Terms of Service & Technical Scope Limitations

1. Nature of Services — Automated Technical Tooling (Not a Law or CPA Firm)

MerchantBastion develops deterministic software engineering tools for tax number verification, product safety labeling, chargeback document formatting, and source-code accessibility diagnostics. MerchantBastion is not a law firm, certified public accounting (CPA) firm, customs broker, or government certification body. Nothing generated by our software or documentation constitutes formal legal, tax, customs, or financial advice.

2. Accessibility & Privacy Remediation Scope (FTC Truth-in-Advertising Disclosure)

Important Limitation: No automated software tool can detect or repair every possible WCAG 2.1 success criterion (such as manual video caption accuracy, bespoke third-party JavaScript flows, or complex cognitive copywriting). Automated tooling assists technical remediation and good-faith documentation, does not replace periodic human assistive-technology testing (NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver), and cannot promise absolute immunity from private US ADA Title III demand letters or national EU EAA administrative penalties.

3. Cross-Border B2B Tax & Outage Fail-Safe Rules (EU VIES · US MTC/SST · AU ABN)

• EU VIES (Directive 2006/112/EC Art. 138 & Reg. 282/2011 Art. 45a): Merchant remains solely responsible for configuring a valid Seller EU VAT ID so official 16-digit VIES consultation proof certificates can be issued, and for retaining cross-border physical transport evidence. During national VIES server outages, our engine defaults to fail-safe VAT collection with post-recovery partial VAT refund or order fulfillment hold—never unsafe blind zero-rating.
• United States B2B Resale Vault (US-01): Because the United States does not operate a unified 50-state real-time federal resale verification API, our US module performs mathematical and structural state permit validation across 51 jurisdictions, enforces state-specific form rules (such as NY Form ST-120, FL Annual DR-13, and CA CDTFA-230), captures ESIGN Act handwritten signatures, and blocks mismatched shipping-state exemptions at checkout. Merchants remain responsible for exercising statutory "good-faith" acceptance and verifying high-value permits with state Department of Revenue portals where required.
• Australia ABR ABN & ATO (ASIA-02): Validates 11-digit ABNs via official Modulo-89 rules and flags missing or invalid B2B ABNs for 47% No-ABN PAYG Withholding review under ATO Ruling GSTR 2013/1.

4. Chargeback Representment (App 02) & Product Safety / HTS (App 03)

• Chargeback Evidence Dossiers (ShieldPack): Compiles factual order, 3DS/AVS/CVV, carrier delivery, and policy timestamps into sub-4.5 MB PDFs at a flat subscription fee (0% win commission). Final dispute adjudication rests exclusively with the cardholder's Issuing Bank and card network rules (Visa Core Rules / Visa CE 3.0 & Mastercard); MerchantBastion makes no promise regarding bank reversal outcomes.
• Product Safety (EU GPSR 2023/988, US CPSC 16 CFR Part 1110, CA Prop 65, UKCA) & USITC HTS: The Merchant or Importer of Record is solely responsible for the truthfulness of laboratory test reports, EU/UK Responsible Person appointments, OEHHA specific-chemical Prop 65 disclosures, and final customs declarations. Built-in 10-digit USITC HTS codes are provided strictly as a non-binding reference lookup.

5. Direct Store Onboarding, Fair Quota Grace Window & Open-Source Licensing

• Passwordless Store & License Authentication: MerchantBastion does not require separate website passwords. Access is authenticated via native 1-click Shopify Admin OAuth, emailed WooCommerce License Keys, or browser Access Keys.
• Billing Channels: Shopify subscriptions are billed in USD ($) via the native Shopify GraphQL Billing API. Standalone WooCommerce annual licenses and Direct Web Bulk CSV packs are processed by our authorized Merchant of Record, Lemon Squeezy, subject to our 14-Day Refund Policy.
• 48-Hour Grace Period: Paid tiers include a non-destructive 48-hour overage grace window. Previously published storefront assets (alt texts, GPSR metafields, Accessibility Statements) are never deleted upon quota expiration.
• WordPress/WooCommerce PHP License: Distributable PHP plugin files for WordPress and WooCommerce are licensed under GPLv2 or later; hosted cloud APIs (api.merchantbastion.com and id.merchantbastion.io) and MerchantBastion brand assets remain proprietary to MerchantBastion.

6. Limitation of Liability & Contact

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable commercial law, MerchantBastion's aggregate liability arising out of or relating to the Services shall not exceed the total subscription fees paid by the Merchant to MerchantBastion during the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the claim. MerchantBastion shall not be liable for indirect, consequential, tax-assessment, customs-detention, or administrative penalty damages resulting from inaccurate merchant inputs or manual overrides.

Legal, Billing & Support Inquiries: support@merchantbastion.com · billing@merchantbastion.com · privacy@merchantbastion.com.