RipNova Community & Trading Guidelines

1. Who we are and what these Guidelines cover

Effective: October 25, 2026. Last updated: October 25, 2026.

RipNova is a collectibles app from VelaVia LLC, 2108 N St Ste N, Sacramento, CA 95816, USA (“VelaVia”, “we”, “us”). Members use RipNova to scan and track everything they collect in one portfolio, including trading cards, watches, sneakers, jewelry, comics, coins, cars and handbags. They see estimated values, set price alerts, build binders and wishlists, trade with other members, and buy Rip packs and Boxes. Website: https://velavia.io/ripnova/.

These Community & Trading Guidelines (the “Guidelines”) explain how members must list, trade and behave on RipNova: in profiles, collections (including toys and non-sport cards you show on your profile) and the feed; in trade offers, trade chat, shipping and meetups; in reviews; and when buying and opening Rip packs and Boxes. They protect members from fraud, misrepresentation and abuse, and keep RipNova a trustworthy place to collect and trade.

Get the app only from us. RipNova for Android is a direct download from the “Download for Android” button at https://velavia.io/ripnova/. It is installed outside Google Play, so Android may warn that it comes from an unknown source. A Google Play listing will follow, and an iPhone app is planned. Only install RipNova from velavia.io or, once it is listed, from RipNova's official store listing. We never send app files by email or message, and you should never install a copy that reaches you any other way, or any modified or repackaged version.

Scam warning. contact@velavia.io is our only published mailbox for RipNova, though our service providers may send some automated messages for us from other addresses. Neither we nor they will ever ask you by email, text, chat or in-app message for your password or for card, bank or other payment details. You pay for RipNova purchases only through the checkout inside the app. If a message claiming to be from us asks for these details, do not respond, and forward it to contact@velavia.io.

Related documents

• Terms (/ripnova/terms/)
• Privacy Policy (/ripnova/privacy/)
• Disclaimers (/ripnova/disclaimers/)
• Rip Standard (/ripnova/rip-standard/), which explains how Rip packs and Boxes work and how their odds and values are shown
• Community & Trading Guidelines (/ripnova/guidelines/), which is this document

2. Key terms

• Collectibles: trading cards (including graded slabs and sealed product), watches, sneakers, jewelry, comics, coins, cars, handbags and any other items RipNova supports.
• App: the RipNova mobile app, including the Android app downloaded from velavia.io and any version later offered through an app store.
• Listing: any way you present an item to other members: flagging it for trade, featuring it in a showcase on your public profile, including it in a trade offer, or describing it in trade chat or the feed.
• Wants are items on your wishlist. Haves are items you flag for trade. A trade match is a pairing RipNova suggests from members' wants and haves, and a suggested offer is a balanced offer RipNova proposes for a match, based on estimated values.
• Trade: an exchange of Collectibles that members arrange through RipNova and both accept in the app, after a trade offer and any counter-offers. A direct trade is one where members ship straight to each other or meet in person. Every Trade on RipNova is a direct trade (Section 14).
• Receipt confirmation: each member's confirmation in the app that the other member's items have arrived. A Trade is completed when both have confirmed. A logged in-person trade is a record you add of a trade made outside the app.
• Meetup: a plan made in the app on a Trade, to swap its cards in person at a named public place at an agreed time (Section 13). At a meetup, Swap done is your receipt confirmation.
• Toys and other items: LEGO® sets, Funko Pop! figures, Pop Mart figures and other toys, and the non-sport cards, watches, sneakers, comics, coins, bags, jewelry, cars and sealed product you add by hand in Collection › Items. They are private unless you show them on your profile (Section 19), and they are for tracking your collection: they are not offered in trades.
• Badge: a reputation badge earned from trading history recorded in the app. Badges are not identity verification (Section 18).
• Rip packs and Boxes: packs of trading cards (Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh!), and watch, sneaker, comic, game and toy boxes, that members can open in the app. A pull is the specific real item you receive when you open one.
• Play credits are free credits with no cash value; they can't be withdrawn, sold, sent or exchanged. Nova Credits are bought with real money in the in-app Shop. A kept pull is a pull you chose to keep in your collection. A sell-back is RipNova's optional offer, shown in the app, to take back a pull for credits.
• Estimated value: the higher of RipNova's estimate for an item when a Trade is accepted and the value either member declares for it. The Agreed Trade value is the value both members confirm for each side when they accept a Trade.

3. How these Guidelines fit with the RipNova Terms

• Part of the Terms. These Guidelines are part of the RipNova Terms (/ripnova/terms/). Breaking them is a breach of the Terms, and can lead to a suspension or a ban (Section 22).
• They apply to everyone who uses RipNova, however you got the app.
• When you agree. You agree to the Terms, including these Guidelines, when you accept them in the app as you create your account. If you download RipNova through a button at velavia.io/ripnova/ that tells you downloading means you agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy, downloading is also agreement, except for arbitration as explained next.
• Arbitration and class-action waiver. The Terms include an agreement to resolve disputes with VelaVia by individual arbitration and a waiver of class and representative actions. These apply to you only after you accept the Terms in the app, and you can opt out within 30 days of accepting, as the Terms explain. Changes to them apply only after you accept them in the app, never apply to disputes that arose earlier, and each acceptance comes with a new 30-day opt-out.
• The Terms' protections apply here. The warranty disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnity, termination and intellectual property sections of the Terms, and the Disclaimers (/ripnova/disclaimers/), apply to everything in these Guidelines, including Trades, meetups, shipping, Rip packs, Boxes, pulls and anything members post. Nothing in these Guidelines creates a warranty, or any liability for VelaVia, beyond what the Terms state.
• You are responsible for your own dealings. You are responsible for your listings, Trades, shipments, meetups and content. As the Terms set out, you agree to indemnify VelaVia against claims arising from your breach of these Guidelines or your dealings with other members.
• If documents conflict, the RipNova Terms control over these Guidelines, and for RipNova they also control over the general VelaVia Terms (velavia.io/terms.html).
• Disputes with other members are handled under Section 16, which decides what happens on RipNova, such as account action and corrections to in-app records. It does not stop members from pursuing their own legal rights against each other.
• Category standards we publish, for example for watches, sneakers, coins, comics or cars, become part of these Guidelines when published.

4. Who can use RipNova

• Age. You must be 18 or older, or the age of majority where you live if that is higher, to use RipNova, trade, or buy Rip packs or Boxes. Do not let a minor use your account, trade for a minor, or buy or open packs or boxes for a minor. If we learn that an account belongs to someone under the required age, we will close it and handle its data as the Privacy Policy describes.
• Where purchases are allowed. Rip packs and Boxes are offered only where permitted by law. We may limit any feature, including purchases, sell-back and shipping, by country, state or province. Do not use VPNs, location spoofing or other workarounds to get around these limits.
• One account. You may have one account. Your handle and display name can be nicknames, but they must not impersonate anyone, be offensive or contain anyone's personal information. Do not use another person's account, let anyone use yours, or open a new account after we have banned you.
• Account security. Lock your device and keep your sign-in details private. You are responsible for activity on your account. If your device is lost or someone else has used your account, write to contact@velavia.io. We cannot always restore access if we cannot verify the account is yours.
• Sanctions. You must not be located in a sanctioned or embargoed country or region, or appear on any U.S. or other applicable restricted-party list, including the OFAC SDN list.
• Verification. We may ask for identity, age, payment-method, tax or ownership verification, and stronger sign-in, before you buy, accept a sell-back offer, request shipping of a pull or make high-value Trades. The Privacy Policy describes these checks.
• Account limits. We may limit trade offers, Trade value, purchases, messaging or other activity, especially for new accounts. Limits may rise as you build a record of completed, problem-free Trades.
• High-volume sellers. Any member who is a high-volume seller on RipNova under the federal INFORM Consumers Act or California law must provide, and keep current, the information those laws require.

5. Our core principles

Every rule below comes from five commitments:

• Describe it truthfully. Your trade partner should get exactly what you showed them. Confirm receipt honestly, and only when items have actually arrived.
• Only real, lawful items. No fakes, no stolen goods and no hidden alterations.
• Keep it on RipNova. Arrange Trades through RipNova so the records and protections apply, and use RipNova's reporting process first when something goes wrong. This does not limit your legal rights (Section 26).
• Let the market be real. Do not fake Trades, pulls, offers, prices, reviews, likes, follows, badges or reputations.
• Treat people decently. Do not harass, threaten, scam or pressure anyone, online or at a meetup.

6. Honest listings, offers and photos

Every item you list must accurately state:

• Identity: name, maker or brand, set or model, number or reference, language, year, and printing, variant or edition where relevant. For cards, that includes details such as 1st Edition, Shadowless, reverse holo, promo stamp or regional print.
• Condition: described to the standards in Section 7.
• Graded or certified items: the grading or certification company, the grade, the certification number, and any damage to the case or holder.
• Defects and history: any damage or wear, and any repair, restoration, replaced or aftermarket part, cleaning, pressing or other conditioning you know of or have reason to suspect.
• What is included: the exact quantity and contents, such as box, papers, tags, accessories or certificates. No vague “may include” items.
• Sealed status: product that has been opened, resealed, re-wrapped, weighed, searched or tampered with is never “sealed”.

Keep your collection accurate. Other members can see items in your collection in several places (Section 19). Remove the for-trade flag from anything you no longer have or want to trade, and correct an item's details before you offer it.

Own it and have it in hand. You must own an item, and have it in hand, when you list it. Pre-sales, drop-shipping, and offers of items not yet released or not yet received are not allowed.

Photos. If a trade partner asks for photos of a graded or certified item, of any item with an Estimated value of US$50 or more, or of any item with a disclosed defect, either provide real photos of the actual item (front and back of cards, all sides of other items) before the Trade is accepted, or decline the Trade. Never use stock, catalog or anyone else's photos to represent an item you offer. Photos must be clear and well lit, must not be edited, filtered or cropped to hide defects, and must show certification, serial and reference numbers legibly where they matter. The same rules apply to photos of toys you show on your profile: use your own photos of the toy you own (Section 25 covers brand packaging in photos).

Claims you may not make anywhere on RipNova:

• promises of future value or returns, or describing an item, Trade, pack or box as an investment, a sure thing or a way to make money;
• guarantees of a future grade, such as “guaranteed 10”, or “gem mint candidate” presented as fact;
• that a badge, review, trade match or scan shows that you or an item has been verified or authenticated;
• that an item came from a RipNova Rip pack or Box, or was authenticated by or for RipNova, unless your pull history in the app shows it did;
• any implied affiliation with or endorsement by VelaVia, a publisher, manufacturer, brand, league, team, player, mint, grading or authentication company, or marketplace, including through their logos.

AI grade estimates. If RipNova shows an AI grade estimate, it is VelaVia's own statistical estimate. It is not a grade and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any grading company. If you mention one, label it “RipNova AI estimate, not a grade”.

Prices are estimates, not appraisals. Every price and value in RipNova, from collection and portfolio values, price alerts and suggested offers to the values shown for Rip packs and Boxes, is an estimate built from multiple marketplaces and recent sales, in US dollars. Estimates can be wrong or out of date, and some may be based on a similar item or printing rather than yours. They are not appraisals, offers to buy, or financial or investment advice, and they do not predict what an item will sell for. Do not present them to another member as an appraisal or “true value”. A sell-back offer is VelaVia's offer for a specific pull at the time shown, not a valuation of that or any other item. See the Disclaimers (/ripnova/disclaimers/).

You are responsible for your descriptions, even when RipNova's scanner, or an import from another collection app, filled in the details. Scans and imports can be wrong, and RipNova does not promise any level of scanning accuracy, so check that you picked the right item. When in doubt, describe an item one condition lower and disclose more.

7. Condition standards

Raw trading cards. Use the RipNova condition scale for ungraded cards. Check the front and back under good light.

• Near Mint (NM): looks essentially unplayed. At most a tiny speck of edge or corner whitening, or a very faint surface mark, visible only on close inspection. No creases, bends, dents, stains or scratches visible at normal viewing distance.
• Lightly Played (LP): minor wear visible at a normal glance, such as light edge or corner whitening, small scuffs or a few light surface scratches. No creases, bends or structural damage.
• Moderately Played (MP): clear wear, such as obvious whitening, scuffing, surface scratches, corner rounding, minor dents or a slight bend. No tears, water damage or writing.
• Heavily Played (HP): heavy wear, possibly including creases, significant scratching or heavy whitening, but structurally intact and fully legible.
• Damaged (DMG): tears, deep creases or folds, water or liquid damage, ink or writing, stains, peeling layers, missing pieces, holes or other structural damage.

For cards:

• if a card sits on the line, use the lower label;
• front and back count equally, so the label must reflect the worse side;
• disclose miscuts, print lines, ink errors and other factory defects even where they do not change the label;
• condition-adjusted values in the app are estimates calculated from the label you choose. A higher label raises the estimate but does not change the card, so never choose a label to make an item look more valuable.

The RipNova scale is VelaVia's own standard. A marketplace or grader may assign a different condition.

Other Collectibles. For watches, sneakers, jewelry, comics, coins, cars, handbags and other items, describe condition plainly and completely, using the terms common in that category. Always disclose wear, damage, stains, odors or fading; repairs, refinishing, polishing, cleaning or restoration; replaced, aftermarket or missing parts; missing box, papers, tags, accessories or keys; and, for watches and cars, known service history and faults, plus accident, damage and title history for cars. Do not call an item “new”, “unworn”, “deadstock” or “mint” unless it is.

8. Banned items

You may not list, trade, offer, flag for trade, showcase as available, or advertise any of these:

• Counterfeits and replicas of any Collectible, including fake cards, sealed product, slabs, labels, certification numbers, autographs, watches or watch parts, sneakers, jewelry, handbags, coins and comics, and fake authentication tags, holograms, seals, certificates or papers.
• Proxies, fan-made and custom items, even when clearly labeled, and anything not made by or under license from the official rights holder for that category. (A custom card you add with “Can’t find it?” because it isn’t in our catalog must be a real, official card you own; label it accurately.)
• Reprints or reproductions passed off as originals. Official reprints are allowed only if correctly identified.
• Altered items, unless the change is disclosed and the published standards for that category allow it. Altered cards are banned even when disclosed, including trimmed, recolored, re-holoed, re-backed and re-surfaced cards. Artist-altered or hand-painted cards are not allowed.
• Slab tampering: opened or resealed slabs, slabs with swapped cards or labels, altered labels, and any slab whose contents do not match its certification record.
• Authentication tampering: any item whose authentication tag, hologram, seal, certificate, serial number, vehicle identification number or other proof of authenticity has been removed, swapped, altered or copied, or does not belong to that item, and any car with a rolled-back or altered odometer.
• Stolen goods, and any item you do not have the legal right to trade.
• Tampered sealed product: packs and boxes that have been weighed, searched, mapped, resealed or re-wrapped and are offered as sealed.
• Items not in hand, including pre-sales and drop-shipped items.
• Accounts and codes: RipNova accounts, other online accounts, digital code cards, and access to anyone else's packs, boxes, credits or pulls.
• Chance-based offerings run by members (Section 10).
• Illegal or unsupported items: anything whose trade is illegal where either member is located, items outside the categories RipNova supports, and any vehicle or other item that cannot lawfully be transferred without paperwork you cannot provide, such as a clear title.

Cars and titled items. If you trade a car or another item that needs a title, registration or other paperwork, you must transfer it as the law requires. RipNova does not handle titles, registration, inspections or vehicle transport.

If you discover you own a banned item, do not offer or trade it, and remove any for-trade flag. If you received it through a RipNova Trade, pull or logged trade, report it under Section 21. Section 24 explains how suspected stolen or counterfeit items that VelaVia has acquired to ship are handled.

9. Rip packs and Boxes

How they work. Members aged 18 or older can buy Rip packs and Boxes in the app, where permitted by law. Before you open one, check its odds in the app under Settings › Odds & how packs work, which lists each tier and its chance. Odds are fixed per published table version and don't change as other members open packs. Every pull is a specific real item. After a pull, you can:

• keep it in your RipNova collection;
• sell it back: a play-credit pull for 100% of its shown value in play credits, or a Nova Credit pull within 24 hours for 90% of its locked value in Nova Credits; or
• ask us to ship it (Nova Credit pulls only): we acquire that exact item and ship it to you. Play-credit pulls never ship.

Sell-back is optional and paid in credits, not cash. Sell-back and shipping of pulls follow the Terms and the Rip Standard (/ripnova/rip-standard/). Any price, fee or shipping cost is shown in the app before you confirm. Shipping is charged by item type; there is no free shipping.

What the figures mean. Odds show the chance of each tier. Values shown for pulls are estimates of market value at the time shown. They are not a promise of what any pull is worth or what it will sell for later, and the value of an item can rise or fall after you open it.

Authentication is an opinion. Authentication and grading of items in packs and boxes are opinions given with reasonable care by qualified specialists. They are not a guarantee of authenticity, grade or value, except to the extent the Terms say otherwise. If you believe a pull is not as described, write to contact@velavia.io promptly. The Terms and the Rip Standard explain how we handle it.

Pack and box conduct. You may not:

• buy or open a pack or box, or accept a sell-back offer, if you are under 18 or where purchases are not permitted;
• buy or open packs or boxes for, or on behalf of, anyone else, or sell, share or rent access to your account, credits, packs, boxes or pulls;
• use someone else's payment method without permission, or make purchases you intend to reverse. A chargeback filed in good faith is not a violation (Section 26);
• use bots, scripts, multiple accounts or other tools to buy, open or track packs or boxes, or to get around purchase limits;
• exploit a bug, a pricing or odds error, or a wrong sell-back offer. Report it to contact@velavia.io instead. We may correct obvious errors as the Terms allow;
• present an item as a pull from a RipNova Rip pack or Box unless it is, post someone else's opening as your own, or edit screenshots or videos of openings to mislead;
• promote packs, boxes or Trades as a way to make money, for example with “flip for profit”, “expected value” or “can't lose” language.

Trading pulls. RipNova-tagged pulls can't be traded to other members, and play credits can't be sent to anyone. A Nova Credit pull must be shipped to you before you can trade it like any other item you own.

10. Chance-based selling, contests and giveaways by members

No member-run chance-based offers. Members may not run chance-based sales or trades on RipNova, or arrange them elsewhere with members they met on RipNova. That rules out mystery boxes of any category, repacks, “random pull” or “hit guaranteed” offers, breaks, raffles, lotteries, spin-the-wheel offers and “mystery trades”, and any offer where the other member gives something without knowing which specific item they will receive. Rip packs and Boxes are offered only by VelaVia under the Terms and the Rip Standard. Members may not imitate them or resell access to them.

The ban does not cover factory-sealed product offered exactly as the publisher or manufacturer made and distributed it, and described under Section 6, such as an unopened booster pack or booster box. It does cover any repack, resealed product, or product a member has assembled, searched or curated.

No member contests or giveaways. Members may not run or promote contests, giveaways, raffles, lotteries or sweepstakes anywhere on RipNova, including in trade chat, trade offers, profiles, showcases, the feed, binders and wishlists, whether or not entry is free. Any promotion on RipNova is run only by VelaVia as sponsor, under Official Rules published before it starts, and is not sponsored, endorsed or administered by Apple or Google.

11. Payments and off-platform dealing

Trades are item-for-item. RipNova does not process payments among members. Do not add cash, payment-app transfers, gift cards, crypto or any other payment to a Trade, and do not ask for or offer such payment, including in suggested offers, trade chat or at meetups. A for-trade flag, or any “for sale” note the app allows, is a note in your collection, not an offer to sell through RipNova. The sales ledger only records sales you make elsewhere; it doesn’t make RipNova part of them, and it doesn’t allow off-platform deals with members you met on RipNova.

Purchases from RipNova. Buy Rip packs and Boxes, and receive payment for accepted sell-back offers, only through the app. Payments are processed by VelaVia's payment service providers.

Not allowed:

• asking for or accepting payment outside RipNova for an item found, matched or negotiated on RipNova, including through payment apps, “friends and family” transfers, wire, cash, crypto or gift cards;
• offering a discount or other incentive to deal off-platform, or steering a trade partner to another site to finish the deal;
• sharing phone numbers, emails, social handles or outside links to move a deal off RipNova. To complete an accepted Trade, you may share a shipping address, tracking numbers and photos of the item in trade chat, and a meeting place and time if you have agreed to meet (use the app's meetup planner where you can, Section 13);
• asking anyone to send card, bank or login details in a message.

Deals completed off-platform get no help from RipNova: the process in Section 16 does not apply to them, and the conduct may lead to enforcement under Section 22. Anyone who asks you for payment in connection with a RipNova Trade is breaking these Guidelines, so report them under Section 21.

Taxes. You are responsible for any tax consequences of your own Trades and sell-backs. Where the law requires, VelaVia or its payment service providers collect tax on purchases and issue tax forms.

12. Fair play and market integrity

Trades, logged trades, receipt confirmations, pulls, reviews, badges, likes, follows and collection records must reflect real activity among independent people. You may not:

• Fake demand by making, or having friends or associates make, offers on your own items.
• Self-deal by trading back and forth with your own or connected accounts, including to collect reviews, badges or feed activity.
• Fake records, such as fake Trades, logged trades, receipt confirmations, collection updates or pulls, including to influence values shown on RipNova or trigger other members' price alerts.
• Game trade matching with haves you do not have or wants you do not mean.
• Collude to fix prices, corner an item or mislead the market.
• Fake engagement by buying, selling, trading, rewarding or automating reviews, likes or follows.
• Scrape or automate by using bots, scripts, scraping or bulk downloading to pull data out of RipNova, such as the catalog, prices, profiles, “Collectors with this card” lists, the feed or member data, or by sending automated offers or messages.
• Use multiple accounts to get around limits, blocks or enforcement.

We may treat accounts as connected accounts when information we hold reasonably indicates that one person runs them or that they act together. The Privacy Policy (/ripnova/privacy/) explains how we use information to prevent fraud and abuse, and your California privacy rights.

You may value your items however you like, and a suggested offer is only a suggestion. High or low valuations are not a violation on their own.

13. Trading with other members

How Trades work

• A Trade is an agreement among the members involved. VelaVia is not a party to it and is not a broker, escrow agent, guarantor or shipper. In a direct trade, RipNova does not ship, hold, inspect, insure or guarantee items.
• Matches and suggested offers are starting points, built from estimated values and members' wants and haves. They are not advice, an appraisal or a statement that a Trade is fair, so check every item and value yourself.
• Accepted means agreed. A Trade is formed when both members accept it in the app. Until then, you may withdraw your offer, and an offer may expire. Do not ship or hand over anything before acceptance.
• Ship or meet, on time. Agree in trade chat whether you will ship (Section 15) or meet in person. If shipping, both members must ship within 3 business days of acceptance unless both agree otherwise, and share any required tracking in trade chat within the same period.
• Confirm receipt honestly. Check arriving items against the accepted offer, then confirm receipt in the app within 3 business days of delivery or hand-over, or report a problem under Section 16. Items change owner in the app only when both members confirm. Do not confirm before items arrive, or confirm items that do not match unless you choose to accept them as they are. Refusing or delaying confirmation of items you received, to pressure the other member, is a violation. If you confirm by mistake, tell us at contact@velavia.io.
• The app's record is not legal title. Ownership shown in the app is a collection record. Confirming receipt does not transfer legal title, and the record is not VelaVia's decision on who owns an item. After reviewing a report, we may correct in-app records, for example where items never arrived.
• Cancellation. After acceptance, a Trade can be cancelled by mutual agreement; by a member who has not yet shipped, if the other member missed the shipping deadline or a scheduled meetup; or by VelaVia under this Section or Section 22 or 24. If the app has no cancel option, confirm the cancellation in trade chat. After both members confirm receipt, a Trade can be unwound only under Section 17.
• Trades can be public. An accepted, completed or logged Trade may appear in the feed with both handles and the items exchanged (Section 19).
• No pressure. No repeated offers after a “no”, false urgency or misleading claims about value.

Logged in-person trades. Log only trades that actually happened, with the items actually exchanged. VelaVia cannot verify them. If a logged trade names a member who did not take part, they may report it under Section 21.

Meeting in person. If you meet a trade partner, with or without the app's meetup planner:

• choose a busy public place, such as a card shop, a show or a bank or police-station lobby where available, and consider bringing a friend;
• do not share your home address to arrange a meetup;
• inspect the items before you hand yours over and before you confirm receipt;
• leave if anything feels wrong, and report threats or unsafe behavior under Section 21.

Meetups in the app. The app has an optional planner for swapping a Trade's cards in person. RipNova offers the planner and suggests places, but it doesn't attend or supervise meetups and doesn't check anyone's ID. If you use it:

• 18 or older only. Meetups are for members 18 and over. You confirm it when you turn meetups on in Account › Meetups. Never arrange a meetup for or with anyone under 18. If a meetup partner seems under 18, report them (below). On new accounts, meetups open 7 days after the account is created.
• Busy public places only. Meet only in a busy, staffed public place during its opening hours, such as a card shop or game store, a mall food court, or a police station's lobby or exchange spot. When you propose a place, you confirm that it is a busy public place, open at that time. Meetups are between 8 am and 9 pm, start by 8 pm and last 30 minutes to 3 hours. For a Trade worth US$250 or more a side, pick a card shop with staff. Card shops listed in the app aren't affiliated with RipNova unless marked Partner, and their hours are as listed on the date shown, so call ahead.
• Never at a home or in a car. Don't name a street address, an apartment, anyone's home or a car as the place, and never get in someone's car. The app refuses a typed place that looks like a home, an apartment or a car, and flags a home address in trade chat.
• Only cards the other member listed. A meetup can ask only for cards the other member has listed For trade or Would sell, or has put in the Trade themselves. For a card they only keep in their collection, ask by mail instead.
• Card for card. Bring only the cards in the Trade. No cash, payment apps or other payment at a meetup (Section 11).
• Check, then tap Swap done. Check every card before you hand yours over, and tap Swap done only when you have the cards you agreed. Swap done is your receipt confirmation for the Trade.
• Be on time, or cancel early. If you can't make it, cancel in the app as soon as you know. A cancel less than 2 hours before the start, including cancelling the Trade itself, is a late cancel. If you checked in with I'm here and the other member didn't come, you can tell the app from 20 minutes after the start, and they have 48 hours to answer that they were there.
• Stay safe. Tell someone you trust where you're going (Share my plan). If anything feels wrong, leave. In an emergency, call 911 first.
• Report and block. On a meetup, Something went wrong opens the emergency number, the report sheet and Block. Report a meetup if, for example, someone threatened you or made you feel unsafe, didn't show up, seems under 18, tried a scam, brought fake or misdescribed cards, asked for cash or a payment app, harassed you, or sent someone else. The reported member isn't told who reported them. Blocking a member cancels any live meetups between you.

What a pause means. While your meetups are paused, you can't propose, accept, change or reschedule a meetup, and other members who meet up see only that you can't meet up right now, not why. If a member's safety or age report paused your meetups, the app tells that member your meetups are paused. Trading by mail still works. Your meetups are paused:

• at once, after a safety or age report. If a member reports that you threatened them or made them feel unsafe, or that you seem under 18, on a meetup that had been confirmed, your live meetups are cancelled and your meetups stay paused until our staff review the report (unless you had already blocked the member who reported you). This happens before anyone at RipNova has looked at the report: it protects members while we look, and it is not a finding that you did anything wrong;
• if you tell Ask Nova you're under 18, until our staff turn Ask Nova back on for your account;
• for 30 days after two confirmed no-shows within 90 days. A no-show is confirmed when the claim goes unanswered for 48 hours, or when our staff confirm it after an answer;
• for 14 days after a fifth late cancel within 30 days. The third late cancel in 30 days brings a warning; and
• when our staff pause them under Section 22.

We may also pause meetups for everyone for a while; you can still ship your Trades. If you think a pause is a mistake, email contact@velavia.io or appeal under Section 23.

Know the risks. In a direct trade, VelaVia cannot recover items or their value. Start with lower-value Trades, check your partner's reviews, badges and profile (none of which is verification), follow Section 15 and, for high-value items, Section 14, insure items for their true value, and do not trade anything you cannot afford to lose.

Values are estimates. VelaVia does not review every Trade for fairness, and letting a Trade go ahead is not a judgment that it is fair. Thresholds in these Guidelines are applied using estimates and are not a valuation of your item. Where printings or models are ambiguous, we may apply the higher estimate.

Our role in safety. VelaVia may flag, delay, cancel or block a trade offer or Trade that looks lopsided, fraudulent, coerced or manipulative, and may ask either member to confirm before it proceeds.

14. High-value trades

RipNova does not offer protected trades, escrow, collateral or a verification center. Every Trade is a direct trade (Section 13): members ship straight to each other or meet in person, and RipNova does not hold, inspect, insure or guarantee the items.

For high-value items, when either side of a Trade has an Estimated value of US$250 or more, and especially US$1,000 or more:

• Meet at a busy public place, such as a card shop, and check the items there before you hand yours over (Section 13).
• Or ship tracked, signature-required and insured for the full value (Section 15).
• Check your partner's reviews, badges and profile, though none of them is verification (Section 18).
• Start small with a member you haven't traded with before, and build up.
• Don't trade anything you can't afford to lose.
• If a Trade shows fraud indicators, we may decline to let it go ahead, and you can cancel it at no cost.

If RipNova ever offers trade protection, the app will show its terms and fee before you choose it, and these Guidelines will change before it does.

Authentication. RipNova does not authenticate items traded between members. Where RipNova gives an authentication opinion, it is an opinion given with reasonable care, not a grade, an appraisal, or a guarantee of authenticity or value. RipNova will not describe any trade, box or item as “guaranteed authentic” unless a funded guarantee actually exists and is described in the Terms.

15. Shipping standards

These standards apply to every Trade that is shipped. In a direct trade, members arrange and pay for their own shipping, and RipNova does not handle it. Shipping of Nova Credit pulls is RipNova's and follows the Terms and the Rip Standard; shipping in member Trades is between the members. When we review a report, we consider whether each member met these standards.

Timing. Ship within 3 business days of acceptance, unless both members agree a different date in trade chat. Share tracking in trade chat within the same period wherever it is required.

Tracking, signature and insurance

• Tracking is required for every item valued at US$25 or more.
• Signature confirmation is required at US$250 or more.
• Insurance, or a carrier service with included coverage, is required at US$500 or more, covering the full Agreed Trade value.
• Packing video of the item being sealed in its package is recommended at US$250 or more, and may be needed to support a report at US$500 or more.

These thresholds apply to the higher of the Estimated value and the Agreed Trade value.

Packaging minimums

• Raw cards: soft sleeve, then a toploader or semi-rigid holder sealed with a team bag or low-tack tape that does not touch the card, braced with stiff cardboard. Send cards worth US$25 or more in a padded mailer or box, not a plain envelope, and never put rubber bands or tape directly on cards. Bag bulk cards in groups and fill empty space.
• Graded slabs and sealed product: wrap each item and ship it in a rigid box padded so nothing moves. Never ship slabs in envelopes, or booster boxes in their retail packaging alone.
• Watches, jewelry and coins: protect each item in its own pouch, case, holder or capsule, inside a padded inner box and an outer shipping box. Do not show brand names or contents on the outside.
• Sneakers, handbags, comics and other goods: pad the item so it keeps its shape (bag and board comics), and ship any original box inside an outer shipping box.
• Cars: agree the transport method, timing and costs in trade chat, and transfer title as the law requires (Section 8).

In-person hand-overs. The tracking and packaging rules do not apply to Trades completed at a meetup. Inspect the items at the hand-over and follow Section 13.

Address and risk

• Ship only to the address your trade partner gave you in trade chat for that Trade.
• Be wary of any request to change the address after acceptance, or to send the item to someone else. These are common fraud patterns. Confirm any change in trade chat and report requests that look suspicious.
• The shipping member bears the risk of loss until tracking shows delivery to that address. A delivery scan is not receipt confirmation: the recipient still confirms in the app (Section 13).
• The recipient pays any duties and import taxes.
• Carrier processing and delivery times are estimates.

16. Problems with Trades and disputes with other members

Direct trades have no buyer protection. RipNova provides no buyer protection, claims fund, escrow or insurance for direct trades. If something goes wrong:

• Talk first. Contact the other member in trade chat. Many problems are resolved this way. Do not confirm receipt while a problem with the items is unresolved.
• Report it under Section 21 if it is not resolved within 2 business days, or right away if you suspect fraud, counterfeits or threats. Please report within 30 days of the problem, and include trade chat, photos, tracking numbers and any packing video.
• Our review. We review the report, may ask either member for information, and may act under Section 22. We may also correct in-app ownership records for the Trade.

VelaVia cannot order a member to return an item or pay money, and does not refund, compensate or recover items for direct trades. We do not decide who legally owns an item, and the app's records do not decide that either (Section 13). You keep all your legal rights against the other member, including filing a police report or bringing a claim in court, such as small claims court.

Purchases and pulls. Problems with a Nova Credit purchase, a pack or box, a pull, a sell-back or a shipment from VelaVia are handled under the Terms and the Rip Standard. Write to contact@velavia.io.

Either member may appeal a decision under this Section through Section 23. These processes are in addition to your rights under law and your right to dispute a charge with your card issuer, and do not limit them.

17. Unwinding Trades and return fraud

A completed Trade can be unwound only if both members agree. If you agree to return items, ship them to the standards in Section 15 or hand them back in person, and tell us at contact@velavia.io so we can update the in-app records.

Return fraud is a severe violation. It includes sending back a different, damaged, counterfeit or lower-grade item, or an empty package, in any return or unwound Trade.

18. Reviews, badges and reputation

After every Trade, both members can review each other with tags from the app's list and any rating or comment the app allows. Reviews appear on public profiles.

Rules for reviews

• Only the members in a Trade may review it, and each review must be about that Trade. We may limit how long after a Trade a review can be left.
• Reviews, including tags, must be honest and about the Trade itself: the items, their description and condition, communication, shipping or the meetup. Do not rate an item's condition before you have received it.
• Do not review yourself or connected accounts, trade reviews (“I'll give you five stars if you do the same”), pay or reward anyone for a review, or accept or record Trades you do not intend to complete in order to build a reputation or earn badges.
• No leverage. Do not threaten a negative review, or withhold receipt confirmation, to get an extra item or an improved deal, and do not make a return conditional on the other member changing or removing a review.
• Reviews may not include personal information, threats, slurs or content unrelated to the Trade.
• If the app lets you reply to a review, you may post one public reply, and the same rules apply to it.

Badges. Members earn reputation badges from real trading history recorded in the app, with progress shown for badges not yet earned. A badge reflects activity recorded in RipNova. It is not identity verification, a background check, or a guarantee that a member is honest or that their items are authentic. Do not rely on a badge alone, and do not claim a badge means you have been verified. Earning or trying to earn badges through fake or self-dealt activity is a violation (Section 12).

What VelaVia may do. We may remove a review that breaks these rules or comes from a Trade we find was fraudulent or never took place, and remove badges or adjust or hide reputation information to correct abuse. We do not remove a review just because it is negative. Reviews are members' own opinions. VelaVia does not verify them, and neither reviews nor badges are a guarantee about any member.

19. Conduct, visibility and safety tools

These rules apply everywhere on RipNova: trade chat, trade offers, reviews, the feed, handles and display names, profiles, showcases, toys and other items you show, binders, wishlists, logged trades and meetups arranged through RipNova. You may not:

• Harass anyone, including threatening, intimidating or stalking them, or encouraging others to. That includes using follows, likes, trade matches, repeated trade offers or “Collectors with this card” to target or pursue someone.
• Post hate speech, or content that demeans people based on a protected characteristic.
• Share sexual content or graphic violence, or content involving minors in any sexual or exploitative way.
• Dox anyone by posting, or threatening to post, their personal information, including shipping addresses and meeting details received through RipNova.
• Impersonate another person, a member, or VelaVia or RipNova staff, or falsely claim affiliation with any publisher, manufacturer, brand, league, team, player, mint, grading company or marketplace.
• Send spam, unsolicited bulk messages, phishing or scam links, malware, or links to unofficial copies of the RipNova app.
• Infringe others' intellectual property, for example by using another member's photos (Section 25).
• Keep contacting a member who has asked you to stop or has blocked you, by any means, including through another account.

What other members can see. RipNova is a social app, and much of what you add is visible to other members:

• Public profile and showcases: your handle, display name, showcases, reviews, badges and the items in your collection, with details such as condition, quantity and flags. Assume every item you add may be shown, not only items flagged for trade. The Privacy Policy (/ripnova/privacy/) lists which fields stay private, such as price paid and portfolio value. If unsure, assume a detail is visible.
• Toys, non-sport cards and the other items you add (watches, sneakers, comics, coins, bags, jewelry, cars and sealed product): the exception. They stay private unless you turn on Show on my profile for one. A toy's photos stay private unless you also turn on Show photos too, and the photos of a non-sport card or another item are never shown to other members. Other members never see their flags, what you paid, your estimate, your notes or a detail kept private, such as a car's mileage.
• Meetups: if you turn them on, your profile shows that you meet up to trade and your meetup record (completed meetups and confirmed no-shows in the past 12 months). Members who have also turned on meetups see a rough distance band between your ZIP areas, never your ZIP.
• “Collectors with this card”: from any item, members can see a list of members who own it, so people can find you through items you own, including high-value ones. These lists show your handle and public profile, not your device location.
• Trade matching, follows and likes: your wants and haves are used to show you as a match, and who you follow, who follows you and what you like may be visible.
• Feed: some actions create feed activity automatically, such as adding items, flagging items for trade, completing sets or binders, and accepting, completing or logging Trades, which can show both handles and the items exchanged.
• Wishlist sharing link: anyone who has the link may be able to view your wishlist.

Removing yourself from public lists. Use the app's privacy settings where offered, or write to contact@velavia.io and we will remove a feed item about you, remove you from “Collectors with this card” lists, or hide specific items in your collection.

A public collection shows others what valuable items you own, so think before adding high-value items and before arranging meetups. Keep your real name, address, phone number and location out of your handle, display name, showcases, binder names, wishlist and the feed.

Toys, non-sport cards and other items you show. A toy, non-sport card or other item you show on your profile follows these rules too. Name and describe it honestly, and never present a knock-off as the real thing (Section 8). While it is shown, its name and details can't call it authentic, verified, genuine or certified: RipNova doesn't check items, so it can't carry that claim. Never add a serial number, a car's VIN or its plate number. Use your own photos of the item you own, and keep contact details, links and payment apps out of its name and details. Photos can show your room or things nearby, so leave out people and anything that shows where you live, and check a toy's photos before you turn on Show photos too. Members can report a toy, non-sport card or other item you show. If three members whose accounts are at least 7 days old report it, it is hidden from other members until we review it, and we may remove a toy's photos.

Scanning. Scan photos are sent to RipNova's servers to identify the item and estimate its value, as the Privacy Policy explains, including photos you choose from your gallery. Frame only the item, and avoid capturing people, documents, addresses, license plates or other personal information. The scanner reads Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh! cards; you confirm each Magic and Yu-Gi-Oh! match, and a scan never shows that a card is genuine.

Safety tools. You can block a member from making offers to you or messaging you. Blocking also cancels any live meetups between you and hides the toys and non-sport cards you each show from the other. Report problems through the app where a report option is shown, or to contact@velavia.io (Section 21). While we look into a report, we may restrict an account's messaging, trade offers, trade matching or feed activity, and we may filter or remove objectionable content.

Child safety. We have zero tolerance for child sexual abuse material and the sexual exploitation of minors. We will remove such content, ban the account, and report the matter to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and to law enforcement as the law requires.

We may review trade chat and other content when it is reported to us, or when needed to investigate fraud, abuse or safety risks, as the Privacy Policy describes.

20. Privacy of other members and trade chat

How trade chat is stored. Trade chat, including any name, address or meeting details you share in it, is stored on RipNova's cloud-hosted servers. It is not end-to-end encrypted. VelaVia may review it as described in Section 19 and the Privacy Policy, which also says how long we keep it. Share only what is needed to complete the Trade.

Using other members' details. Use a trade partner's name, address or meeting details only to complete that Trade or an agreed return. Do not post or share them, add the member to a mailing list, or contact them outside RipNova about other deals. Once the Trade and any problem are resolved, delete copies you keep outside the app, such as screenshots or shipping labels, unless the law requires you to keep them.

Share your own address only after a Trade has been accepted, and only in trade chat for that Trade. You do not need to share it to meet in person.

21. Reporting a problem

How to report. Report a trade offer, Trade, meetup, message, review, feed item, profile, toy, non-sport card or member through the app where a report option is shown, or by email to contact@velavia.io. Include the handles involved, details that identify the Trade, pull or item (such as the items and the date), what happened and when, and any screenshots, photos or tracking numbers. Please also report any website, file, message or app that claims to be RipNova but does not come from velavia.io.

What happens next

• We review reports and act under Section 22. We aim to review reports of threats, child-safety concerns and fraud within 24 hours, and other reports promptly.
• We do not tell the reported member who reported them, except where the other member must be able to respond to a dispute, where the law requires us to forward an intellectual property notice or otherwise requires it, or where you agree.
• Retaliating against a member for reporting is a violation, and so are knowingly false or bad-faith reports.

Intellectual property. Rights owners may report copyright, trademark or counterfeit concerns to contact@velavia.io under the intellectual property section of the Terms, which also explains counter-notices and our repeat-infringer policy.

Meetup reports. A report that a member threatened someone or made them feel unsafe, or seems under 18, on a meetup that had been confirmed, pauses that member's meetups at once, before we review it, unless that member had blocked the reporter (Section 13). Other meetup reports wait for our review like any other report.

Emergencies and law enforcement. For an immediate threat to someone's safety, including at a meetup, contact local emergency services (911 in the US) first. For a stolen item, also file a police report and send us the report number. Law enforcement requests should be sent to contact@velavia.io.

22. Enforcement

When a member breaks these Guidelines, we may remove the content involved, such as a feed item, review, logged trade, showcase, toy, toy photo, non-sport card or other item you added, trade offer or message. We may also block or cancel affected trade offers, Trades and meetups, pause a member's meetups (Section 13), remove badges, correct in-app ownership records, remove the member from trade matching, and limit purchases. In addition, we apply account action on this ladder:

• Level 1, warning: a written notice explaining the violation and how to avoid it.
• Level 2, temporary limits: for example on trade offers, Trade value, trade matching, messaging, meetups, feed activity or purchases, usually for 7 to 30 days.
• Level 3, suspension from trading, messaging, feed activity and purchases, usually for up to 90 days.
• Level 4, permanent ban: the account is closed, and the member may not open a new one.

How we apply it

• We consider how severe the violation was, whether it was intentional, the harm caused and the member's history. Minor first violations usually start at Level 1.
• Severe violations may go straight to suspension or a ban. Examples: knowingly trading counterfeits, replicas or stolen goods, or tampering with slabs or authentication; return fraud; failing to ship or hand over items after receiving the other member's; falsely denying receipt; payment or purchase fraud, phishing, or asking for payment or login details; deliberately exploiting pack, box or sell-back errors; buying packs or boxes for a minor; distributing a modified or fake RipNova app, or impersonating RipNova or VelaVia; threats of violence, doxxing or child exploitation; and evading a ban or block. A chargeback filed in good faith is not payment fraud.
• Most violations stop counting toward escalation after 12 months without further violations. Fraud and violations involving counterfeit or stolen goods may stay on record longer.
• We may also suspend or close accounts as the Terms allow. You may stop using RipNova and ask us to close your account at any time.

Notice. We will tell you what action we took and why, unless that would be unlawful, would compromise an investigation or would put someone at risk. We give notice in the app, and by email if we have one for you.

23. Appeals

• How to appeal. You may appeal an enforcement action, or a decision on a report, within 30 days of being notified. For a suspension or a ban, you can appeal in the App, once per decision (Account › Account status). Or email contact@velavia.io with the subject line “Appeal”, and include your handle, the action you are appealing and any new information. If you could not see the notice because your account was suspended or closed, you may appeal within 30 days of first becoming aware of the action. If we closed an account because it belongs to someone under 18, it is deleted 3 days after we tell you, so email us before then; after that we can't restore it, but we can release its handle.
• Who reviews it. Where practical, a different person from the one who made the original decision reviews the appeal.
• Timing. We aim to respond within 14 days.
• Effect. An appeal decision is final for the purposes of these Guidelines. It does not affect your rights under the dispute resolution section of the Terms.

24. Investigations, holds and your property

During an investigation, we may ask for information, photos, tracking, proof of ownership or identity verification; delay, block or cancel pending trade offers and Trades, or pause in-app ownership changes for them; pause purchases, sell-backs or shipping requests for pulls connected to the matter; instruct our payment service providers to hold payments due to you that are connected to the matter; and limit account features. We aim to finish within 30 days, unless a court order, law enforcement request, chargeback or open claim requires longer.

Limits on holds. We will tell you when a hold is placed and why. Payment holds will not exceed 180 days unless a court order or law enforcement request requires otherwise. Items held as suspected stolen are held only as long as reasonably needed to resolve ownership, or as law enforcement directs. We will not keep or destroy a member's item without telling you and giving you a chance to respond, unless the law requires otherwise.

Your property. Suspension or a ban does not by itself forfeit kept Nova Credit pulls, or payments owed to you, that lawfully belong to you. If your account is closed, VelaVia will ship your kept Nova Credit pulls to your US address, or arrange for payments owed to you to be released, within 30 days of you providing shipping or payment details and completing any verification we reasonably require. The only exceptions are:

• (a) disclosed fees and shipping costs;
• (b) lawful holds, such as court orders, fraud investigations or chargebacks;
• (c) items we reasonably determine are stolen, which may be returned to their rightful owner or given to law enforcement;
• (d) counterfeit or infringing items, which may be kept, surrendered to the rights owner or authorities, or destroyed where the law permits, after notice to you;
• (e) amounts you owe VelaVia, such as reversed payments and chargebacks;
• (f) property you do not claim after notice, which will be handled under the Terms and the California Unclaimed Property Law or other applicable law. VelaVia will not keep it for itself.

Your account data. You can ask for a copy of your personal information, or ask us to delete it or close your account, as the Privacy Policy (/ripnova/privacy/) describes. We must be able to confirm that a request comes from the account holder, and if we cannot verify it we may be unable to act on it.

25. Intellectual property and trademarks

• Your content. You keep ownership of the photos and other content you post, and you give VelaVia the license to use it that the Terms describe. Post only content you have the right to share.
• Photos of what you own. A photo you add, such as a photo of a toy, should show the item you own. It may show a brand's packaging, box art or logo only incidentally, as part of recording what you own. Don't post brand images, box art or logos on their own, someone else's product photos, or photos that suggest a brand is connected with you or with RipNova. Photos of a graded slab must be your own photos of the slab you own, not a grader's, seller's or other member's images.
• RipNova's content. The app, catalog, designs, logos and other RipNova materials belong to VelaVia or its licensors. Do not copy, scrape, modify, reverse engineer or redistribute them, or the app, except as the Terms allow.
• Pokémon. RipNova is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored or approved by Nintendo, The Pokémon Company, Creatures or GAME FREAK. Pokémon and card names are trademarks of their respective owners.
• Other brands. RipNova is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by the makers, brands, publishers, leagues, teams, mints, grading or authentication companies, marketplaces or apps whose items or names appear in RipNova or on its website, unless we say so. Their names and marks belong to their owners, and importing a file from another app does not mean that app endorses RipNova. LEGO® is a trademark of the LEGO Group, which does not sponsor, authorize or endorse RipNova. Funko and Pop! are trademarks of Funko. POP MART and its characters are trademarks of their owners. See the Disclaimers (/ripnova/disclaimers/).

26. Rights these Guidelines do not limit

Nothing in these Guidelines stops you from:

• posting an honest review of RipNova or VelaVia, positive or negative, on RipNova or anywhere else;
• reporting conduct to a government agency or law enforcement;
• pursuing your own legal rights against another member;
• disputing a charge with your card issuer in good faith;
• exercising any right that cannot be waived under applicable law.

We will not take enforcement action against you for honest reviews, good-faith chargebacks or lawful reports.

27. Changes to these Guidelines

• Non-material updates, such as clarifications, formatting and new examples, take effect when posted.
• Material changes take effect no sooner than 30 days after we give notice, unless the law requires a change sooner. We give notice in the app, post it at /ripnova/guidelines/, and email you if we have an address for you.
• Arbitration is not changed by notice. Changes to these Guidelines never change the arbitration agreement or dispute-resolution terms in the Terms. Those change only as Section 3 describes.
• New features. Rules for a feature that was not available before take effect when that feature arrives, because they do not change your existing rights.
• Going forward only. Changes do not affect trade offers already accepted, Trades already started, or reports and claims already filed.
• If you do not agree, stop using the app and ask us to close your account by writing to contact@velavia.io before the change takes effect.

28. Contact

VelaVia LLC, 2108 N St Ste N, Sacramento, CA 95816, USA

• Email: contact@velavia.io
• Website: https://velavia.io/ripnova/