prove the contents or condition of a shipment. Loss, delay, non-delivery, escape, injury, death, temperature exposure, carrier refusal, documentation failure, or other transport problems must be reported promptly to the vendor through the PhyTu order or messaging system; the vendor is responsible for pursuing any carrier claim and providing any required remedy.

20. Post-Transfer Care and Containment

After lawful delivery, pickup, adoption, or transfer, the customer is responsible for species-appropriate care, supervision, housing, containment, biosecurity, veterinary attention, and compliance with destination law, except where a vendor retains a specific legal or contractual duty. The customer must not abandon, unlawfully release, neglect, mistreat, improperly breed, resell, transfer, or use a covered item in violation of law, the listing, an adoption agreement, permit conditions, or welfare requirements. If the customer can no longer provide appropriate care, the customer should promptly contact the applicable vendor, rescue, shelter, veterinarian, animal-control authority, wildlife authority, or other qualified organization rather than abandon or unlawfully release the animal or organism.

21. Problems, Claims, and Required Documentation

A customer must promptly notify the applicable vendor through the PhyTu order or messaging system of non-delivery, incorrect identity, illness, injury, death, escape, prohibited release, missing documentation, material misrepresentation, or another serious problem, and should preserve relevant evidence — the listing, order, messages, photographs or video, packaging, labels, transport records, veterinary records, permits, certificates, and condition at receipt. The vendor must investigate and respond within a reasonable period and is responsible for any approved or legally required remedy. Ordinary live-plant arrival and dead-on-arrival claims are governed by the separate live plant policy. Submitting a payment dispute does not require a vendor to continue an unfulfilled transfer or service after the associated payment has been reversed.

22. Marketplace Review and Enforcement

PhyTu may take reasonable marketplace-protection actions, including requesting licenses, permits, veterinary documents, source records, photographs, or shipment records; limiting, rejecting, hiding, suspending, or removing a listing; restricting, suspending, or terminating an account; holding, canceling, or refunding an unfulfilled transaction when permitted; preserving and disclosing records to payment processors, carriers, insurers, regulators, law enforcement, animal-control, public-health, agricultural, wildlife, or other authorities when lawful; and taking other reasonable action to protect people, animals, ecosystems, users, or PhyTu. PhyTu is not required to pre-screen every listing or investigate every user, species, permit, destination, or claim, and failure to identify a violation before a transaction does not make PhyTu the vendor, provider, custodian, shipper, or guarantor.

23. Risk Allocation and Limitation of PhyTu's Role

To the fullest extent permitted by law, customers and participants accept the inherent risks of lawful interaction with living animals, organisms, and biological materials after receiving the applicable disclosures. To the fullest extent permitted by law, PhyTu is not responsible for the acts or omissions of an independent vendor or provider; the health, identity, behavior, fertility, legality, condition, containment, handling, shipment, delivery, or performance of a covered item; or injury, illness, loss, property damage, environmental effects, or other harm caused by a vendor, provider, customer, animal, organism, material, carrier, or third party. Nothing in this Policy excludes liability or limits a right, warranty, remedy, or duty that cannot legally be excluded or limited, and nothing excuses fraud, intentional misconduct, unlawful conduct, gross negligence where it cannot be waived, animal cruelty, false advertising, or a vendor's failure to perform a mandatory legal duty.

24. Conflicts, Updates, and Agreement

A listing may contain category-specific or vendor-specific terms, which apply only to the extent clearly disclosed before commitment, not in conflict with mandatory law, and not reducing protections PhyTu states are nonwaivable. PhyTu may update this Policy prospectively; the version presented at the time of the transaction generally governs that transaction, except where a change is required by law or expressly accepted. By completing a covered transaction, adoption, booking, transfer, or participation, the user acknowledges that the applicable vendor or provider — not PhyTu — is responsible for the covered item or service and agrees to this Policy and the other terms presented before commitment.

Contact

info@phytu.com  ·  https://www.phytu.com

This Live Animals, Wildlife, Beneficial Organisms & Biological Materials Policy works together with the PhyTu Terms of Service, the Marketplace User Agreement, the Acceptable Use Policy, the Return & Refund Policy, and the Privacy Policy. Live plants and their shipping, seasonal fulfillment, and dead-on-arrival claims are governed separately by the Live Plant, Shipping & Claims Policy. Where a mandatory law provides greater protection, that law controls.