Listing Rules and Moderation

What the words mean

• Draft: not shown to buyers until the seller fixes it and publishes again.
• On hold: not shown to buyers while we look into something. The seller is told it’s on hold, and it isn’t a finding against them.
• Removed: taken off the site by us.
• Paused messaging: the seller’s new messages are kept back for review before they’re delivered, and nobody can start a new conversation with them.
• Review: a check of a report, a hold or a kept-back message. A person decides what we do (who reviews).
• Working days: Monday to Friday, not counting Victorian public holidays.

What we check before a listing goes live

If you’re selling, your listing goes live only once it passes every check that applies. Until then it stays a draft, or waits as “Checking” while a check finishes, and we show you what to fix.

• ID. You’ve passed an ID check that’s still current. It’s free for whoever runs a rescue or shelter’s account, once we’ve checked the organisation.
• State. Your listing must be in the state or territory in your seller details, and its rules apply. If the address on your ID check is in another state, you can’t list an animal we don’t accept there either.
• Numbers. Each number we know your state’s law requires is there, in the right format. Our form can’t cover every case, so check what your state asks of you. Victorian source numbers are also checked on the Pet Exchange Register (below).
• Listing type. Only breeders can list litters, upcoming litters and studs (studs are for dogs only). Everyone else lists one animal per listing.
• Microchips. A listing must give a microchip number, in the right format, for every dog and cat. In NSW, a litter of puppies up to 8 weeks old, none chipped yet, may show their mother’s number, labelled as hers, unless the Victorian rules below apply. Each puppy must still be chipped before it goes home.
• 8 weeks. The date a dog or cat can go home must be at least 8 weeks after the date of birth you entered. Studs skip this check.
• Upcoming litters. An upcoming litter (one not born yet) must be due within 120 days, and goes back to draft on its due date. It can’t name individual animals, and must pass our word check. Microchips, the 8-week rule and a NSW breeder identification number (BIN) wait until it’s listed as a born litter.
• South Australia, and Tasmanian cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. South Australian dog and cat listings give each breeder’s details, or why you don’t know them. On those listings, and on Tasmanian cattle, sheep, goat and pig listings, you agree to show the details the law puts on the ad, and we need a checked name to show.
• Confirmations. You confirm you’ll follow your state’s animal welfare laws and the RSPCA’s Guidelines for the Online Advertising of Pets, and accept our notice on passing details to authorities.

We check a listing again when it’s edited, when your details or ID check change, and regularly. If it no longer passes, it goes back to draft. Listings expire 30 days after going live.

Anything a check doesn’t cover, such as health details, parents or breed club membership, is the seller’s own statement. We haven’t checked it. Terms of Use clause 4 says exactly what each check shows, and doesn’t.

Victorian dogs and cats

Victorian law says almost every ad for a dog or cat, sold or given away, must show the seller’s source number and each animal’s microchip number. It holds the website that publishes the ad responsible too. We apply these rules if your listing, your seller details or the address on your ID check is in Victoria. Animal Welfare Victoria says sellers elsewhere who advertise to Victorian buyers need both numbers too, so we also apply them if you’re willing to sell to Victorian buyers. If you’re outside Victoria, we’ll ask whether you’ll sell to buyers in Victoria, and you must answer truthfully.

We check the source number on Animal Welfare Victoria’s Pet Exchange Register before a dog or cat listing goes live, whenever it’s edited, and regularly after that, so a number can lapse between checks. If the register says the number is inactive, lapsed or not found, the listing can’t go live, or goes back to draft. If we can’t reach the register, a new listing waits as “Checking”, and a live one stays up until the valid-until date from our last check. The register tells us whether the number is active and when it’s valid until, not whose number it is, so it doesn’t prove the number is this seller’s.

Following Animal Welfare Victoria’s guidance, an upcoming litter that names no animal and offers none for sale needs no source number until it’s listed as a litter.

What can’t be listed

• Restricted dog breeds and their crosses: American pit bull terrier or pit bull terrier, Japanese tosa, Dogo Argentino, Fila Brasileiro and Perro de Presa Canario.
• Dogs declared dangerous, menacing or restricted, or under a council control or destruction order.
• Animals offered or bred for fighting.
• Savannah cats, and any other cat with serval ancestry, at any generation. They can’t be brought into Australia, and New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia ban keeping or selling them.
• Munchkin cats and dwarf cats bred from them (such as Minuet, Bambino and Dwelf), and Highland Fold and Scottish Fold cats, because of inherited health problems.
• Dogs and cats sold as “teacup” or “micro”.
• Hamsters, gerbils, native mammals (such as sugar gliders and possums), hedgehogs, degus and primates.
• Chinchillas.
• Reptiles and amphibians not on our species list. We take only Australian native reptiles and frogs, and axolotls, from that list. For now we don’t take venomous snakes or crocodiles.
• Ferrets from Queensland or Northern Territory sellers, rabbits from Queensland sellers and axolotls from Northern Territory sellers.
• Native animals that need a wildlife licence where you live, unless you hold one. In Victoria, the licence number shows on the ad.
• Dogs and cats failing the microchip or 8-week rules above.
• Any animal you don’t have the right to sell or give away, or that’s illegal to sell, give away or keep where you are.

Other listings and content

• Listings we don’t take: pet shops, semen, services (such as grooming, training, transport, walking, sitting or vet care) and “wanted” posts from buyers.
• Listings from Norfolk Island. We don’t currently take them.
• Listings from Christmas Island or the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Pets from either island can’t travel to the mainland without federal biosecurity approval.
• Photos you don’t have the right to use, or that aren’t of the animals listed. Parents’ photos are fine on a litter if the photo’s description says so.
• Anything our Terms of Use ban (clauses 7 and 8), or that pretends to be us, an authority or anyone else.

Words we screen

We won’t publish listing text (including descriptions, health details, colours and photo descriptions) that contains:

• contact details: phone numbers, email addresses, links (other than to our site and some official sites), or messaging apps such as WhatsApp
• a restricted or blocked breed’s name, or “teacup” or “micro” puppies and kittens
• an age under 8 weeks, such as “6 weeks old”
• the words fight, crop or dock, including words such as fighting, cropped and docked, because of dog fighting, ear cropping and tail docking
• in an upcoming litter: prices, deposits, reservations, “pick of the litter”, or how many boys and girls there will be.

Names and suburbs are checked for contact details too. Our word check matches the usual names and spellings only, so other spellings can slip through. If we blocked something by mistake, email info@petsales.net.au.

Holds

If you’re selling, your Listings page shows a listing on hold as “On Hold”, with a note on why, or that we’re checking it. We put a listing on hold when:

• another account uses the same state number, such as a source number or BIN, on a listing now or in the last 90 days, or the same microchip number is on another current listing
• a photo closely matches another seller’s photo on Pet Sales Australia. We keep a copy as evidence, even if you remove it, for the time in our Privacy Policy
• it’s a cat, rabbit or litter listing from Lord Howe Island. Cats and rabbits can’t be brought to the island, and a dog brought there must be desexed
• reports put it on hold (see below).

We may also put a listing on hold while we confirm an authority’s request (for authorities).

We review every hold, then lift it or keep the listing off the site (who reviews). If the number, animal or photo is yours, send us the listing’s link and proof, such as a registration certificate.

Some problems send a listing back to draft instead, such as a lapsed source number.

Reporting a problem

Anyone can report, with or without an account:

• email info@petsales.net.au about anything (our Report a Concern page, linked at the foot of every page, says what to include). The report buttons on listings and in conversations open with listings.

Reports aren’t blocked for contact details, so you can paste in what someone sent you. Don’t email us your own ID documents: Claude moves an email that seems to hold one to the bin, so we can delete it.

Emergencies: we’re not an emergency service. Call 000 if anyone is in danger. If an animal is, contact the RSPCA or animal welfare authority in the state or territory where it is (in the Northern Territory, the NT Government’s Animal Welfare Branch). Report a Concern has each one’s number. A pet locked in a hot car? Call police straight away: 000 in an emergency, or 131 444.

When a report puts a listing on hold straight away

A listing stays up while we review a report, unless:

• 3 different buyers report their conversations about it within 7 days, unless the reports are about spam or rude messages; or
• a trusted reporter reports their conversation about it, unless it’s about spam or rude messages. A trusted reporter is an account we’ve confirmed, by hand from an official address, belongs to Animal Welfare Victoria, a council animal management officer or an RSPCA inspectorate.

Reports you email us don’t count towards these. When a report comes in, we also run the listing’s checks again. If it fails, for example because its source number has lapsed, it goes back to draft.

How fast we review

We reply within 2 working days to say we’ve got your report. A person then looks into it and decides what we do.

A person reads authority requests.

Who reviews

Claude, an AI assistant made by Anthropic in the United States, reads every email sent to info@petsales.net.au. It sorts each one, sends our reply saying we’ve got it (never to an authority), and logs reports, complaints, privacy requests and requests from authorities for a person to deal with. It reads each email’s text, and the names and types of any attachments, never the attachments themselves. It can get things wrong, which is why a person looks again if you ask.

A person at Pet Sales Australia decides:

• what we do about each report, complaint and request
• whether to remove a listing for good, or suspend or close an account
• whether to pass anyone’s details to an authority or police
• complaints about us, and privacy and defamation complaints
• any decision you ask us to look at again.

Our Privacy Policy says what Claude reads and decides.

What can happen

After a review we may:

• do nothing, and take a listing off hold
• ask the seller to fix the listing
• remove the listing
• warn, suspend or close an account
• refer the matter to an authority.

We tell the people involved what we did (Terms of Use clauses 9.3 and 10.2). We don’t tell the person you reported who you are unless the law requires us to, though if you report a conversation, they may guess. We may give the relevant authority your report and your contact details, so they can ask you about it (Privacy Policy).

If we find someone reported something they knew was false, or to cause trouble, we treat it as a broken rule (Terms of Use clause 8.3): a warning, then suspension if it happens again within 12 months. An honest report that turns out wrong is fine.

If you’ve paid and the seller stopped replying

If you’re buying:

1. Call your bank or card provider now and ask them to stop the payment. It isn’t always possible, so act fast. We can’t get your money back.
2. Email info@petsales.net.au with “Scam” in the subject, and tell us what happened. Report a Concern has the full steps.
3. Report the scam to Scamwatch and to police through ReportCyber, and keep the messages.

How we check messages

Before any message is delivered, our system checks it for common scam patterns, contact details and links. That includes a buyer’s first name, and any message written before signing in. Each message is then:

• Not sent, if it includes contact details or most links, asks for a sign-in code, claims to be us, says we hold, protect or guarantee payments, or asks for payment for a litter not yet born and listed (Terms of Use clause 6). We record which check matched and the matched part with every letter and number masked, not your words.

• Kept back for review, if:

  • a seller asks to be paid by gift card, cryptocurrency or a money-transfer service
  • a seller sends payment details or asks for a fee while their listing is on hold or back in draft
  • the sender is a seller whose messaging is paused after a payment report.

  Our review decides whether to send it, and it isn’t sent or dropped before then, unless the sender’s account is suspended or closed.

• Sent with a safety tip for the reader. The sender sees that a tip was shown. Tips are general advice, never an accusation.

• Sent as usual, with the matching check’s name recorded for our monthly records. Nobody reads the message because of this.

A message check never takes down a listing or suspends an account by itself.

To swap phone numbers, use Share My Phone Number, which shows in a conversation once you’ve both written. It doesn’t show while the listing is on hold or back in draft, or while messaging is paused for either of you after a payment report. Only the other person sees the number. We don’t run our scam checks on shared numbers, so a safety tip shows under each one.

We read a conversation only when:

• a message in it is kept back for review
• someone in it reports it or asks for our help with it
• we look into a report about an account in it
• the law requires it, such as a court order or an eSafety Commissioner notice
• police ask about a suspected crime.

Warnings, suspensions and closed accounts

What we do depends on how serious the problem is.

• Fix or remove. For a mistake or minor problem, such as a missing number, we put the listing on hold or back to draft, or remove it, and say what to fix. If you fix it when asked, that’s the end of it, and it doesn’t count against you.
• Warning. For any other broken rule, we email a warning saying which rule and why, unless it’s a ground for suspension or closure below.
• Suspension. We may suspend an account if:
  • it breaks a rule again within 12 months of a warning
  • we reasonably believe, on the evidence, it was used for a scam or fraud
  • it lists an animal using someone else’s identity, or a number, microchip or photo it has no right to use
  • there’s credible evidence that the account holder was cruel to or neglected an animal
  • the law, a court, police or a regulator requires it
  • it posts illegal or seriously harmful material (Terms of Use clause 7.1), or threatens anyone
  • it was opened or used to get around a suspension, a block or our checks
  • only while we review a serious report, if leaving the account active could put people or animals at risk. If we decide the report doesn’t hold up, we restore the account straight away.
• Closure. We may close an account permanently if we find, on the evidence, a scam or fraud, use of someone else’s identity, cruelty to an animal, illegal or seriously harmful material, or threats. We may also close an account that, within 12 months of being suspended, again does something that is a ground for suspension above. We may also close an account opened to get around a closure.

A person decides every suspension and closure. Where it’s safe to, we tell you before we suspend or close an account, and give you a chance to reply. Our rules follow the person, not the account: if you open another account to get around a suspension or our checks, we may suspend or close that one too.

When an account is suspended or closed:

• it can’t sign in, and its listings and their photos stop showing
• people it was messaging see that it isn’t active, and are told not to send it money or personal details
• people it exchanged messages with in the last 60 days are also emailed that it’s no longer active, but not why, unless they’ve turned message emails off
• its messages are kept as evidence for the time in our Privacy Policy
• we email the account holder our decision and reasons, unless that would put someone at risk, help a scam, harm an investigation or break the law

Asking us to look again

If you disagree with any decision we make, such as a hold, removal, refused or kept-back message, pause on your messaging, warning, suspension or closure, email info@petsales.net.au. Say which decision, listing or account, and why we got it wrong, with anything that helps. You can ask at any time. A person will look again, including at anything new, and email you the decision and reasons within 10 working days, or 30 days for a privacy complaint or request (Complaints). That includes decisions our software or Claude made.

This doesn’t affect your other rights, including under the Australian Consumer Law. You can also contact Consumer Affairs Victoria or your state or territory’s consumer protection agency.

Working with authorities

We respond to requests from governments, councils, animal welfare authorities and police, to help keep ads legal.

Passing details on

Once listings open, before each listing goes live, the seller accepts this notice: “Pet Sales Australia may pass my details and my animals’ details to animal welfare authorities, councils or police after a report of, or if it suspects, poor animal welfare or a breach of animal welfare, sale or advertising laws.”

We may give police details of anyone involved in a suspected scam or other crime. A person decides each time we pass details on. We record what we disclose, to whom and why (Privacy Policy).

For authorities

Authorities, such as Animal Welfare Victoria, councils, RSPCA inspectors and police, can email info@petsales.net.au from an official address, with “Authority request” in the subject. Name the listings (links are best) or accounts, and the law you rely on. Claude logs each request for a person, who reads it and decides what we do. It never replies to an authority or gives anyone’s details.

Before we disclose anyone’s details or remove anything, we confirm the request using contact details we find ourselves, such as the authority’s published phone number. We share only what that law allows, or what’s needed to protect an animal or person at risk. We may put a listing on hold while we confirm a request, and while an authority looks into it.

Online safety

When we find illegal or seriously harmful material (Terms of Use clause 7.1), including after a report, we remove it, keep a record of what we did, and refer child sexual abuse material and abhorrent violent material to the Australian Federal Police. We may also report other material to police or the eSafety Commissioner. The eSafety Commissioner can send notices to info@petsales.net.au.

You can report an intimate image shared without consent, and illegal or restricted online content, to the eSafety Commissioner straight away. If someone is blackmailing you over an intimate image, for money or more images: if you’re under 18, report it to the ACCCE; if you’re 18 or older, report it to the platform where they contacted you, then to eSafety if the image is shared or the platform doesn’t help. For cyberbullying of a child, or serious online abuse of an adult, you can go to eSafety once you’ve reported it to the site or service where it appeared and it hasn’t been removed.

Defamation complaints

To complain that something defames you, see our Complaints page.

Changes to this page

If a change to this page could disadvantage you, we’ll email account holders at least 30 days before it takes effect. You can close your account first, with a refund of the unused part of any paid feature. Changes the law requires, or that only benefit you, can apply sooner (Terms of Use clause 17).

Contact

Email info@petsales.net.au.