The Aviary Hub is a classified-advertising platform. This page explains how our own advertising fee works — it is separate from any animal, item or transaction arranged between buyers and sellers.
Free launch period
All standard live-animal adverts are free for the first five weeks after the official public launch of The Aviary Hub. During this time, publishing a live-animal advert costs €0 — you are not charged, and you are not sent to a payment page of any kind.
This free period begins only once Coming Soon is removed and public launch is confirmed by the owner – it does not begin during development. Until the launch date is confirmed, this page will say “free for the first five weeks after launch” without displaying an invented calendar date; exact start and end dates will be shown here once known.
We will not automatically start charging existing adverts or existing sellers when the free period ends, and we will give clear advance notice before any paid adverts begin.
What happens after the free period
A standard advert-publication fee of €2.99 per applicable advert is planned as a possible price once the free period ends, but this is not yet active and has not been finally approved. The exact price, how long it applies to each advert, and the date it would start are still to be confirmed and require the owner’s explicit approval before going live, and will be published here with advance notice before anything changes. No fee is currently being charged for live-animal adverts.
If and when a fee becomes active, it will be charged for publishing your listing on the platform. It will not be payment for an animal or item, a deposit, or any part of a sale. Buyers and sellers arrange the actual transaction privately and directly with one another — The Aviary Hub is not a party to it.
What a future fee would not do
- It would not guarantee your advert is published — adverts must still pass our moderation, animal welfare and legal-compliance checks.
- It would not guarantee a sale, a buyer, or any particular outcome.
- It would not confirm or verify legal compliance on your behalf — sellers remain responsible for meeting any applicable requirements (including DAFM registration where it applies).
- It would not cover transport, delivery or collection of any kind.
- It would not mean The Aviary Hub purchases, holds, or handles proceeds from the sale of your animal or item.
An advert that breaches our rules or applicable law may still be rejected, suspended, removed, or sent back for correction, free period or not.
Accounts that won’t pay a future standard fee
Some account types will be able to publish adverts without paying any future standard fee, according to permissions an administrator sets and can change at any time:
- Verified charities — approved after a manual review, may advertise free.
- VIP Friend accounts — specific accounts an administrator has approved.
These accounts still have to meet every other rule that applies to ordinary sellers — animal welfare requirements, moderation, DAFM registration, minimum-age rules, and all prohibited-listing rules apply exactly the same way, during the free period and afterwards. A fee exemption is never an exemption from the law or from platform rules.
Pet Shop Products and Second-Hand Accessories
Pet Shop Products use a separate, currently inactive monthly subscription system for approved Pet Shop sellers (see our Pet Shop / Business Seller Terms), entirely independent of the live-animal advert fee described above. It is not active during the free period and will not be activated without the same advance approval and notice process. Where a different rule applies to Second-Hand Accessories, this page will be updated to reflect it.
Currency and receipts
Any future fee would be charged in euro (€). A payment receipt would describe the charge as an advert-publication fee — never as a payment for an animal, an item, or a sale.
Future services
We may introduce optional paid extras in future, such as a paid “bump” (re-promoting a listing) or a “Spotlight” or other featured-placement option. None of these are active during the free period. Any such option would have its own clearly stated price and would never be described as, or confused with, payment for an animal.
Refunds and cancellations for platform services
This section concerns fees paid to The Aviary Hub for platform services only – it does not govern a separate transaction between users. During the free launch period, standard adverts are free, so no charge and no refund question can currently arise.
Where a paid platform service is activated in future: the price and duration will be shown before purchase; statutory consumer rights apply; duplicate or incorrect platform charges will be investigated; refunds may be issued where the service was not supplied, was materially defective, or is otherwise required by law; removal of a listing for the seller’s own breach of these Terms does not automatically create a refund right; and any unused package will be treated according to the package terms shown at the time of purchase.
You may also have a statutory right to cancel a paid Aviary Hub service within 14 days – see the “Right of Withdrawal” and “Statutory Consumer Rights” sections of our Terms and Conditions for the full cancellation process, the model cancellation form, and the exceptions that apply.
Refund requests: theaviaryhubireland@gmail.com.