Brand Terms

These Brand Terms apply to anyone who registers, claims or manages a brand or company on Hot Sauce HQ ("you," "Brand"). They add to the Terms of Service; if they conflict, these Brand Terms control for brand accounts.

1. Companies, brands and roles

• A company holds one or more brands. A company and a brand may share a name.
• Owners control a brand, its team members and their permissions. Only an owner can transfer ownership, remove themselves as owner, or mark a brand out of business.
• Team members post and reply as the brand. The public sees only the brand's name; your company's logins can see which team member posted each item ("Posted by"), including after that person is removed.
• Whether your company's name appears on your brand page is your choice (off by default).

2. Registering and claiming a brand

1. You must give the brand name and the brand's business email, business phone, physical address and mailing address, plus your own name, login email and phone. Website and social links are optional but speed up verification.
2. You must be authorized to represent the brand. We verify this before giving you control, using one of: an invitation code we mailed or emailed to the brand; a DNS record on the brand's website; an email address at the brand's website domain; or a call to the business phone number listed on the brand's website.
3. If we have already verified the brand's website, the brand has no owner, and your login email is at that website's domain, you may be verified automatically.
4. Postcard and email invitation codes do not expire. Once any code for a brand is used, the brand's other codes stop working.
5. Giving false information or claiming a brand you are not authorized to represent is fraud and may lead to account closure, reports to authorities and civil action.

3. Ownership challenges

If someone claims a brand that already has an owner, we notify the current owner and ask both parties for proof of authority and current contact information. Each party has 7 days to respond. Ownership does not change during review. We may suspend the brand account's access while a challenge is under review. We decide based on the information available, and may transfer ownership, add a co-owner, keep the current owner or ask for more information. Our decision is final as between you and us.

4. Listings stay on Hot Sauce HQ

Hot Sauce HQ is an independent database and review platform. We may list your brand, its sauces and factual information about them (names, ingredients as printed, sizes, barcodes, where sold) whether or not you have an account, and members may rate, review and photograph your products. Brand names, sauces, ratings and reviews stay in our database even if you leave, stop paying, or mark the brand out of business. We do not remove or alter honest member reviews at a brand's request.

Reviews and the law. Federal law (47 U.S.C. § 230) limits our liability for content posted by members. State anti-SLAPP laws, including Nevada's, may require a party who sues over protected speech to pay the other side's attorneys' fees. You may not use or enforce contract terms that stop or penalize customers for posting honest reviews (Consumer Review Fairness Act, 15 U.S.C. § 45b).

5. Content you upload and using Hot Sauce HQ in your marketing

5.1 You keep ownership. You keep all rights in the logos, product photos, descriptions and other material you upload as a brand ("Brand Content").

5.2 License to us. By uploading Brand Content, you grant Hot Sauce HQ a perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, display, reproduce, resize, crop, format, adapt, publish and distribute it, in any media, on and in connection with the Service and our promotion of it. This includes your brand and sauce pages and listings, search results, lists, the Golden Pepper Awards (including award pages, announcements and social media posts), HQ Tasting Panel results, Expert reviews, Pepper Press articles and other blog posts, emails and newsletters, and social media. This license cannot be revoked. It continues after you leave, stop paying or mark your brand out of business.

5.3 No sponsorship or endorsement implied. The license in 5.2 does not allow Hot Sauce HQ to state or imply that your brand sponsors, endorses or is affiliated with Hot Sauce HQ or any product, service or company, unless you and Hot Sauce HQ sign a separate agreement for that.

5.4 Brand Content stays. Because the license in 5.2 is irrevocable, we do not remove Brand Content because a brand leaves Hot Sauce HQ. Photos taken and uploaded by members, including photos showing your products and labels, are Member Content under the Terms of Service.

5.5 Your promises. You own or have permission to use all Brand Content, you have the right to grant the license in 5.2, and your Brand Content does not infringe anyone's rights.

5.6 Using Hot Sauce HQ in your marketing. You may use the Hot Sauce HQ name and logo (only the artwork we provide, unaltered), and your own products' and brand's ratings and averages, rankings, member reviews, Expert reviews, HQ Tasting Panel scores, Golden Pepper Awards and Golden Pepper judges' comments, in your marketing, as long as you:

• quote them accurately and do not change their meaning;
• show the date or year where there is one (for example, "HQ RATED 2026 · 88" or "Golden Pepper Awards 2026 — Pepper Pros' Best Super Hot Sauce");
• use them only for the product or brand they apply to; and
• do not state or imply that Hot Sauce HQ sponsors, endorses or is affiliated with your brand, unless you and Hot Sauce HQ have a separate agreement for that.

The HQ Tasting Panel Terms and the Golden Pepper Awards Official Rules have further details for scores and awards. We may withdraw this permission if it is misused.

6. Accuracy, products and safety

• Product information you provide, including ingredients, allergens, sizes and any "Scoville Rating (Tested)" value, must be accurate and not misleading. If you enter a tested Scoville value, you confirm it comes from real testing, and you may attach the lab report.
• You are solely responsible for your products, including their safety, labeling, allergen statements, legal compliance, recalls and any health or marketing claims.
• Tell us promptly about any recall affecting a listed product.

7. Replies, messages and promotions

• You may reply once to each review and comment on your sauces and brand page, on every plan including Bronze. Replies must follow the Community Guidelines.
• Do not offer members anything in exchange for reviews or ratings, and do not ask them to change a review.
• You may message members only as the Service allows, and not for spam.
• Promotions and sponsored placements are subject to our approval and applicable advertising law.

8. Data you receive

Brand analytics are aggregated and de-identified. Location data is shown only where at least 3 members are in the area viewed. History, geography and tasting-party detail depend on your plan. You may use analytics only to run your business, and must not try to identify, contact outside the Service, or resell data about individual members.

9. Plans and billing

Brand plans are Bronze (free), Silver and Gold, bought per brand on the website only, and billed as described in the Subscription & Payment Policy. No refunds. If the last owner removes themselves from a brand with a paid plan, the plan ends immediately with no refund for unused time.

10. Leaving, transferring or closing a brand

• Transfer ownership to a teammate or another company; paid time moves with the brand.
• Remove yourself as owner. If no other owner remains, the brand returns to an unclaimed listing managed by HQ.
• Mark out of business. The brand page and sauces stay, marked "Out of business" and "Discontinued." You choose to stay the owner (the plan runs to the end of its period, then moves to Bronze) or to remove yourself.
• Each of these actions is confirmed by a link emailed to the owner before it takes effect.

11. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or end a brand account for breach of these Brand Terms, fraud, a pending ownership challenge, non-payment or legal risk. No refund is given for any paid service when an account is closed for misconduct.

12. Business use

The disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnity, arbitration (under the AAA Commercial Arbitration Rules) and governing-law sections of the Terms of Service apply to brand accounts. You will also indemnify Hot Sauce HQ against claims arising from your products, Brand Content or product claims.

Contact: stayspicy@hotsauceheadquarters.com