Any future commerce must stay in its lane.
Verified care goods and vendors are a future direction, not part of the first pilot. If explored, commerce will remain separate from animal placement, adopter review, shelter visibility, and rescue operations.
Constraints that apply before commerce exists.
These are public boundaries for a possible future layer. No vendor program or commerce surface is part of the first shelter pilot.
Post-placement only
Essentials appears after the placement decision, not before. It supports the transition home; it does not steer which animal an adopter chooses.
No pay-to-rank
No partner, brand, supplier, shelter, or rescue can pay to rank an animal, applicant, organization, or recommendation higher.
No affiliate-feed dumping
Any future catalog must be intentionally reviewed. A bulk affiliate feed is not a substitute for welfare, safety, and quality review.
Curated starter kits
Any future starter kit must be optional, clearly explained, and never use sensitive animal or adopter context for hidden sales pressure.
Clear partner disclosure
Every future vendor, affiliate, sponsorship, or financial relationship must be clearly labeled where the recommendation appears.
Separate from placement logic
Commerce can never influence animal visibility, applicant review, placement decisions, shelter review, rescue visibility, or staff workflow priority.
No revenue share on placement
WhiskerMatch does not accept revenue share, affiliate commissions, or any compensation tied to animal discovery, placement order, or profile prominence.
No hidden ranking manipulation
Recommendation order, labels, and sponsorship must remain inspectable. Paid influence cannot be hidden inside a model, score, or default sort.
Shelter workflow proof comes first.
WhiskerMatch is not recruiting a vendor ecosystem as part of the first pilot. A commerce layer should only be explored after the core shelter workflow proves useful and its safety, disclosure, and separation controls can be tested.
Animal welfare and human review come before commerce.
No future vendor relationship can buy influence over placement, applicant review, animal visibility, or shelter workflow.