Auction agreement

Terms of Service

Last updated: August 28, 2026

These Terms govern your use of this website and participation in the Brand My Robot Chef sponsorship auction. By submitting a bid or authorizing a payment method, you agree to these Terms and confirm that you are at least 18 years old and authorized to act for the named sponsor.

1. Bids are binding

• All bids are in United States dollars and must meet the displayed opening bid and minimum increment.
• A bid is not active until the required payment-method verification, deposit, or authorization shown during checkout is completed.
• You may not retract an active bid merely because you changed your mind, made an input error, or were bidding for another person without authority.
• We may reject, suspend, or cancel bids affected by fraud, technical error, payment failure, collusion, or prohibited brand content.

2. Payment verification and authorization holds

Stripe processes card verification and payments for the auction. The payment screen will disclose which procedure applies before you confirm a bid:

• Saved-card verification: Before the final 72 hours, Stripe verifies and securely saves your payment method without charging it or placing an authorization hold. A verification is not a promise that a later payment will be approved.
• Closing-window hold: During the final 72 hours, a current leading bidder must approve a temporary authorization hold equal to 10% of the current bid. A new closing-window bid is not active until that hold is authorized.

A card authorization is generally a temporary reservation of available credit, not a completed charge. Card networks and issuing banks control how the hold appears and when released funds become available. We may shorten the closing window, release a prior hold, or request a new authorization when necessary to stay within payment-network time limits.

By completing a saved-card or hold flow, you expressly authorize our payment processor to store the payment method and use it only for the auction payments described in these Terms. We do not receive or store your complete card number.

3. Auction close and winner settlement

• The highest valid, approved bid recorded when the auction closes is the provisional winner of that placement.
• We will send the provisional winner a payment link at the email address supplied with the bid.
• The winner has 24 hours from the time stated in that notice to pay the full winning amount and complete any required card authentication.
• After the full winning amount is paid, we will release the separate 10% authorization hold.
• The placement is not finally awarded until payment clears and the sponsor and artwork are approved.

4. Failure to pay

If a provisional winner does not pay the full balance within the 24-hour settlement period, we may cancel the award, disqualify the bid, release the 10% authorization hold, and offer the placement to the next eligible bidder at that bidder’s last valid bid amount.

We will not capture the 10% authorization as a nonpayment penalty, and we will not automatically charge the full unpaid balance to a saved card.

A runner-up who receives an offer will have 24 hours to accept and pay unless the offer states a different deadline. We may continue down the bid history or reopen the placement if the runner-up declines or does not pay.

5. Brand and artwork approval

All sponsors, names, links, and artwork are subject to our approval. We may refuse adult-oriented products or services, sexually explicit material, gambling, tobacco or vaping products, weapons, illegal or deceptive offers, hateful or extremist material, infringement, or anything else we reasonably determine is unsafe or unsuitable for a family audience. If we reject an otherwise valid sponsor, we will release its authorization or refund its eligible payment.

You represent that you own or have permission to use every name, logo, image, URL, and other item you submit. You grant Lewis Web Developments LLC a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to reproduce, resize, display, photograph, film, publish, and promote the submitted material for the sponsorship and related auction content.

6. Sponsorship deliverables

After final payment and approval, the winning sponsor receives the placement and promotional items described on the website at the time of the bid. Placement dimensions are approximate and may be adjusted reasonably for safe installation, legibility, product operation, photography, or manufacturing limits.

Unless a different written term is agreed, a physical sticker remains for the usable life of the applicable robot. We do not guarantee a minimum number of impressions, clicks, posts, sales, followers, media mentions, or any particular return on investment.

7. Refunds, releases, and cancellation

• Outbid, rejected, or unpaid: An uncaptured authorization will be canceled, generally within five business days.
• Bank timing: Your bank or payment provider may take additional time to show a released hold or refund.
• Winning sponsorship: Final payments are nonrefundable after approval and production begins, except where required by law or where we cancel and do not provide the sponsorship.
• Auction cancellation: We may cancel, extend, or reschedule the auction because of fraud, technical failure, insufficient participation, product unavailability, safety concerns, or circumstances outside our reasonable control. Eligible card holds will be released and payments refunded if no sponsorship is awarded.

8. Public auction information

Your sponsor identity, approved logo, and submitted website link may be displayed publicly after approval. Bid amount, placement, and bid status may be displayed while review is pending. Contact and complete payment information are not displayed publicly. Our Privacy Policy explains how other personal information is handled.

9. Website availability and disclaimers

The website and auction are provided on an “as available” basis. We do not promise uninterrupted operation or that every error will be corrected immediately. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Lewis Web Developments LLC disclaims implied warranties and is not responsible for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or lost-profit damages arising from the auction or sponsorship.

Nothing in these Terms excludes rights or remedies that cannot lawfully be excluded. Our total liability relating to a particular sponsorship will not exceed the amount actually paid to us for that sponsorship, except where applicable law requires otherwise.

10. Changes to these Terms

The Terms accepted when a bid is submitted govern that bid. We may update these Terms prospectively, but a material update will not retroactively change the payment obligation or promised deliverables of an already active bid without the bidder’s agreement.

11. Contact

Questions, payment notices, and legal communications may be sent to contact@brandmyrobotchef.com.