Prohibited Species & Shipping Policy

1. Shipping Scope

HeartYourYard currently supports domestic shipping only within the United States. Sellers may not use the Service to ship plants internationally.

Note: domestic-only shipping reduces cross-border/customs risk but does not remove domestic regulatory obligations — many regions restrict shipment of specific plant species across internal state, provincial, or regional lines (see Section 3).

2. Seller Certification (Required at Listing Creation)

Before a listing can be published, the seller must affirmatively check the following certification:

• I certify that this plant is legal to sell and ship within the United States, is not a restricted, invasive, or noxious species under applicable law, and is not listed under CITES. I understand I am solely responsible for compliance with shipping regulations in my state/region.

The certification is made separately for each listing, and again whenever a listing is edited, because an edit can change which plant is being sold. We record which version of this policy was certified against, and when.

3. Prohibited / Restricted Categories (Starter Blocklist)

The following categories represent the highest-risk, most actively enforced restrictions and form HeartYourYard’s baseline blocklist. This list is a starting point, not an exhaustive compliance database, and should be reviewed periodically — see Section 5.

• CITES-listed species (Appendix I/II). International/federal enforcement; criminal exposure regardless of domestic-only shipping. Enforced here: block listing creation; maintain lookup list.
• Federal noxious weeds (USDA list). Enforced at state agricultural inspection level even for domestic, in-country shipments. Enforced here: block or flag listings matching the USDA noxious weed list.
• State/region high-enforcement species (e.g., citrus into citrus-greening-restricted states). States/regions with aggressive agricultural inspection regimes for specific species. Enforced here: geo-restrict specific species from shipping into specific states/regions.
• Federally listed endangered/threatened species. Separate domestic legal protection distinct from CITES. Enforced here: block listing creation.

[This table needs to be populated with the actual country’s specific lists — in the US: the USDA APHIS federal noxious weed list, the US Fish & Wildlife Service ESA plant list, and state department of agriculture restricted-species lists for high-enforcement states. Counsel to confirm which specific lists apply to the country of operation]

4. Enforcement Process

• Listings matching a blocklist category are prevented from publishing or are flagged for manual review.
• Users may report a listing they believe violates this Policy using the in-app “Report Listing” feature.
• Reported listings will be reviewed within [number of business days to be decided] and removed if found to violate this Policy.
• Repeated or serious violations may result in account suspension or termination, as described in the Terms of Use.

5. Policy Maintenance

HeartYourYard will review and update the blocklist categories in Section 3 on a [quarterly or semi-annual — to be decided] basis, or sooner in response to a reported violation, regulatory change, or legal notice. This review is documented internally to demonstrate an ongoing, good-faith compliance effort.

6. Relationship to Other Documents

This Policy works together with the HeartYourYard Terms of Use (Sections 5.4–5.6) and Privacy Notice. In the event of a conflict, the Terms of Use govern.

7. Contact

To report a listing or ask a compliance question:
Heart Your Yard LLC
3520 66th Avenue N., Pinellas Park, FL 33781
compliance@heartyouryard.com

You can also send us a message from our contact page.