Terms of Use
By using Before You Pay you agree to these terms. Please read the assessment limits carefully — they describe what this service can and cannot tell you.
What this service does
Before You Pay reviews the information you submit and produces an automated risk assessment: potential warning signs, supporting information, what could not be verified, and questions you can ask before paying.
What this service is not
The assessment is informational only. It is not legal, financial, or professional advice, not a fraud determination, not a guarantee about any person, business or website, and not a substitute for your own judgement. A low risk indicator never means a transaction is safe, and an elevated indicator never means fraud has occurred.
Automated assessment limits
Assessments are generated from limited evidence using automated analysis and third-party data sources that can be incomplete, out of date or unavailable. Results can be wrong in both directions. You remain solely responsible for any decision to pay, share information or proceed with a transaction.
Acceptable use
Submit only information you are entitled to share. Do not use the service to harass, defame or investigate people unlawfully, to submit content you do not have rights to, or to attempt to overload, probe or circumvent the service's limits and protections.
Your account and fair use
Free accounts include a limited number of assessments each month. We may apply rate limits and suspend accounts that abuse the service. You can delete individual checks or your entire account at any time from Settings.
Liability
The service is provided "as is", without warranties of any kind. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we are not liable for losses arising from your reliance on an assessment or from any transaction you choose to complete.
Privacy
Our handling of your information is described in the Privacy & Data Use page, which forms part of these terms.
This assessment is an automated risk assessment based on the information provided and available evidence. It is not a guarantee that a person, business, listing, website, or transaction is legitimate or fraudulent.