Terms of Service

Welcome to Tipping Club. These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Tipping Club website, mobile apps, and subscription service (collectively, the "Service") operated by Tipping Club ("we," "us," or "our"). By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

1. Who Can Use Tipping Club

You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract to use the Service. By creating an account, you confirm that the information you provide is accurate and that you'll keep it up to date. You're responsible for keeping your password safe and for everything that happens under your account.

2. The Service

Tipping Club is a subscription service that funds a shared member tip pool. Approximately 90% of the pool is distributed monthly to participating partner businesses based on verified member visits, and those businesses then pay their staff through their existing tip pool. We facilitate this on your behalf — we are not the employer of the staff, nor are we a payment processor for the underlying transaction at the partner business.

Service availability. Some features described on our marketing site (including pool payouts and geofenced visit verification) are rolling out and may not yet be active in your city. We'll notify you when they go live for your area. See Section 4 for details on how tips work once active.

We may add, change, or remove features at any time. We'll try to give reasonable notice for material changes, but the Service is provided on an ongoing, evolving basis.

3. Subscriptions & Billing

Pricing. The current price for the Elite membership is $10.99 per month, billed in advance. We may change pricing at any time, but any price change will apply only to billing cycles starting after we notify you.

How your fee is used. Approximately 90% of your membership fee goes into a monthly vendor payout pool that is distributed to partner businesses based on member visits. The remaining ~10% covers payment processing fees and operating costs. The exact split may be adjusted over time and will always be disclosed on our site.

Auto-renewal. Your subscription renews automatically each month using the payment method on file until you cancel. Payments are processed by Stripe.

Cancellation. You can cancel anytime from your member dashboard. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period — you'll keep access until then.

Refunds. Subscription fees are generally non-refundable, except where required by law. If you believe you were charged in error, contact support@tippingclub.org within 30 days and we'll review in good faith.

4. How Tips Work

Tipping Club operates a shared member tip pool. Each month, the pool is funded by membership fees (~90% of each fee, as described in Section 3) and distributed to partner businesses based on verified member visits during that period. The partner business is responsible for distributing the payout to its staff tip pool.

Visit verification. Visits are verified by geofenced check-in via the Tipping Club mobile app. Your phone's location services must be enabled and the app must be installed and signed in for a visit to be counted. We may add additional verification methods (such as QR codes or POS integration) over time.

You agree that:

• Payouts are made on your behalf as gratuities to staff — they are not a payment for goods or services and not a discount on your bill.
• The per-visit dollar amount is not fixed; it depends on the size of the pool and total verified visits in a given period.
• Visits that cannot be verified (for example, if your phone's location is disabled) will not be counted toward the pool distribution.
• Membership does not entitle you to discounts, free products, or services from partner businesses unless explicitly offered by that business.

5. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• Use the Service for any unlawful purpose or in violation of these Terms.
• Attempt to manipulate, defraud, or game the tip distribution system.
• Reverse-engineer, scrape, or copy any part of the Service.
• Use another person's account or share your credentials.
• Interfere with the Service, its servers, or other users' use of it.
• Misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person or organization.

We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these rules, with or without notice.

6. Partner Businesses

Partner businesses listed in our directory are independent third parties. We don't control their hours, service quality, pricing, or staff. Your interactions with partner businesses are between you and them. We're not responsible for the goods or services they provide.

7. Intellectual Property

The Service — including the Tipping Club name, logo, website, software, and content — is owned by us or our licensors and is protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws. You may use the Service only as permitted by these Terms. We grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the Service for its intended purpose.

8. Termination

You can stop using the Service and close your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access if you violate these Terms, if required by law, or if continuing to provide the Service to you creates risk for us or other users. Sections that by their nature should survive termination (including payment obligations, IP, disclaimers, limitation of liability, and dispute resolution) will survive.

9. Disclaimers

The service is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and any warranty arising from course of dealing or usage of trade. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or free from harmful components, or that tips will always be distributed without delay.

10. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Tipping Club and its officers, employees, and partners will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits or revenues, whether incurred directly or indirectly, or any loss of data, use, goodwill, or other intangible losses, resulting from your use of the Service.

Our total liability for any claim arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service is limited to the greater of (a) the amount you paid us in the 12 months preceding the claim, or (b) one hundred U.S. dollars ($100).

11. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Tipping Club and its affiliates from any claims, damages, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to your use of the Service, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of any third-party right.

12. Governing Law & Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the United States and the State of Delaware, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. You and Tipping Club agree to resolve any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service in the state or federal courts located in Delaware, and you consent to personal jurisdiction there.

If any part of these Terms is held unenforceable, the rest will remain in effect. Our failure to enforce any right is not a waiver of that right.

13. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we'll revise the "Last updated" date above and, for material changes, give you reasonable advance notice by email or in-app notice. Your continued use of the Service after changes take effect means you accept the updated Terms.

14. Contact

Questions about these Terms?