Terms of Service

Potful lets people commit to a deal together. A venue (a bar, restaurant, entertainment spot or student organization) posts a deal that only happens if enough people pledge by a deadline. Friends can also fill a pot together for a shared purchase.

Potful runs the pledging, payments and passes. The venue, not Potful, provides the food, drinks, entry or experience in the deal.

• You need an account to pledge. If you pledge before signing up, we create a guest account on your device.
• Keep your login details to yourself. You're responsible for what happens on your account.
• Give us accurate details, especially the name and email on your pass.
• You must be old enough to form a binding contract where you live, and old enough for any age-restricted deal you pledge to.

All or nothing. Every venue deal has a minimum (a headcount, or for a group package, the package total) and a pledging deadline. If the minimum is reached by the deadline, the pot is full and the deal is on: every pledge is charged. If it isn't, the deal is off and nobody is charged.

Events more than 6 days away: your card is saved. When you pledge, your card is saved securely with our payment processor, Stripe, and you authorize Potful to charge it the amount shown at checkout when the pot fills. Nothing is charged or held until then.

Events within 6 days: a hold is placed. When you pledge, the full amount shown at checkout is held on your card right away (an authorization hold). The hold is captured, becoming a charge, when the pot fills. If the deal is off, or you drop out in time, the hold is released. How quickly a released hold disappears from your statement depends on your bank.

Group pots: your share depends on the final headcount. In a group pot split by headcount, the package total is divided between everyone who is in when the pot fills, so the more people who join, the less everyone pays. The pot fills at its pledging deadline, or as soon as the group reaches its maximum size, as long as at least the minimum number of people are in. Until then, your share is an estimate. Checkout shows the most it could be: the package total divided by the minimum group size, plus the platform fee on that share. If a hold is placed on your card (events within 6 days), the hold may be for that maximum share plus fee. When the pot fills, only your final share plus its platform fee is charged and the rest of the hold is released. If the total doesn't divide evenly, some members pay one cent more so the shares add up exactly to the total.

Pledging for your crew. You can pledge for up to five spots on one card. Each spot costs the same as a single pledge (each with its own platform fee), and all of them are charged together.

Deals that are already on. Some deals keep taking pledges after the pot fills, up to the venue's capacity. A pledge to a deal that is already on is charged right away.

If your card is declined when the pot fills, we'll notify you and you have 24 hours to update your card (less if the event starts sooner: the window always ends when the event starts). Update it from the deal page and we'll charge the new card; if it goes through, your spot and pass are kept. If you don't update it in time, your pledge is dropped.

If declined cards leave the pot below its minimum, the deal waits for those same 24 hours for cards to be updated or new pledges to refill the spots. If the pot is still below its minimum when the window ends, the deal is off: every hold is released and every charge is refunded in full, platform fees included.

Every venue deal shows a fixed price line, for example "You pay $10.00 + $1.29 fee when the pot fills → unlocks $1 beers". The price is the venue's pledge price; the fee is Potful's platform fee. Checkout always shows the all-in total (pledge plus fee) before you pledge, and venues can't change or remove the price line.

• The platform fee is 12.9% of the pledge, per person, at least $1.00 and at most $13.00. In a group pot, each member's fee is 12.9% of their own share.
• You pay the fee, on top of the pledge. It's charged together with your pledge, when the pot fills.
• The platform fee is non-refundable, including when you ask for a refund. The one exception: if the deal doesn't happen (it's off, or the venue cancels), the fee is refunded too.
• On venue deals, the fee is collected as a Stripe Connect application fee: the venue receives the pledge, Potful the fee.
• Friend pots don't carry a platform fee (see Friend pots and virtual cards).

• You can get a refund up to 1 hour before the event starts. Use "Get a refund" (or "Drop out" if you haven't been charged yet) on the deal page.
• If you've been charged, you get back everything you paid except the platform fee. If you haven't been charged, your pledge is cancelled and any hold is released; nothing is kept.
• No refunds in the last hour before the event starts, or after it. That includes not showing up, and being refused entry for a reason that is on you, such as failing the ID check on an age-restricted deal or breaking the venue's house rules.
• If the deal is off or the venue cancels, everyone is refunded in full, fees included, with no need to ask.
• Refunds go back to the card you pledged with. How long they take to appear depends on your bank.

If refunds take a deal whose pot already filled back below its minimum, we tell the venue right away and the venue chooses:

• Honor it: the deal goes ahead for everyone still in, on the same terms.
• Cancel deal: the deal is off and everyone still in is refunded in full, platform fees included, because the deal didn't happen. Anyone who refunded earlier also gets back the fee they paid.

If the venue hasn't chosen by the time the event starts, the deal is treated as honored. We notify everyone still in of the venue's decision either way.

Venues are paid through Stripe Connect, as connected accounts. A venue receives all the money collected for its deal, minus the platform fee and any refunds, including for people who pledged and didn't show up. Payouts are made after the event.

Until a venue finishes connecting its Stripe account, its share is recorded by Potful and paid out to it separately, on the same terms.

If you think a charge is wrong, contact us or the venue first: most problems are fixed faster that way than through your bank.

• The venue is responsible for chargebacks and disputes that arise because it failed to honor a deal (for example, it didn't provide what the deal described, or turned away pledgers who met the deal's terms). Those amounts, and Stripe's dispute fees, can be recovered from the venue's payouts.
• Potful is responsible for chargebacks and disputes caused by errors on our platform (for example, a duplicate charge or a charge for a deal that didn't fill).
• A chargeback filed for a deal you received, or to get around the refund rules above, may lead to your account being closed.

• We ask for your date of birth when you sign up (and existing members at their next login or pledge). Give your real date of birth.
• Venues can set a minimum age on a deal: none, 18+, 21+ or a custom age. If you're younger than a deal's minimum age, or we don't have your date of birth, you won't see the deal or be able to pledge on it.
• Passes for age-restricted deals show the age and "ID required". The venue performs the final ID check at the door, and can refuse entry under its own rules and the law. Potful relies on the date of birth you give us and doesn't verify ID.
• Venues agree, when they sign up, to check ID and to comply with their local alcohol and drink-special laws. Complying with those laws is the venue's responsibility.

• When the pot fills, you get a digital pass with a QR code and a short manual code. If you pledged for your crew, each friend gets their own pass link.
• Show your pass at the venue. Door staff scan it, or type in the code, once. A pass can't be used twice.
• A pass is valid for the deal and event it was issued for, and stops working the day after the event.
• Treat your pass links like tickets. Anyone with the link can show the pass, so only share crew links with the people they're for.

The venue is responsible for delivering the deal as described and for running its premises. Its house rules apply to you, and it can refuse entry or service under them.

• Entry instructions. Follow the instructions on the deal page. They come from the venue.
• Verified badge. A checkmark next to a venue's name means Potful has reviewed the venue's details. It isn't an endorsement, and it isn't a guarantee of the venue's service.
• Problems with the experience itself (service, quality, conduct) are between you and the venue, though we'll help where we can.

Friend pots are pots you start with friends for a shared purchase. They work as described when you start or join one, and are separate from venue deals:

• Each person saves a card and goes all in or sets a cap. Nobody is charged until the pot is covered within everyone's caps; then cards are charged together. If it isn't covered by the deadline, nobody is charged.
• The organizer may get a single-use virtual card loaded with the pot, to pay the bill. Leftover money is refunded to the people who chipped in (or left as a tip if they opted in).
• The organizer can cancel a pot; anything charged is refunded.
• Friend pots don't carry a Potful platform fee, and the venue-deal refund, payout and chargeback rules above don't apply to them.
• The organizer is responsible for using the virtual card only for the pot's purpose.

Share your personal link from your profile. When someone new signs up with it (or joins a deal from your personal invite) and their first pledge is part of a deal that tips, you each get one fee credit.

• A fee credit waives the platform fee on one spot. It's applied automatically at checkout while you have credits.
• The credit is used when you pledge. If that pledge is never charged (the deal is off or cancelled, or your card is declined) or is refunded, you get the credit back.
• Credits have no cash value, can't be transferred or sold, and can't be exchanged for money.
• Each new member can be referred once, and only before their first charged pledge. You can't refer yourself.
• We may remove credits obtained through fake accounts, self-referral or other abuse, and may change or end the program for the future.

• Don't use someone else's card or account, or pledge with a card you're not allowed to use.
• Don't copy, forge or resell passes.
• Don't harass other members, or misuse profiles, friend requests or invites.
• Don't interfere with the service or try to get around its limits.

We work hard to keep Potful running and accurate, but it's provided as is. To the extent the law allows, Potful isn't liable for indirect or consequential losses, or for what venues do or fail to do. Our total liability for any pledge is limited to the amount you paid for it.

Nothing in these terms limits rights you have under consumer protection laws that can't be waived.

We may update these terms. If a change is significant, we'll tell you in the app before it applies to you. Pledges you've already made stay under the terms you pledged under. Questions or a problem with a pledge? Contact Potful support, or the venue for anything about the experience itself.