Terms of service

These terms govern the use of BidMenu, a market in which advertisers pay for a sponsor mark and tagline to be shown in the menu bar of hosts who run the BidMenu Mac app, and hosts are paid for verified attention. By creating an account, installing the app or placing a bid you accept them.

1. Hosts

A host installs the Mac app, signs in with an X account they control, and chooses whether to publish a profile. A host is an independent contractor. Nothing here creates employment, agency, partnership or a joint venture, and a host decides when the app runs, when it is paused and which categories and advertisers are blocked.

• The host is paid a published rate per verified hour, weighted by tier. The rate and the weights are shown before a day starts.
• A minute is verified only when, for the whole minute, the display was awake, the session unlocked, the screen saver off, there was input in the last three minutes, the status item was visible and not occluded, the current sponsor was what it showed, and the host had not paused.
• Hours paid are computed on the server from accepted minutes. Nothing the app reports is trusted as a total. At most 60 minutes an hour and 14 hours a day are accepted, from one device at a time.
• Payouts run monthly through Stripe Connect once the balance reaches the published minimum. Tax reporting is between the host, Stripe and the host's tax authority.
• Faking attention in any way, including virtual machines, input automation or running several devices under one account, forfeits unpaid earnings and closes the account. Flags hold payouts pending a review by a person.

2. Advertisers

• An advertiser prepays a balance by card. The balance is a prepayment for days, not a deposit, and is not interest bearing.
• Taking a day holds the bid amount from the balance. A held day can be taken by another advertiser who bids one step higher; the displaced bid is released in full. A held day cannot be withdrawn inside the last 24 hours before its close.
• The holder at close is the sponsor. Settlement charges the bid times the share of expected verified hours delivered, up to the full bid, and releases the rest. A bid is never charged more than its amount.
• The guarantee: if verified hours fall below the published share of the expected hours shown when the bid was placed, the charge is pro rata to what was delivered.
• Creatives are reviewed by a person before they first run. Gambling, adult content, crypto tokens and exchanges, political advertising, weapons, and anything unlawful where a host sits are refused. A landing page must match its tagline.
• An API key acts as the advertiser that minted it. Keep it secret; anything done with it is done by you.
• An unused balance is refundable to the original payment method on request, less any amount held or charged.

3. The platform

• BidMenu runs the auction, verifies attention, and holds funds between advertiser and host. Verification and the anomaly sweep are decided by the server.
• The platform keeps the spread between what an advertiser is charged and what the host pool is paid. Rates are published.
• Expected hours and audience composition are trailing actuals, not forecasts. They are the promise the guarantee measures, and nothing else is promised about who sees a sponsor mark.
• The service is provided as is. To the extent the law allows, the platform is not liable for indirect or consequential loss, and its liability to any account is capped at the amounts that account paid or earned in the preceding three months.
• Accounts that break these terms can be suspended or closed. Money already earned by a host in good standing is paid.

4. Changes and law

Changes to these terms are posted here with a new effective date and, for anything that affects money, sent to the account's sign-in address at least fourteen days before they apply. The law of the operator's place of registration governs; nothing here removes rights a consumer has under the law where they live.