The contract between you and AIV Index.

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are a binding agreement between you (“Customer” or “you”) and Auto Alpha Advisory (Pty) Ltd (registration number: 2025/213512/07), a South African company trading as AIV Index(“we”, “us”, “AIV Index”). These Terms are effective from the date you subscribe to a paid plan and govern your use of the AIV Index platform at aiv.autoalphaadvisory.co.za and any associated services (together, the “Service”). By subscribing you confirm you have read, understood, and agreed to these Terms.

1. Parties and entity

Auto Alpha Advisory (Pty) Ltd is a private company incorporated under the laws of South Africa, registered with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) under registration number 2025/213512/07, with its principal place of business in Cape Town, South Africa. It operates AIV Index as a SaaS product under the domain aiv.autoalphaadvisory.co.za. The company’s Information Officer (POPIA) can be reached at hello@autoalphaadvisory.co.za. Auto Alpha Advisory (Pty) Ltd is not a registered VAT vendor; no value-added tax is charged on the fees.

2. Description of the Service

AIV Index is a subscription-based AI-visibility measurement platform that:

• Generates brand-specific prompts using AI and submits them to AI engine APIs (ChatGPT / OpenAI, Claude / Anthropic, Perplexity, Gemini / Google) on a recurring schedule, measuring how often and in what context your brand is cited in AI-generated responses;
• Provides a GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) site-readiness audit that scores your website’s compatibility with AI-engine crawlers;
• Displays brand-visibility data, trends, and insights on a web dashboard accessible at the domain above;
• Optionally ingests Google Search Console analytics if you grant read-only access; and
• Includes an AI chatbot assistant trained on your AIV data.

The outputs of the Service reflect the responses of third-party AI engines at the time of measurement. They are inherently stochastic — AI engines may return different answers to the same prompt on different occasions. AIV Index does not control, endorse, or warrant the accuracy of any AI engine’s response.

3. Account and eligibility

To use the Service you must:

• Be at least 18 years of age;
• Have the legal capacity to enter into a binding contract;
• If subscribing on behalf of a company or other legal entity, represent that you have the authority to bind that entity to these Terms; and
• Provide a valid email address and accurate account details.

You authenticate via magic-link OTP email or Google OAuth. You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account. Notify us immediately at hello@autoalphaadvisory.co.za if you believe your account has been compromised.

4. Subscription, billing, and auto-renewal

4.1 Plans and pricing

The Service is offered on the following monthly plans:

• Starter — R 650 / month
• Pro — R 1,500 / month
• Scale — R 3,500 / month

Auto Alpha Advisory (Pty) Ltd is not a registered VAT vendor, so no VAT is added to the fees. Current prices are displayed on our pricing page.
Note: billing is monthly only. Annual billing may be introduced in a future update; it has no contractual effect until it is implemented and these Terms are updated accordingly.

4.2 Payment processor

All payments are processed by PayFast (PayFast (Pty) Ltd, a South African payment gateway). When you subscribe, you enter into a recurring billing agreement directly with PayFast. The charge will appear on your statement from PayFast or its nominated entity. AIV Index does not store your card or bank account details.

4.3 Auto-renewal

Your subscription renews automatically every calendar month on the anniversary of your subscription start date. The renewal charge is debited from your payment method on file with PayFast without further action or authorisation from you each month. By subscribing you expressly authorise this recurring debit.

You will receive a receipt from PayFast for each successful charge. If a charge fails, PayFast may retry the payment; if retries are exhausted, your subscription may be suspended or cancelled and your access to the Service may be restricted until payment is resolved.

4.4 First-month trial and promotional offers

Where a promotional “first month free” offer is active at the time of your subscription, your first billing period will not be charged. The free period begins on your subscription date and ends 30 days later, after which your selected plan rate applies and monthly auto-renewal begins. Promotional offers are subject to availability and may be withdrawn at any time for new signups; they have no effect on existing subscriptions. The specific terms of any active promotion are displayed on the sign-in or pricing page at the time you subscribe.

4.5 Price changes

We may change the plan pricing at any time. For existing subscribers, a price change takes effect at the start of the billing period that begins at least 30 calendar days after we notify you by email. If you do not cancel before the new price takes effect, you are deemed to accept the new price. We will never apply a price increase retroactively to a completed billing period.

5. Cancellation and refund policy

5.1 How to cancel

You may cancel your subscription at any time via the PayFast customer portal. An in-app cancellation flow is not yet available. To access the PayFast portal, use the link provided in your PayFast subscription confirmation email, or email hello@autoalphaadvisory.co.za and we will assist you within two business days.

5.2 Effect of cancellation

Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period. You retain full access to the Service until that date. No further charges are made after the billing period ends. Your account data (brand settings, sweep history, and reports) is retained for 30 days after your subscription ends, during which you may request an export of your data (hello@autoalphaadvisory.co.za). After 30 days we may delete your data in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

5.3 Refund policy

Monthly subscriptions are not refunded on a pro-rata basis for unused days within a billing period. If you cancel mid-month, you keep access until the period end and no partial refund is issued. This is consistent with the “cancel any time, access until period-end” model disclosed on our pricing page.

Exceptions: (a) If we have charged you in error (e.g. a duplicate charge), we will refund the incorrect amount within 10 business days of being notified. (b) If the Service is unavailable for more than 72 consecutive hours in a billing period due to a fault attributable to us, you may request a pro-rata credit for the affected days; such credit will be applied to your next invoice rather than refunded in cash.

Nothing in this clause limits your rights under the Consumer Protection Act, 2008 (“CPA”).

5.4 Refresh credit packs

Refresh credits are a once-off prepaid purchase, not a subscription — nothing auto-renews. Each credit triggers one immediate additional sweep of a tracked brand and resets that brand’s included monthly sweep to 30 days from the refresh, as shown beside the refresh button before you spend. Credits do not expire while your subscription remains active. If your subscription ends, unspent credits are forfeited 30 days after the subscription end date (the same window as the §5.2 data-retention period).

A spent credit is not refundable once its sweep has run. Fully unspent packs are refunded on written request within 7 days of purchase, per the cooling-off right in §44 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2002 (“ECTA”); after 7 days, unspent credits are refundable at our discretion. The exceptions in §5.3 (billing errors; payments that fail to credit) apply to credit packs in full, and nothing in this clause limits your CPA rights.

6. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• Use the Service to measure or track brands you do not own or have no legitimate business relationship with, in a manner intended to harm or mislead the brand owner;
• Abuse the AI engine querying infrastructure, including submitting bulk or automated requests outside your plan’s cadence in a manner that increases our API costs disproportionately;
• Resell, sublicense, or redistribute raw AI engine response data obtained through the Service to third parties, except with our prior written consent;
• Use the Service to track, profile, or build datasets on private individuals without their consent;
• Attempt to reverse-engineer, scrape, or copy the Service’s prompt methodology, scoring algorithms, or proprietary GEO audit logic;
• Use the Service for any purpose that violates applicable law, including the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2002, the CPA, or POPIA; or
• Impersonate another company or individual in your account, brand, or domain configuration.

We may suspend or terminate your account immediately if we have reasonable grounds to believe you have violated this section.

7. Data ownership and intellectual property

7.1 Your brand data

You retain all ownership of: (a) the brand name, domain, and competitor information you configure; (b) the sweep results and brand-visibility data generated for your account; and (c) any exports provided to you. We process this data solely to provide the Service to you.

7.2 Our intellectual property

AIV Index retains all rights in: (a) the prompt-generation methodology; (b) the GEO site-readiness scoring algorithm and audit logic; (c) the benchmark indices and aggregated (de-identified) industry benchmarks derived from multi-tenant data; and (d) the dashboard software, design system, and all underlying code.

7.3 Aggregate analytics

We may use de-identified, aggregated data across all tenants to improve the Service and to publish industry-level insights (e.g. “average AI brand-citation rate for South African financial services companies”). Individual tenant data is never published or shared in identifiable form.

8. Accuracy of AI-engine outputs — no warranty

AIV Index measures the responses of third-party AI engines (OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity, Google Gemini). These engines are outside our control and their outputs are:

• Stochastic— the same prompt may produce different responses at different times;
• Subject to change— AI providers update their models without notice; brand-citation patterns may shift as a result; and
• Not investment, legal, regulatory, or marketing advice— AIV data is a measurement tool only.

The Service is provided “as is” and “as available”. We make no warranty, express or implied, including any implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or that the Service will be error-free or uninterrupted.

9. Limitation of liability and indemnity

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law:

• AIV Index’s total aggregate liability to you under or in connection with these Terms (whether in contract, delict, or otherwise) is limited to the total subscription fees you paid to us in the 12 months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim;
• AIV Index is not liable for any indirect, consequential, special, incidental, or punitive loss or damage, including loss of profits, loss of revenue, loss of business opportunity, or reputational harm, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages;
• AIV Index is not liable for the accuracy, completeness, or availability of any AI engine response, or for any decision you make based on the data the Service surfaces.

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Auto Alpha Advisory (Pty) Ltd, its directors, employees, and contractors from any claim, loss, or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising from: (a) your violation of these Terms; (b) your use of the Service in a manner that infringes a third party’s rights; or (c) content you submit to the Service.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot be limited under the CPA or any other applicable law.

10. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service immediately, with written notice, if you: (a) materially breach these Terms and fail to remedy the breach within 7 days of notice; (b) engage in conduct that violates Section 6 (Acceptable Use); (c) become insolvent or enter business rescue; or (d) your subscription payment fails and is not cured within the grace period provided by PayFast.

On termination for cause, no refund is owed for the current billing period. You may terminate at any time for convenience under Section 5.

11. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of South Africa. Any dispute arising from or in connection with these Terms will first be referred to good-faith negotiation by email to hello@autoalphaadvisory.co.za. If not resolved within 30 calendar days, either party may refer the matter to the Western Cape High Court (Cape Town), whose jurisdiction both parties submit to. Nothing in this clause prevents either party from seeking urgent interim relief from any court of competent jurisdiction.

The Consumer Protection Act, 2008 and POPIA apply to the extent required by law and are not excluded by these Terms.

12. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. For material changes (changes that affect your rights, the price, or the scope of the Service), we will email you at least 30 days before the change takes effect. Your continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. If you do not accept the changes, you may cancel before they take effect.

13. Contact

Auto Alpha Advisory (Pty) Ltd
Cape Town, South Africa
Product: AIV Index
Email: hello@autoalphaadvisory.co.za (general enquiries and disputes)
Email: hello@autoalphaadvisory.co.za (Information Officer — POPIA requests)