Eligibility
You must be at least 13 years old to create an account. If you're between 13 and the age of majority in your country, you confirm you have permission from a parent or guardian.
Your account
- You're responsible for keeping your password safe.
- Don't impersonate other people or organisations.
- One account per person, please.
- We may suspend accounts that abuse the service or break these terms.
Content you post
You keep ownership of anything you post — text guides, forum posts, comments, species submissions, photos. By posting, you grant The Aqua Guide a worldwide, royalty-free licence to display, distribute, and promote that content within the service.
Don't post:
- Anything illegal, abusive, hateful, or harassing.
- Spam, scams, or affiliate links disguised as advice.
- Content that infringes someone else's copyright or trademarks.
- Sexual content involving minors (we report this immediately).
- Content that violates animal welfare laws in your jurisdiction.
The Shop
The Aqua Guide runs a marketplace. Items in the Shop are listed and sold by independent sellers, not by The Aqua Guide: the contract of sale is between you and the seller named on the listing. We take the payment, keep the record of the order, pass the seller their money and handle refunds, so that when something goes wrong you deal with us and we deal with them.
The Shop serves India only. Elsewhere on the site is open to everyone, but browsing and buying in the Shop are not available outside India.
Buying
- You need an account to buy. Prices are in rupees and include GST where any is charged; most livestock and plants are nil-rated, so most orders carry no tax.
- The total shown at checkout is the one that counts. It is worked out by us at the moment you order, from the seller's prices, their delivery charges and any discount code.
- A basket with items from more than one seller becomes one order per seller, each shipped and refunded on its own.
- Where the seller offers it, you can pay cash on delivery. Otherwise payment is taken through our payment provider; we never see or store your card details.
- You get an invoice, or a bill of supply where no tax is charged, for every order.
- Cancellations, returns and refunds are set out in our Cancellation and Refund Policy, and delivery in our Shipping Policy. Both form part of these terms.
Selling
Selling needs a verified professional account — Breeder, Retailer, Aquascaper or Service provider — and the documents we ask for to confirm who you are and where money should go. What you may list depends on which type you hold.
As a seller you agree that:
- Your listings are accurate and yours to sell, your photos are your own, and your stock levels are kept up to date.
- You may only list animals and plants you may lawfully sell where you are and where you are shipping to, and you follow the packing and shipping rules in our Shipping Policy. Protected and prohibited species must not be listed.
- You dispatch what you sell within the time you state, or cancel it promptly so the buyer is refunded.
- You answer returns honestly and within the rules in the Refund Policy, and you accept our decision when a buyer asks us to step in.
- For livestock that arrives dead, the buyer is asked for an unboxing photo or video filmed within an hour of delivery. We read the recording time out of the file and show you what we found. It is a guide, not proof — a camera's clock can be changed and many apps strip the time out entirely — so you weigh it with everything else rather than refusing a claim on that alone.
- Your own tax obligations, including GST registration and returns where they apply to you, are yours. We charge and show tax as you configure it on your listings.
Commission, your wallet and payouts
- We charge commission on each sale. The rate that applies to you is shown in your seller settings before you list; we may change rates, and a change never alters orders already placed.
- Money from a completed sale is credited to your wallet, less commission and any tax we are required to withhold. A refund takes the refunded amount back out of your wallet, and returns the commission on it — nobody keeps a share of a sale that did not stand.
- You can request a payout once your payout details are verified and your balance is above the minimum shown on your wallet page. We approve it and then pay it; a payout is only final once we mark it paid.
- Money from a sale is held for a period before it can be withdrawn, so that a refund can be paid from the sale it relates to. Live fish, invertebrates and plants are held for 72 hours after the parcel is delivered or collected; everything else is held until the buyer's return window closes; and an order with an open return is held until that return is closed. An order that has not been delivered yet is held until it has. Held money is yours and is shown in your balance — it simply cannot leave the wallet yet. Your wallet page lists exactly what is held and when each part clears.
- Cash-on-delivery orders are different in one way: you collect the money at the door, so the commission on that sale is taken from your wallet instead of paid out of it.
- Your wallet can go below zero — a refund on a sale you were already paid for, or the commission on a cash-on-delivery order. When it does, the amount is owed to us and your later sales clear it before anything can be withdrawn. We will not take it from you by any other means, and we may write it off.
What we may do
- We may take a listing off sale. When we do, you are told why, and only we can put it back.
- We may hide a question or a review, suspend selling privileges, or close an account that breaks these terms or puts buyers or animals at risk.
- Reviews come from people who bought the item. Do not offer anything in exchange for a review, and do not review your own listings.
What we are not responsible for
We are not the seller. Beyond running the order, the payment and the refund process described in these pages, The Aqua Guide is not responsible for the goods themselves — their condition, their legality where you live, or the health of any animal sold. Livestock is a living thing bought at the buyer's own risk, subject to the protections in the Refund Policy.
Aquarium advice disclaimer
Guides and species data on The Aqua Guide are provided for informational and educational purposes. Always verify care requirements with a qualified aquatic veterinarian or experienced local supplier before adding new fish, plants, or invertebrates to your tank. We are not liable for livestock losses arising from following advice on the site.
Service availability
We aim for high availability but can't guarantee uninterrupted service. Maintenance windows are surfaced via the in-app maintenance page. Scheduled downtime announcements go out via email and the community feed.
Limitation of liability
To the maximum extent allowed by law, The Aqua Guide is provided "as is" with no express or implied warranty. We are not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use of the service.
Termination
You can delete your account anytime from your Profile. We can suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms.
Changes
We may update these terms. Material changes will be announced. The "Last updated" date reflects the current version.
Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of India, and the Shop operates under Indian consumer and tax law.