Terms of Service.

About these terms.

These terms govern your use of baark.com.au and the BAARK microbiome testing service offered by Altered Carbon Synthetic Biology Pty Ltd (ACN 649 555 993). By ordering a kit or using this website, you agree to these terms.

What BAARK provides.

BAARK provides a wellness-profiling service. A BAARK report describes the composition and inferred functional state of your pet's gut and oral microbial communities, drawn from shotgun metagenomic sequencing of the faecal sample and a targeted quantitative PCR panel run on the oral swab. A BAARK report is not a diagnostic test. It does not detect, diagnose, stage, or predict the progression of any disease. Veterinary clinical decisions belong with your treating veterinarian and should not be made on the basis of a BAARK report alone.

Sample handling.

Once received at our Melbourne laboratory, samples are processed within standard turnaround timeframes (typically five to seven business days). Samples that arrive damaged, contaminated, or in insufficient quantity may require a replacement collection at no additional cost. Samples are stored for a fixed retention period and may be used for internal quality control and de-identified reference cohort development unless you opt out at the time of order.

Refunds and replacements.

If a sample fails quality control through no fault of yours, we will provide a replacement kit at no charge. If you are dissatisfied with the report for any other reason, contact hello@baark.com.au within thirty days of report delivery; we handle refund and replacement requests on a case-by-case basis.

Acceptable use of the website.

You may use this website for personal and professional reference. You may not scrape, redistribute, or republish substantial portions of the content without written permission. The published research on this site is licensed for use with attribution; please cite as you would any other research publication.

Restricted parties.

For the purposes of these terms, a Restricted Party is any business that offers, sells, markets, or has publicly announced an intention to offer pet microbiome testing, pet genetic testing, or related pet diagnostic services, in Australia or internationally. This class includes, without limitation, Elita Genetics Operations Pty Ltd (ACN 677 915 338), Intelligent Screening Pets (Pty) Ltd trading as i-screenPets, and any current or future entity offering services materially competitive with BAARK. The class also includes employees, contractors, officers, agents, affiliates, subsidiaries, parents, and any natural person acting on behalf of such a business.

No orders from Restricted Parties.

BAARK reserves the right to refuse service to any Restricted Party. BAARK may cancel and refund any order placed by or on behalf of a Restricted Party, at any point before or after kit dispatch and before or after sample processing. By placing an order, you represent and warrant that you are not a Restricted Party, that you are not ordering on behalf of a Restricted Party, and that you are not aware that the pet identified on the order is owned or controlled by a Restricted Party. Breach of this representation constitutes a material breach of these terms and entitles BAARK to cancel the order, retain the order data, and recover any loss or damage caused.

No onward disclosure to Restricted Parties.

You agree not to share, transfer, sell, license, publish, or otherwise provide the BAARK report, the underlying sequencing data, any derivative analysis, or any other information generated by BAARK for your pet to any Restricted Party. This restriction survives termination of these terms and applies indefinitely from the date the report is delivered to you. You agree to indemnify Altered Carbon Synthetic Biology Pty Ltd against any losses arising from disclosure of BAARK reports or derivative data to a Restricted Party in breach of this clause.

No reverse-engineering or competitive use.

You agree not to use the BAARK report, the BAARK methodology, the BAARK Biome Health Engine, or any derivative data for the purpose of developing, improving, benchmarking, training models against, replicating, or otherwise informing a service that competes with BAARK. You agree not to use BAARK products or services as research or development inputs for any pet microbiome, pet genetic, or related pet diagnostic offering. This restriction survives termination of these terms.

Introductory pricing.

The $249 introductory price for the BAARK Complete Microbiome Profile is offered for personal-use customers ordering for the wellness of an identified companion animal. Orders placed at the introductory price for the purpose of commercial intelligence, benchmarking, competitive analysis, or product development by a Restricted Party constitute a material breach of these terms, entitle BAARK to cancel and refund the order, and entitle BAARK to recover any difference between the introductory price and the standard commercial-research rate that would otherwise have been charged for the service (currently $1,800 per sample). Introductory pricing is introductory and may be withdrawn or modified at any time.

Retention of identification details.

For the purposes of enforcing these terms and detecting orders from Restricted Parties, BAARK retains customer identification details (customer name, shipping address, billing address, email address, phone number, payment record, IP address at time of order, and any vet clinic referral provided) for a minimum of seven years from the date of order, even where you subsequently exercise rights of data deletion under the Australian Privacy Act 1988 in respect of the microbiome data itself. This retention is required for fraud prevention, breach detection, and compliance with our tax and consumer law obligations.

Limitations of liability.

To the maximum extent permitted by Australian law, Altered Carbon Synthetic Biology Pty Ltd's liability arising from the BAARK service is limited to the price paid for the kit. This limitation does not exclude any non-excludable consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law.

Governing law and jurisdiction.

These terms are governed by the law of the State of Victoria, Australia. Each party submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Victoria and the courts of appeal from them, for the purpose of hearing and determining any dispute arising from or in connection with these terms.

Changes to these terms.

We may update these terms from time to time. Material changes will be communicated to existing customers by email. Continued use of the service after such a change indicates acceptance of the revised terms.

Contact.

Questions about these terms: hello@baark.com.au.