Payment Processing Agreement Addendum
Part of the AutoHound Terms of Service. Last updated October 2, 2026
This Payment Processing Agreement Addendum ("Addendum") is part of the AutoHound Terms of Service ("Terms") between AutoHound, LLC ("AutoHound," "we," "us," or the "Platform") and the business that subscribes to the AutoHound service (the "Shop," "you," or the "Merchant"). It applies from the moment you accept it during payment onboarding and for as long as you use the Processing Services. If this Addendum and the Terms say different things about payment processing, this Addendum governs; for everything else, the Terms govern. Sections of this Addendum are referred to by name.
Words used in this Addendum
- Platform means AutoHound, the company that provides the software and arranges payment processing for you.
- Merchant means your shop, the business that accepts payments from its customers through AutoHound. In the Terms you are the "Shop"; the two words mean the same business.
- Rainforest means Rainforest Pay, Inc., the payment processor. Rainforest works with sponsor banks that hold and move the money; where this Addendum says Rainforest does something with your money, its sponsor banks may be doing it.
- Processing Services means the payment services described in "What the Processing Services are".
- Processing Terms means Rainforest's Processing Terms and Conditions, published at https://legal.rainforestpay.com/processingterms.
- Phone tap means taking a card in person with Rainforest's tap-to-pay app on a phone, once Rainforest offers that app generally. AutoHound does not sell, supply or price card terminals.
- Standard Rates means the rates and fees in "Fees", other than the optional surcharge rows, which "Credit card surcharging" governs. Custom Pricing Schedule has the meaning given in "Fees".
What the Processing Services are, and who does what
In addition to its core services offering, Platform offers embedded payments processing services, which includes credit card, debit card, ACH, and other payment processing services, as may be offered from time-to-time (collectively the "Processing Services").
In plain terms, the Processing Services let your customers pay you for repair work: by credit or debit card or ACH bank transfer from a payment link we text on your behalf or that they open from their repair status page; by Apple Pay, where the customer's device offers it; by a card your staff key in on the customer's behalf, when we offer that entry method; by a card tapped on a phone running Rainforest's tap-to-pay app, once Rainforest offers that generally; and by PayPal, Venmo and PayPal Pay Later, when we offer them and you turn them on, for every payment or only for the payments you choose. They also include refunds, deposits of your money to your bank account, and the reporting, dispute tools and support inside AutoHound. We may add or withdraw payment types from time to time and will tell you when we do.
Three parties are involved. Rainforest and its sponsor banks approve you as a merchant, process the payments, hold and move the money, and deposit it to your bank account. AutoHound, the Platform, provides the software your customers and staff use, sets the fees in "Fees" (which Rainforest deducts from your deposits), supports you, and helps you with refunds and disputes. You are the merchant of record: the payments are yours, your name appears on your customers' statements, and refunds, chargebacks and returned payments are yours to resolve.
Card numbers and bank account numbers are entered only into Rainforest's secure payment form, which appears inside AutoHound's pages; they do not pass through or get stored on AutoHound's systems. For a bank payment, your customer signs into their bank inside that form so the account and its balance can be checked before the payment goes through; AutoHound does not receive those sign-in details either.
Rainforest's Processing Terms
By using the Processing Services, Merchant agrees to the Processing Terms and Conditions available at https://legal.rainforestpay.com/processingterms, which may be amended at any time on notice.
The Processing Terms are Rainforest's agreement with you as a merchant. They cover, among other things, your application and underwriting, how and when money is deposited, reserves and holds, chargebacks, card-network rules, and Rainforest's right to decline, suspend or close a merchant account. Where this Addendum and the Processing Terms cover the same ground, the Processing Terms govern your relationship with Rainforest, and this Addendum governs your relationship with AutoHound. AutoHound does not change the Processing Terms or the address at which they are published.
Whether you are approved to process payments, and on what conditions, is Rainforest's decision. Rainforest may ask for more information during or after onboarding, may hold or reserve funds, may limit transaction sizes or volumes, and may suspend or end your processing, each as the Processing Terms allow. AutoHound will pass on what Rainforest asks of you and help you respond, but cannot override those decisions.
Fees
You pay the Standard Rates below on each payment, unless a Custom Pricing Schedule applies to you. Rainforest deducts the fees before each deposit, so the amount that reaches your bank account is net of fees. Percentage rates apply to the full amount your customer pays, including any surcharge.
| Payment | Standard Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Card payments | ||
| Every card payment, however it is taken: the payment link, Apple Pay, keyed in by your staff, or tapped on a phone | 2.99% + $0.30 | One rate for Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express, consumer credit and debit. Apple Pay is a card payment and costs the same, and carries only the American Express addition below, never the business-card addition. Staff-keyed entry and phone taps apply once those are offered; until then, use the payment link. |
| American Express | + 0.50% | Added to the rate above. If a card qualifies for more than one addition, only the single highest applies. |
| Business and corporate cards | + 0.50% | Added to the rate above; same single-highest rule. AutoHound will remove this addition, with notice to you, once the card networks confirm they accept the line-item detail AutoHound sends with business card payments, which is what makes those cards cheaper to accept. It does not apply to Apple Pay payments, which Rainforest bills at the card rate plus only the American Express addition. |
| Cards issued outside the United States | + 1.00% | Added to the rate above; same single-highest rule. |
| Bank payments | ||
| ACH bank transfer | 1.00% + $3.00 | Includes verifying your customer's account and checking funds before the payment goes through (your customer signs into their bank inside Rainforest's form), and faster funding where the customer's bank supports it. Offered on payments of $150 and above: below that, the $3.00 makes a card cheaper for you than a bank payment. |
| PayPal, Venmo and PayPal Pay Later, when offered (you turn them on, for every payment or only for the payments you choose) | ||
| PayPal and Venmo | 3.99% + $0.49 | Your customer pays from a PayPal or Venmo account, or with a card inside PayPal. These come with Pay Later: a customer can choose ordinary PayPal inside the Pay Later window, so a shop that offers Pay Later on a payment also accepts PayPal on it. Availability, holds and disputes follow PayPal's rules. Neither you nor AutoHound may add a surcharge to these payments. |
| PayPal Pay Later | 5.49% + $0.49 | Your customer spreads the cost; you are paid in full up front and carry no repayment risk. Availability, approval and limits are PayPal's. Applies once we offer it and you switch it on, for every payment or only for the payments you choose. |
| Other fees | ||
| Refunds | $0 | The fees paid on the original payment are not returned. There is no additional charge to issue a refund. |
| Chargebacks and disputes | $15 per dispute | Charged when the claim is created, whatever its outcome. |
| Returned ACH payments | $15 per return | Charged when a bank returns a payment. |
| Deposits to your bank account | $0 | |
| Card account updater | not offered | AutoHound does not store cards on file, so there is nothing to update. |
| Monthly, setup, statement and PCI fees | $0 | None. |
| Cards taken in person | no charge from us | The card rate above applies and nothing else. Use Rainforest's tap-to-pay app on a phone you already have, once offered. AutoHound does not sell, supply or price card terminals. |
| Optional: credit card surcharging, when offered (see "Credit card surcharging") | ||
| Surcharge on credit cards | up to 3% | Added to what your customer pays; the limits are in "Credit card surcharging". |
| Card-type lookup used to apply it | included | Each card is checked at entry so debit and prepaid cards are never surcharged. |
Custom pricing. If you and AutoHound have agreed in writing to custom rates or fees for payment processing (a "Custom Pricing Schedule"), the rates and fees in that Custom Pricing Schedule apply to you in place of the corresponding Standard Rates above. Where your Custom Pricing Schedule does not state a rate or fee for a particular payment type or service, the Standard Rate for that item applies, and a change to that Standard Rate applies to you under "Changes to Standard Rates" below, with the same notice; the rates stated in your Custom Pricing Schedule do not change. A Custom Pricing Schedule changes only the rates and fees; every other term of this Addendum, including your acceptance of the Processing Terms, continues to apply. A Custom Pricing Schedule changes only by a written amendment signed by both of us.
Changes to Standard Rates. We may change the Standard Rates. We will give at least 30 days' notice by email to the billing contact on your account, and the new rates apply to payments made after the date in the notice. If you do not want to continue at the new rates, you may end the Processing Services by notice given before that date, without the 30 days' notice in "When processing starts and ends", and the new rates will not apply to you. Where a change only passes through an increase that Rainforest or a card network imposes on us, we may give shorter notice, and we will say so in the notice.
Deposits, holds and your bank statement
Rainforest deposits your payments to the bank account you provided during onboarding, net of fees, on its then-current schedule for your account. Under Rainforest's published standard schedule today, card payments deposit the next business day, counted from a daily cutoff of 11pm Eastern; bank payments deposit the next business day where the customer's bank supports faster funding, and on the fourth business day otherwise, counted from a 9pm Eastern cutoff; refunds, chargebacks and returned payments are debited the next business day. Your account's schedule may differ, and Rainforest may slow an individual payment; AutoHound shows the deposit date Rainforest expects for each payment, as Rainforest's estimate. Deposits are not made on federal banking holidays, and an expected date can move if a payment is reviewed, canceled or returned. Rainforest may delay, hold or reserve funds where the Processing Terms allow, for example while it reviews unusual activity or while disputes are open; where it does, AutoHound will show you what it can and help you respond.
Your customers' card statements show the doing-business-as name from your merchant application, within Rainforest's 16-character limit, so a longer name is shortened to its first 16 characters; AutoHound shows you the exact text a customer will see when you enter the name. Bank statements show a name Rainforest derives from your merchant record, followed by a reference code. Choose a doing-business-as name your customers will recognize on a statement: an unfamiliar name is a common cause of disputes.
Refunds, chargebacks and returned payments
Refunds of payments taken through AutoHound are issued through AutoHound, by staff you authorize. A refund reverses the money to the customer; the fees on the original payment are not returned. A refund issued shortly after a payment may be processed by Rainforest as a cancellation of the entire payment rather than a partial refund.
A chargeback or dispute is your customer's claim against a card payment; a returned payment is a bank reversing an ACH payment. Both are yours to resolve and to fund. A claim usually starts as an inquiry, and at that stage no money leaves your deposits. The dispute fee in "Fees" is charged when the claim is created; the disputed amount itself is pulled from your deposits only if the claim moves past the inquiry stage into a formal dispute. If your deposits do not cover what is owed, Rainforest may recover it from later deposits or reserves, and if it cannot, we may invoice you and you will pay within 10 days. AutoHound shows you each claim and its deadline as stated by Rainforest, and assembles the evidence available from the repair order (photos, signed forms, the estimate and the payment record) into a pack you can use in your response before the deadline. If a claim is decided in your favor, Rainforest returns the disputed amount to your deposits under the Processing Terms, and we will help you record it against the repair order; a decision in your favor can be provisional at first, which means the bank can still reverse it, and the dispute fee is not returned. Rainforest decides how disputes are handled under the card-network rules, and AutoHound cannot guarantee an outcome.
Credit card surcharging (optional, when offered)
AutoHound may offer an optional credit card surcharge feature. If we make it available and you enable it, AutoHound adds the surcharge you select to the amount your customer pays, up to 3% and never more than the maximum the card networks permit or your cost of acceptance (roughly, the fees you pay under "Fees" to accept credit cards, as the card-network rules measure it); applies it only to credit cards and never to debit or prepaid cards; discloses it to the customer before payment and on the receipt; and withholds it where AutoHound has recorded that the law of your state prohibits or restricts it. Surcharging applies to payment-link and staff-keyed payments, and to phone taps only where AutoHound confirms it is available. It never applies to PayPal, Venmo, Pay Later or bank payments. Some card networks require a merchant to give notice before surcharging; AutoHound will tell you what is required when you enable it and walk you through it.
You are responsible for deciding whether to surcharge and for the lawfulness of surcharging at your locations, including any notice, signage or disclosure your state or the card networks require from you, and you will indemnify AutoHound and Rainforest against claims arising from your surcharging. Your processing fees apply to the total amount paid, including the surcharge. AutoHound may disable surcharging for a shop or a state if it learns that the law or the card-network rules no longer permit it.
Your data and your customers' data
To register you as a merchant, AutoHound gives Rainforest your shop's basic business details, such as its name, phone number and business type; your ownership and bank account details are entered by you directly into Rainforest's onboarding form inside AutoHound and are not received by AutoHound. For each payment, AutoHound gives Rainforest the amount and its own references for the payment, and Rainforest tells AutoHound the payment's outcome and the type of payment method used. You authorize AutoHound and Rainforest to share with each other this information and any other information Rainforest reasonably requires to underwrite and monitor your merchant account, research transactions or resolve disputes.
You also authorize Rainforest to export your merchant information, and any payment-method data Rainforest stores for you if you use a service that stores payment methods, to AutoHound or to a provider AutoHound designates (including one designated at your request), at any time, so that you and we keep access to your records if we change processors. Such exports are subject to Rainforest's conditions, including security and compliance requirements for the recipient.
Because card numbers and bank account numbers are entered only into Rainforest's secure form, we expect your obligation under the card industry's data security standard to be the short self-assessment for merchants who outsource card handling (currently SAQ A); taking cards on a phone may change which assessment applies, and Rainforest will tell you during onboarding which one applies to you. You must not write down, photograph, email or otherwise record your customers' full card numbers.
Rainforest processes personal information under its own privacy terms and a data processing addendum with AutoHound. AutoHound's handling of personal information is described in our Privacy Policy. Payment records remain part of your Shop Data under the Terms, including for export and retention.
What you agree to do
- Give complete and accurate information in your merchant application and keep your bank account, contact, mailing and tax details current, since Rainforest deposits money, sends tax forms and raises questions using them.
- Use the Processing Services only for payments for your own repair business at locations in the United States (excluding U.S. territories and possessions), and not for any business on Rainforest's prohibited businesses list at https://legal.rainforestpay.com/prohibited.
- Follow the card-network rules and applicable law when you take payments, including obtaining your customer's authorization for each payment, honoring refunds you owe, and not storing card numbers.
- Respond promptly when AutoHound or Rainforest asks for information about your business or about a payment, and tell us promptly about any material change in your business, ownership or the kind of work you do.
- Keep your AutoHound accounts secure. Payments and refunds taken by anyone signed in to your accounts are yours.
Support
AutoHound is your point of contact for the Processing Services: how payments work, deposits, refunds, disputes and onboarding questions all come to us at [email protected] or (888) 477-0652. Rainforest does not provide support to you or your customers directly, though it may contact you where the Processing Terms allow, for example to resolve a dispute or to meet a legal or card-network requirement.
Tax reporting
AutoHound is responsible for the annual IRS Form 1099-K reporting of your card and ACH payments where the law requires it, and has arranged for Rainforest to prepare and deliver the form to the email and mailing address in your merchant application. The form reports gross payments by transaction date and does not deduct fees, refunds or disputes, so it will not match your deposits. Keep those contact details current; if you expect a form and have not received it by mid-February, contact us.
When processing starts and ends
This Addendum takes effect when you accept it during payment onboarding, and the Processing Services start when Rainforest approves your merchant account. Either you or AutoHound may end the Processing Services on 30 days' notice, except as "Changes to Standard Rates" provides; AutoHound may suspend or end them sooner where the Terms allow suspension or termination, where Rainforest suspends or closes your merchant account, or where required by law or the card networks. The Processing Services also end when your subscription to AutoHound ends, after a short grace period during which deposits for payments already taken continue to land. You give notice by emailing [email protected] or from Settings; we give notice by email to the billing contact on your account.
Ending the Processing Services does not undo payments already made. Deposits for payments already processed are made in the normal way, subject to holds and reserves under the Processing Terms; disputes and returned payments on those payments continue to be yours; and "Fees", "Deposits, holds and your bank statement", "Refunds, chargebacks and returned payments", "Credit card surcharging", "Your data and your customers' data" and "Responsibility" continue to apply to them after the end of the Processing Services.
Responsibility
The Terms' sections on disclaimers, limitation of liability and indemnification apply to the Processing Services. In addition, you are responsible for the amounts your customers charge back or return, for the fees in "Fees", for any fines or assessments a card network or Rainforest imposes because of your payments, and for claims arising from your surcharging or from your use of the Processing Services in breach of this Addendum or the law, and you will indemnify AutoHound against them. AutoHound is not responsible for Rainforest's decisions about your merchant account, for delays or holds Rainforest applies under the Processing Terms, or for the outcome of any dispute.
Acceptance and changes
You accept this Addendum by confirming your acceptance in the payment onboarding form in AutoHound, which also records your acceptance of Rainforest's Processing Terms. We may update this Addendum; material changes will be posted at this page's address with an updated date and notified to your billing contact at least 30 days before they take effect, and continued use of the Processing Services after the date the change takes effect is acceptance. Changes to the Standard Rates follow "Fees".