Terms of service

These Terms of Service (the "Terms") are a binding agreement between you and Macfax. By downloading the Macfax macOS app, running a Basic or Premium diagnostic, paying for a Premium report or bulk pack, viewing a Macfax report at a public report URL, or otherwise using any part of the service (collectively, the "Service"), you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

These Terms contain a binding arbitration agreement and a class action waiver that affect your legal rights. Please read the "Binding arbitration and class action waiver" section carefully.

1. Definitions

• "Macfax," "we," "our," and "us" mean the operator of the Macfax service and the macfax.com website.
• "You" and "your" mean the person or entity using the Service.
• "Basic Report" means the free, publicly shareable Macfax report covering identity, authenticity, and spec match. The diagnostic payload is signed at issuance by a key held inside the Mac's Secure Enclave. The device-binding fingerprint is recorded server-side but not exposed in the public artifact.
• "Premium Report" means the paid Macfax report. It includes everything in a Basic Report, plus hardware-health diagnostics (SSD wear, battery cycles, sustained CPU and GPU burn-in, memory test), photo capture with on-screen serial, PDF export, and a device-binding fingerprint exposed for buyer re-verification.
• "Upgrade" means converting an existing Basic Report into a Premium Report by paying the upgrade fee and running the Premium phases from the same Mac that issued the Basic Report. The public report URL is preserved across upgrade.
• "Report" means a Basic Report or a Premium Report.
• "Diagnostic" means the on-device process that produces the data underlying a Report.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old (or the age of majority in your jurisdiction) and able to form a binding contract. By using the Service you represent that you meet these requirements, that you are not located in or a national of a country subject to a US embargo or comprehensive US sanctions, and that you are not on any US government list of prohibited or restricted parties.

3. No accounts; email as identifier

Macfax does not use accounts or passwords. The email address you provide at checkout is your identifier for receipts, report management, refund requests, and dispute notices. Keep that email account secure; anyone with access to it may be able to act on a Report tied to that address.

4. What a Macfax Report certifies

A Macfax Report is a snapshot of a device's technical state at the moment of issuance, bound to a device-specific key fingerprint produced on the same Mac. Specifically, a Report certifies:

• The device's serial, model, and hardware identifiers as reported by the operating system
• The state of Activation Lock, Find My, and MDM enrollment at the time of the Diagnostic
• Premium Reports only: SSD wear and battery-cycle metrics as reported by the system, the results of the memory test and CPU and GPU burn-in routines included in the Diagnostic, and a device-bound key fingerprint that the buyer can re-derive on receipt

5. What a Macfax Report does not certify

Software cannot prove what software cannot read. A Macfax Report does not certify:

• Cosmetic condition (dents, scratches, hinge wobble, screen burn-in)
• Liquid contact indicators, which are physical and internal
• Whether the device has ever been opened
• Apple repair history beyond what appears in the macOS Service History pane
• Pending mechanical failures that no diagnostic can predict
• The identity, character, or intent of any seller, buyer, or other person
• The legality or commercial terms of any underlying transaction

6. Reports combine deterministic data with professional judgment

A Macfax Report is composed of two kinds of content, and the legal status of each is different.

Deterministic data. Most of a Report consists of values read directly from your Mac: serial number, model and hardware identifiers, Activation Lock and Find My state, MDM enrollment, SSD wear metrics, battery cycles, memory and burn-in test results, cryptographic signatures, and similar values reported by Apple's operating system or hardware. Macfax accurately transmits these values as the system reports them. Macfax does not warrant the underlying truthfulness, completeness, or accuracy of the upstream signal, and is not responsible for errors, tampering, or anomalies originating in the operating system, the hardware, or third-party software running on your Mac.

Interpretive output. Other parts of a Report involve Macfax's professional judgment about how to score, characterize, project, or summarize the underlying data. Such judgment is subjective and may change from time to time as cryptographic methods, hardware data, third-party signals, or Macfax's methodology evolve. Macfax makes no warranty or representation, and shall have no liability whatsoever to you or any third party, for any opinion rendered, score computed, status assigned, characterization made, projection produced, or summary published in any Report.

A Report is not a statement of fact about any person and is not a finding, verdict, or accusation regarding any seller, buyer, or third party. Macfax does not represent that a Report establishes, proves, or disproves fraud, intent, knowledge, or wrongdoing on the part of any individual. Buyers and sellers should use a Report as one input among many when deciding whether to complete a transaction. Macfax is not a party to any transaction between users and does not insure, escrow, hold funds for, adjudicate, or guarantee any transaction.

7. Report validity and freshness

A Report URL works indefinitely. The Report page displays a prominent issue date so buyers can judge freshness themselves. Re-running the Diagnostic on the same Mac is free at any time. Macfax may, in extraordinary circumstances described in the next section, take down or annotate a Report.

A Report reflects the state observed at the moment of issuance. Macfax has no obligation to modify or update a Report after issuance, including in light of any later attestation, change in diagnostic methodology, new cryptographic technique, or third-party signal. Freshness is for the buyer to evaluate from the displayed issue date.

8. Takedown at Macfax's discretion

In extraordinary circumstances, including credible evidence of forged payloads, tampering with the macOS app, violation of these Terms, or a binding legal order, Macfax may, at its sole discretion, remove a Report or display a public notice on the Report page indicating that the Report is no longer reliable. Macfax has no obligation to provide advance notice, follow any particular procedure, or maintain any specific timeline. Any takedown or notice is a statement about the technical reliability of the Report alone and does not imply any finding about the identity, motive, or character of any person.

If Macfax determines that data underlying a Report contains an error, Macfax's sole obligation, if any, is correction of the record in question at Macfax's discretion. Macfax has no obligation to notify any third party who has previously accessed the Report, no obligation to compensate any user for any consequence of the error, and no obligation to act on any specific timeline.

You agree not to sue and not to recover any damages from Macfax as a result of any decision by Macfax to remove a Report, annotate a Report, suspend or refuse to issue a Report, take any other action during the investigation of a suspected breach of these Terms, or as a result of Macfax's conclusion that a breach has occurred.

9. Buyer re-attestation

Macfax strongly recommends buyer-side re-attestation on receipt of any Mac sold with a Premium Report. A mismatch between the Report's device-binding fingerprint and the fingerprint re-derived from the device on receipt is the fraud signal the Service is designed to surface. If you accept delivery without performing the re-attestation step, you have foregone the protection the Service provides for that transaction.

10. Pricing, fees, and payment

Basic Reports are free. Premium Reports and bulk packs are sold at the prices shown on the pricing page at the time of purchase, in US dollars, payable through Stripe. You authorize Macfax, through Stripe, to charge your selected payment method for the amounts due, including any applicable taxes. You are responsible for any taxes, customs duties, or other charges imposed by your jurisdiction, other than taxes on Macfax's net income.

Prices may change. A price change does not affect orders already completed. Subscription billing is not offered; every purchase is a one-time transaction.

11. Refunds

Refunds are governed by the Macfax Refund Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference.

12. Chargebacks

If you believe a charge is in error, contact support@macfax.com first. Initiating a chargeback through your card issuer for a charge that is consistent with these Terms and the Refund Policy may result in immediate removal of any associated Reports, refusal to issue further Reports under the same email or payment method, and recovery of any chargeback fees and reasonable collection costs.

13. Acceptable use

You may not:

• Run a Macfax Diagnostic on a Mac you do not own or are not authorized to inspect
• Issue more than one Report per device unless you have purchased bulk capacity, or attempt to reuse a Report or activation token for a different device
• Tamper with, modify, or attempt to forge the input to or output of the macOS app, including the attestation envelope, signed payload, or device-binding fingerprint
• Misrepresent the contents, age, or status of a Report when listing or selling a device
• Scrape, crawl, or systematically harvest data from macfax.com, including Report pages, the registry, and the lookup tool
• Use the Service to harass, defame, threaten, or stalk any person
• Resell, sublicense, white-label, or commercialize the Service without a written agreement with Macfax
• Interfere with the operation of the Service, including by transmitting malware, performing denial-of-service attacks, or probing for vulnerabilities outside a published security disclosure program
• Use the Service in violation of any applicable law, including export control and sanctions laws

Violation of this section may result in immediate removal of affected Reports, refusal to issue further Reports, termination of access, and any remedies available at law or in equity.

Prohibited uses. You may not use any Macfax Report as the basis for, or as a factor in, decisions about employment, credit, insurance, housing, immigration status, government benefits, or criminal investigation. The Service is not a "consumer report" within the meaning of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq., and Macfax is not a "consumer reporting agency" under that act. You may not use the Service to evaluate a person's character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living.

14. Intellectual property

Macfax, the Macfax word mark, the macfax.com website, the macOS app, the Report layout and graphic design, the registry, the lookup tool, and the underlying software are owned by Macfax and protected by US and international copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. Macfax grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Service for its intended purpose, subject to these Terms.

You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, lease, reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to derive source code from any Macfax software, except to the extent applicable law prohibits this restriction. You may not remove or alter any copyright, trademark, or attribution notice. You may not scrape, frame, or systematically download data from macfax.com without Macfax's prior written consent.

15. Your content; license to Macfax

The diagnostic data captured during a Diagnostic (your serial number, model identifiers, hardware-health metrics, and so on) describes your device and is yours. You grant Macfax a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, sublicensable license to host, store, process, display, and transmit that data as part of operating the Service, including displaying the Report on its public URL, surfacing the Report in the registry, and retaining the append-only device-key tuples described in the Privacy Policy.

16. Third-party services

The Service depends on third-party providers, including Apple (Secure Enclave, notarization), Stripe (payments), Vercel (hosting and CDN), and Microsoft Azure (database). Macfax is not responsible for outages, errors, or acts of those providers. Your use of third-party services through the Service is also subject to those providers' terms.

17. Third-party trademarks and editorial content

The Service and the Macfax blog include references to, and occasional depictions of, products, services, and trade names owned by third parties.

Notable third-party trademarks. Apple, Mac, MacBook, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Pro, Mac Studio, macOS, iPhone, App Store, Secure Enclave, Find My, FileVault, AppleCare, and other Apple marks are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. Stripe is a trademark of Stripe, Inc. Vercel is a trademark of Vercel, Inc. Microsoft, Azure, and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. eBay is a trademark of eBay Inc. All other third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Macfax is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any of these companies.

Nominative fair use. Macfax uses third-party trademarks descriptively and nominatively, to identify the third party or its products accurately, only to the extent reasonably necessary, and without any suggestion of sponsorship, endorsement, or affiliation. Macfax claims no rights in any third-party mark.

Editorial commentary. Blog posts, guides, glossary entries, comparison articles, and similar content reflect Macfax's commentary, opinion, criticism, news reporting, or analysis as of the date published. Editorial content may be researched, drafted, or produced in whole or in part with the assistance of generative AI tools, and is reviewed by Macfax before publication. Where Macfax displays third-party screenshots, photographs, logos, quotations, or other excerpts, such use is intended to be licensed, used with permission, in the public domain, or used as fair use under 17 U.S.C. § 107 for purposes including commentary, criticism, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, research, or comparative analysis. Editorial content is not legal, financial, or technical advice. Macfax is not responsible for the content of third-party sites linked from the Service.

Reservation of Macfax's marks. "Macfax," the Macfax word mark, the Macfax logo, the Report layout, the look and feel of macfax.com, and the look and feel of the Macfax macOS app are trademarks and trade dress of Macfax. You may not use them without prior written permission, except in factual references that themselves comply with nominative fair use.

Reporting an IP concern. If you believe content on the Service or the Macfax blog uses your intellectual property without authorization, email disputes@macfax.com with: (i) a description of the work, (ii) the URL where the alleged use appears, (iii) your contact information, and (iv) a statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use is not authorized by the owner, its agent, or the law. Macfax will review such notices in good faith and may remove, modify, or correct attribution at its discretion. Submitting a knowingly false claim may itself be the basis for liability.

18. Warranty disclaimer

THE SERVICE, THE MACOS APP, AND ALL MACFAX REPORTS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITH ALL FAULTS AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, MACFAX EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, ACCURACY, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND ANY WARRANTIES ARISING FROM COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE.

Macfax does not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free; that any defects will be corrected; that any Report, Diagnostic, or attestation will be free of inaccuracy; or that the Service will detect every form of tampering, swap, or misrepresentation. No advice or information obtained from Macfax creates any warranty not expressly stated in these Terms.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties; to the extent those rules apply to you, the above exclusions apply to the fullest extent permitted by law.

19. Limitation of liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL MACFAX BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOST PROFITS, LOST SALES, LOST REVENUE, LOST DATA, LOSS OF GOODWILL, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, OR THE COST OF SUBSTITUTE SERVICES, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS, THE SERVICE, OR ANY MACFAX REPORT, REGARDLESS OF THE THEORY OF LIABILITY (CONTRACT, TORT, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE) AND EVEN IF MACFAX HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

MACFAX'S TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID TO MACFAX IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM, OR (B) FIFTY US DOLLARS (USD $50).

These limits apply to all causes of action in the aggregate, including breach of contract, breach of warranty, negligence, strict liability, misrepresentation, and any other tort, whether under statute, in equity, or at law. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages; to the extent those rules apply to you, the above limitations apply to the fullest extent permitted by law.

You acknowledge that the limits in this section reflect a reasonable allocation of risk and are an essential part of the bargain. The Service would not be offered at its current price without these limits.

20. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Macfax, its operator, contractors, and licensors from any claims, demands, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to:

• Your use of the Service or any Report you issue
• Your violation of these Terms or any applicable law
• Your violation of any third-party right, including intellectual property, publicity, or privacy
• Any dispute between you and another user of the Service, or a counterparty to a transaction in which a Macfax Report was presented or relied upon
• Any content or information you submit or transmit through the Service

Macfax may, at its option, assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter for which you owe indemnification. You will cooperate in Macfax's defense and may not settle any matter without Macfax's prior written consent.

21. Privacy

Your use of the Service is also governed by the Macfax Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference.

22. Term and termination

These Terms remain in effect for as long as you use the Service. Macfax may suspend or terminate your access at any time, with or without notice, for any reason or no reason, including suspected violation of these Terms, suspected fraud, or risk to other users. Provisions that by their nature should survive termination will survive, including the sections on intellectual property, warranty disclaimer, limitation of liability, indemnification, dispute resolution, governing law, and these survival provisions.

23. Binding arbitration and class action waiver

PLEASE READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY. IT AFFECTS YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS.

You and Macfax agree to resolve any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service (each, a "Dispute") by binding individual arbitration, except for the carve-outs described below.

• No court, no jury. You and Macfax waive the right to a trial by judge or jury for any Dispute.
• No class or representative actions. Claims may be brought only on an individual basis. You may not join or consolidate claims with anyone else, and no arbitrator may preside over any class, collective, mass, consolidated, or representative proceeding.
• Informal resolution first. Before filing for arbitration, you must send a written notice describing the Dispute to disputes@macfax.com and give Macfax thirty (30) days to resolve it. The notice must include your name, your contact information, a description of the Dispute, and the relief you seek.

Arbitration administrator and rules. Arbitration will be administered by the American Arbitration Association (the "AAA") under the AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules in effect when the demand is filed, as modified by these Terms. The AAA rules are available at adr.org. Arbitration may proceed by telephone, video, or written submissions, or in person in the county where you reside. The arbitrator's award is final and may be entered as a judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Carve-outs. Either party may, despite this section, (a) bring a Dispute in small-claims court if the claim qualifies under that court's rules and jurisdiction, for so long as the matter remains there and is brought on an individual (non-class) basis, or (b) seek injunctive or equitable relief in court to protect intellectual property, confidential information, or the integrity of the Service.

Opt-out right. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement by emailing disputes@macfax.com within thirty (30) days after first agreeing to these Terms (the date of your first use of the Service on or after the date at the top of this page). Your notice must include your name, the email you used at checkout (if any), and a clear statement that you decline arbitration. Opting out has no effect on any other provision of these Terms.

Confidentiality. Any arbitration under this section will be confidential. Neither you, Macfax, the AAA, nor the arbitrator may disclose the existence, content (including any oral or written submissions), or results of the arbitration, except as may be required by law or for purposes of enforcing or challenging an arbitration award.

Severability of this section. If any part of this arbitration section is held unenforceable, that part will be severed and the remainder will continue in force, except that if the class action waiver above is held unenforceable, the entire arbitration section will be void and the Dispute will proceed in the courts identified under "Governing law and venue."

Federal Arbitration Act. This section is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. §§ 1 et seq.

24. Governing law and venue

These Terms and any non-arbitrable Dispute are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to its conflict of laws principles. For any Dispute not subject to arbitration, the exclusive venue is the state or federal courts located in New Castle County, Delaware, and you and Macfax consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply.

25. Force majeure

Macfax is not liable for any delay or failure to perform caused by events outside its reasonable control, including acts of God, natural disasters, pandemic, war, civil unrest, government action, labor disputes, power or internet outages, supply chain disruption, or failures of upstream providers (including Apple, Stripe, Vercel, and Microsoft Azure).

26. Notices

Macfax sends notices to the email address you provide at checkout or the address from which you contact Macfax. You send notices to Macfax at support@macfax.com for ordinary matters and disputes@macfax.com for legal or dispute matters. Notices are effective when sent.

27. Changes to these Terms

Macfax may update these Terms from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision. Material changes will be highlighted at the top of this page or communicated by email to the address on file at least thirty (30) days before they take effect. Continued use of the Service after a change takes effect is acceptance of the updated Terms.

28. Notice of claim and limitations period

You agree to give Macfax written notice of any claim arising out of or relating to a specific Report, Diagnostic, transaction, or Service interaction within fourteen (14) days of the event giving rise to the claim. Notice is sent to disputes@macfax.com and must describe the claim and the relief sought. To the fullest extent permitted by law, any claim not noticed within that window is waived.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, any claim or cause of action arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service must be filed within one (1) year after the claim or cause of action arose, or it is permanently barred.

29. Miscellaneous

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and the Refund Policy, are the entire agreement between you and Macfax regarding the Service and supersede any prior or contemporaneous agreements. If any provision is held unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in effect. A failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of that or any other provision. You may not assign these Terms or your rights under them without Macfax's prior written consent; Macfax may assign these Terms freely, including to a successor or affiliate in connection with a sale, merger, or reorganization. The headings in these Terms are for convenience only and do not affect interpretation.

30. Contact

Questions about these Terms: support@macfax.com. Legal and dispute matters: disputes@macfax.com.