Terms of Service
Ushop.bid Platform
Effective Date: 2026-05-31
Last Updated: 2026-05-31
1. Introduction
Welcome to Ushop.bid ("Ushop.bid", "the Platform", "we", "us", "our"). Ushop.bid is an online skill-based competition game in which players build automated bidding strategies ("bots") that compete in deterministic 60-second auction tournaments for the chance to win real, physical product prizes.
By creating an account, accessing, or using the Platform, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"), our Privacy Policy, and any tournament-specific rules published at the point of entry. If you do not agree with these Terms, you must not use the Platform.
1.1 What Ushop.bid Is
Ushop.bid lets you design a bot strategy — either visually or by describing it in natural language — and enter that bot into auction tournaments. Each tournament runs as a fixed-length (60-second) simulated auction in which all entered bots compete against one another according to their pre-set strategies. The winning bot receives a real prize, which can range from lower-value items up to high-value goods such as cars.
1.2 Game of Skill
Ushop.bid is operated as a game of skill, not a game of chance. The outcome of every tournament is determined solely by:
The operator does not, and cannot, influence which bot wins. There is no randomness, house edge, or operator discretion in determining the result. See Section 4 for the full skill rationale.
1.3 Legal Status
Ushop.bid is not a gambling service, lottery, betting product, or game of chance, and does not require a licence under the Gambling Act 2005. Entry into a tournament is participation in a skill competition. Section 4 sets out why Ushop.bid is a game of skill rather than gambling.
2. Eligibility & Age Verification
2.1 Age Requirement (18+)
The Platform is strictly for adults. You must be at least 18 years old to register, access, or use any part of the Platform. By registering, you represent and warrant that you are 18 or over.
2.2 Age & Identity Verification
We require a date of birth at registration and reserve the right to verify your age and identity at any time, including before paying out a prize. Verification may include checking a government-issued ID document, a payment instrument in your name, or using a third-party verification service. We may restrict, suspend, or close any account that fails or refuses verification, and we may withhold prizes until verification is complete.
2.3 Capacity
By using the Platform you confirm that you have the legal capacity to enter into a binding agreement and that your use of the Platform is lawful in your jurisdiction.
2.4 Prohibited Territories
The Platform is intended primarily for users in the United Kingdom. You may not use the Platform from any territory where skill-competition prize play, or the receipt of prizes, is unlawful, or where we have determined we cannot lawfully or practically operate. We may block access from, or refuse entries and prizes to users in, certain countries at our discretion. You are responsible for ensuring that your participation is lawful where you are located.
3. Accounts
3.1 Account Registration
You must provide accurate, complete, and current information when registering and keep it up to date. Accounts are authenticated using our own secure login system; passwords are stored only in hashed form and are never visible to us in plain text.
3.2 Account Responsibilities
3.3 One Account Per Person
Each person may hold only one account. Creating or operating multiple accounts (directly or through another person) to enter the same tournaments, gain an advantage, claim multiple starter balances, or evade restrictions is prohibited and may result in forfeiture of fuel, prizes, and accounts.
3.4 Account Closure for Inactivity
We may suspend or close accounts that have shown no activity for 12 or more consecutive months, subject to first contacting you where reasonably practicable.
4. The Service Is a Game of Skill (Not Gambling)
4.1 How a Tournament Works
4.2 Why This Is Skill, Not Chance
4.3 Independent Verifiability (Fairness Manifest)
For each tournament we publish a fairness manifest that allows the result to be independently reproduced and verified from the entered strategies and the simulation rules. This makes every outcome auditable and confirms that no chance or operator influence was involved.
4.4 No Gambling
Ushop.bid does not offer casino games, sports betting, random prize draws, lotteries, or any game of chance with monetary stakes. Nothing on the Platform should be construed as such.
5. Tiers & Rank-Gating
5.1 Tournament Tiers
Tournaments are organised into tiers — Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and Champion — with prizes ranging from approximately £40 up to approximately £1,000,000 depending on the tier and tournament.
5.2 Rank-Gating
Access to higher tiers is earned through skill. To enter higher-tier tournaments you must climb a seasonal skill ladder by performing well in lower tiers. We may set, adjust, and reset rank requirements and seasonal ladders at our discretion, and we will make the applicable requirements visible in-Platform.
6. Fuel (Virtual Currency)
6.1 What Fuel Is
"Fuel" is the Platform's virtual currency used to enter tournaments. For pricing purposes, 1 fuel = £1 = 1 bid. Fuel is a limited licence to access game features and has no monetary or cash value, is not legal tender, is not a stored-value or e-money product, and cannot be redeemed, exchanged, or withdrawn for cash.
6.2 Obtaining Fuel
New accounts receive a quantity of free starter fuel. You may purchase additional fuel (see Section 7). We are under no obligation to provide, maintain, or continue any particular amount of free or starter fuel, and we may change fuel pricing and packages at any time.
6.3 Reservation, Consumption & Returns
6.4 No Refunds Once Spent
Except where a tournament is cancelled (Section 6.3) or where a non-waivable legal right applies, fuel spent on a tournament that runs is non-refundable. Free or promotional fuel has no cash value and is never refundable or exchangeable for cash.
6.5 Forfeiture
Fuel and any associated prizes may be forfeited if your account is closed or restricted for breach of these Terms, fraud, or prohibited conduct (see Sections 9 and 11).
7. Purchases & Payment
7.1 Payment Processing
Where paid fuel purchases are enabled, payments are processed by Stripe, our third-party payment processor. We do not store full card numbers on our systems. Your use of Stripe is subject to Stripe's own terms and privacy policy.
7.2 Pricing & Confirmation
The price of fuel is shown before you complete a purchase. By confirming a purchase you authorise the charge to your selected payment method. Fuel is normally credited to your account immediately on successful payment.
7.3 Taxes
Prices are stated inclusive or exclusive of applicable taxes as indicated at checkout. You are responsible for any taxes that apply to your purchase that are not collected by us.
7.4 Digital Content & Cancellation
Fuel is digital content supplied immediately. Where you are a consumer, by purchasing fuel and beginning to use it you acknowledge that you may lose the statutory 14-day right to cancel in respect of fuel that has been supplied and used. This does not affect any non-waivable statutory rights you may have.
7.5 Chargebacks
Initiating a chargeback or payment dispute for a legitimate purchase may result in suspension of your account and forfeiture of fuel and prizes pending resolution.
8. Prizes
8.1 Real Product Prizes
Tournament prizes are real, physical products. The specific prize for each tournament is described at the point of entry.
8.2 Winner Verification
Before a prize is awarded, the winner must successfully complete age and identity verification (Section 2.2) and provide valid delivery details. We may withhold a prize from any winner who cannot be verified, who is found to have breached these Terms, or whose win is found to be the result of prohibited conduct.
8.3 Delivery
We will arrange delivery of the prize to a valid address you provide, within the prohibited-territory limits in Section 2.4. You must provide accurate delivery information. We are not responsible for delivery failures caused by inaccurate information you supply.
8.4 Substitution
We reserve the right to substitute any prize with an alternative of equal or greater value where the advertised prize becomes unavailable or where substitution is otherwise reasonably necessary.
8.5 Taxes & Duties on Prizes
You are solely responsible for any taxes, import duties, customs charges, registration costs, insurance, or other liabilities arising from your receipt or ownership of a prize. We may report prize awards to authorities where required by law.
8.6 No Cash Alternative
Unless we state otherwise for a specific tournament, there is no cash alternative to a prize.
9. Fair Play & Prohibited Conduct
To keep tournaments fair, you must NOT:
Breach of this Section may result in voided tournament entries and results, forfeiture of fuel and prizes, and suspension or permanent termination of your account.
10. Intellectual Property
10.1 Our Content
All Platform content — including software, the simulation engine, designs, logos, text, trademarks, and the visual bot builder — is owned by Ushop.bid or our licensors and is protected by intellectual property laws. We grant you a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the Platform for its intended purpose.
10.2 Your Strategies & Content
You retain ownership of the bot strategies and other content you create. By entering a strategy into a tournament, submitting it to any strategy marketplace or sharing feature, or otherwise publishing it on the Platform, you grant Ushop.bid a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, run, display, and (for published or marketplace strategies) make available to other users the strategy and its associated content, for the purpose of operating, promoting, and improving the Platform and any strategy marketplace.
10.3 Your Warranties
You represent that you have the rights to any content you submit and that it does not infringe the rights of any third party or violate any law.
11. Suspension & Termination
11.1 By You
You may close your account at any time via your account settings or by contacting legal@ushop.bid. Closing your account does not entitle you to a refund of fuel (subject to Section 6.3) or any cash value.
11.2 By Us
We may suspend or terminate your account, void entries and results, and withhold or reclaim prizes where:
11.3 Effect of Termination
On termination you lose access to your account and any remaining fuel, which has no cash value. We may retain certain data as set out in our Privacy Policy and as required by law. Provisions that by their nature should survive (including Sections 6, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, and 17) survive termination.
12. Disclaimers
12.1 Service Availability
The Platform is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. We do not guarantee uninterrupted, error-free, or secure access. We may modify, suspend, or discontinue features, tiers, or tournaments at any time, and we will give reasonable notice of significant changes where practicable.
12.2 No Guarantee of Winning
Skill does not guarantee a win. We make no representation that you will win any tournament or prize.
13. Limitation of Liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law:
Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, including liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.
14. Indemnity
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Ushop.bid and its officers, employees, and agents from and against any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, and reasonable costs (including legal fees) arising out of or connected with your breach of these Terms, your misuse of the Platform, your content or strategies, or your violation of any law or third-party right.
15. Responsible Play & Self-Exclusion
We want play to stay fun and within your means.
16. Changes to These Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by email or in-Platform notification and update the "Last Updated" date above. Changes take effect when posted, and your continued use of the Platform after that constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.
17. Governing Law, Jurisdiction & Disputes
17.1 Governing Law
These Terms and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them are governed by the laws of England and Wales.
17.2 Jurisdiction
The courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction over any dispute, although if you are a consumer resident elsewhere in the UK you may also bring proceedings in your home courts.
17.3 Dispute Resolution
If you have a complaint, please first contact us at legal@ushop.bid so we can try to resolve it. We aim to acknowledge complaints promptly and resolve them fairly. Using this informal process does not affect your statutory rights or your right to bring legal proceedings.
18. Severability & Entire Agreement
If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force and effect. These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and any tournament-specific rules, constitute the entire agreement between you and Ushop.bid regarding your use of the Platform.
19. Contact
For questions about these Terms:
Ushop.bid
Email: legal@ushop.bid
Address: [Insert Business Address]
Registered in England & Wales: [Insert Company Number]
*This document should be reviewed by a qualified solicitor before implementation.*
Privacy Policy
Ushop.bid Platform
Effective Date: 2026-05-31
Last Updated: 2026-05-31
1. Introduction
1.1 Who We Are
Ushop.bid ("we", "us", "our") operates an online skill-based competition game in which players build bot strategies that compete in deterministic auction tournaments to win real product prizes. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share, and protect your personal data when you use the Platform.
1.2 Our Commitment
We comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. We are transparent about our data practices and give you control over your personal information.
1.3 Data Controller
For the personal data described in this policy, the data controller is:
Data Controller: Ushop.bid
Email: privacy@ushop.bid
Address: [Insert Business Address]
Company Registration (England & Wales): [Insert Company Number]
If you have any privacy question or wish to exercise your rights, contact us at privacy@ushop.bid.
2. Categories of Personal Data We Collect
2.1 Information You Provide
Account data:
Verification & prize data:
Communications:
2.2 Strategy & Gameplay Data
2.3 Payment Metadata
When you buy fuel, payment is handled by Stripe. We do not receive or store your full card number. We hold payment metadata such as a transaction/charge identifier, the amount, currency, status, and the time of the transaction.
2.4 Technical & Usage Data (Collected Automatically)
2.5 Information From Third Parties
We may receive confirmations and results from our processors (for example, payment confirmations from Stripe or outcomes from an identity verification provider) and information from fraud-prevention sources where used.
3. How We Use Your Data & Lawful Bases (UK GDPR)
We rely on the following lawful bases for each purpose:
Performance of a contract (Article 6(1)(b)):
Legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c)):
Legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)):
(Where we rely on legitimate interests, we balance those interests against your rights and you may object — see Section 7.)
Consent (Article 6(1)(a)):
(You may withdraw consent at any time without affecting prior processing.)
4. Third Parties & Processors
We use a small number of trusted service providers who process personal data on our behalf as processors (or, where indicated, sub-processors). We share only the data each provider needs.
4.1 Supabase (database, authentication, realtime)
Hosts our database and supports authentication and realtime features. Stores account data, strategy and gameplay data, and hashed passwords. Supabase infrastructure used by us is hosted in the EU (Ireland).
4.2 Vercel (hosting)
Hosts and serves the Platform application. Processes technical data such as IP addresses and request logs incidental to serving the site.
4.3 Stripe (payments — when enabled, sub-processor)
Processes fuel purchases. Stripe receives the payment information you enter directly and acts as the payment processor; we receive only payment metadata (see Section 2.3). Stripe is an independent controller for its own payment-processing and compliance purposes.
4.4 OpenRouter (optional LLM for the bot builder — sub-processor)
When you use the natural-language bot builder, the free-text strategy description you type may be sent to OpenRouter (and the underlying model provider it routes to) to generate a strategy. Please avoid including personal or sensitive information in these descriptions, as they are sent to this third party for processing.
4.5 Email Provider (transactional email — sub-processor)
Sends transactional emails such as welcome messages, tournament-cancellation/fuel-return notices, and account notifications. Receives your email address and the content of those messages.
4.6 Other Sharing
We may also share personal data:
We do not sell your personal data.
5. International Data Transfers
Our core data is hosted within the EU (Ireland) via Supabase. Some of our providers (for example, payment, hosting, email, or LLM providers) may process data outside the UK/EEA. Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, we rely on an appropriate safeguard, such as:
6. Data Retention
We keep personal data only as long as necessary for the purposes set out in this policy:
When data is no longer needed, we securely delete or anonymise it.
7. Your Data Rights (UK GDPR)
You have the following rights in respect of your personal data:
7.1 Right to Be Informed
This policy explains how we use your data; we notify you of significant changes.
7.2 Right of Access
You can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you and information about how we process it. We respond within one month, which may be extended for complex requests (we will tell you if so).
7.3 Right to Rectification
You can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
7.4 Right to Erasure
You can ask us to delete your data where we no longer need it, where you withdraw consent that was our only basis, or where we have processed it unlawfully. We may need to retain some data where required by law (e.g. payment records).
7.5 Right to Restrict Processing
You can ask us to limit how we use your data in certain circumstances, for example while we verify its accuracy or consider an objection.
7.6 Right to Data Portability
Where processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means, you can ask to receive your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format, or to have it transferred to another provider where technically feasible.
7.7 Right to Object
You can object to processing based on our legitimate interests, and to direct marketing at any time.
7.8 Rights Regarding Automated Decision-Making
Tournament outcomes are produced by a deterministic simulation based on the strategies players set, not by profiling of you, and have no legal effect on you beyond the game result. We do not carry out automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects on you without a lawful basis and appropriate safeguards, and you can request human review where this applies.
7.9 How to Exercise Your Rights
Email privacy@ushop.bid (or write to the address in Section 1.3), telling us which right you wish to exercise and enough detail for us to locate your data. Exercising your rights is free in most cases.
8. Cookies & Local Storage
We use only the cookies and browser storage needed to operate the Platform, plus any you consent to:
You can clear or block cookies and local storage through your browser settings, but doing so may stop you from signing in or using core features.
9. Security
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your data, including:
No system is completely secure, but we work to protect your data and to respond promptly to any incident.
10. Children
The Platform is strictly for adults aged 18 and over and is not intended for, or directed at, anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal data from under-18s. Parental consent is not accepted as an alternative to the 18+ requirement. If we discover that we hold data relating to someone under 18, we will delete it and close the account. If you believe an under-18 has provided us with data, contact privacy@ushop.bid.
11. Marketing & Communications
11.1 Service Messages
We send transactional and service messages (such as welcome emails, fuel-return notices when a tournament is cancelled, security alerts, and important account notices) on the basis of our contract with you and our legitimate interests. These are not marketing and cannot generally be opted out of while you hold an account.
11.2 Marketing
We send marketing only where you have opted in. You can opt out at any time using the unsubscribe link in any marketing email or via your account settings. Opting out of marketing does not stop essential service messages.
12. Data Breaches
We have processes to detect, investigate, and respond to personal data breaches. Where a breach is likely to result in a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will notify the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) without undue delay and, where the risk is high, inform you and explain the steps you can take.
13. Complaints & the ICO
If you are unhappy with how we handle your data, please contact us first at privacy@ushop.bid so we can try to put it right. You also have the right to complain to the UK supervisory authority:
Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Website: ico.org.uk
Helpline: 0303 123 1113
14. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in our practices, our processors, or the law. We will notify you of material changes by email or in-Platform notification and update the "Last Updated" date above. Continued use of the Platform after changes take effect indicates acceptance of the updated policy.
15. Contact Us
For privacy questions or to exercise your rights:
Ushop.bid Privacy Team
Email: privacy@ushop.bid
Address: [Insert Business Address]
Company Registration: [Insert Company Number]
*This policy should be reviewed by a qualified solicitor before implementation.*