The terms behind the community.

Your agreement with Hooj

These Terms of Service ("Terms") form a binding agreement between you and Hooj, LLC ("Hooj," "we," "us," or "our") and govern your access to the Hooj mobile application, hooj.app, and related services (collectively, the "Service"). By creating an account, accessing, or using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use Hooj.

The Privacy Policy, Community Guidelines, Prohibited Items Policy, Payments, Refunds, and Disputes Policy, Event and Ticket Terms, and any transaction-specific terms shown before you take an action are incorporated into these Terms. If transaction-specific terms conflict with these general Terms, the transaction-specific terms control for that transaction.

Eligibility, campus access, and accounts

You must be at least 13 years old to use Hooj. If you are under the age of majority where you live, you may use Hooj only with permission and supervision from a parent or legal guardian who agrees to these Terms on your behalf. Certain marketplace, payment, payout, organization, or event features may require you to be at least 18, have authority to act for an entity, or satisfy additional requirements imposed by law or a payment provider.

Hooj may limit enrollment or features to supported schools, organizations, or communities. A school email, badge, or verification state helps establish context but is not a guarantee of a person's identity, authority, trustworthiness, qualifications, or conduct.

• Provide accurate, current information and keep it updated.
• Protect your credentials and notify us promptly of unauthorized access.
• Do not share, sell, transfer, or create accounts for deceptive purposes.
• Do not impersonate another person or misrepresent an affiliation, role, credential, or age.
• You are responsible for activity performed through your account unless applicable law provides otherwise.

What Hooj provides

Hooj connects social activity, discovery, marketplace listings, events, organizations, messaging, and payment workflows. Hooj may rank, recommend, group, or highlight content based on context and activity signals. Placement, reach, attendance, sale, response, or other outcomes are not guaranteed.

Except where Hooj expressly identifies itself as the seller or organizer, Hooj is a technology platform. Users create content, list items, organize events, manage organizations, communicate, and make agreements with one another. Hooj is not automatically a party to those user-to-user agreements and does not routinely inspect every item, event, venue, statement, user, or organization.

Features may differ by campus, device, account, eligibility, provider availability, or testing group. We may add, change, limit, suspend, or discontinue features, but we will provide notice when required by law.

Your content and the license you give Hooj

"User Content" includes posts, stories, photos, videos, text overlays, captions, comments, messages, listings, event and organization materials, profile information, reviews, reports, and other material you submit or make available through Hooj. You retain ownership of your User Content.

You grant Hooj a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, and sublicensable license to host, store, reproduce, process, adapt for technical formats, distribute, display, and otherwise use User Content as reasonably necessary to provide, secure, moderate, support, and improve the Service. This license is limited by your audience selections and our Privacy Policy. We will not use identifiable private content in external advertising without permission.

The license ends when the content is deleted from our systems, except where the content was shared with others and remains part of their permitted experience, where technical deletion takes time, or where retention is required for safety, disputes, fraud prevention, financial records, legal obligations, or enforcement.

You represent that you have the rights and permissions needed to submit the content and grant this license, and that your content does not violate law, these Terms, or another person's rights. Feedback and product suggestions may be used by Hooj without restriction or compensation.

Social content, stories, and messaging

You are responsible for the audience and destination you select. Depending on the feature, content may appear publicly, within a school, to followers, in an event or organization context, in a group, or to specific conversation participants. Do not share content you do not have permission to disclose.

Temporary posts, stories, and one-time media are designed to expire or leave active access, but recipients may capture or retain content outside Hooj. Expiration is not a guarantee that no copy exists. Provider cleanup, backups, shared references, reports, and legal holds may delay final deletion as described in the Privacy Policy.

Messages and group chats are for permitted communication, not spam, harassment, fraud, illegal transactions, or evasion of safety controls. Group owners, organization managers, and participants may have different management capabilities. Hooj does not guarantee that a recipient will read or respond to a message.

Marketplace listings, offers, and meetups

Sellers are responsible for accurately describing items, prices, condition, ownership, authenticity, availability, defects, accepted payment methods, and any material terms. Buyers are responsible for reviewing the listing, asking questions, inspecting the item, and deciding whether to complete an exchange.

An offer, counteroffer, acceptance, meetup confirmation, or message may create obligations between users. Do not accept an offer or confirm a meetup unless you intend and are able to complete it. Hooj may record changes and provide Activity or transaction details, but does not guarantee that either user will perform.

• Only list items you own or are authorized to transfer.
• Follow the Prohibited Items Policy and all applicable laws.
• Do not manipulate prices, availability, payment state, completion codes, reviews, or transaction history.
• Use accurate meetup information and exercise judgment when meeting in person.
• Do not mark an item sold, confirm a handoff, or use another completion action falsely.

For cash transactions, payment occurs directly between users and Hooj does not possess, transmit, refund, or guarantee the cash. Hooj is not responsible for item quality, authenticity, fitness, legality, delivery, personal injury, property damage, or losses arising from an in-person exchange, except to the extent liability cannot legally be excluded.

Events, RSVPs, tickets, and attendance

Event hosts and authorized organization managers are responsible for event descriptions, dates, locations, accessibility information, eligibility, capacity, ticket tiers, sales windows, approvals, staffing, safety, required permits, taxes, refunds, cancellations, and compliance with applicable law. Verification does not mean Hooj sponsors, endorses, or guarantees an event.

RSVPs and approvals indicate intent or eligibility, not guaranteed admission unless the event flow expressly says otherwise. Tickets may be subject to quantity limits, approval, check-in, transfer restrictions, event rules, and availability. A ticket may be revoked or marked invalid after a refund, dispute, fraud finding, duplicate issuance, or violation of event terms.

Attendees are responsible for reviewing event details, following venue and organizer rules, behaving safely, and determining whether attendance is appropriate. Events can change, move, be delayed, reach capacity, or be cancelled. Directions, maps, attendance counts, and start times may be incomplete or change.

Refund eligibility depends on applicable law, the reason for the request, the event state, organizer obligations, payment-provider rules, and any terms disclosed during purchase. Hooj may facilitate refunds or access changes but does not guarantee that every event purchase is refundable.

Organizations, roles, and authority

Creating, claiming, verifying, or acting for an organization means you represent that you have authority to do so. Organization owners and authorized managers are responsible for membership, roles, permissions, invitations, join codes, posts, events, chats, payment setup, and actions taken on behalf of the organization.

Roles and permissions determine what a person can do inside Hooj; they do not by themselves establish legal authority outside Hooj. Owners must manage leadership changes and ownership transfers responsibly. Users may not use an organization identity to mislead others, falsely imply endorsement, or conceal personal activity.

Hooj may request evidence, deny or remove verification, resolve competing administrative claims, restrict organization features, or preserve records where needed for security, disputes, legal obligations, or continuity. A verification badge confirms only that Hooj completed the verification process represented by that badge at the relevant time.

Hooj Pay, fees, taxes, refunds, and disputes

Hooj Pay is a payment workflow supported by Stripe. It is not a bank account, wallet, stored-value account, deposit account, or legally regulated escrow service. Stripe processes payment credentials and connected-account onboarding under its own agreements. By using Hooj Pay or receiving payouts, you also agree to the applicable Stripe terms.

Marketplace handoff

When a listing accepts Hooj Pay, the buyer selects Hooj Pay after an accepted offer and confirmed meetup, then completes checkout before receiving the item. Hooj records the captured payment. At the meetup, the seller generates a short-lived handoff code and the buyer enters it only after receiving and inspecting the item. Valid confirmation marks the handoff complete and allows Hooj to attempt the seller payout. Do not share or enter a code before the handoff is complete.

Before confirmed handoff, an eligible captured payment may be cancelled or refunded through available workflows. After confirmed handoff, a refund is not guaranteed and may require support review, provider action, or a legal obligation. A payout delay or failure does not automatically undo a completed physical handoff.

Event payments

For a paid event, checkout may occur immediately or after organizer approval. Successful payment can issue ticket access and initiate an organizer payout. Refunds, disputes, fraud, cancellation, or duplicate issuance may revoke ticket access or affect organizer balances.

Fees and taxes

Hooj may charge platform, transaction, promotional, subscription, or other fees. The applicable amount or method of calculation will be disclosed before you commit to the paid action. Hooj may change fees prospectively. Stripe processing, taxes, refunds, disputes, reserves, negative balances, and adjustments may affect the amount collected or paid out.

Buyers may be charged applicable taxes in addition to the agreed item or ticket price. Sellers and organizers are responsible for their own income, reporting, registration, permit, and tax obligations except where Hooj or Stripe is legally required to calculate, collect, report, withhold, or remit an amount.

Payment problems

Payments and payouts can be declined, delayed, reversed, refunded, disputed, or restricted because of insufficient funds, verification, fraud controls, network failures, provider rules, legal requirements, or account status. Hooj may pause access, withhold or offset future payouts where legally permitted, request information, correct accounting records, reverse access, or restrict payment features while an issue is investigated.

A card dispute or chargeback is not the same as a Hooj refund request. You agree to provide accurate evidence promptly and not misuse disputes to avoid a valid transaction. Hooj may submit transaction, communication, meetup, ticket, and handoff records to Stripe or financial partners to respond to a dispute.

Prohibited conduct and safety

You must follow the Community Guidelines and Prohibited Items Policy. You may not use Hooj to:

• Break the law, facilitate dangerous conduct, or sell prohibited, stolen, counterfeit, recalled, or unlawfully restricted items.
• Threaten, harass, exploit, discriminate against, stalk, bully, or endanger another person.
• Post sexual exploitation material, non-consensual intimate content, or content that exploits or endangers a minor.
• Defraud, deceive, impersonate, phish, spam, manipulate engagement, or evade payment obligations.
• Infringe intellectual property, privacy, publicity, contractual, or other rights.
• Scrape, harvest, reverse engineer, probe, overload, introduce malware, automate access without permission, or interfere with security or operation.
• Circumvent blocks, suspensions, audience controls, eligibility rules, rate limits, moderation, verification, payment controls, or organization permissions.
• Use Hooj or its data to train models, build competing datasets, conduct surveillance, or profile users without written permission.

Meet in appropriate public places, tell someone your plans, inspect items before confirming handoff, and contact emergency services when immediate safety is at risk. Hooj is not an emergency service and does not monitor all activity in real time.

Reports, moderation, and enforcement

Hooj provides reporting, blocking, hiding, role, and moderation tools. Our Safety and Reporting page explains how to use them and where to seek urgent help. We may review content or conduct and take action including reducing distribution, removing content, cancelling access, revoking verification, limiting features, preserving evidence, warning users, freezing transactions where appropriate, suspending accounts, or permanently terminating access.

We aim to respond to safety and content concerns in a timely and proportionate way, but do not promise a particular result or response time. We may act without advance notice where necessary to protect users, Hooj, payment integrity, or the public, comply with law, or investigate abuse. We may notify law enforcement or other authorities when required or when we reasonably believe there is an urgent threat or serious unlawful conduct.

Moderation decisions involve judgment and may be imperfect. Where Hooj offers an appeal, you must submit it honestly and within the stated period. Reports made in bad faith or to harass another person may themselves violate these Terms.

Hooj intellectual property and copyright

The Service, including Hooj's software, interfaces, visual design, branding, logos, text, and other materials excluding User Content, is owned by Hooj or its licensors and protected by intellectual-property law. Subject to these Terms, Hooj grants you a limited, personal, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the Service for its intended purpose.

You may not copy, sell, license, modify, distribute, or create derivative works from Hooj property except where law permits or Hooj gives written permission. If you believe content on Hooj infringes your copyright, follow our Copyright and DMCA Policy. We may remove material and terminate repeat infringers where appropriate.

Third-party services and app stores

Hooj relies on services such as Stripe, Mapbox, Supabase, Cloudflare, Expo, Apple, Google, Postmark, and hosting providers. Their services may be governed by separate terms and privacy notices. Hooj is not responsible for a third party's independent service, content, availability, or conduct, though we remain responsible for our own obligations.

If you download Hooj through an app store, the store is not a party to these Terms and is not responsible for Hooj's operation, support, maintenance, or claims, except as its own terms require. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms for an iOS download and may enforce the provisions applicable to them.

Suspension, termination, and account deletion

You may stop using Hooj at any time and may request deletion through Account and Data Deletion. Deletion does not cancel completed transactions, eliminate amounts owed, revoke content already lawfully shared by others, or require deletion of records Hooj must retain for financial, safety, dispute, fraud-prevention, or legal reasons.

Hooj may limit, suspend, or terminate accounts or features if we reasonably believe there is a violation, risk, fraud concern, legal requirement, payment problem, extended inactivity, or harm to the Service or others. Where appropriate, we may allow time to correct an issue or appeal, but immediate action may be necessary.

Terms that by their nature should survive termination will survive, including provisions concerning ownership, licenses already relied upon, transactions, amounts owed, records, disclaimers, liability, indemnification, disputes, and enforcement.

Disclaimers, liability, and disputes

Disclaimers

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE." HOOJ DISCLAIMS EXPRESS AND IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND WARRANTIES ARISING FROM COURSE OF DEALING. HOOJ DOES NOT GUARANTEE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE OPERATION, CONTENT AVAILABILITY, USER IDENTITY OR CONDUCT, EVENT SAFETY OR OCCURRENCE, ITEM QUALITY OR LEGALITY, TRANSACTION COMPLETION, OR PAYMENT OR PAYOUT TIMING.

Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, HOOJ AND ITS AFFILIATES, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, CONTRACTORS, AND AGENTS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, GOODWILL, OPPORTUNITY, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO THE SERVICE.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, HOOJ'S TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF THE AMOUNT YOU PAID DIRECTLY TO HOOJ DURING THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM OR US $100.

Some jurisdictions do not permit certain exclusions or limits. In those jurisdictions, these provisions apply only to the extent permitted, and nothing in these Terms limits non-waivable consumer rights or liability that cannot legally be limited.

Indemnification

To the extent legally permitted, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Hooj and its affiliates, officers, employees, contractors, and agents from claims, losses, liabilities, damages, judgments, and reasonable legal expenses arising from your User Content, organization or event activity, transactions, misuse of the Service, violation of these Terms, or violation of another person's rights. Hooj may control the defense of a covered matter, and you agree to cooperate.

User and Hooj disputes

Before filing a legal claim against Hooj, you and Hooj agree to make a good-faith effort to resolve the issue informally for at least 30 days after written notice, unless urgent relief or applicable law makes that inappropriate. Send notices to legal@hooj.app.

These Terms are governed by Illinois law, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Subject to non-waivable rights and jurisdictional requirements, claims against Hooj must be brought in the state or federal courts serving Champaign County, Illinois, and you consent to their jurisdiction. These Terms do not require arbitration and do not waive a right to participate in a class action.

Changes, general terms, and contact

We may update these Terms as Hooj evolves. We will change the date above and provide additional notice of material changes where appropriate or legally required. Changes apply prospectively from their effective date. If you continue using Hooj after updated Terms take effect, you accept them; if you do not agree, stop using the Service.

If any provision is unenforceable, it will be limited or removed only to the minimum extent necessary and the remaining provisions will continue. Hooj's failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. You may not assign these Terms without Hooj's written consent. Hooj may assign them in connection with a merger, financing, reorganization, sale, or transfer of the Service. These Terms and incorporated policies are the entire agreement concerning the Service unless separate written terms apply.

Questions and legal notices can be sent to:

Hooj, LLC
legal@hooj.app
support@hooj.app
Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, United States