# BRD-081 — A sole-proprietor brand cannot buy its way to more throughput

> External vetting, and the throughput increases vetting buys, are not available on a sole-proprietor brand.

- **Rule ID:** BRD-081
- **Layer:** Brand (`BRAND`)
- **Checks:** `external vet order`
- **Severity:** BLOCKING — Breaking this rule gets the submission rejected outright.
- **When it bites:** Gates approval — get this wrong and registration is refused
- **How it is detected:** Deterministic (settled in code from the submitted values)
- **Fix type:** Fix the field — a better value in the form clears it
- **Required by:** TCR, Twilio, Vonage
- **Applies:** Applies when the brand is a sole proprietor.
- **Canonical URL:** https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/brand/brd-081/

## Why this rule exists

Vetting works by confirming a business against commercial records, and this tier exists precisely for people who are not in those records — so the vet has nothing to verify and the order is refused rather than failed. It matters because the obvious response to a low throughput cap is to buy a vet, and here that spends a non-refundable fee on an operation that was never possible.

## How to fix it

Do not order a vet on this brand. If the throughput cap is the problem, the route up is an EIN and a standard brand, which can then be vetted — the tier change is the increase, and the vet only helps once you are on the other tier.

## Example of a compliant value

```text
vetting: none on a sole-proprietor brand — the throughput increase comes from moving to a standard brand instead
```

## Provider rejection codes

| Provider | Code | Resubmission allowed |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Twilio | `30715` | yes |
| TCR | `525` | yes |