Legal Center

Howdy Verified uses third-party providers such as Stripe Identity for identity-verification services. Users may interact with third-party providers during the verification process, and third-party processing may be subject to the provider's own terms and privacy practices. Howdy receives verification information and results necessary to operate its service. Third-party availability or decisions may affect verification outcomes. Neither Stripe nor Howdy Verified guarantees identity or certifies transaction safety.

Howdy Verified integrates with additional third-party providers including VIN verification services. Howdy Verified is not responsible for outages, inaccuracies, or service interruptions caused by third-party systems.

A purchased Buyer Verification Record remains eligible for use for 30 calendar days from the original purchase date. This 30-day eligibility period is the master purchase window and does not reset when the buyer switches sellers, a seller declines, a seller's verification is unsuccessful, a seller does not respond, the buyer withdraws the seller request, or a new seller request is created. The original purchase date remains the anchor for the entire 30-day eligibility period.

A purchased Buyer Verification Record is considered used or consumed when the seller successfully completes the required seller verification for that Buyer Verification Request. Once the seller successfully verifies, the verification is consumed, remains associated with that seller and verification record, and may not be reassigned to another seller. Consumption is based on successful seller verification, not on whether the underlying transaction ultimately closes. The product is the successful verification, not the successful sale.

The verification remains available for reassignment during the original 30-day eligibility period when the seller does not respond, explicitly declines verification, attempts verification but verification is unsuccessful, or the buyer withdraws the active seller request before seller verification succeeds. In these cases, the current seller request may close, the current seller link is invalidated, and the buyer may create a new seller request without an additional verification purchase. The original 30-day eligibility expiration remains unchanged.

Seller response windows may never expire later than the 30-day master buyer verification eligibility date. If a buyer reassigns to a new seller near the end of the eligibility period and selects a response window that would extend beyond the eligibility date, the seller request expires at the master eligibility date, not at the end of the selected response window.

If the 30-day eligibility period has expired, the buyer cannot send to another seller, reopen reassignment, create another seller request, or restart a seller response window. Expired verifications cannot be reactivated.

Howdy Verified retains backend authority to block or review abnormal patterns of use, including unusually high seller reassignment volume, automation, scraping, enumeration, repeated suspicious attempts, abuse of Contact Match, or attempts to use one purchase as a bulk seller-screening tool. This is an abuse-prevention capability and does not interrupt ordinary legitimate use.

Public Seller Profiles may include seller-provided content such as photo, business name, description or introduction, location, website, and social links. Users who provide profile content are required to:

Seller-provided profile content is not independently verified by Howdy unless expressly indicated otherwise. Howdy retains the right to remove or restrict seller-provided content where appropriate, including for policy violations, misleading content, or security concerns.

Howdy Verified charges one-time fees for verification services. Current pricing is displayed during checkout before payment is submitted. Buyer verification and seller credential purchases are one-time payments.

Standard Seller Credential activation is offered at the price displayed at purchase. Howdy may offer reduced activation pricing to eligible participants who previously completed qualifying verification through Howdy. Both standard and reduced-price seller credentials are active for three calendar months from successful verification. Eligibility for reduced pricing is confirmed server-side and requires an actual qualifying successful Howdy identity verification associated with the participant.

Certain verification-related fees may become non-refundable once verification processing begins. See the Refund Policy for details.

Howdy Verified is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Howdy Verified is not liable for transaction disputes, financial losses, fraud, inaccurate submissions, failed transactions, third-party verification errors, or damages resulting from platform use.

Users remain responsible for their own transaction decisions. In no event shall Howdy Verified's total liability to any user exceed the fees paid by that user in the preceding 30 days.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Oregon. Any disputes arising from use of the platform shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the courts located in Oregon.

Howdy Verified may update these Terms periodically. We will make reasonable efforts to notify users of material changes via email or platform notice. Continued use of the platform after updates constitutes acceptance of revised Terms.

Howdy Verified does not sell personal information and does not use personal information for targeted advertising. Verification information is shared only with participating transaction parties through secure Official Shared Verification Records, integrated verification providers, and service providers required to operate the platform.

Buyer-specific comparison results displayed on the Buyer Dashboard — including Seller Information Confirmed — are private to the authorized buyer context. They are not exposed through public record lookup or made public merely because an Official Shared Verification Record exists.

We retain information for as long as reasonably necessary to provide the Services, preserve applicable verification records, maintain record and credential integrity, prevent fraud and abuse, resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, and comply with legal obligations. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of information and the purpose for which it is maintained.

Official Shared Verification Records. Official Shared Verification Records are preserved as historical records in accordance with Howdy's Official Record Preservation policy and legitimate legal and business requirements. Preserving the historical verification result does not mean Howdy retains all underlying sensitive identity-verification material indefinitely.

Verification Results and Status Metadata. Verification results, status metadata, timestamps, and completion history may be retained as necessary to authenticate records, preserve historical status, prevent fraud, resolve disputes, enforce Terms, and meet legal obligations.

Stripe Identity Data. Identity verification is processed securely through Stripe Identity. Howdy does not store raw government ID documents, selfies, or biometric data on its own servers. Howdy receives verification results and verified contact information necessary to operate its service. Stripe's handling, retention, and deletion of identity verification data is governed by Stripe's own policies and practices. Howdy does not control Stripe's data retention and does not guarantee Stripe's retention or deletion practices.

Contact Verification Data. Phone and email verification data is retained only as reasonably necessary for verification functionality, Contact Match, fraud prevention, credential and record integrity, legal compliance, and related service purposes.

Public Seller Profile Content. Seller-provided profile content may remain while the credential or profile is active and may be retained afterward where reasonably necessary for record integrity, fraud prevention, legal compliance, disputes, or historical preservation.

Incomplete or Abandoned Verifications. Incomplete or abandoned verification data may be subject to a shorter operational retention period where appropriate.

Security and Technical Logs. Security events, audit logs, and technical logs may be retained for reasonable security, fraud-prevention, troubleshooting, legal, and operational periods.

Howdy Verified may disclose information where reasonably necessary or legally required, including in response to:

The Howdy Help Guide is an AI-powered assistant available on Howdy Verified pages. Messages submitted to the Howdy Help Guide may be processed and stored by the service provider powering the guide to provide and support the help experience, subject to Howdy's privacy practices. You should not submit sensitive identity documents, passwords, banking information, Social Security numbers, or other unnecessary sensitive information through the Howdy Help Guide. The Howdy Help Guide cannot access your individual account records, verification status, or personal information.

When buyer verification may be skipped because seller verification does not successfully complete, the buyer identity step is not required. "Buyer Identity — Not Required" means the workflow did not require the buyer identity step because the applicable preceding seller-verification condition was not completed. It does not mean the buyer failed verification.

A Verified Seller Credential reflects the seller's verification status during its active term. The active term is three calendar months from successful verification.

A credential expires when its active term ends. Expired credentials no longer represent current active verification status. Howdy may require reverification for future activation or renewal.

Expiration does not mean the person's historical verification was false. The original verification history remains intact as part of the Official Shared Verification Record.

Seller Information Confirmed is a buyer-specific comparison function available on the Buyer Dashboard. It compares seller information supplied by the buyer for a verification request with applicable independently verified information available to Howdy for that seller.

A Confirmed result means the buyer-supplied value matched the corresponding independently verified information used for the comparison. It does not mean Howdy independently sourced or independently verified the buyer's original statement.

A Not Confirmed result means the buyer-supplied information did not match the applicable independently verified information. A mismatch is a reason for the buyer to pause and investigate further. It does not by itself establish fraud and does not reveal the underlying private verified value.

Where Howdy lacks an authoritative independently verified value needed to perform a comparison, a neutral result such as Could Not Be Compared or Not Available may be displayed. This means Howdy lacked sufficient authoritative information to make that particular comparison. The buyer-supplied value is not characterized as verified or not verified in that case.

Verified vs. Confirmed — Important Distinction

The Buyer Dashboard is a private buyer-facing interface that may display verification status and results, buyer-specific comparison results, Seller Information Confirmed, Contact Match access, request status, verification outcome, and links to the Official Shared Verification Record. Buyer Dashboard results are private to the authorized buyer context.

The Buyer Dashboard and any results displayed on it — including successful verification, Seller Information Confirmed, and Contact Match — do not guarantee ownership, authority to sell, item condition, transaction legitimacy, payment safety, delivery, future conduct, or successful completion of the transaction.

Buyer-specific comparison results displayed on the Buyer Dashboard do not become public merely because an Official Shared Verification Record exists. The Official Shared Verification Record remains the canonical preserved historical record and does not necessarily contain every buyer-specific dashboard comparison.

A Match means the phone number or email submitted for comparison matches contact information associated with the applicable verified seller in Howdy records.

A Match DOES NOT prove:

A No Match means only that submitted information did not match the applicable information available to Howdy. A No Match is not proof of fraud and should not be characterized as such.

"Official" means the authoritative Howdy Verified record of the applicable verification process. It does NOT mean:

Downloaded files, screenshots, printed records, badges, and copied documents may become stale, altered, or outdated. Users should verify the current live Howdy record using the Howdy-provided Record Number, QR code, or live link where available.

The Howdy Digital Authenticity Seal is a visual authenticity indicator associated with Howdy records. It is not:

Users should verify records against the current live Howdy record using the provided Record Number, QR code, or live link.