Sekura Trust Agreement

1. Introduction — What Sekura Is

The Sekura platform is operated by Sekura LLC, a Minnesota limited liability company ("Sekura"). Sekura provides a technology platform that solves a fundamental problem in peer-to-peer transactions: who sends first? When two strangers agree to a high-value transaction — such as the sale of a boat, vehicle, or other valuable item — neither party wants to send money or goods without a guarantee that the other side will follow through.

Sekura's platform addresses this by allowing the parties to define a set of conditions that must be completed before funds are released. Each transaction is governed by a Contract — a digital agreement between a Buyer and a Seller that specifies the item being transacted, the price, and the conditions that must be satisfied before funds move from the Buyer to the Seller.

What Sekura is: a technology platform that orchestrates programmatic release of funds via Stripe Connect, based on conditions agreed to by the parties to a Contract.

What Sekura is not:

• Not a bank or depository institution.
• Not a money transmitter or money services business.
• Not a licensed escrow company.
• Not a custodian of user funds.
• Not a marketplace; Sekura does not list items for sale, match Buyers with Sellers, or set prices.
• Not a shipping or logistics company.

2. How Funds Are Held — The Non-Custodial Model

User funds on Sekura are held within each user's own Stripe Connected Account, a financial account established and maintained by Stripe, Inc. under Stripe's Connected Account Agreement with the user. Sekura does not maintain a pooled or omnibus account holding user funds.

Sekura's role with respect to those funds is limited to orchestration. Sekura uses Stripe's Connect API permissions to direct the timing and destination of fund movements (deposits, contract-time transfers, refunds, payouts, and withdrawals) consistent with the terms of the applicable Contract and this Agreement. Sekura does not have the ability to remove funds from a user's Stripe Connected Account for any purpose other than executing the user's transactions or this Agreement.

Stripe identity verification is required. Before depositing or receiving funds on the platform, each user must complete Stripe's identity verification process (commonly referred to as "KYC"). Sekura does not perform the identity verification itself; it is performed by Stripe in accordance with Stripe's policies and applicable law.

No interest. Funds in a Stripe Connected Account are non-interest-bearing. No interest accrues to the Buyer, Seller, Sekura, or any other party while funds are within a Connected Account.

Stripe Connected Account Agreement. Each user's Stripe Connected Account is governed by an agreement between that user and Stripe. That agreement controls the terms under which Stripe holds the funds. Nothing in this Agreement supersedes or modifies the user's agreement with Stripe.

3. Roles and Responsibilities

Every Sekura Contract involves at least two parties, and optionally a third:

Buyer. The party purchasing the item. The Buyer is responsible for depositing funds into their own Stripe Connected Account, funding the Contract, reviewing and approving required documents, confirming receipt or exchange of the item, and signing the Contract. The Buyer selects the Shipper (if applicable) and may remove their committed funds from the Contract at any time before the Contract reaches Funds Promised (see Section 6).

Seller. The party selling the item. The Seller is responsible for providing accurate item descriptions, uploading required documents (such as titles, registrations, or proof of ownership), cooperating with item inspection and verification, and signing the Contract. The Seller receives funds only after all conditions are met and the Contract is marked complete.

Shipper (optional). An independent third party selected by the Buyer to pick up, inspect, and deliver the item. The Shipper verifies the item against a checklist, confirms pickup, and delivers the item to the Buyer. Shippers are not Sekura employees, agents, or contractors. See Section 12 for full details on the Shipper role.

The party who creates the Contract is referred to as the Creator. Either a Buyer or a Seller may create a Contract and invite the other party to join.

4. Contract Lifecycle

A Contract on Sekura progresses through the following states:

1. Pending Invitation. The Creator has drafted the Contract and invited the other party to join. The Contract is not yet binding.
2. Accepted. Both parties have agreed to the terms (price, conditions, transaction type).
3. Funded. The Buyer has committed the item price plus the platform fee to the Contract. The committed amount remains within the Buyer's own Stripe Connected Account but becomes non-withdrawable while the Contract is active. The Seller has not yet received any funds at this point.
4. Funds Promised. All pre-transaction conditions are complete. Unilateral fund removal by the Buyer is no longer available. See Section 6 for details.
5. Completed. All conditions are met. Sekura instructs Stripe to transfer the item price from the Buyer's Connected Account to the Seller's Connected Account, where it is credited to the Seller's Sekura balance, and retains the platform fee. The Seller may withdraw the credited amount to their linked bank account at their discretion, or use it to fund future Contracts on the platform. A Bill of Sale is generated and made available to both parties.

A Contract may also reach the terminal states Withdrawn (cancelled before Funds Promised) or Cancelled (mutually cancelled after Funds Promised). See Section 8 for the refund mechanics in those cases.

5. Conditions and Release Criteria

Every Sekura Contract includes a set of conditions — specific steps that must be completed before funds can be released. Conditions are selected during Contract creation and agreed upon by both parties before the Contract becomes active.

Standard conditions include:

• Buyer's Funds Secured — the Buyer has committed the agreed amount to the Contract.
• Document Verification — the Seller uploads required documents (e.g., title, registration) and the Buyer reviews and approves them.
• Item Inspected/Verified — the item is checked against a verification checklist. For shipping transactions, this is performed by the Shipper. For in-person transactions, the Seller uploads photos of the item and the Buyer reviews and verifies them.
• Buyer's Signature / Seller's Signature — both parties digitally sign the Contract to confirm agreement to the terms.
• Item Picked Up (shipping only) — the Shipper confirms they have taken possession of the item from the Seller.
• Exchange Confirmed (in-person only) — both parties confirm the in-person handoff is complete.

Conditions unlock in a defined order. Some conditions can be completed in parallel (such as signatures and funding), while others require earlier conditions to be met first (such as item pickup requiring item inspection). This order is designed to protect both parties by ensuring verification happens before irreversible steps.

All conditions must be met for funds to release. There are no partial releases. If any condition remains incomplete, funds remain secured to the Contract within the Buyer's Stripe Connected Account.

6. Funds Promised

Funds Promised is the state of a Contract after which the Buyer may no longer unilaterally remove their funds from the Contract. The trigger is the same for shipping and in-person Contracts: Funds Promised is reached once all pre-transaction conditions are complete — specifically, the Buyer has funded the Contract, any required documents have been verified, and both the Buyer and the Seller have signed. In practice, this is the moment the last signature is captured.

• Shipping transactions. The shipper's inspection of the item ("Item Inspected/Verified") and the shipper's confirmation that the item has been collected ("Item Picked Up") occur after Funds Promised, as steps toward Contract completion. They are completion milestones, not the trigger for Funds Promised.
• In-person transactions. The mutual exchange confirmation ("Exchange Confirmed") occurs after Funds Promised, as the final step toward Contract completion. It is a completion milestone, not the trigger for Funds Promised.

Before Funds Promised. The Buyer may remove their funds from the Contract at any time. Either party may withdraw from the Contract at any time. In either case, if the Contract was funded, the Buyer receives a full refund (including the platform fee) to their Sekura available balance — the funds become immediately spendable on the platform or withdrawable to the Buyer's linked bank account at the Buyer's discretion.

After Funds Promised. Funds can only be released through Contract completion (all conditions met) or mutual cancellation (both parties agree). Unilateral fund removal and unilateral withdrawal are not available. The Buyer's committed funds remain within the Buyer's Stripe Connected Account but are mechanically non-withdrawable while the Contract is active.

14-day inactivity safety valve. If a Contract has passed Funds Promised but no activity has occurred on the Contract for 14 consecutive days, the Buyer regains the ability to remove funds and either party may withdraw. This safety mechanism prevents funds from being committed indefinitely in abandoned or stalled transactions. Activity is measured by the most recent logged action on the Contract (condition updates, confirmations, uploads, signatures, etc.).

7. Fees

Sekura charges a platform fee of 1.5% of the item price on funded Contracts. The platform fee is paid by the Buyer and is committed in addition to the item price at the time of funding. The Seller receives the full item price upon Contract completion; Sekura retains the platform fee at completion.

Fee refunds on cancellation. If a Contract is cancelled before completion — whether by Buyer fund removal, contract withdrawal, mutual cancellation, or the 14-day inactivity safety valve — the Buyer receives a full refund of both the item price and the platform fee. Sekura does not retain any portion of the fee on a cancelled Contract.

Fee disclosure. The exact fee amount is displayed during Contract creation and on the Contract page before funding. The Buyer's funding action constitutes acknowledgment of the fee.

Fee changes. Sekura reserves the right to modify its fee structure prospectively. Changes will be communicated to users via email or in-platform notification at least 14 days before taking effect. Fee changes do not apply to Contracts that are already active at the time of the change.

Third-party fees. Stripe may impose its own fees for certain payment processing services. Where applicable, those fees are governed by the user's agreement with Stripe and are separate from Sekura's platform fee.

8. Refunds and Cancellations

A Buyer may receive a refund of committed funds in the following situations:

• Voluntary fund removal (before Funds Promised). The Buyer may remove their committed funds from a Contract at any time before the Contract reaches Funds Promised. The full amount (item price plus platform fee) is returned to the Buyer's Sekura available balance.
• Contract withdrawal (before Funds Promised). Either party may withdraw from the Contract before Funds Promised. If the Contract was funded, the full amount is returned to the Buyer's Sekura available balance.
• Mutual cancellation (after Funds Promised). After Funds Promised, either party may request cancellation. Cancellation requires affirmative agreement from both parties. If the Contract was funded, the Buyer receives a full refund to their Sekura available balance upon mutual cancellation.
• 14-day inactivity safety valve. If a Contract is past Funds Promised but has had no activity for 14 consecutive days, the Buyer regains the ability to remove their funds, which return to their Sekura available balance.

Mechanics of refund. Because the Buyer's committed funds reside in the Buyer's own Stripe Connected Account for the entire pre-completion lifecycle of a Contract, refunds do not require a bank transfer. When a Contract is refunded, the previously-earmarked amount is released within the Buyer's Connected Account and is immediately reflected in the Buyer's Sekura available balance. The Buyer may then spend those funds on the platform (for example, by funding a different Contract) or withdraw them to a linked bank account at the Buyer's discretion, subject to Section 10. Refunds are instant; no ACH settlement period applies.

Completed Contracts are not refundable. Once all conditions are met and funds have been released to the Seller, Sekura cannot reverse the transaction. Any disputes after completion must be resolved between the parties directly.

9. ACH Risks and Timelines

Deposits, payouts, and withdrawals on Sekura are processed via the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network through Stripe. (Refunds are handled inside the Buyer's Connected Account and do not traverse the ACH network — see Section 8.) ACH transfers carry timing and dispute characteristics that users should understand:

Deposit settlement. ACH deposits typically take 3—5 business days to settle. Funds are not available for use until Stripe confirms settlement. Pending deposits are visible in the user's account but are not available for funding Contracts or withdrawing until settlement is confirmed.

Payout and withdrawal settlement. ACH payouts from a Stripe Connected Account to a linked bank account typically arrive in 1–2 business days. Sekura does not control bank-side processing times, which may vary by receiving institution.

ACH dispute window. Under ACH network rules, a Buyer's bank may permit the Buyer to dispute an ACH debit for up to 60 days after the transaction. If a dispute is filed and successful, the disputed funds may be clawed back from the Buyer's Stripe Connected Account. This may occur even after the Buyer has committed those funds to a Contract or after the funds have been released to a Seller.

Effect of a clawback. If an ACH dispute results in a clawback of funds that have already been released to a Seller, the Buyer's Sekura account may be flagged, the underlying Contract may be flagged for review, and the Buyer may be required to make Sekura whole for any shortfall. Sekura may take action against accounts that initiate disputes in bad faith, including suspension of platform access and pursuit of recovery through legal channels.

Platform risk acknowledgment. By using Sekura, users acknowledge the ACH dispute risk described above and agree to the platform's response procedures as set forth in this Agreement.

10. Withdrawals

Users may withdraw available funds from their Stripe Connected Account to their linked bank account at any time, subject to the following:

• Minimum withdrawal. $5.00. Below this amount, withdrawals are not available.
• Maximum withdrawal. No maximum imposed by Sekura. Stripe may apply its own limits.
• Available funds. A user's available funds are the balance in their Stripe Connected Account minus any amounts committed to active Contracts as Buyer. Funds committed to active Contracts are not withdrawable.
• Settlement. Withdrawal payouts are processed via ACH and typically arrive in the user's linked bank account in 1–2 business days.

Bank account linkage. A user must have a verified bank account linked to their Stripe Connected Account in order to withdraw. Bank verification is handled by Stripe.

Withdrawal failures. A withdrawal may fail at the bank network for reasons including account closure, invalid routing information, or bank-side restrictions. Failed withdrawals are returned to the user's available funds, and the user is notified by email. Sekura may attempt to investigate the cause but is not responsible for bank-side failures.

11. Dispute Resolution

Sekura's condition-based system is designed to minimize disputes by ensuring that both parties verify and confirm each step of a transaction before funds are released. The condition system, combined with document verification, item inspection, and dual signatures, creates a transparent record of what was agreed and what was delivered.

Report an Issue. Either party (Buyer or Seller) may report an issue on any active Contract. Issue reports are reviewed by Sekura's support team, who may contact both parties to gather information. Sekura attempts to facilitate a resolution but is not obligated to arbitrate or make binding decisions.

Mutual cancellation. If both parties agree that a transaction should not proceed, they may mutually cancel the Contract through the platform. Funded Contracts that are mutually cancelled result in a full refund to the Buyer (item price plus platform fee).

Sekura's role. Sekura acts as a facilitator, not an arbitrator. Sekura does not make determinations about the quality, authenticity, or value of items transacted on the platform. Sekura does not have the authority to override the condition system, force a refund after completion, or compel either party to take action. If parties cannot resolve a dispute through the platform's built-in tools, they may need to pursue resolution through legal channels in their jurisdiction.

Smart-contract enforcement. By using Sekura, both parties agree that the platform's automated enforcement of conditions and timelines is part of the bargained-for contract between them. A Contract reaching Funds Promised, completing, or stalling under the 14-day rule is a programmatic outcome of the parties' own configuration of the Contract, not a unilateral act by Sekura.

12. Shipper Role and Obligations

For shipping transactions, the Buyer may invite a Shipper to handle the physical pickup, inspection, and delivery of the item. The Shipper's role is to serve as an independent, neutral verifier of the item's condition and existence.

Shipper responsibilities include:

• Picking up the item from the Seller at the agreed location.
• Inspecting the item against the Contract's verification checklist (e.g., confirming VIN, odometer reading, exterior condition, hull ID).
• Marking checklist items as verified on the platform.
• Confirming item pickup through the platform.
• Delivering the item to the Buyer.

Shippers are independent parties. They are not employees, agents, contractors, or representatives of Sekura. Sekura does not vet, certify, license, insure, or guarantee Shippers. The Buyer is responsible for selecting a Shipper they trust.

Sekura is not liable for Shipper actions. Sekura is not responsible for damage during transport, delays in delivery, incomplete inspections, or any other actions or omissions by a Shipper. Any agreements between the Buyer and Shipper regarding compensation, insurance, or liability are strictly between those parties.

Shippers may receive ratings and reviews from Buyers and Sellers after completing deliveries. These ratings are provided for informational purposes and do not constitute an endorsement by Sekura.

13. In-Person Transactions

Sekura supports in-person transactions where the Buyer and Seller meet at one location to exchange the item directly, without a Shipper.

How in-person transactions work:

• The Buyer funds the Contract and both parties sign it.
• The Buyer and Seller meet at an agreed location.
• The Buyer inspects the item in person.
• If satisfied, both parties confirm the exchange through the platform.
• Once both confirmations are received, the Contract auto-completes and funds are paid out to the Seller's bank account.

Either party may walk away. If the Buyer is not satisfied with the item upon in-person inspection, they are not required to confirm the exchange. Similarly, the Seller is not required to hand over the item if they have concerns. If only one party confirms and the other does not, the Contract remains open and the Buyer's funds remain secured to it.

Dual confirmation is required. Funds are only released when both the Buyer and Seller independently confirm the exchange through the Sekura platform. A single confirmation from one party does not trigger fund release.

Sekura is not present at in-person transactions and has no control over the meeting location, timing, or conduct of either party. Users should exercise appropriate personal safety precautions when meeting strangers for high-value transactions.

14. Limitation of Liability

Sekura is a technology platform. Sekura provides the software, infrastructure, and payment-orchestration integration that enables condition-based fund release between private parties. Sekura does not take possession of items, does not inspect items, does not guarantee the accuracy of item descriptions, and does not verify the identity or credentials of users beyond what is required to maintain a Stripe Connected Account.

Sekura is not responsible for:

• The quality, condition, authenticity, legality, or value of any item transacted on the platform.
• The performance, reliability, or conduct of any Buyer, Seller, or Shipper.
• Damage, loss, or theft of items during transport or at any point during the transaction.
• Delays caused by parties failing to complete conditions in a timely manner.
• The accuracy of documents uploaded to the platform (titles, registrations, etc.).
• Any tax obligations arising from transactions conducted through the platform.
• Acts or omissions of Stripe, Inc., including delays, failures, restrictions, or account actions taken by Stripe pursuant to the user's agreement with Stripe.

Limitation of liability. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Sekura's total liability for any claim arising from or related to this Agreement or the use of the platform shall not exceed the amount of platform fees paid by the claimant to Sekura in the twelve (12) months preceding the claim. Sekura shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or punitive damages.

No warranty. The Sekura platform is provided "as is" and "as available." Sekura makes no warranties, express or implied, regarding the platform's reliability, availability, or fitness for a particular purpose.

15. Amendments and Contact

Amendments. Sekura reserves the right to modify this Trust Agreement at any time. When changes are made, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page and, for material changes, notify users via email or an in-platform notification at least 14 days before the changes take effect.

Continued use of the Sekura platform after amendments are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated Agreement. If you do not agree with the changes, you should stop using the platform and close any open Contracts.

Contracts that are already active at the time of an amendment will continue to be governed by the version of this Agreement that was in effect when the Contract was created, unless the amendment is required by law or regulation.

Contact. If you have questions about this Trust Agreement or need assistance with a transaction, you can reach us at:

Entity: Sekura LLC, a Minnesota limited liability company
Email: support@sekuratrust.com
Website: sekuratrust.com

For active transaction issues, we recommend using the "Report an Issue" feature within the Contract page, as this provides our support team with the full transaction context.