Terms of Service

Last updated: 2025-12-30

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of Shippy (the "Service"). The Service is operated by Desiderata LLC, a Pennsylvania limited liability company ("Desiderata," "we," "us," or "our").

By accessing or using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

TL;DR (friendly summary)

This section is a convenience summary. The full Terms below control.

Shippy helps founders and contributors coordinate work, points, and payout history; users provide projects/bounties/submissions.
Reward pools/points/payouts are between users; payouts are processed through Stripe (founders pay via Stripe Checkout, contributors receive funds via Stripe Connect); nothing is guaranteed and you handle your own taxes.
You own what you post, but you give us a license to host and display it so the Service can work.
Use the Service legally and respectfully; don’t hack, scrape excessively, or misrepresent work.
We can change the Service and may suspend/terminate accounts or remove content when needed.
Disputes are handled via arbitration (with an opt-out window); see the dispute resolution section.

Privacy

Our collection and use of personal information is described in our Privacy Policy. Shippy is a U.S.-based service, and information may be processed and stored in the United States.

1. Definitions

For purposes of these Terms:

"Founder" means a user who creates or administers a project on the Service.
"Contributor" means a user who claims bounties, submits work, or otherwise contributes to a project.
"Project" means a founder-created space on the Service that may include a readme/description, bounties, submissions, contributor lists, and payout records.
"Bounty" means a task, request, or outcome posted by a project.
"Submission" means work, evidence, or materials submitted in connection with a bounty.
"User Content" means any content you submit, upload, post, or otherwise make available through the Service (including projects, bounties, submissions, comments, and media).

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract to use the Service. You may not use the Service if you are barred from receiving services under applicable law.

3. Accounts and security

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. You agree to provide accurate information and keep it updated.

You agree to notify us promptly of any suspected unauthorized access to your account.

4. The Service (projects, bounties, submissions)

Shippy provides tools for founders and contributors to coordinate work, track points, and record payout history. Projects, bounties, submissions, and related information are provided by users.

You understand and agree that:

We do not guarantee that any bounty will be awarded, that any submission will be approved, or that any project will generate profit.
We do not control and are not responsible for the quality, legality, safety, or accuracy of user-provided projects, bounties, submissions, or claims.
We may change, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service at any time.

Founders may also use the Service as contributors, including claiming and submitting to bounties on projects they own or administer. Shippy does not guarantee or police the fairness of any project's internal allocations or approvals.

The Service may be offered in alpha, beta, or other early-stage form. Features may change, and the Service may experience interruptions, errors, or data loss.

5. Reward pools, points, and payouts (important)

Projects may describe a reward pool, point allocations, and payout history. These records are provided for transparency and tracking.

Unless we explicitly state otherwise in a signed writing:

No guaranteed payouts. Shippy does not guarantee any payout amount, timing, frequency, or availability.
Payments via Stripe. Payouts are processed through Stripe. Founders pay via Stripe Checkout; contributors receive funds via Stripe Connect (Express accounts). By using Shippy's payout features, you agree to Stripe's terms of service. Stripe is a third-party service, and Shippy is not responsible for Stripe's availability, fees, or policies.
Project owner responsibility. Any payout obligations are solely between a project (and/or its owner) and its contributors.
Accuracy and inputs. Profit and payout calculations may rely on information supplied by project owners and may be incomplete or inaccurate.
Taxes. You are solely responsible for taxes, reporting, and compliance obligations related to any payouts you receive or make (including any withholding, VAT/GST, or issuance of tax forms such as 1099s where applicable).
Disputes. Disputes regarding points, approvals, profit calculation, or payout amounts are disputes between users; we are not responsible for resolving or paying them.

For clarity: points, reward pools, and any references to "royalties" or "upside" or "profit share" are part of user-to-user arrangements and transparency tooling. They are not shares, equity, securities, or investment products offered by Desiderata, and Desiderata does not act as a broker, dealer, escrow agent, or payment processor.

6. Fees

Shippy charges a 2% platform fee on payouts, calculated on the full reward pool amount for each payout period. This fee is paid by the founder (project owner) at the time of payout.

Additionally, Stripe charges payment processing fees that vary by payment method: approximately 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction for card payments, or 0.8% (capped at $5) for ACH bank transfers. These fees are absorbed from the contributors' share of the payout.

We may introduce additional fees for other parts of the Service in the future. If we do, we will disclose applicable fees before you incur them.

7. User Content; licenses; IP

7.1 Your content

You retain ownership of your User Content, subject to the licenses you grant in these Terms and any project-specific agreements you enter into.

You represent and warrant that you have all rights necessary to provide your User Content and that it does not violate law or infringe the rights of any third party.

7.2 License to Desiderata

You grant Desiderata a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable, and sublicensable license to host, store, reproduce, modify (for formatting and technical purposes), display, and distribute your User Content as needed to operate, maintain, and improve the Service.

7.3 Bounty work and project-specific IP terms

Project owners and contributors are responsible for agreeing on IP and usage rights for bounty work and submissions. Shippy may provide templates or prompts, but Shippy is not a party to any project-specific agreement unless explicitly stated in writing.

You understand that:

A founder may require additional terms (such as assignment of IP, confidentiality, or licensing) as a condition of accepting a submission or awarding points.
You are responsible for reviewing and agreeing to any such terms before doing or submitting work.

7.4 Feedback

If you provide suggestions or feedback, you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide license to use them without compensation or restriction.

7.5 Our intellectual property; limited license to you

The Service, including its software, design, text, graphics, logos, and trademarks (excluding User Content), is owned by Desiderata and its licensors and is protected by intellectual property laws.

Subject to your compliance with these Terms, Desiderata grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the Service for your internal business or personal use. You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, lease, reverse engineer, or attempt to extract source code from the Service except to the extent such restrictions are prohibited by law.

8. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

Violate any applicable law or regulation (including export controls and sanctions).
Misrepresent results, identity, credentials, or ownership of work.
Upload malware, attempt to exploit vulnerabilities, or interfere with the Service.
Attempt to access accounts or data you are not authorized to access.
Scrape the Service at a rate that harms the Service or other users.
Use the Service to harass, threaten, or harm others.
Post, share, or promote content that is pornographic or sexually explicit, or that depicts sexual exploitation (especially of minors).
Post, share, or promote content that depicts, encourages, or glorifies gratuitous violence or self-harm.
Use the Service to promote hatred, harassment, or discrimination based on protected characteristics (including race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or veteran status).
Post content or operate projects that we determine, in our sole discretion, are deceptive, fraudulent, objectionable, or inconsistent with the purpose or reputation of the Service.

9. No employment; no agency; no fiduciary duty

You understand and agree that:

Contributors are not employees, agents, joint venturers, or partners of Desiderata by virtue of using the Service.
Unless a separate written agreement says otherwise, contributors are also not employees of founders; contributors and founders are independent parties and must set their own terms.
Desiderata does not act as a fiduciary, broker, financial advisor, or agent for any user.

10. Third-party services

The Service may link to or integrate with third-party services. We are not responsible for third-party services, and your use of them is governed by their terms and policies.

Copyright complaints (DMCA)

If you believe content on the Service infringes your copyright, you may send a notice to our designated agent with the information required by the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), including (i) identification of the copyrighted work, (ii) identification of the material you claim is infringing and where it is located, (iii) your contact information, (iv) a statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorized, and (v) a statement made under penalty of perjury that your notice is accurate and you are authorized to act.

DMCA Agent: Desiderata LLC
4607 Library Road, Ste 220 PMB 630
Bethel Park, PA 15102
United States
Email: hello@shippy.sh

If you believe your content was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification, you may send a DMCA counter-notice to the agent above with the information required by the DMCA. If we receive a valid counter-notice, we may forward it to the complaining party and restore the material as permitted by law.

We may terminate accounts of repeat infringers in appropriate circumstances.

11. Suspension and termination

We may remove or restrict access to User Content (including projects, bounties, submissions, or other content) at any time, including if we reasonably believe it violates these Terms, infringes rights, is unlawful, or may harm the Service or others.

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service at any time if we reasonably believe you have violated these Terms, pose a risk to the Service or other users, or for any other lawful reason. You may stop using the Service at any time.

Termination does not affect rights and obligations that by their nature should survive (including licenses granted, disclaimers, limitations of liability, dispute resolution, and indemnities).

12. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE." TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

Shippy does not provide legal, tax, investment, or financial advice. Any information about profit, payouts, points, or reward pools is for informational purposes only.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain warranty disclaimers, so some of the above may not apply to you.

13. Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, DESIDERATA AND ITS AFFILIATES, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUES, DATA, BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES, OR GOODWILL, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, DESIDERATA'S TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) $100 OR (B) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US (IF ANY) FOR THE SERVICE IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM.

Some jurisdictions do not allow limitations of liability for certain damages, so some of the above may not apply to you.

14. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Desiderata from claims, damages, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of your use of the Service, your User Content, your interactions with other users, or your violation of these Terms.

15. Dispute resolution; arbitration; class action waiver

Please read this section carefully; it affects your legal rights.

15.1 Informal resolution

Before filing a claim, you agree to contact us at hello@shippy.sh and attempt to resolve the dispute informally.

15.2 Arbitration opt-out

You may opt out of the arbitration and class action waiver provisions by emailing hello@shippy.sh within 30 days of first accepting these Terms, stating your name, the email address associated with your account, and that you wish to opt out of arbitration.

15.3 Binding arbitration

Except for disputes that qualify for small claims court or injunctive relief (described below), any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service will be resolved by binding arbitration, rather than in court.

The arbitration will be administered by the American Arbitration Association ("AAA") under its Consumer Arbitration Rules (or, if applicable, its Commercial Arbitration Rules). The arbitration may be conducted remotely (for example, by video conference), unless the arbitrator determines otherwise.

15.4 Batch arbitration

To the extent permitted by law, if 25 or more similar arbitration demands are filed by or with the assistance of the same organization, counsel, or group of counsel, the parties agree to work in good faith with the AAA (or another agreed administrator) to implement a process that includes (a) a single set of administrative filings and fees for the batch, and (b) a staged, bellwether approach before proceeding with remaining demands.

15.5 Exceptions

Either party may:

Bring an individual action in small claims court, if the dispute qualifies.
Seek injunctive or other equitable relief to stop unauthorized use or abuse of the Service or infringement of intellectual property rights.

15.6 Class action waiver

You and Desiderata agree that disputes will be brought only on an individual basis and not as a class, collective, coordinated, or representative action. The arbitrator may not consolidate claims or award relief to anyone other than the individual party.

15.7 Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, without regard to conflict of laws principles.

16. Miscellaneous

Entire agreement. These Terms (and the Privacy Policy) constitute the entire agreement between you and Desiderata regarding the Service.
Severability. If any provision is held invalid, the remainder will remain in effect.
Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
Changes to these Terms. We may update these Terms from time to time. The "Last updated" date indicates when the latest changes were made. If we make material changes, we will take reasonable steps to notify you (for example, by email or by posting a notice on the Service) before the changes take effect. Your continued use of the Service after changes become effective means you accept the updated Terms.
Electronic communications. You consent to receive communications electronically.
Force majeure. Desiderata is not liable for delays or failures caused by events beyond reasonable control.

17. Contact

Desiderata LLC
4607 Library Road, Ste 220 PMB 630
Bethel Park, PA 15102
United States

Email: hello@shippy.sh