Terms and Conditions

1. Acceptance, Related Policies, and Changes#

1.1 How you accept#

You accept these Terms in any of these ways:

• by ticking the box stating that you agree to them when you create an account;
• by ticking the box stating that you agree to them in a purchase step in the application;
• if you already have an account, by ticking the box in the one-time "We've updated our Terms" notice shown in the application;
• if you already have an account, by continuing to use the Services after the end of the notice period described in Section 1.3 or 1.4; or
• by signing an order or other document that refers to them.

If you accept for a company or other organization, you confirm that you have authority to bind it, and "you" means that organization. If you do not agree, do not use the Services.

1.2 Related policies#

These Terms include, and you agree to follow, our Acceptable Use Policy, including the Assistant Outreach Authorization in its Section 6 if you buy assistant services, and our DNC and Data Disclosure. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information. If documents conflict, this order applies: a signed order form that expressly says it overrides these Terms; then these Terms; then the Acceptable Use Policy; then the DNC and Data Disclosure. As Section 1 of the Acceptable Use Policy states, the Acceptable Use Policy controls on the acceptable-use and compliance matters it addresses.

1.3 This version applies only going forward#

This version of these Terms is dated and effective October 16, 2026. It is strictly prospective. It applies only to your use of the Services, and to conduct, charges, and disputes that arise, after you accept it. It does not apply to any dispute, payment dispute, chargeback, or claim that is open, or that arose, before you accept it, and no part of it, including the payment, chargeback, and arbitration terms in Sections 7, 8, and 17, reaches any such matter. Those matters remain governed by the terms in effect when they arose. If you already have an account, we will email the account owner and billing contact a notice of this version that gives a notice period of at least thirty (30) days, and you will be asked to accept it once, by ticking the box in the "We've updated our Terms" notice in the application. We record the version, time, IP address, and device of each acceptance. If you do not tick the box, but you or your users keep using the Services, or you keep your subscription active, after the end of the notice period stated in that email, you accept this version from the end of that period. That does not apply to an account that, when the notice period ends, is suspended or locked, including for non-payment, or has a payment dispute, chargeback, or legal claim open with us; such an account accepts this version only by ticking the box.

1.4 Future changes#

We may change these Terms. We will give at least thirty (30) days' notice of a material change by email to the account owner and billing contact and by a notice in the application, stating the new version and effective date and linking to the new and the previous version, and we may ask you to accept it through a notice in the application. Every future version is prospective in the same way as Section 1.3. If you do not agree to a change, you may cancel before its effective date, and you will not be charged for any later period. If you keep using the Services after the effective date, you accept the change. Changes required by law, or that do not reduce your rights, may take effect sooner.

1.5 Prior terms#

These Terms replace, from the date you accept them, any earlier terms of service published by Excess Quest or for Surplus Funds, including terms published on the Websites before October 16, 2026. Earlier terms continue to govern events, charges, and disputes that arose before you accepted these Terms. Previous versions are kept on file and are available on request.

2. Definitions#

• "Surplus Funds", the "Platform": the Surplus Funds software platform operated by Excess Quest, including the web application (also offered under the Excess Quest name at app.excessquest.com), the mobile apps, the leads database, CRM, dialer, messaging, email, e-signature (SignDeck), direct mail and AI features, and any connector or API we provide.
• "Websites": the Excess Quest website at excessquest.com and the Surplus Funds website at surplusfundslist.com.
• "Services": the Platform, the Websites, Licensed Data, Professional Services, and any other service we provide to you under an order or plan.
• "Excess Proceeds": overage, surplus, or excess funds from a tax sale, foreclosure sale, or similar governmental or judicial proceeding, whatever the local term.
• "Licensed Data": lead records, property, ownership, sale and contact information, skip-trace results, estimates, research, and other data that we make available to you, and any copy or extract of it.
• "Customer Data": data you or your users upload to or create in the Platform, including your contacts, cases, notes, documents, and messages. Licensed Data is not Customer Data, even after you import it into your workspace.
• "Professional Services": services performed for you by people, including virtual assistant, calling, texting, research, onboarding, and website design services.
• "Assistant Outreach Authorization": the authorization in Section 6 of the Acceptable Use Policy under which our assistants work leads and contact people in your name.
• "Account holder": the person or organization that opens the account or is named on the order, and "Authorized Users": everyone who uses a login issued to the account.
• "Account owner": the Authorized User who holds the owner role on the account. Notices to the account go to the account owner.
• "Payer": any person or entity whose payment method is charged for the account.

3. Eligibility, Accounts, and Users#

3.1 Business use only#

The Services are offered only to businesses and to individuals acting for a business purpose, such as surplus funds recovery. You must be at least 18 years old. If you use the Services primarily for personal, family, or household purposes, tell us before you use them.

3.2 Your account and your users#

You must give accurate account and billing information and keep it current. You are responsible for every Authorized User and for all activity under any login on your account, which we treat as your activity for billing, payment disputes, and compliance with these Terms, unless you told us in writing of unauthorized access promptly after you discovered it. Logins may be issued only to your own employees and contractors who work for your business, and may not be used for their own purposes or for any other business. Keep your credentials secure, do not share logins, and remove access for anyone who leaves your organization.

4. The Services and Your License#

4.1 Platform license#

While your subscription is active and paid, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable license to use the Platform for your own internal business purposes, in accordance with these Terms, the Acceptable Use Policy, and the limits of your plan.

4.2 Licensed Data license#

Licensed Data is licensed to you, not sold. While your paid subscription is active and in good standing, you may use Licensed Data only for your own internal surplus funds recovery business, within the states and limits of your plan, and only through the Services. You may not resell, share, publish, or transfer it outside your organization, extract it in bulk, or access it by automated means, as set out in Section 7 of the Acceptable Use Policy. Your license to Licensed Data ends when your subscription ends (after a cancellation, at the end of the paid billing period under Section 7.3), and it is paused while your access is suspended for any reason, including non-payment or a payment dispute. Within ten (10) days after it ends, you must stop using and permanently delete all Licensed Data held outside the Services, except records that the law, a legal hold, or legal process requires you to keep, such as your signed client engagements and required telemarketing records, which you must keep separately and use only for that purpose, and confirm the deletion in writing if we ask. We record the volume, timing, and method of access to Licensed Data and may use those records to enforce this Section.

4.3 Changes to the Services#

We may add, change, or remove features. If we remove a feature that is material to your plan, we will tell you in advance where practical, and you may cancel before your next billing date.

4.4 Third-party services#

The Services rely on third parties, including payment processors, carriers, email providers, print and postal vendors, AI providers, and data sources, whose terms also apply to your use of them. We are not responsible for their acts, omissions, or availability, including carriers that filter, block, or delay messages.

5. Our Role: Service Provider Only#

5.1 What we are and are not#

We provide software, data, and staffing services. We are not a surplus funds recovery firm, a law firm, a debt collector, a lender, a consumer reporting agency, or a fiduciary, and, except for the limited authority in the Assistant Outreach Authorization, we do not act as your attorney, partner, or representative. We do not file claims, hold funds, or take a share of any recovery. Nothing we provide, including data, templates, AI output, training, or support, is legal, tax, or financial advice.

5.2 You direct and control your outreach#

You decide whom you contact, how, when, and with what content, whether you use the Platform yourself or our assistants act for you under the Assistant Outreach Authorization. You are the seller, sender, and initiator of record for every call, text message, email, and letter made through your account or for you, including outreach our assistants make on your instructions, and you, not Excess Quest, are responsible for its compliance with law. Our assistants also follow our own do-not-call and calling-hours rules. We do not obtain or verify consent for you, and we do not review the lawfulness of your lists, contacts, or content before they are used. Where the Platform stores consent or opt-out records, it stores what you, your users, or assistants acting for you enter, and those records are your responsibility. Your compliance duties, including under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the Do Not Call rules, the CAN-SPAM Act, state telemarketing and surplus funds laws, and carrier and 10DLC rules, are set out in the Acceptable Use Policy.

5.3 Templates, scripts, and AI output#

We provide agreement templates in SignDeck (such as recovery agreements, assignments, powers of attorney, and fee agreements), letter, text, and email templates, call scripts, and AI-generated content. They are samples and general starting points only. They are not legal advice and have not been reviewed for any state or county.

Before you send or sign anything based on them, you must review and edit it and make it comply with the laws of each state and county where you use it, including fee caps and limits on finder or recovery fees, registration, licensing, or bonding requirements, waiting periods and bans on contact or fees during a redemption or claim period, required disclosures and notice wording, rules on assignments and powers of attorney, notarization and witnessing, and rules on who may charge a fee at all (for example only, Texas Tax Code section 34.04 limits fees for recovering tax sale excess proceeds). We recommend that an attorney review your documents.

We do not review, approve, or file your documents. As part of your outreach under Section 5.2, you are solely responsible for every document you send or have signed and for every fee you charge, and Section 16 applies to any claim arising from them.

6. Assistant and Other Professional Services#

6.1 What the service is#

Where your plan or order includes Professional Services, we provide them through trained assistants whom we employ or engage. The hours in your plan are an allocation of assistant time to your account in each billing period. Assistants serve several client accounts and are not exclusive to you or full time on your account unless a written order signed by us says otherwise. An assistant is not your employee.

6.2 Staffing#

We decide when assistants work on your account, may change or rotate the assistant on your account, and may use more than one assistant to deliver your hours. You are responsible for any caller identification and disclosures the law requires on calls made for you, as set out in Section 4.2 of the Acceptable Use Policy.

6.3 What we promise#

We promise that assistants will work on your account for the hours in your plan and will follow your reasonable, lawful, and documented instructions. We do not promise any number of calls, conversations, appointments, signed agreements, or recoveries, or any amount of Excess Proceeds, which is always an estimate. Plan hours not used because of your instructions, your unavailability, or the payment or access status of your account do not carry over. If we do not provide the hours in your plan for reasons within our control, your sole remedy is that we will, at our choice, provide the shortfall in the next billing period or credit the proportionate fee to your account.

6.4 Assistant Outreach Authorization#

When you buy assistant services, you accept the Assistant Outreach Authorization in Section 6 of the Acceptable Use Policy. Under it, assistants select leads that meet your written criteria, import and pull them into your workspace, build calling, texting, and email queues, and call, text, and email people in your name, and they may tick consent, compliance, and attestation boxes in the Platform on your behalf. You remain the seller and the sender of record for all of that outreach, you warrant the do-not-call checks and any consent it requires, and Section 16 applies to it. Assistants never call or text a number flagged as on a do-not-call list. There is no exception, and no approval or instruction from you changes this. You may still call or text such a number yourself, from your own login, where the law allows it. We keep our own do-not-call policy, train assistants on it, and add to your account's do-not-call list any number whose owner asks an assistant not to be contacted.

6.5 Work records and statements#

We keep records of work on your account, such as calls, messages and notes, and, for assistants on our time clock, the hours they clock. If we send you a statement or report of work performed, tell us in writing of any objection within thirty (30) days. If you do not, the statement is evidence that the work it describes was performed, except for obvious errors. This does not limit any right you have under applicable law.

6.6 Website and design services#

Website and design work is delivered as described in the order or proposal you accept. You are responsible for the content, claims, and compliance of your website, including any consent forms and privacy terms on it.

7. Fees, Billing, and Refunds#

7.1 Automatic renewal and recurring charges#

Subscriptions renew automatically. Unless you cancel, your subscription renews at the end of each billing period for another period of the same length, at the price then in effect, and we charge your payment method on each renewal date. By providing a payment method, you authorize us to charge it, on a recurring basis and without further approval, for subscription fees, Professional Services fees, usage-based charges (such as calls, texts, phone numbers, AI credits, seats, skip traces, and mail), add-ons, and taxes, at the prices shown when you purchase or as later changed under Section 7.4, until you cancel. You must keep a valid payment method on file. Your renewal date and price are shown in Settings, Billing, and in the confirmation email we send when you subscribe.

7.2 Fees are non-refundable#

Fees are earned when paid and are non-refundable, except where a refund is required by applicable law or Section 13.2 provides one. This includes cancellation, termination for breach, non-use, dissatisfaction with results, partial periods, data issues, outages, and feature changes. Mail pieces cancelled before the print cutoff are credited to your account balance.

7.3 Cancellation#

You may cancel online at any time in Settings, or by writing to support@surplusfundslist.com. Cancellation stops all future renewals. It takes effect at the end of the current billing period, and you keep access until then. We do not prorate.

7.4 Price changes#

We may change prices for future billing periods by email notice sent at least thirty (30) days before the new price applies. Where a law requires a notice within a set period before a price change takes effect, we also give that notice. The new price applies from your next billing date after the notice period, and you may cancel before then.

7.5 Payment authorization and Payers#

You confirm that every Payer has authorized each charge to its payment method. If a Payer is not the account holder, the account holder remains fully responsible for all fees incurred by the account and for any loss we suffer if the Payer did not authorize a charge. A Payer who accepts these Terms or signs our payment authorization is also responsible, jointly and severally with the account holder, for the charges that Payer authorized. Tell us in writing before a payment method belonging to anyone other than the account holder is used, and keep the billing name and address consistent with the card issuer's records.

7.6 Statements, receipts, and billing errors#

Charges are made by Excess Quest LLC and appear on statements as EXCESS QUEST or a shortened form of it. You can see every charge in Settings, Billing, and we or our payment processor email a receipt for each subscription payment. Tell us in writing of any charge you believe is wrong within sixty (60) days after it first appears on your statement. This does not limit any right you have against your card issuer or under applicable law.

7.7 Late payment#

If a charge fails or is reversed, we may retry it, suspend the Services under Section 13.1, and recover our reasonable costs of collection, including attorneys' fees, to the extent the law allows.

7.8 Taxes#

Prices do not include taxes unless we say so. You are responsible for all sales, use, value added, and similar taxes on the Services, other than taxes on our net income, and we add to your charges any tax we are required to collect.

8. Payment Disputes and Chargebacks#

8.1 Contact us first#

Before you dispute a charge with your bank or card issuer, you agree to contact us first at support@surplusfundslist.com with the date, amount, and reason, and to give us ten (10) business days and a fair chance to resolve it. We review every request in good faith.

8.2 If you dispute a charge#

If you dispute a charge, we may suspend or terminate your account while the dispute is open or after it, and respond with the records described in Section 8.3. If the dispute is resolved in our favor, the charge and the fees for any period in which the Services were made available to your account remain payable, and you will also pay any dispute fee our payment processor charged us. We will not re-bill a disputed charge while the dispute is open.

8.3 Evidence#

To respond to a payment dispute, we may give the card issuer, card network, payment processor, arbitrator, or court the records described in Section 11, including your acceptance of these Terms and your account's access, usage, communications, and assistant work records. You consent to that disclosure.

8.4 Your rights#

Nothing in these Terms limits any right you have under applicable law or card network rules to dispute a charge with your card issuer. These Terms describe your obligations to us.

9. Customer Data and Intellectual Property#

9.1 Your data#

You own your Customer Data. You grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive license to host, copy, process, transmit, and display it as needed to provide, secure, and support the Services, to comply with law, and to enforce these Terms. You are responsible for your Customer Data, for having the rights and consents needed to upload and use it, and for keeping your own copies. When we process personal information in Customer Data, we act on your instructions as your service provider, as described in our Privacy Policy.

9.2 Our property#

We and our licensors own the Services, the Licensed Data, and all related software, designs, and content, and all rights not expressly granted to you are reserved. If you send us feedback, we may use it without obligation to you.

9.3 Aggregated data#

We may create and use aggregated or de-identified data about use of the Services that does not identify you or any individual.

10. Electronic Records, Communications, and Recording#

10.1 Electronic records and signatures#

These Terms, orders, invoices, notices, and all other records relating to your account may be provided, accepted, and signed electronically, with the same effect as signed paper records under the federal E-SIGN Act and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act. Ticking an "I agree" box, clicking a button next to a statement that doing so means you agree, and typing or drawing your name in a signature field, including in SignDeck, are each your electronic signature. You need a current web browser, an email account, and the ability to save or print PDF files or web pages, and by accepting electronically you confirm that you have them. You may ask for a free paper copy of any record, and you may withdraw this consent by closing your account, which does not affect earlier records. If these requirements change in a way that could stop you accessing records, we will tell you, and you may withdraw consent without fee.

10.2 Calls and emails from us#

We and people acting for us may contact you, your users, and any Payer by email, in-app message, and telephone call to the numbers you give us about your account, the Services, billing, unpaid fees, security, and changes to these Terms. You may ask us to stop calling a number at any time. Accepting these Terms is not consent to receive text messages; texts from us are covered by Section 18.

10.3 Recording of calls and meetings#

Calls placed through the Platform, including calls our assistants make for you, may be recorded where recording is turned on. You are responsible for giving any notice and obtaining any consent the law requires for recording the calls made for you, including in states that require the consent of all parties. Our calls and online meetings with you may also be recorded, transcribed, and summarized using software, including artificial intelligence services that act for us. Our service providers may use recordings, transcripts, and summaries only to provide their services to us. If you do not want a call with us recorded, tell us, and we will stop recording or continue another way. You agree to tell your personnel who join calls with us that they may be recorded.

10.4 Documents you send for signature#

When you use SignDeck to send documents to others for signature, you are responsible for deciding whether each document may lawfully be signed electronically, for giving your signers any disclosure and obtaining any consent that the E-SIGN Act, the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, or other law requires, including the disclosures required before records are provided electronically to a consumer, and for any notarization, witnessing, or recording the document needs. Section 5.3 applies to every template you use.

11. Business Records and Evidence#

In the ordinary course of business we make records of the Services at or near the time of the events they describe, including: acceptances of these Terms, with the version, time, IP address, and device; sign-in and access logs; actions in the Services, including searches, imports, and exports where recorded; call records, recordings, and transcripts; texts and emails sent through the Services or exchanged with us; notes and summaries of calls and meetings; records of assistant work, such as calls, messages, and notes, and, for assistants on our time clock, the hours they clock; attestations and overrides under the Acceptable Use Policy, including those made by assistants for you; and billing, payment, and support records.

You agree that we may use these records to provide, bill, secure, and improve the Services, to enforce these Terms, and to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims, including payment disputes, and that you will not challenge their authenticity or admissibility solely because they are electronic or were generated by automated systems. Our records are not a complete record of every event, and the absence of a record does not by itself show that an event did not occur. We keep them as described in our Privacy Policy, including for at least one hundred twenty (120) days after the last charge to your account and while any payment dispute or legal claim concerning the account is open.

12. Data Accuracy and Estimates#

Licensed Data comes from public records and third-party providers and may be incomplete, out of date, or wrong. Every Excess Proceeds amount we show or describe is an estimate, and the amount actually available may be much lower or nothing at all. Any target we describe, for example that we target leads with an estimated surplus of $20,000 or more, is a selection criterion based on estimates, not a promise about any lead. Licensed Data is not a consumer report and may not be used as one. Our DNC and Data Disclosure explains how lead data and do-not-call flags are produced and their limits. You must verify all data with the relevant county, court, or agency before you act on it. We are not liable for decisions you make, costs you incur, or outcomes that result from relying on Licensed Data or estimates.

13. Suspension and Termination#

13.1 Suspension#

We may suspend or restrict all or part of the Services immediately if a payment is past due or disputed, if we reasonably believe you are in breach of these Terms or the Acceptable Use Policy, if a carrier, regulator, or other third party requires it, if we receive a complaint that you or someone acting for you contacted a person without consent, or if your use creates legal, security, or operational risk. While suspended, you may not search, view, import, or export Licensed Data. Any limited access we allow, for example to retrieve your own records, is for that purpose only. A suspension is not a termination. Amounts that were due before the suspension remain payable. If your access is suspended for non-payment, paying them restores it.

13.2 Termination#

You may terminate by cancelling under Section 7.3. We may terminate these Terms or your account on notice if you materially breach them, including by misusing Licensed Data, or on thirty (30) days' notice for any other reason, in which case we will refund any prepaid fees for the period after termination.

13.3 Effect of termination#

When your account ends, your licenses end, you must stop using and delete Licensed Data under Section 4.2, and all unpaid fees become due. Until the end of your paid period, you may export your Customer Data from the Platform where it offers an export, or ask us for a copy by writing to support@surplusfundslist.com. After closure we delete your account data under our Privacy Policy, except records we must or may keep, including those described in Section 11. Sections 4.2, 5, 6.5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13.3, and 14 to 19 survive.

14. Disclaimers#

THE SERVICES, THE LICENSED DATA, AND ALL ESTIMATES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE". TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, ACCURACY, AND ANY WARRANTY ARISING FROM COURSE OF DEALING. WE DO NOT PROMISE THAT THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR SECURE, THAT MESSAGES WILL BE DELIVERED, OR THAT YOU WILL ACHIEVE ANY RESULT OR RECOVERY. WE OFFER NO SERVICE LEVEL, UPTIME, OR SUPPORT RESPONSE COMMITMENT.

15. Limitation of Liability#

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS: (A) NEITHER PARTY IS LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, REVENUE, RECOVERIES, DATA, OR GOODWILL, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THEIR POSSIBILITY; AND (B) OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICES, INCLUDING PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AND THE ACTS OF ANY ASSISTANT, WILL NOT EXCEED THE FEES YOU PAID US IN THE SIX (6) MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM. WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY FINE, PENALTY, OR DAMAGES ARISING FROM YOUR LISTS, NUMBERS, CRITERIA, INSTRUCTIONS, SCRIPTS, CONTENT, OR CONSENT RECORDS, INCLUDING UNDER THE TCPA OR STATE TELEMARKETING LAWS. THESE LIMITS DO NOT APPLY TO YOUR OBLIGATION TO PAY FEES, YOUR INDEMNITY OBLIGATIONS, YOUR MISUSE OF LICENSED DATA, OR A PARTY'S FRAUD OR WILLFUL MISCONDUCT. THE FEES REFLECT THESE LIMITS, WHICH ARE AN ESSENTIAL PART OF OUR BARGAIN.

16. Indemnification#

You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Excess Quest and its affiliates, officers, employees, contractors, and assistants from all claims, fines, penalties, losses, and costs, including reasonable attorneys' fees, arising from: (a) your use of the Services or breach of these Terms or the Acceptable Use Policy; (b) your outreach, including calls, texts, emails, and mail made by you, or by assistants under the Assistant Outreach Authorization or your other instructions, and claims under the TCPA, Do Not Call rules, the CAN-SPAM Act, and state telemarketing, consumer protection, and surplus funds laws; (c) your lists, numbers, criteria, scripts, content, and consent records, and any statement an assistant makes for you under the Assistant Outreach Authorization; (d) your Customer Data; (e) your use of Licensed Data in breach of these Terms; (f) any dispute with a Payer or claim by a cardholder about charges to your account; and (g) your dealings with property owners, claimants, and your own clients, including the documents you send or have signed and the fees you charge, whether or not based on our templates. This does not apply to the extent a claim results from an assistant's failure to follow your written criteria or documented instructions, from an assistant calling or texting a number flagged as on a do-not-call list, or from our fraud or willful misconduct. We may choose our own counsel at your cost for any claim against us, and you may not settle a claim that admits fault or imposes an obligation on us without our written consent.

17. Dispute Resolution#

17.1 Governing law#

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules, and by the Federal Arbitration Act.

17.2 Informal resolution first#

Before either party starts an arbitration or a small claims case, it must send the other a written notice of the dispute. Your notice goes by email to support@surplusfundslist.com and by mail to the address in Section 20; ours goes by email to the account owner. The notice must give the claimant's name and account email, describe the dispute and its factual and legal basis, state the relief sought, and be signed by the claimant personally or, for an organization, by one of its owners or officers. Each notice may concern only one claimant; group or mass notices are not valid. For sixty (60) days after the notice is received, the parties will try in good faith to resolve the dispute, including, if either asks, on a video call in which the claimant takes part personally or, for an organization, through one of its owners or officers. Time limits for bringing the claim are paused during those sixty (60) days. Following this step is a condition of starting an arbitration.

17.3 Arbitration#

Any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Services, including their interpretation, scope, and enforceability, will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its Commercial Arbitration Rules, or its Consumer Arbitration Rules where the AAA determines that they apply, before a single arbitrator seated in Wilmington, Delaware, with hearings by video unless the arbitrator orders otherwise. If you bring a claim for twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) or less, we will pay the AAA filing and administrative fees charged to you above two hundred twenty-five dollars ($225), the most an individual pays to file under the AAA's Consumer Arbitration Rules, unless the arbitrator finds that the claim is frivolous. Judgment on the award may be entered in any court with jurisdiction.

17.4 Delegation#

The arbitrator, and not a court, decides all questions of arbitrability, including whether a claim is subject to this Section 17 and any dispute about arbitration fees, except that a court decides whether an agreement to arbitrate was formed, which agreement governs if two agreements conflict, and whether the class and representative action waiver in Section 17.6 is enforceable.

17.5 Exceptions#

Either party may instead bring an individual claim in small claims court in the county where you are based, or in Delaware, after following Section 17.2. Either party may ask a court for temporary injunctive relief to protect intellectual property, Licensed Data, or the security of the Services until an arbitrator can decide the matter. Where the law does not allow a request for public injunctive relief to be waived or arbitrated, that request is decided by a court after all other claims are arbitrated.

17.6 Class action and jury waiver#

You and Excess Quest each waive the right to a jury trial and to bring or take part in any class, collective, consolidated, or representative action or arbitration. Claims may be brought only on an individual basis. If a court decides that this waiver cannot be enforced for a particular claim or request for relief, that claim or request, and only that one, is severed and must be brought in court under Section 17.9, and the court case is paused until the arbitration of the other claims ends.

17.7 Mass filings#

If twenty-five (25) or more similar demands for arbitration are filed against us or by us, and the claimants' counsel or organizations are the same or act in coordination, either party may ask the AAA to administer them under its Mass Arbitration Supplementary Rules, and we will ask the claimants' counsel to agree to efficient procedures, such as a few test cases decided first and mediation. Each claim is still decided individually. No claim is delayed, and no fee or time limit changes, except as the AAA's rules provide or the claimant agrees.

17.8 Opt-out#

You may opt out of arbitration by writing to support@surplusfundslist.com within thirty (30) days after you first accept these Terms, with your name, account email, and a clear statement that you opt out. If you opt out, disputes between you and us are decided in court under Section 17.9, and the jury and class action waivers in Section 17.6 still apply to the extent the law allows. Opting out does not affect any other part of these Terms, and it does not change the dispute terms that govern earlier disputes under Section 17.10.

17.9 Venue and time limit#

For any matter that a court may hear under this Section 17, other than a small claims case under Section 17.5 and the entry of judgment on an award, you and we consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Delaware. Any claim against us must be brought within one (1) year after it arises, or, if the law does not allow that limit, within the shortest period the law allows.

17.10 Prospective effect#

This Section 17 applies only to claims about conduct, services, or charges after you accept these Terms. Claims about anything earlier remain governed by the dispute terms in effect at that time, whenever they are raised.

18. SMS / Text Messages#

Program. Excess Quest Account and Support Messages is the one text messaging program that Excess Quest LLC operates. It sends non-promotional messages to people who opt in, whether they are Surplus Funds customers or people who contacted us: replies to inquiries and support requests, account notifications, security codes, billing notices, and service updates. We never send marketing or promotional text messages, and this program is never used to contact property owners or anyone else for you.

How to opt in. You can opt in only by ticking an optional box, unticked by default, in one of these places: (1) when you create a Surplus Funds account, where the box is separate from the box for these Terms; (2) when you send a contact form on the Surplus Funds website, at surplusfundslist.com/contact or surplusfundslist.com/enterprise; and (3) when you send a contact form on the Excess Quest website, at excessquest.com/contact or excessquest.com/enterprise. In places (1) and (2) the box begins "I agree to receive text messages from Excess Quest LLC, the company that operates Surplus Funds, at the mobile number I entered". In place (3) it begins "I agree to receive text messages from Excess Quest LLC at the mobile number I entered". The rest of the wording is the same in every place. The box covers the mobile number you enter on that page. Consent is not a condition of purchase or of any service. You can send a form, create an account, and use the Services without opting in, and sending a form or accepting these Terms is not consent to receive text messages.

Frequency, rates, and help. Message frequency varies. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help. After you reply STOP, we send one message confirming the opt-out and no further messages unless you opt in again, for example by replying START. For help you can also write to support@surplusfundslist.com. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

Your number and your records. Your consent covers the mobile number you provide. If you change or give up that number, update it in the application or reply STOP from it first. We keep a record of your consent and any opt-out as described in our Privacy Policy. No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Text messaging originator opt-in data and consent will not be shared with any third parties.

This Section 18 governs texts that we send to you. Texts you send to others through the Platform are governed by the Acceptable Use Policy.

19. General#

• Assignment. You may not assign or transfer these Terms or your account without our written consent. We may assign them to an affiliate or to a successor in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
• Entire agreement. These Terms, the documents named in Section 1.2, and any signed order are the entire agreement between us about the Services and replace all prior proposals and understandings. No statement on a sales call, in marketing, or in a chat adds to or changes them.
• Severability and waiver. If a provision is unenforceable, it is limited to the minimum extent necessary and the rest remains in effect. Not enforcing a provision is not a waiver.
• Force majeure. We are not liable for delay or failure caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including carrier, cloud, or power outages, government action, and natural disasters.
• Relationship. We are independent contractors. Except for the limited authority you give our assistants under the Assistant Outreach Authorization, neither party is the agent, partner, employee, or joint venturer of the other. There are no third-party beneficiaries of these Terms.
• Export and sanctions. You must comply with United States export control and sanctions laws. You confirm that you are not located in, organized in, or ordinarily resident in a country or region subject to comprehensive United States sanctions, and that you are not named on, or owned or controlled by anyone named on, a United States government list of restricted parties. You must not let anyone who is use the Services.
• Notices. We may give notice by email to the account owner, in the application, or, for changes, as described in Section 1.4. Email notice is given when sent. You must give notice to us by email to support@surplusfundslist.com and, for legal notices, also by mail to the address in Section 20.
• Language. These Terms, the Privacy Policy, the Acceptable Use Policy, and the DNC and Data Disclosure are available in English and Spanish. The Spanish versions are provided for convenience. If the two versions differ or conflict, the English version controls.
• Survival and headings. Provisions that by their nature should survive termination do survive. Headings are for convenience only, and "including" means "including without limitation".

20. Contact#

Excess Quest LLC, 8 The Green, STE A, Dover, DE 19901, United States

Support and billing: support@surplusfundslist.com

Privacy: privacy@surplusfundslist.com