Terms of Service

1. Accepting these Terms

By creating or using an account, authorizing a message or tip, sending or replying to a message, or requesting a payout, you agree to these Terms and the policies linked from the Legal center. If you do not agree, do not use Buckd. If you use Buckd for an organization, you represent that you can bind it to these Terms.

2. Eligibility and accounts

• You must be at least 18 years old and legally able to enter a binding agreement.
• You may use Buckd only where the service and its payment features are lawful.
• Provide accurate information, keep it current, and protect your password and access to your email.
• Do not sell, transfer, share, or create an account for another person without authority.
• You are responsible for activity under your account until you notify Buckd of unauthorized use.

Buckd may require identity, age, payment, tax, or other verification where reasonably necessary for safety, compliance, or payouts.

3. Account activation and creator access

Standard membership requires a one-time $1 account activation and public handle. Buckd may provide authorized creator invitations or private creator access that waives only that activation charge. A waiver does not add message credit, change message prices, create withdrawable value, or guarantee verification or payout eligibility.

4. Paid messages and the 72-hour reply window

1. Authorize. Stripe places a temporary authorization for the clearly displayed total. A base message total is $1.75: $1 creator-bound and 75¢ for delivery, payment processing, payout costs, risk, and Buckd's service.
2. Reply. If the recipient submits a qualifying reply within 72 hours, Buckd captures the full authorized total and records exactly $1 plus the creator-bound portion of selected add-ons as Reply Earnings.
3. Pass or expire. If the recipient passes or the deadline expires, Buckd captures the 75¢ base service amount plus 20¢ per selected add-on. Stripe releases the uncaptured $1 and every uncaptured creator-bound add-on amount. A card issuer controls when a released authorization disappears.
4. Technical non-delivery. If Buckd cannot deliver the message, Buckd releases the authorization or refunds a completed charge to the original card, except where a legal requirement or payment dispute controls the result.

Optional message add-ons

• Image reply: $1.20. Includes $1 in potential Reply Earnings and a 20¢ BUCKD service amount. Gives the recipient the option to include one supported image with their answer; use of the image option is not guaranteed.
• Priority highlight: $0.70. Includes 50¢ in potential Reply Earnings and a 20¢ BUCKD service amount. Visually highlights the message but does not guarantee a faster reply or any reply.
• Extended message: $0.70. Includes 50¢ in potential Reply Earnings and a 20¢ BUCKD service amount. Increases the message-body limit to 800 characters.
• Anonymous delivery: $1.20. Includes $1 in potential Reply Earnings and a 20¢ BUCKD service amount. Hides the sender's profile identity from the recipient and recipient-facing message displays. BUCKD still records the authenticated sender for reports, blocking, fraud prevention, safety, support, disputes, and legal compliance.

Add-ons increase potential Reply Earnings by their price minus the included 20¢ service amount. The recipient earns that amount only after a qualifying reply. On Pass, timeout, or a recipient report, Buckd captures only the 20¢ service amount for each selected add-on and releases its creator-bound remainder. If Buckd cannot deliver the message, Buckd releases the full authorization or refunds a completed charge to the original card.

After an answer, the sender may choose one reply tip. The creator receives $1, $3, or $5, while the all-in card totals are $1.75, $4.10, or $6.40 respectively. The difference covers payment and payout service. Tips are voluntary and final except for duplicate, unauthorized, or technically failed transactions or where required by law.

A recipient is never required to reply, and Buckd does not promise that a message will receive a response. A reply reflects the recipient's views, not Buckd's, and may be brief. Buckd may void abusive, fraudulent, manipulated, or technically invalid activity.

5. Reply Earnings and payouts

Reply Earnings are subject to a 7-day hold, a $25 minimum, identity and bank verification, compliance review, reversals, and Stripe availability. A creator may request at most one payout every 30 days, and each request batches the full eligible settled amount. BUCKD does not deduct payout fees from displayed creator earnings. The Payout Terms are part of these Terms whenever you earn or request a payout.

6. Payments and Stripe

Buckd uses Stripe to authorize and capture card payments and to process eligible payouts. Stripe may collect card, bank, identity, and tax information directly under its own terms and privacy policy. You authorize the clearly displayed maximum amount. Depending on whether the recipient replies, Buckd may capture the full authorization or only the disclosed service portion and release the rest. Do not use a payment method you are not authorized to use.

7. Your profile, messages, and replies

You retain ownership of content you submit. You give Buckd a worldwide, nonexclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, format, transmit, display, and otherwise use that content only as needed to operate, secure, moderate, support, and improve Buckd and to comply with law. This license ends when content is deleted, except for reasonable backups, legal retention, safety records, and content already shared with another user.

Public profile information is visible to anyone. Messages, replies, and message attachments are private within Buckd to the sender and recipient, but either person may save or intentionally share selected content, including through Buckd's story-card tool. Buckd and its service providers may process or review them when reported or when reasonably necessary for delivery, storage, image normalization, moderation, safety, fraud prevention, support, or legal compliance. Do not send confidential information you cannot risk the recipient retaining or sharing.

A sender may leave one final 1–5 star rating after receiving an answered paid message. Buckd may publish the creator's aggregate score and verified-sender count, but does not publish a rater's identity or written review. Fraudulent, coordinated, retaliatory, or otherwise manipulated ratings violate these Terms and may lead to account enforcement.

8. Acceptable use and enforcement

You must follow the Acceptable Use Policy. Buckd may reject, remove, limit, quarantine, investigate, or preserve content; pause transactions or payouts; restrict a public profile; suspend or close an account; and report conduct to payment partners or authorities when reasonably necessary to protect users, the service, or the public, enforce these Terms, or comply with law. Where practical, Buckd will consider context and provide notice.

9. Service changes and availability

Buckd may add, change, pause, or discontinue features and may update prices for future transactions. A price change does not alter a completed purchase. Buckd may perform maintenance or respond to security and reliability incidents. Buckd does not guarantee uninterrupted availability, delivery to every device or inbox, a particular response, or continued eligibility for payouts.

10. Intellectual property

Buckd's software, design, logos, trademarks, and original site content belong to Buckd or its licensors. These Terms give you a limited, revocable, nontransferable right to use the service for its intended purpose. They do not let you copy, scrape, reverse engineer, resell, or create a competing service from protected Buckd materials except where law expressly permits.

11. Disclaimers and limits

Buckd is provided on an “as available” basis. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Buckd disclaims implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and noninfringement. Buckd is not responsible for what another user says or does, whether a recipient replies, or delays controlled by Stripe, a bank, or a network provider.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Buckd will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages or lost profits, data, goodwill, or opportunities arising from the service. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot legally be limited or your nonwaivable consumer rights.

12. Closing an account

You may stop using Buckd at any time. Account closure does not erase completed transactions, payout obligations, dispute records, safety records, or other information Buckd must reasonably retain. Buckd may suspend or terminate an account for material or repeated violations, fraud, payment risk, legal requirements, or serious harm. Any treatment of remaining account amounts or eligible Reply Earnings remains subject to these Terms, the Refund Policy, and law.

13. Changes to these Terms

Buckd may update these Terms as the product, law, or risk changes. The effective date and version appear above. For material changes, Buckd will provide reasonable notice in the service or require renewed acceptance before the changes apply. Continuing to use Buckd after the effective date means you accept the updated Terms, unless law requires another form of consent.

14. Applicable law and questions

Applicable law, including nonwaivable consumer protections, governs these Terms. These Terms do not require private arbitration and do not waive the right to participate in a class action. If a provision cannot be enforced, the remaining provisions continue. Visit Support for policy explanations and the available routes for account, payment, privacy, and safety help.