Terms of Service

Hubbs Enterprises, LLC ("Hubbs Enterprises," "we," "us," or "our") operates the Why Not Buy research platform, together with the website at whynotbuy.ai and its affiliated subdomains and any related products and services (collectively, the "Service"). "Why Not Buy" and "YNB" are brands of Hubbs Enterprises, LLC.

These Terms of Service ("Terms") form a binding agreement between you and Hubbs Enterprises governing your access to and use of the Service. By accessing, browsing, or using the Service, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

We may change or modify these Terms at any time by posting the updated Terms; changes are effective when posted, as described under "Changes to these Terms" below.

Who these Terms apply to

The Service involves three kinds of users, and some sections apply only to certain users:

• Visitors — anyone who browses our website or submits a contact or intake form.
• Clients — businesses (and the individuals acting on their behalf) that commission qualitative research studies through the Service. The "Client terms" section applies to you.
• Research participants — individuals who take part in an interview conducted through the Service. The "Research participants" section applies to you.

The Service

Why Not Buy provides AI-moderated qualitative research: we recruit receipt-verified buyers of a product or service category, interview them using an automated moderator, and synthesize the results into structured data and a report. AI-moderated interviews and analysis are generated by automated systems and may be incomplete or inaccurate; qualitative research is directional and is not a guarantee of any particular business outcome. Recruitment is currently U.S.-based.

Support chat

We offer an in-product support chat on our website and in the client portal. It is AI-assisted, may be inaccurate or incomplete, and is provided on an "as is" basis with no guaranteed response time; it does not create any professional, legal, or advisory relationship. When a request needs a person, we follow up by email using the address you provide. We log support chats as described in our Privacy Policy; please do not share sensitive personal information in the chat.

Accounts and eligibility

To use certain parts of the Service you must create an account. You agree to provide accurate and complete information and to keep it current, and you are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account and for keeping your credentials secure. Notify us promptly of any unauthorized use. The Service is intended for business use by individuals who are at least 18 years old and who have the authority to enter into these Terms on behalf of themselves and any organization they represent.

Client terms

The following terms apply to Clients that commission studies through the Service.

Studies, quotes, and payment

You design a study and we provide a quote setting out the price and expected timing. No study is fielded until you approve its quote. Approving a quote authorizes us to begin recruitment and fielding. Fees are as stated in the approved quote and are due as described there. Unless the quote says otherwise, fees are non-refundable once fielding has begun, and all amounts are exclusive of taxes, which are your responsibility.

Ownership of data and deliverables

Rather than claim ownership of the underlying interview data — which is the personal data of the participants — these Terms allocate (a) who receives your study's outputs exclusively and (b) the limited rights each party has to reuse de-identified information. The Terms use these categories:

• "Client Materials" means the study configuration you provide (such as category, brand, competitive set, and screening criteria) and any custom questions, protocol modifications, hypotheses, framing, or other content you author or supply for your study. Client Materials are your Confidential Information.
• "Study Data" means the raw interview transcripts and responses collected while fielding your study — the primary research you design, commission, and fund.
• "Coded Outputs" means the scores, codings, classifications, structured captures, metrics, and other analytics our methodology and models derive from the interviews.
• "Deliverables" means the synthesized report we prepare and make available to you, together with the de-identified Study Data and Coded Outputs we make available for your study.
• "Platform" means our participant panel and relationships, our interview instrument and protocol, our AI moderator, our models, methods, software, know-how, and interfaces.
• "Aggregated Learnings" means de-identified, aggregated, statistical, and model-level information we derive across multiple clients' studies, in a form that does not identify you, your organization, your study, or any participant, and that is not derived predominantly from your study alone.

Your study is your commissioned primary research. You design, commission, and fund the fielding of your study, and we treat its results as your primary research — not as syndicated data we resell. As between you and us, and upon our receipt of full payment: you own your Client Materials, your Study Data (the raw interview transcripts and responses), and the report we prepare for you, which you may use for your business purposes. We will not resell your study; reuse it for another client; produce an analysis framed around your brand or competitive set for anyone else; or build any dataset, model, or synthetic persona predominantly from your study for anyone other than you. The raw interview records contain participants' personal data, which we handle and de-identify as described in our Privacy Policy and do not sell. To the extent any of our pre-existing or general materials (such as templates, methods, or software) are embedded in a Deliverable, we grant you a non-exclusive, perpetual license to use them as part of that Deliverable. We make your Deliverables available to you in the portal for 12 months after a study completes; please download and retain your own copy, as we may not retain the identifiable underlying records beyond that window.

Coded outputs and analytics are our intellectual property, licensed to you. The Coded Outputs — the scores, codings, classifications, structured captures, and metrics our methodology and models derive from the interviews — are our intellectual property, not a work made for hire. Upon full payment we grant you a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to use the Coded Outputs, together with the report, for any of your business purposes. You receive the full benefit of the analysis for your own use; we retain ownership of the analytical layer our methodology produces.

Personas and models we build for you. At your request, we may build synthetic personas, models, or other derived artifacts predominantly from your own study for your exclusive use. Any such artifact is part of your Deliverables — owned by you, exclusive to you, and subject to the same protections as the rest of your study.

Our Platform. As between you and us, we own and retain all right, title, and interest in and to the Platform and the Coded Outputs (licensed to you as described above). Commissioning a study gives you the Deliverables and the rights above; it does not transfer the Platform or the Coded Outputs to you, and it does not give you rights in any other client's study.

Aggregate license-back. You grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free license to use your de-identified Study Data and Coded Outputs to operate, secure, and improve the Service, including our models, methods, and processes, and to create Aggregated Learnings — de-identified outputs we may make available beyond your study (such as statistical models, benchmarks, or cross-client synthetic personas). We may make Aggregated Learnings available beyond your study only in a form that (i) does not identify you, your organization, your study, or any participant; and (ii) is genuinely aggregated across multiple clients' studies and not derived predominantly from your study — so, for example, we will not publish a benchmark that is, in substance, your study. This license-back lets us improve the general Service and build a norms asset across studies; it does not let us resell or reuse your individual study. It survives termination.

Study inputs you provide. You grant us the rights necessary to use your Client Materials and Study Data to design, field, and deliver your study. We use them for your study only, consistent with this section.

Confidentiality (Clients)

We will treat your Client Materials, your Study Data, and other non-public business information you provide (for example, your unreleased plans or pricing) as your Confidential Information, and use it only to provide the Service and as permitted under these Terms. Our right to create and use Aggregated Learnings as described above applies notwithstanding this section, because Aggregated Learnings are aggregated across multiple studies and do not identify you or disclose your Confidential Information.

Research participants

The following terms apply to individuals who take part in an interview through the Service.

Participation is voluntary. You are typically referred to us by a third-party research panel, which is responsible for any incentive you receive for participating; we do not separately compensate you. You may decline to answer any question and may end the interview at any time.

Your submissions. The responses, statements, transcripts, and other content you provide during an interview ("Participant Submissions") are treated as non-confidential as between you and us. You grant Hubbs Enterprises a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, fully sublicensable and transferable license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, adapt, create derivative works from, analyze, and otherwise exploit your Participant Submissions for any lawful purpose connected to the Service, including to deliver research to the client who commissioned the study, to operate, secure, and improve the Service, and to develop, train, and refine our models and methods and create de-identified, aggregated learnings that improve the Service. To the extent any rights in your Participant Submissions are not covered by this license, you assign them to Hubbs Enterprises to the maximum extent permitted by law. We handle personal information contained in Participant Submissions as described in our Privacy Policy, including de-identifying transcripts before they are shared with a client.

Please do not share information you consider confidential, and do not share personal information about other people. There are no right or wrong answers, and you should answer truthfully.

Acceptable use

You agree not to misuse the Service. Without limitation, you will not: (a) attempt to identify or re-identify any de-identified research participant; (b) reverse-engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract the source code, prompts, models, or training data of the Service; (c) access the Service using automated means (such as scrapers, bots, or crawlers) except as we expressly permit; (d) interfere with, disrupt, or attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service or its related systems; (e) upload or transmit malicious code; (f) provide false information, impersonate any person, or misrepresent your affiliation; or (g) use the Service to violate any law or the rights of any third party.

Intellectual property

The Service and all materials made available through it — including text, graphics, logos, trademarks, software, models, and methods (collectively, the "Materials") — are owned by Hubbs Enterprises or its licensors and are protected by United States and foreign laws. Except for the rights expressly granted in these Terms, no rights are granted to you, and you may not copy, reproduce, distribute, publicly display, modify, or create derivative works from the Materials without our prior written permission. "Why Not Buy," "YNB," and our logos are trademarks of Hubbs Enterprises; you may not use them without our permission.

Confidentiality (mutual)

Each party will protect the other's non-public information disclosed in connection with the Service and use it only to perform under these Terms, except for information that is or becomes public through no fault of the receiving party, is independently developed, or is required to be disclosed by law.

Third-party services

The Service relies on third parties, including research-panel providers, hosting and infrastructure providers, and our artificial-intelligence provider (Anthropic, PBC), which processes interview and related content on our behalf to provide AI-moderated interviewing and analysis. Your use of the Service is also subject to the terms and policies of these providers where applicable. We are not responsible for third-party websites or services that we link to but do not control.

Disclaimer of warranties

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE, OR THAT ANY RESEARCH RESULTS WILL BE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, OR SUITABLE FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH AND AUTOMATICALLY-GENERATED OUTPUT ARE DIRECTIONAL AND ARE NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR YOUR OWN JUDGMENT. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES, SO SOME OF THE ABOVE EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, HUBBS ENTERPRISES AND ITS AFFILIATES, LICENSORS, AND SERVICE PROVIDERS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, OR GOODWILL, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE FEES PAID TO US FOR THE STUDY GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM (OR, IF THE CLAIM DOES NOT RELATE TO A STUDY, ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100)). SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW CERTAIN LIMITATIONS, SO SOME OF THE ABOVE MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Hubbs Enterprises and its affiliates, licensors, and their respective officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, damages, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to your use of the Service, your Submissions, your study inputs, or your breach of these Terms.

Term and termination

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service, in whole or in part, at any time if you breach these Terms or if we reasonably believe your use poses a risk to the Service or others; we may also discontinue features of the Service. Provisions that by their nature should survive termination — including ownership, license grants, confidentiality, disclaimers, limitations of liability, indemnification, and dispute resolution — will survive.

Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be reflected by updating the "Effective date" above, and, where appropriate, by additional notice. Your continued use of the Service after changes become effective constitutes your acceptance of the updated Terms.

Governing law and dispute resolution

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Except for claims for injunctive relief, the parties will submit all disputes arising under these Terms to binding arbitration in Boston, Massachusetts before a single arbitrator of the American Arbitration Association ("AAA"), under the AAA's rules. Nothing in this section prevents either party from seeking injunctive or equitable relief in a court of competent jurisdiction.

Class action waiver. Any arbitration or court proceeding relating to any claim under these Terms will take place on an individual basis; class, consolidated, and representative actions are not permitted. The validity and effect of this class action waiver may be determined only by a court and not by an arbitrator.

Miscellaneous

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any order or quote you approve, constitute the entire agreement between you and Hubbs Enterprises regarding the Service and supersede any prior agreements on that subject. If you have signed a separate written agreement with us for a study, that agreement controls to the extent it conflicts with these Terms. You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets. If any provision is held unenforceable, it will be modified to the minimum extent necessary or severed, and the remaining provisions will remain in effect. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver. You are responsible for compliance with applicable export-control laws.

Contact

Questions about these Terms? Email us at privacy@hubbsenterprises.com or reach us through our contact page. You can also write to: Hubbs Enterprises, LLC, Attn: Legal, 238 Humphrey Street, Marblehead, MA 01945 USA.