Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are a binding contract between you and BarMatch LLC ("BarMatch," "we," "us," or "our") governing your use of the BarMatch mobile app, the BarMatch website at barmatch.com, the venue-owner dashboard, the brand-advertiser dashboard, and related services (collectively, the "Service").

By creating a BarMatch account, accessing the Service, or claiming a venue, you agree to these Terms, our Privacy Policy , and our Community Guidelines . If you do not agree to any of these, do not use the Service.

Section 19 contains an arbitration agreement and a class-action waiver. By accepting these Terms, you are giving up the right to bring a lawsuit in court (except in the narrow circumstances described there) and the right to participate in a class action. Please read Section 19 carefully.

1. Eligibility

To use BarMatch, you must:

• Be 21 years of age or older. We enforce this requirement at signup (self-attested with an explicit acknowledgement that providing false information may result in permanent suspension and is in violation of these Terms), at identity verification (the legal date of birth on your government-issued ID must place you at 21 or older), and at every drink purchase (staff at the venue check IDs and confirm the recipient is 21+).
• Reside in a jurisdiction where BarMatch is offered. BarMatch is initially available only to users physically located in the United States.
• Not be a previously suspended or terminated user.
• Have the legal capacity to enter into contracts in your jurisdiction and to accept these Terms.

If at any time you stop meeting any of these requirements, you must immediately stop using the Service.

2. Account registration

You create your BarMatch account by signing in with Apple or Google, verifying your phone number via SMS, attesting to your identity (first name, last name, date of birth, and gender), and uploading at least one profile photo. By providing this information, you represent that it is accurate and complete.

You are responsible for the activity that occurs through your account. You must keep your account credentials secure and notify us promptly if you believe your account has been compromised.

We may suspend or terminate accounts that we believe have been registered with false information, that violate these Terms, or that pose a risk to other users or the Service.

3. Identity verification

At signup, you self-attest your identity. Self-attested identities can be edited only with our customer-support intervention.

We also offer an identity-verification feature through our partner Persona Identities, Inc., available as a one-time $1.99 in-app purchase (free during the launch period) or included with our Premium subscription. Identity verification is a one-time purchase, never a subscription. Identity verification is required to participate in the Match Game (browsing, liking, and matching); venue discovery, Deals, and Friends features never require verification.

Completing verification requires your affirmative written consent to biometric processing, as described in our BIPA Notice and Privacy Policy. Before verification completes and before any verification fee is charged, you are shown an in-app biometric consent screen. If you consent and proceed, BarMatch derives a numeric face-geometry vector from your verification selfie (the selfie image itself is not stored by BarMatch — only the mathematical vector). If you decline, no biometric data is created, no fee is charged, and you do not complete verification or join the Match Game — Deals and Friends features remain fully available. When a verification fee applies, it is collected only after you consent and proceed; declining consent is never charged. Once you complete identity verification:

• Your first name, last name, date of birth, and gender as returned by Persona are written to your account record. These fields become write-once; you cannot edit them yourself afterward.
• A "verified" badge appears on your profile (eye-shaped glyph), visible to other users.
• You unlock the ability to send drinks to other users, accept drinks sent to you, purchase event tickets, and purchase VIP services. Without verification, these alcohol-and-age- gated features remain locked. (Vibe checks, which are a safety feature for asking friends' opinions about another user, do not require verification — see Section 5 for the full match-interaction feature set.)
• If you complete verification through the paid $1.99 path (not Premium), you also receive three complimentary starter chat refreshments to your account. If you complete verification free of charge during the launch period, you receive one complimentary starter chat refreshment.
• Each of your profile photos must pass (a) automated content moderation (no explicit content) and (b) a face match against the face-geometry vector derived from your verification selfie, confirming the photo genuinely depicts you. A photo that does not match is hidden from public view — retained privately in your account, not deleted — until you replace it with a matching photo. There is no self-serve override to publish a non-matching photo; you may contact support to request manual review. At least one matching, publicly visible photo is required to appear in the Match Game.

If Persona's verification result reveals that you are under 21 or that the identity you provided was misrepresented at signup, we will suspend or terminate your account and retain any fees you have paid (including the $1.99 verification fee, where one was charged) as documented in Section 6.7. Once the verification fee has been charged, we will not refund it in these cases; during the launch period the verification fee may be $0, in which case there is no fee to retain or refund.

Persona's collection and use of your identity verification materials is governed by Persona's privacy policy at withpersona.com/legal/privacy-policy.

4. Acceptable use

4.1 What you may not do

You may not:

• Use the Service if you are under 21 years of age, even if you have access to an account through someone else.
• Pretend to be another person, use a name or photo not your own, or otherwise misrepresent your identity.
• Harass, threaten, intimidate, stalk, bully, or sexually solicit other users.
• Upload, post, or share content that is sexually explicit, contains graphic violence, depicts illegal activity, includes minors in any context, or promotes hatred or discrimination against any protected group.
• Use the Service for any commercial purpose other than the venue-owner features expressly provided in these Terms.
• Attempt to access another user's account, decrypt encrypted data, exploit security vulnerabilities, or bypass rate limits, bot protection, or other access controls.
• Use automated systems (bots, scrapers, crawlers) to access the Service or extract data from it.
• Use the Service while operating a motor vehicle or in any situation where doing so would be unsafe.
• Falsify or attempt to spoof your location to check in at venues you are not physically at.
• Promote, distribute, or facilitate the sale of any controlled substance.
• Use the Service in any jurisdiction where it is not authorized for use.

4.2 Reporting and consequences

If you witness conduct on BarMatch that violates these Terms or our Community Guidelines, please report it using the in-app Report feature on the relevant user's profile or chat. We review all reports.

We may take action against accounts that violate these Terms, including:

• Warning the user.
• Suspending the account for a period of time (per the escalation ladder described in Section 14).
• Permanently terminating the account.
• Banning the user from creating new accounts in the future.
• Reporting illegal conduct to law enforcement.

Zero tolerance for child sexual abuse material. We do not tolerate any content that sexually exploits or endangers a minor. We use automated tools to screen every image uploaded to the Service for such material. Where it is detected, we remove it, permanently terminate the responsible account, preserve the content and related account records for as long as required by law — including where you have asked us to delete your account — and report it to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and to law enforcement as required by 18 U.S.C. § 2258A. This is not subject to the escalation ladder in Section 14.

4.3 Your license to use the Service

Subject to these Terms, BarMatch grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to install and use the BarMatch mobile application on devices you own or control, and to access and use the Service, solely for your personal, non-commercial use — or, for venue owners and brand advertisers, solely for the internal business purpose of managing your venue presence, campaigns, and sales on BarMatch. The software is licensed to you, not sold. These Terms are a written license agreement between you and BarMatch LLC, which you execute by affirmatively accepting them at account creation (or, for venue owners, when you accept BarMatch's terms during the venue-claim process).

Under this license you may not:

• Copy, reproduce, or duplicate the application, the Service, or any part of either, other than the single copy installed on your own device through an authorized app store and the temporary copies inherent in ordinary browser use.
• Sell, rent, lease, lend, sublicense, assign, distribute, or otherwise transfer the application, the Service, your account, or this license to any third party.
• Modify, translate, reverse-engineer, decompile, disassemble, or create derivative works of the software, except to the extent applicable law prohibits this restriction.
• Remove or alter any proprietary notice, or circumvent any technical measure that controls access to the Service.

If your copy of the application is ever lost, damaged, or deleted, you may replace it at no additional charge by re-downloading it from the app store; access to the browser-based Service resumes by signing in. When this license ends — because you delete your account, your access terminates under Section 13, or these Terms otherwise terminate — you must stop using the Service and destroy or delete all copies of the application in your possession or control, including by uninstalling it from your devices.

5. Match interactions

BarMatch matches you with other users present at the same venue based on mutual likes (the "Match Game"). When a match forms, a time-limited chat window opens between the two of you.

• Match chats open a 4-hour window measured from match creation, which expires unless extended. Either matched user may apply a chat refreshment to extend the window by 2 additional hours per refreshment, up to a maximum of 2 refreshments per match. The 2-refreshment cap is shared between the two matched users (it applies to the match, not to each user individually) and is hard — it is not extendable by any user, including Premium subscribers. Premium subscribers' refreshments are included at no additional charge but remain subject to the same 2-per-match cap.
• You may unmatch at any time. Unmatching ends the chat and the match record is archived. You can no longer be re-matched with someone you unmatched for 7 days.
• You may report another user from the chat for harassment or inappropriate conduct. Reported users may be reviewed for account action.
• BarMatch is not responsible for the conduct or outcomes of any match interaction, whether on the platform or after the chat window closes. We facilitate the introduction; we do not background-check the people you meet.

6. Purchases and payments

6.1 Types of purchases

The Service offers several types of purchases:

• Chat refreshments — in-app purchases (Apple App Store / Google Play Store) that extend an active chat by 2 hours, subject to a maximum of 2 refreshments per match (shared between the two matched users). Sold individually ($0.99) and in three-packs ($1.99).
• Identity verification — one-time in-app purchase ($1.99; free during the launch period; never a subscription) that unlocks identity-gated features. The fee, when charged, is collected only after you provide the biometric consent described in Section 3 and proceed — declining consent is never charged. The paid $1.99 verification includes three complimentary starter refreshments; free launch-period verification includes one. Free if you have a Premium subscription.
• Premium subscription — auto-renewing monthly in-app subscription ($4.99/month). Includes chat refreshments at no additional charge (still capped at 2 refreshments per match), free identity verification, and other Premium features as described in Account → Premium.
• Buy-a-Drink offers — card-on-file purchases (Stripe) sent to another user as a specific “gift certificate” for the venue. The recipient may accept, refuse, or let the offer/gift expire. The amount you pay to send this gift to another user covers the drink price set by the venue plus a $2.00 BarMatch service fee. See Section 7 for full Buy-a-Drink terms.
• Event tickets and VIP services — card-on-file purchases for tickets to events at venues you choose. Some venues offer VIP-tier services (e.g., bottle service) which may have additional terms set by the venue. You redeem these by presenting your redemption code — in the app or as an Apple or Google Wallet pass — for venue staff to scan at the door; each code may be redeemed once, and the venue remains responsible for admitting entry and for verifying age and identity at the door.
• Deal redemption — most deals are free to redeem in-app and require presenting a redemption code at the venue. Some deals may be purchase-required (i.e., the venue conditions the deal on a purchase made at the venue).

6.2 Payment processing

• In-app purchases (refreshments, verification, Premium) are processed by Apple App Store on iOS and Google Play Store on Android. Apple's and Google's respective terms of service apply to these transactions in addition to ours.
• Card-on-file purchases (drinks, tickets, VIP) are processed by Stripe. We do not store your card number; we receive only a tokenized reference. For these purchases the venue is the merchant of record: your payment for the drink, ticket, or VIP service is made to the venue through Stripe, and BarMatch collects a separate service fee on top. The venue sets its own prices, taxes, and refund policy, and is responsible for refunds and payment disputes on its sales.
• You must use a valid payment method that you own. Using someone else's payment method without authorization is fraud and will result in account termination.

6.3 Refunds

All purchases are non-refundable except as expressly stated in these Terms or as required by applicable law.

• In-app purchases processed by Apple App Store or Google Play Store may be refunded according to those stores' refund policies, which are independent of BarMatch's. Contact Apple or Google directly for refund requests on those purchases.
• Buy-a-Drink offers — the $2.00 BarMatch service fee is charged when the “gift certificate” offer reaches a completed state (drink served, or the recipient declined or ignored the offer); the drink-portion is charged only when the drink is served. If staff refuses to serve for any reason, or if the recipient accepts but the drink is not redeemed before the venue closes, no charge is made and the pre-authorization is released in full. See Section 7 for the full outcome map.
• Tickets and VIP services — the venue is the merchant of record, so refunds are at the venue's discretion and follow the refund policy posted on the event or VIP offer detail page at time of purchase. You may request a refund in the app from the ticket in your wallet; the venue then approves or declines the request. If the venue approves, you are refunded the ticket or VIP price and the ticket is voided; the BarMatch service fee is non-refundable. The venue's decision is final on the merits — if it declines, follow up with the venue directly using the support email shown on your ticket. BarMatch does not overrule a venue's judgement about its own posted refund policy. The one exception is a failure on our side. If BarMatch fails to deliver what you paid for — for example an event sells out during checkout, or a technical fault on our systems takes your payment and issues no valid ticket — we refund you in full, including the service fee, whether or not the venue has already declined a request. The same applies where you were charged an amount you were not shown or were charged more than once, or where we are required to refund by law, a regulator, or our payment processor — see Section 11.5 for the full list. This covers drink offers as well as tickets and VIP services. Where your card was authorised but the payment was never completed, we simply release the authorisation and no charge is taken.
• If a venue leaves BarMatch — whether the owner closes their whole account or gives up that one venue, any ticket or VIP service you hold that has not been redeemed by the time the closure completes is refunded to you automatically and in full: the price you paid, the tax, and the BarMatch service fee. You do not need to request it, and you are not out of pocket for a closure you had no part in. Until then your purchase remains valid and the venue should honour it.
• If a venue cancels — if a venue calls off an event or VIP service, or one night of one, any ticket or VIP service you hold for a night that had not yet happened is refunded to you automatically and in full: the price you paid, the tax, and the BarMatch service fee. You do not need to request it, and you are not out of pocket for a cancellation you had no part in. We tell you when it happens. A night that already took place is not refunded on this basis — if you did not attend, that is an ordinary refund request to the venue.
• Deals — deals are free to redeem; no refunds apply, and all disputes for redemption are between the user and the venue.
• Identity verification — non-refundable in all cases.
• Premium subscription — non-refundable except for the current billing period if you cancel for cause within the first 30 days; partial-month refunds are not provided.

6.4 BarMatch service fees

Some transactions include a BarMatch service fee:

• Buy-a-Drink: $2.00 service fee per offer, authorised when you send the offer and charged only when the offer reaches a completed state. Not charged at all where staff refuses to serve, or where the recipient accepted but the drink was not redeemed before the venue closed — see the outcome map in Section 7.
• Event tickets: 10% of the ticket price (unless user is premium, then it is 5%).
• VIP services: 10% of the VIP price (unless user is premium, then it is 5%).
• Deals: no service fee (deals are free).

BarMatch service fees are non-refundable when a venue refunds the underlying drink, ticket, or VIP purchase price. They are returned in the circumstances described in Sections 6.3 and 11.5 — where BarMatch fails to deliver what you paid for, where you were charged an amount you were not shown or were charged twice, where we are legally required to refund, where a venue leaves BarMatch and your unredeemed purchase is refunded automatically, or where a venue cancels an event or VIP service you had bought for. Service fees are disclosed at the time of purchase. We reserve the right to adjust service fees prospectively; changes will not affect transactions already in progress.

6.5 Sales tax

Sales tax, where applicable, is calculated and collected at the time of purchase and passed to the venue with the sale. The venue is the merchant of record and is solely responsible for determining, registering for, reporting and remitting the taxes due on its sales. BarMatch does not remit sales tax on a venue's behalf and does not act as its tax agent. Tax amounts are determined either by Stripe Tax, using the tax registrations the venue has configured on its own Stripe account, or, where that is unavailable, by the rate the venue enters in its dashboard. In both cases the rate and the registrations are the venue's responsibility and BarMatch does not verify them. If a venue has not completed its tax setup, no tax may be calculated and the purchase is collected as an all-in price; that does not reduce or affect the venue's own tax obligations.

6.6 Currency

All transactions are in United States Dollars.

6.7 Fraud and chargebacks

We monitor purchases for fraud and abuse. We may decline transactions, hold transactions for verification, refuse certain payment methods, restrict your ability to make purchases, or suspend accounts that exhibit fraudulent, abusive, or chargeback-prone patterns. A purchase restriction limits buying (tickets, VIP, drinks) while otherwise leaving your account active; serious or repeated abuse may result in suspension. Before disputing a charge, please request a refund in the app or contact support — we can usually resolve it faster. If a chargeback is filed against your purchase, we cooperate with the card issuer's investigation; fraudulent chargebacks may result in account suspension and collection of the disputed amount.

7. Buy-a-Drink — special rules

Buy-a-Drink lets you send a drink to another consenting user at a participating venue, serving as a gift certificate with stipulations (as noted below) that allows for the sender to pay for the price of the drink, the tax, and the gratuity as set by that venue. If successfully redeemed, the gift card/payment is received solely by the venue not BarMatch; BarMatch only collects a $2 service fee. Because drinks involve regulated substances and real venue staff, additional rules apply:

7.1 Eligibility to send

• You must have a verified identity (Persona-verified or Premium- subscribed with verification completed).
• You must have a card on file via Stripe.
• The intended recipient (friend or potential match) must be at a Buy-a-Drink-participating venue with a Stripe Connect account and a drink menu available for BarMatch purchase.
• You have not exhausted the per-pair cooldown (24-hour cooldown between attempts to the same recipient after a refused offer).

7.2 Fee structure

The amount you pay for a Buy-a-Drink offer is comprised of:

• Drink price — set by the venue.
• Tax and gratuity — set entirely at the venue’s discretion. BarMatch does not set, recommend or default to any tax rate or gratuity percentage; both are zero unless the venue configures them. Any gratuity is set by the venue and applied automatically rather than chosen by you, is received solely by the venue, and BarMatch does not distribute it to staff.
• BarMatch service fee — $2.00 per offer. Non-refundable where the drink was served, or where the recipient declined or ignored the offer. Waived in full (no charge) whenever staff refuses to serve, and when the recipient accepted the offer but the drink was not redeemed before the venue closed. See Section 7.3 for the full outcome map.

The price breakdown is visible to you before you confirm the offer. Sending an offer pre-authorizes (places a hold on) your card for the full amount; the actual charge is determined by the outcome and may be less than the pre-authorized amount.

7.3 Recipient response

The recipient may accept, refuse, let the offer expire (2 hours), or accept but not redeem the gift before the venue closes for the night. Outcomes:

• Accepted — the recipient receives a redemption code. Staff at the venue check the recipient’s ID, confirm 21+, dispense the drink, and confirm redemption in the BarMatch venue interface using their own six-digit staff code. The drink price, tax, and gratuity are then captured from your card and routed to the venue via Stripe Connect. The $2.00 BarMatch service fee is captured on the same charge.
• Refused at staff confirmation — staff may refuse to redeem the drink for one of three reasons. The outcome for you depends on the reason:
  • Recipient is too intoxicated to receive another drink (see Section 7.4). No charge is made and the pre-authorization is released in full, service fee included. The sender is told the drink was not served and is not told the reason. The recipient is flagged for the rest of the operational night (until 5am the next day) and can not receive new Buy-a-Drink gift offers from any user on BarMatch, at any venue.
  • Item is out of stock. No charge at all — the pre-authorization on your card is released in full. The recipient may be sent a different drink instead.
  • Other (staff selects this reason and adds a brief note). No charge at all — the pre-authorization on your card is released in full. Staff use this reason for any other situation where they cannot serve the drink, including ID concerns, recipient deciding not to accept at the bar, or operational issues at the venue.
• Declined or ignored by recipient before redemption — the recipient may decline or ignore the offer in-app before going to the bar staff. They have two hours to accept the initial offer, but the Match is not made until complete redemption. In this case of declined or ignoring by the recipient, the $2.00 service fee is charged; the drink-portion is not.
• Accepted but not redeemed before close — the recipient accepted the drink but never completed redemption with venue staff (never showed staff their code and received the drink) before the venue closed for the night. Because the recipient wanted the drink and the non-service is not the sender's doing, the pre-authorization is released in full — you are not charged, not even the $2.00 service fee.

7.4 Intoxication refusal

Venue staff have the authority and responsibility to refuse drinks to patrons they assess as too intoxicated. If staff refuses redemption on intoxication grounds:

• No charge is made at all — the pre-authorization on your card is released in full, the $2.00 service fee included. This was the one refusal reason that used to keep the fee; it no longer does, because a charge on the refusal staff are most encouraged to make, with two free alternatives one tap away, is a reason to mislabel it.
• The recipient is flagged as "intoxicated for the night" in our system. The flag expires the next operational morning (5 a.m. local time of the venue).
• While the intoxication flag is active, the recipient cannot receive new Buy-a-Drink offers from any users in the app, regardless of who is sending.
• We notify the recipient (gently) that staff declined the drink.

7.5 Age verification

Age (21+) is verified by Persona, our identity-verification partner, before a user may send or accept Buy-a-Drink offers. Staff do not separately verify age on BarMatch's behalf — their role at redemption is to confirm the person presenting the redemption code is the same person whose verified identity is on file (typical bar ID check) and to determine whether to serve them based on intoxication, stock, or any other reasonable professional judgment.

If staff has any concern about a recipient's identity (for example, the ID presented does not appear to match the Persona-verified profile), staff should refuse redemption using the "Other" reason with a brief note. BarMatch will review the note and may take account-level action against the recipient if review determines fraud occurred. Staff have no ability to suspend a recipient's BarMatch account directly.

7.6 Match formation

Buy-a-Drink offers between match-candidates can produce a match on staff redemption (not on recipient acceptance). This is deliberate: the match record is tied to the actual drink being served, which means staff have confirmed both parties are 21+ and physically present (in the event of matches, not friends).

7.7 No refunds in any other circumstance

Except in the outcomes described in Sections 7.3 and 7.4 (refused at staff for any reason → full release, service fee included; accepted but not redeemed before the venue closed → full release; declined or ignored by the recipient, or the offer expired unanswered → $2.00 service fee charged, drink-portion not charged; redeemed → full charge), Buy-a-Drink purchases are non-refundable. The recipient's discretion is final. This does not affect the refunds described in Section 6.3, which apply to drink offers as well as to tickets and VIP services.

7.8 Dram-shop and liquor-liability disclaimer

BarMatch does not sell, serve, or distribute alcoholic beverages. All alcohol associated with a Buy-a-Drink offer is sold and served by the licensed venue. The venue is the seller of record, holds the relevant liquor license, and bears all responsibility for compliance with applicable liquor, liquor-liability, dram-shop, and social-host laws. BarMatch operates payment-routing software that moves funds between users, venues, and our payment processors; BarMatch is not the venue, is not a licensee, and is not a server, host, or distributor of alcohol under any applicable statute.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, you, on behalf of yourself and your heirs and assigns, expressly waive any claim against BarMatch based on any dram-shop, social-host, or liquor-liability theory, regardless of where the relevant alcohol service occurred. You agree to look solely to the licensed venue and/or to the responsible user(s) for any such remedy.

8. Premium subscription

Premium is a recurring monthly subscription at $4.99 per month (price subject to change with notice). Premium benefits include:

• Included chat refreshments at no additional charge (up to 2 refreshments per match).
• Free identity verification (the $1.99 verification fee is waived).
• Visibility of who has viewed your profile (the "eye" icon).
• Boosted Match Game visibility according to current product specifications.
• Premium-only badge on your profile.
• Other Premium features as described in the app.

Premium auto-renews monthly through Apple App Store or Google Play Store. You may cancel at any time through your App Store / Play Store subscription settings. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period; you retain Premium access through that period.

Per Apple's and Google's subscription policies, refunds for in-app subscriptions are issued by the respective store, not directly by us.

9. User content

9.1 What you own

You retain ownership of the photos, videos, voice notes, messages, bio text, reviews, and other content you submit ("User Content").

9.2 License you grant to BarMatch

By submitting User Content, you grant BarMatch a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, display, transmit, and reproduce that content for the purpose of operating the Service. This license includes the right to display your photos to other users per your privacy mode, to retain messages for the 60-day chat-retention period, and to back up content for infrastructure purposes.

This license does not give us the right to use your User Content in advertising or external marketing without your separate explicit consent.

Your license to us terminates when you delete the User Content, delete your account, or otherwise revoke our right to host it, except as required by retention rules in our Privacy Policy (e.g., financial transaction records retained for tax purposes).

9.3 Content moderation

All photo uploads are scanned by automated content moderation; photos that fail moderation (e.g., explicit content) are rejected. For verified users, profile photos are additionally face-matched against the face-geometry vector derived from the user's verification selfie, as described in Section 3; photos that do not match are hidden from public view until replaced with a matching photo. Human moderators review flagged content. We reserve the right to remove any content that violates these Terms or Community Guidelines.

9.4 Reporting infringement

If you believe content on BarMatch infringes your intellectual property rights, send a written notice to legal@barmatch.com including the elements required under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), 17 U.S.C. § 512. We will investigate and respond as required by law.

10. Communications from BarMatch

By signing up, you consent to receive:

• Transactional notifications via SMS (signup verification, drink redemption alerts), push notification (per your in-app preferences), and email (purchase receipts, account actions).
• Service updates regarding outages, policy changes, or other operational matters that affect your account.
• Marketing emails only if you opt in. You may unsubscribe at any time from the link in any marketing email or via Account → Notifications.

Standard messaging and data rates from your wireless carrier may apply to SMS and push notifications.

Separately from the communications above, the Service displays advertising from venues and from third-party brands. See Section 12 for how advertising works, how ads are selected, and what we do and do not use to select them.

11. Venue-owner terms

These terms apply if you operate a venue on the BarMatch platform. Operating a venue means you have claimed your venue listing or been approved to manage one, and you are using the venue-owner dashboard at barmatch.com/venue-owner.

11.1 Authority to operate

By claiming a venue, you represent that:

• You hold all required licenses to operate the venue (including but not limited to liquor licenses, food-service permits, business licenses) under federal, state, and local law.
• You have legal authority to commit the venue to the obligations in these Terms, including honoring deals, fulfilling drink purchases, providing tickets sold through BarMatch, and providing venue events as described.
• The contact and business information you provide is accurate.
• You agree to immediately notify BarMatch if your authority to operate the venue changes (e.g., ownership transfer, lease termination, license suspension or revocation).

11.2 Venue claim process

Claims are reviewed by BarMatch admin. We may request documentation (such as a copy of your liquor license, business formation documents, or a utility bill matching the venue address) to confirm authority. Approval may be denied or revoked at our discretion.

11.3 Free vs. Premium tiers

The free tier provides essentials: venue claim, basic listing information, hours, deals, events, VIP offers, photos.

The Premium tier ($29.99/month for a single venue, or $24.99/month per venue for multi-venue owners, in each case subject to change with notice) unlocks: advanced analytics, 50% discounted ad campaigns, promote-row eligibility, additional deal slots, additional “vibe” category assignments for visibility in user search, multi-venue management, the ability to block competing venues' ads on your venue page and to turn off third-party brand advertising there (see Section 11.6), and other features as described on the venue-owner subscription page.

Premium subscriptions auto-renew monthly through Stripe Checkout. You may cancel at any time through your venue-owner dashboard or by emailing support; cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period.

11.4 Drink fulfillment obligations

If your venue accepts Buy-a-Drink purchases:

• You must provide a drink menu for BarMatch purchase — entered in your venue dashboard, or synced from a point-of-sale system if you connect one — designating which items are available for BarMatch purchase. A point-of-sale connection is optional.
• You must set up Stripe Connect to receive payouts.
• You must give at least one member of staff a six-digit code with drink permissions. Only a staff member whose own code carries drink permissions can confirm or refuse a redemption, and the action is recorded under their name.
• Staff must check the recipient's ID at every drink redemption to confirm identity matches the Persona-verified profile and to confirm they are 21+ (Persona verifies age on-platform but staff retains independent professional judgment and the legal responsibility of the licensed seller). If staff cannot serve the recipient for any reason, staff must select the appropriate refusal option in the BarMatch venue interface (intoxicated, out of stock, or other with a brief note) and not deliver the drink. Staff must not directly refuse on BarMatch's behalf without using the refusal interface; the interface is what triggers the refund or fee handling for the customer.
• Staff must use the "intoxication" refusal option if they determine the recipient is too intoxicated to receive another drink. This is required by law in most jurisdictions and is your responsibility as the licensed seller.
• You must fulfill accepted-and-redeemed drink orders promptly and in the form described in your menu (e.g., the menu item, the price). If a drink cannot be fulfilled due to shortage or other reason, staff must select the appropriate refusal option; the customer is refunded according to the refusal-outcome rules in Section 7.3.
• You are responsible for compliance with all applicable liquor, food, and consumer protection laws.

If your venue sells event tickets or VIP services:

• You must set up Stripe Connect, publish a refund policy, and provide a support email before you can offer paid tickets or VIP services. A connected POS is optional and only mirrors ticket sales to your POS records.
• Guests redeem tickets and VIP services by presenting a redemption code — in the app or as an Apple or Google Wallet pass — for your staff to scan at the door. You check guests in using the per-venue door check-in link together with a staff member’s own six-digit code, which marks each ticket used and records who admitted the guest; each code may be redeemed once.
• You are responsible for safeguarding your door check-in link and your staff codes, for issuing and withdrawing those codes as people join and leave, for the conduct of any staff to whom you provide them, and for your staff's handling of the limited guest information shown at check-in (a guest's first name and last initial, the item, the party size, the redemption code, and the time window). Rotate the link promptly if it may have been exposed.
• BarMatch's check-in tools confirm that a ticket is valid and unused; they do not verify a guest's identity or age. You remain solely responsible for admitting or refusing entry in accordance with applicable law and your own policies, including any age or identity verification at the door.

11.5 Payments, payouts, and pricing

For drinks, tickets, and VIP services sold through BarMatch, your venue is the merchant of record. Each customer payment is made to your Stripe connected account, and BarMatch collects its service fee on top of your price as an application fee paid by the customer.

• Buy-a-Drink: you receive the drink price plus your configured tax and gratuity. BarMatch's $2.00 per-offer service fee is paid by the customer on top and is not deducted from your price.
• Event tickets: you receive the ticket price. BarMatch's 10% service fee (5% if the buyer has Premium) is added on top and paid by the customer.
• VIP services: you receive the VIP price. BarMatch's 10% service fee (5% if the buyer has Premium) is added on top and paid by the customer.
• As the merchant of record, you pay Stripe's card-processing fees on these transactions and you bear responsibility for refunds and payment disputes (chargebacks) on your sales. If a customer disputes a charge, the disputed amount and any dispute fees are charged to your account.
• You must maintain a posted refund policy and a support email for buyers, and you must issue refunds through the BarMatch venue dashboard (which voids the ticket and returns the seat to inventory). The BarMatch service fee is non-refundable and is not returned to you when you refund a customer.
• A purchase is refunded in whole. Where a buyer bought more than one ticket or VIP service in a single transaction, that transaction is refunded in whole or not at all. Neither you nor BarMatch can refund part of a purchase, and a buyer cannot release some of them and keep the rest. A buyer who wants that flexibility must buy the tickets or services in separate transactions, each of which is then refundable on its own.
• Passes held by someone else must be returned before a refund. Where a buyer has given any of the tickets or VIP services in a purchase to another BarMatch user, that purchase cannot be refunded until every one of them has been returned by the recipient or taken back by the buyer. Neither you nor BarMatch can refund a purchase while any part of it is held by someone other than the buyer.
• Refunds BarMatch may issue on your account. You authorise BarMatch to issue a refund on your connected account, without your prior instruction, in the following circumstances only: (a) a technical failure of BarMatch's systems means a buyer was charged and no valid ticket, VIP service or drink offer was issued to them; (b) a buyer was charged an amount that was not shown to them, or was charged more than once for the same purchase; (c) we are required to do so by law, by a court or regulator, or by our payment processor or the card networks; (d) you have closed your BarMatch account, or given up the venue, and a ticket or VIP service you sold is still unredeemed when that completes, as described under Closing your BarMatch account below; or (e) you have cancelled an event or VIP service, or one night of one, and a ticket or VIP service you sold for a night still to come has not been redeemed. In these cases we return the BarMatch service fee together with your price. Stripe does not return its card-processing fee on any refund, so that cost stays with you even where the fault was ours; it is charged on the original total, which includes the BarMatch fee the buyer paid. Subject to that, we will email you whenever we do this. Where a payment was authorised but never completed — which is how drink offers work until the drink is served — we release the authorisation instead and nothing reaches your account at all. Outside these circumstances, refunds on your sales remain yours to decide: we do not overrule your judgement about your own refund policy.
• Cancelling an event or a VIP service. You may call off a single night of a recurring event or VIP service, or cancel one outright, from your dashboard. When you do, everyone who bought for a night that has not yet happened is refunded automatically and in full — the price they paid, the tax, and the BarMatch service fee. Your connected account funds the price and the tax; BarMatch returns its own service fee rather than keeping it, because the cancellation is yours and not the buyer's. Nights that have already taken place are not refunded. Before you confirm, the dashboard tells you how many purchases are affected and exactly how much will go back, and we tell each buyer that you have called it off. Cancelling cannot be undone. As on any refund, Stripe does not return its card-processing fee, and that was charged on the original total.
• Payout timing (event-based holds). Your connected account is on a manual payout schedule and BarMatch initiates your payouts — ordinarily once daily. Ticket and VIP revenue for an event that has not yet taken place is held back from those payouts and released after the event — approximately a few days afterward (currently about four days, and subject to change) — so that funds remain available to cover refunds around the event. Drink and other non-event revenue is not itself subject to the hold and is ordinarily released daily; because the held amount is measured against your account balance as a whole, however, a large held balance can delay the release of other funds. This event-based hold is standard practice for ticketing platforms.
• Payout controls during a hold. While an event-based hold is in effect, the self-service payout controls in the Stripe panel of your dashboard are switched off, so that the held funds cannot be withdrawn before the event. You may request a payout from us at any time, and we will release everything not then subject to a hold. When you are holding nothing for a future event, this restriction does not apply to you.
• Negative balances and your bank account. If your balance becomes negative — for example because of a refund or a chargeback after you have already been paid out — Stripe may automatically debit your linked bank account to cover the shortfall. This applies even though your account is on a manual payout schedule. Keeping a positive balance is the simplest way to avoid an automatic debit.
• Leaving BarMatch: closing your account, or giving up one venue. You may close your BarMatch account, which applies to every venue you own; or, if you run more than one, give up a single venue and keep your account and the rest. Both follow the same process and the same timing, and everything in this paragraph applies to each of them. What follows describes the venue or venues you are giving up.
• Straight away. The venue stops being able to sell through BarMatch. Any advertising campaigns you are running for it stop, and are not billed while they are stopped. If the venue holds a Premium subscription it stops renewing — you keep Premium for the billing period you have already paid for, and it is not refunded pro rata. Your dashboard stays open.
• For the next sixty days. Sales you have already made stand: a ticket or VIP service someone has already bought remains valid and you should honour it. So that you can, the tools you need to do so keep working for the whole period — your door scanner and staff codes, your ability to refund a guest, and your payouts. Only new sales are switched off.
• When it completes, about sixty days later. Anything still unredeemed is refunded to the buyer automatically and in full — the price they paid, the tax, and the BarMatch service fee. Your connected account funds the price and the tax; BarMatch returns its own service fee, so leaving does not cost you our fee as well. As on any refund, Stripe does not return its card-processing fee, and that was charged on the original total. We then delete the logo, photographs, menu and description you uploaded, because they are yours, and we disconnect the venue from your Stripe account so that it cannot take payments for you afterwards. The venue reverts to an unclaimed listing carrying only public information such as its name, address and opening hours. We keep the sales records for three years, as described in our Privacy Policy. If you closed your whole account, your sign-in stops working at this point.
• Changing your mind. At any time before it completes you can cancel, from your dashboard or by asking us, and nothing will have been refunded or deleted. Advertising resumes. A Premium subscription does not restart by itself — you turn it back on yourself — because we will not resume billing a subscription you may have meant to end.
• You are responsible for paying applicable taxes on your revenue. Stripe will provide 1099-K forms directly to you where reporting thresholds are met; BarMatch does not issue them.

11.6 Promotional content and ads

You may purchase advertising that promotes your venue inside the BarMatch consumer app. Advertising is optional and is separate from your venue listing, your deals and events, and your Premium subscription.

What you can buy. Placements currently include a sponsored card in the consumer activity feeds; a larger showcase unit in the single reserved top slot of a feed; a sponsored pin and detail card on the in-app map; and a sponsored card on venue detail pages. Available placements, their appearance, and their availability may change; current placements are shown in the venue-owner dashboard. You choose which placements each campaign may run in, and we will neither serve nor bill your campaign in a placement you have not enabled.

Pricing and billing. You set one bid — cost per click or cost per thousand impressions — and a campaign budget cap. The amount charged for an individual impression or click is your bid adjusted by a multiplier for the placement it ran in, because placements differ in prominence and scarcity. The multiplier for each placement is shown in the dashboard when you build the campaign. Charges are drawn from your prepaid ad balance; we do not extend credit, and serving stops when your budget cap or your balance is exhausted. Ad balance is prepaid and non-refundable except as required by law; unspent balance does not expire while your venue account is in good standing.

Click billing. We charge you at most once per person, per campaign, in any 24-hour period, however many times that person taps your ad. Further taps appear in your reporting but are not billed.

Delivery is not guaranteed. Buying a campaign buys eligibility to be served — not a guaranteed number of impressions, clicks, positions, or business outcomes. Delivery depends on audience availability, your own targeting, competing campaigns, frequency limits, and our product decisions about how much advertising a surface carries. Some placements carry their own requirements: a map placement, for example, requires a specific offer or perk to display, because a map pin has no room to explain itself. A campaign that does not meet a placement's requirement will not run in that placement, and the rest of the campaign is unaffected.

Targeting. You may limit who is eligible to see your campaign by age range, gender, distance from your venue, the kind of venue or content the person is browsing or checked in at, and whether the person has previously checked in at venues you name. No other targeting is available to you. You may not use targeting to exclude people on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Targeting you set applies to every placement your campaign runs in.

Content standards. Ad content must:

• Be honest and not misleading, and accurately describe the offer, the price, and any conditions or exclusions.
• Comply with applicable advertising standards (no false claims, no minors depicted in alcohol contexts, no claims of intoxication-related health benefits).
• Not promote consumption by minors, and not use models, characters, imagery, music, or language that appeals primarily to people under 21. Anyone depicted in an alcohol context must be, and must reasonably appear to be, well over 21.
• Not depict or imply intoxication, over-consumption, drinking games or contests, or alcohol as a way to gain social, professional, athletic, or sexual success, or to relieve stress or any other problem.
• Not associate alcohol with driving, operating machinery, or any other activity requiring sobriety or presenting a risk of injury.
• Not make health, therapeutic, nutritional, or performance claims about alcohol.
• Not use BarMatch's name, logo, or branding in a way that suggests BarMatch endorses your venue or that the ad is BarMatch's own editorial content, and not impersonate another venue, brand, or person.
• Comply with state and federal advertising regulations specific to alcohol, and with any industry advertising code that applies to you.

Review and removal. Ad creative is screened automatically before it can run. We may reject creative, pause a campaign, or remove an ad at any time if we believe it violates these standards, our Community Guidelines, or applicable law, or if it presents a risk to users or to BarMatch. A campaign we have taken down for a standards violation cannot be reactivated from your dashboard; contact support. We are not obliged to give a detailed explanation of a rejection, and a rejection does not entitle you to a refund of balance already spent.

Competitor advertising. BarMatch may permit a venue's ad to appear on another venue's detail page. Where that is enabled, you agree that your ad may appear on other venues' pages and that other venues' ads may appear on yours unless you have blocked competitor advertising. Blocking competitor ads on your own page is a Premium feature, enabled by default for Premium venues; the setting has no effect without an active Premium subscription. A venue may not advertise against another venue under common ownership or control with it.

Third-party brand advertising on your page. BarMatch may display advertising from beverage brands and other third parties on your venue's detail page and elsewhere in the app. You do not receive a share of that revenue. Premium venues may turn off third-party brand advertising on their own venue page from the venue-owner dashboard.

Reporting. We report delivery, spend, and outcomes to you in aggregate — impressions, clicks, spend, and counts of actions such as check-ins, purchases, redemptions, and saves that occurred after exposure to your ad within an attribution window. Attribution is calculated on our servers. We do not tell you which individual people saw or clicked your ad, and attributed actions are an estimate of correlation, not proof that your ad caused them.

11.7 Employee accounts

You may invite employees to access your venue-owner dashboard with limited permissions. You are responsible for the actions of your invited employees. Their actions on the dashboard are logged and attributed to your account.

11.8 Termination of venue accounts

We may suspend or terminate a venue account at our discretion if the venue:

• Repeatedly fails to fulfill confirmed drink purchases or other purchases.
• Engages in repeated underage service or fails to enforce the 21+ requirement.
• Provides false information at claim or during operation.
• Receives a high volume of valid harassment or safety reports from patrons.
• Violates any other provision of these Terms or applicable law.

Venue terminations result in removal of the venue listing from BarMatch and forfeiture of any active deals, events, or VIP offers.

11.9 Indemnification and defense

The Venue Owner shall indemnify, defend, and hold harmless BarMatch, its parent, affiliates, officers, directors, and employees (collectively, the "Indemnified Parties") from and against any and all third-party claims, lawsuits, actions, losses, liabilities, damages, judgments, settlements, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees, expert witness fees, and court costs) arising out of, related to, or resulting from this Agreement, the performance of the Services, the user interactions, or any alleged violation of privacy, data protection, or biometric security laws (including the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, 740 ILCS 14/1 et seq.), regardless of whether such claims are caused in part by the negligence of BarMatch, except to the extent caused by the sole negligence, intentional fraud, or willful misconduct of BarMatch.

Control of defense. Within thirty (30) days of receipt of written notice of a claim subject to indemnification under this Section, and upon written request by BarMatch, the Venue Owner shall assume, at its sole cost and expense, the defense of any third-party claim or lawsuit brought against any Indemnified Party that falls within the scope of this Section. The Venue Owner shall retain competent legal counsel reasonably acceptable to BarMatch to conduct such defense. BarMatch shall have the right, at its own option and expense, to participate in the defense of any such claim through counsel of its own choosing, and the Venue Owner shall not settle any claim without the prior written consent of BarMatch.

Notice and cooperation. BarMatch will give the Venue Owner reasonable written notice of any claim subject to indemnification under this Section; provided, however, that failure to give such notice shall not relieve the Venue Owner of its obligations under this Section except to the extent that the Venue Owner is materially prejudiced by the delay. BarMatch will cooperate reasonably with the Venue Owner, at the Venue Owner's reasonable expense, in the defense of any such claim. This Section shall survive termination or expiration of this Agreement.

12. Advertising, marketing, and analytics

12.1 Advertising in the app

The Service carries advertising. Ads appear in the activity feeds, on category and list surfaces, on the map, and on venue detail pages. Advertising is not currently shown on the Explore home surface.

Paid placements are identified as paid. A sponsored card carries a label — "Sponsored" where a venue is the advertiser, "Paid partnership" where a third-party brand is — together with a "Why this ad?" control that explains in plain language why you are seeing it. A sponsored map pin is marked in gold to distinguish it from an ordinary venue pin, and its detail card carries the "Sponsored" label and the same control.

An advertisement is not an endorsement. BarMatch does not verify, warrant, or recommend the venues, brands, products, offers, prices, or claims that appear in advertising. The advertiser, not BarMatch, is responsible for its ad and for honoring any offer it makes in one. Sections 17 and 18 apply to advertising as they do to the rest of the Service.

Every alcohol-related ad unit carries a "21+" marker and a responsible-drinking line. Those are part of the app, not part of the advertiser's copy — an advertiser cannot remove, reword, shorten, or obscure them. An advertiser's own legally mandated wording may only be added beneath them.

Advertising cannot be turned off, and BarMatch does not offer an ad-free tier. The Premium subscription does not remove advertising.

12.2 How ads are selected

Ads are selected using information you gave us or generated inside BarMatch. An ad may be selected on the basis of: your age and gender; your approximate location at the time; the venue you are checked in at and that venue's characteristics; the kind of venue, vibe, or content you are browsing at that moment; whether you have previously checked in at a particular venue; and how recently and how often you have already been shown that campaign.

Ads are not selected on the basis of your matches, likes, chat messages, vibe checks, friend graph, purchases, photos, or biometric data. We do not use information gathered about you on other companies' apps or websites to select ads on BarMatch. The app contains no third-party advertising or tracking SDK: ads are chosen on our own servers, from campaigns bought directly from us.

We cap how often the same campaign can be shown to the same person, and an advertiser is billed for at most one click per person per campaign per day.

12.3 Brand advertisers

BarMatch sells advertising to beverage brands and other third parties ("Brand Advertisers"), who access the Service through the brand-advertiser dashboard. If you are a Brand Advertiser, these Terms apply to you in addition to the separate written advertising agreement or insertion order between you and BarMatch; where that signed agreement and these Terms conflict, the signed agreement controls for the subject it addresses.

Brand Advertisers agree that:

• Access is granted by BarMatch to named individuals. You are responsible for everything done through your users' accounts, and you will tell us promptly when someone should lose access.
• Advertising is funded by contracted credit issued by BarMatch. Credit has no cash value, is not redeemable for cash, and is not transferable.
• Your creative must meet the content standards in Section 11.6 and any alcohol-marketing code applicable to your products. Creative is reviewed and may be rejected, or removed after approval, at any time.
• Where your advertising or brand profile states that a product is available at a named venue, you are responsible for the accuracy of that statement and will correct or withdraw it promptly once it stops being true.
• You will not direct advertising to anyone under 21. You may not use age targeting to reach an audience below the legal drinking age, and you acknowledge that every BarMatch account holder represents themselves as 21 or older.
• You receive delivery and performance reporting in aggregate only. You receive no personal information about BarMatch users, and you will not attempt to identify, re-identify, contact, or build a profile of any individual user, whether from our reporting or from any other source.
• You will not use BarMatch's name, marks, or user base in your own marketing without our prior written consent.
• BarMatch may decline, pause, or terminate your advertising at any time, and may remove any creative, with or without cause.

Brand Advertisers indemnify BarMatch on the terms set out in Section 21.1 as though references there to "your use of the Service" included your advertising, your creative, and any claim made in it.

12.4 Marketing and analytics

BarMatch uses analytics tools (PostHog, Sentry) to understand feature usage and operational health. Aggregated, non-personally identifiable data may be used for product development, marketing, and business decisions.

We may publish aggregate statistics about the Service (e.g., "1,000 matches happened last week") that do not identify individual users.

13. Suspension and termination

13.1 By you

You may stop using the Service at any time. Deleting your account from Account → Delete Account initiates the deletion flow described in our Privacy Policy.

13.2 By us

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service at any time, with or without notice, for:

• Violation of these Terms or our Community Guidelines.
• Conduct that we reasonably believe is harmful to the Service or other users.
• Suspected fraud, payment-method abuse, or chargeback abuse.
• Legal requirements (e.g., compliance with subpoena, court order, or government request).
• Discontinuation of the Service, including discontinuation of the Service in your jurisdiction.

13.3 Effect of termination

Upon termination:

• Your access to the Service ends.
• Your license under Section 4.3 ends, and you must uninstall the BarMatch application and destroy or delete any copies of it in your possession or control.
• Active subscriptions cease at the end of the current billing period (Premium).
• Your account data is retained or deleted per the retention rules in our Privacy Policy.
• Provisions that by their nature should survive termination (including but not limited to Sections 14, 17, 18, 19, and 20) continue to apply.

14. Escalation ladder for harassment-and-safety violations

We maintain an escalation ladder for accounts that receive multiple substantiated harassment or safety reports within a rolling 12-month window:

• First substantiated report — written notification warning, 24 hours after the report is verified.
• Second substantiated report within 12 months — 2-week account suspension.
• Third substantiated report within 12 months — 3-month account suspension.
• Fourth substantiated report within 12 months — indefinite account suspension with manual review for reinstatement.

Severe violations (threats of violence, sexual assault claims, identity-verification fraud) bypass the ladder and result in immediate indefinite suspension pending investigation.

15. Third-party services

BarMatch integrates with third-party services (Apple, Google, Stripe, Twilio, Persona, Resend, RevenueCat, Square, and others listed in our Privacy Policy). Use of these services is subject to their respective terms and privacy policies. BarMatch is not responsible for the actions of third-party services beyond our commercial relationship with them.

16. Modifications to the Service and these Terms

We may modify the Service at any time, including adding features, removing features, or changing how features work. We may also modify these Terms. Material modifications to these Terms will be notified to you through the app, by email, by an in-app banner, or by another reasonable method before the change takes effect.

Your continued use of the Service after a Terms change constitutes your acceptance of the modified Terms. If you do not agree to the modified Terms, you must stop using the Service.

17. Disclaimers

The Service is provided on an "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" basis. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we make no warranties or representations, express or implied, regarding the Service or its content, including but not limited to:

• Warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.
• Warranties about the quality, suitability, safety, identity, or conduct of other users or venue owners.
• Warranties about the accuracy, reliability, or availability of the Service.
• Warranties that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free.
• Warranties about content moderation outcomes; some inappropriate content may not be caught immediately.

Users meet, communicate, and transact with each other entirely at their own discretion and risk. BarMatch facilitates introductions; we are not responsible for the conduct or outcomes of any user interaction. We strongly recommend exercising standard safety practices when meeting people in person: meet in public, tell a friend your plans, trust your instincts, and do not consume anything you did not see prepared.

17.1 Assumption of risk and acknowledgment of role

BarMatch is a facilitator, not a producer. BarMatch operates a software platform that introduces users to each other and to participating venues. BarMatch does not produce, manufacture, sell, serve, or warrant any drink, ticket, VIP service, deal, event, or other product or experience offered through the Service. Those goods and services are produced and provided by the participating venue, which is the seller, the licensed operator, and the responsible party for everything that occurs on its premises. BarMatch's role is limited to operating the introduction, payment-routing, and identity-verification software that connects you to the venue or to other users.

You assume the risk of user-to-user interactions. Identity verification through Persona confirms that the user whose name appears on a BarMatch profile is the person who passed Persona's identity check at signup; it does not verify, predict, or warrant that user's present-day behavior, intentions, sobriety, health status, criminal background, or any other attribute. You understand that:

• Other users may misrepresent themselves to you through chat or in person despite identity verification.
• BarMatch cannot and does not screen users for criminal history, communicable diseases, mental or physical health, or general suitability for any interaction.
• Meeting another user in person — at a venue or anywhere else — carries the same inherent risks as meeting any stranger through any other introduction channel, online or offline.
• BarMatch is not a party to any agreement, encounter, transaction, or interaction between you and another user, or between you and a venue, except for the limited payment routing and software services described in these Terms.

17.2.a No agency, partnership, or fiduciary relationship

Nothing in these Terms creates any agency, partnership, joint venture, employment, or fiduciary relationship between you and BarMatch, or between BarMatch and any venue. BarMatch does not act as your agent, fiduciary, broker, or representative in any transaction between you and another user or between you and a venue. Venues are independent operators; venue staff are not BarMatch employees or agents, even when they use BarMatch software at the point of sale.

17.2.b Allocation of responsibility for outcomes

You agree and acknowledge that any liability arising out of or relating to:

• Your interactions with other users (including, without limitation, in-person meetings, conversations, physical contact, intoxication-related conduct, emotional injury, property damage, and any conduct alleged to be harassing, discriminatory, fraudulent, unlawful, or otherwise injurious);
• Anything that occurs at a venue, including but not limited to food or beverage service, intoxication, slip-and-fall, ejection, assault, or any other injury or loss on the venue's premises;
• The quality, character, or fitness for purpose of any drink, ticket, VIP service, deal, event, or other good or service you receive at or through a venue;
• Your own conduct, statements, content, or use of the Service; and
• Any decision you make on the basis of information presented on the Service (including another user's profile, verification status, ratings, or messages),

rests with you and/or the relevant venue, and not with BarMatch. BarMatch is not the seller of alcohol or other goods served at a venue, is not the operator of any physical premises, and is not the counterparty to any of your user-to-user interactions. To the maximum extent permitted by law, you waive any claim against BarMatch based on outcomes falling within the categories above and agree to look solely to the responsible user(s) or the responsible venue for any remedy.

17.3 General release

To the maximum extent permitted by law, you, on behalf of yourself and your heirs, executors, administrators, successors, and assigns, hereby fully, finally, and forever release, waive, discharge, and covenant not to sue BarMatch, its parent, affiliates, officers, directors, employees, agents, contractors, licensors, and assigns from any and all claims, demands, causes of action, suits, debts, obligations, damages, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) of every kind and nature whatsoever, whether known or unknown, suspected or unsuspected, fixed or contingent, that you have, ever had, or hereafter may have arising out of or relating to:

• Any interaction with another BarMatch user or with a venue, its owners, employees, or contractors, whether such interaction occurred on the Service, at a venue, or anywhere else;
• Any dispute with another user or a venue, including disputes concerning conduct, payment, intoxication, consent, or identity;
• Any acts or omissions of another user or a venue, including acts or omissions that result in injury, illness, death, property damage, financial loss, emotional distress, or reputational harm;
• Your decision to meet, communicate with, transact with, or provide information to another user or to a venue.

If you are a resident of California, you expressly waive any rights and benefits under California Civil Code Section 1542, which reads:

"A general release does not extend to claims that the creditor or releasing party does not know or suspect to exist in his or her favor at the time of executing the release and that, if known by him or her, would have materially affected his or her settlement with the debtor or released party."

Residents of other jurisdictions waive any similar protection provided by their jurisdiction's law. This release extends to claims unknown at the time of its execution. This release does not waive any claim that, by law, cannot be waived (e.g., gross negligence, intentional misconduct, or statutory rights expressly stated as non-waivable).

18. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, in no event will BarMatch, its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, or agents be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, exemplary, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits, revenue, data, or goodwill, arising out of or in connection with the Service, regardless of the legal theory (contract, tort, warranty, statute, or otherwise) and even if BarMatch has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

BarMatch's aggregate liability to you for any cause of action arising out of or in connection with the Service will not exceed the greater of (a) the amounts you have paid BarMatch in the 12 months immediately preceding the event giving rise to liability, or (b) $100.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages, so portions of these limitations may not apply to you. In those jurisdictions, our liability is limited to the maximum extent permitted by law.

18.1 Specific liability exclusions

Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, BarMatch shall not be liable, under any theory, for any of the following:

• Personal injury, property damage, illness, intoxication-related injury, sexual assault, harassment, stalking, wrongful death, or other physical or emotional harm arising out of any user interaction or any visit to a venue;
• Loss, damage, or destruction of property arising at a venue or in connection with a user interaction;
• Defamation, false light, invasion of privacy, or reputational harm arising from another user's statements or content;
• Failure of any venue to fulfill a drink, ticket, VIP service, deal, event, or other purchase, or any failure of any venue to comply with applicable law;
• Refusal of service at a venue, including without limitation refusal on the basis of intoxication, inventory, or staff judgment;
• Any claim brought under any "dram-shop" statute, social-host liability statute, common-law claim relating to the service of alcohol, or other liquor-liability theory. Alcohol is sold by the licensed venue. BarMatch routes payment for the transaction as a software intermediary; BarMatch is not the seller, server, or distributor of any alcoholic beverage and has no licensure, fiduciary duty, or retail responsibility with respect to alcohol service.

18.2 One-year limitations period

To the maximum extent permitted by law, any claim or cause of action arising out of or relating to your use of the Service or these Terms must be filed within one (1) year after the claim or cause of action accrued, or forever be barred. This shortened limitations period applies regardless of any longer period that may apply under any statute of limitations.

19. Arbitration and class action waiver

19.1 Agreement to arbitrate

Any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to the Service or these Terms (including their formation, scope, breach, termination, enforcement, or interpretation) (a "Dispute") will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association ("AAA") under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, as modified by these Terms.

The arbitration will be conducted in Chicago, Illinois, or by remote video conference if mutually agreed. The arbitrator's decision will be final and binding except for any appeal right provided by applicable law.

19.2 Class action waiver

YOU AGREE THAT YOU MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST BARMATCH ONLY IN YOUR INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS, COLLECTIVE, OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims, may not preside over any form of representative or class proceeding, and may not award class-wide relief.

If this class-action waiver is held to be unenforceable for any reason, then the arbitration agreement in Section 19.1 is also unenforceable for the affected claim, and that claim will proceed in court.

19.3 Exceptions

The following are excluded from mandatory arbitration:

• Claims that can be brought in a small-claims court of competent jurisdiction.
• Claims seeking injunctive or other equitable relief based on intellectual property or unauthorized access (which may be brought in court).

19.4 Opt-out

You may opt out of the arbitration agreement in Section 19.1 within 30 days of accepting these Terms by sending written notice to legal@barmatch.com with the subject "Arbitration Opt-Out." If you opt out, all disputes will be resolved in court under Section 20.

20. Governing law and venue

These Terms and any Dispute will be governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. For Disputes not subject to Section 19, you and BarMatch agree to exclusive personal jurisdiction in the state and federal courts located in Chicago, Illinois.

21. Indemnification

21.1 User indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless BarMatch, its parent, affiliates, officers, directors, employees, agents, contractors, licensors, and assigns (collectively, the "Indemnified Parties") from and against any and all third-party claims, lawsuits, actions, losses, liabilities, damages, judgments, settlements, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees, expert witness fees, and court costs) arising out of, related to, or resulting from:

• Your use of, or inability to use, the Service.
• Your violation of these Terms, the Community Guidelines, or any other agreement between you and BarMatch.
• Your violation of any third-party right, including without limitation any right of privacy, publicity, intellectual property, or contract.
• Your User Content, including without limitation any claim that your User Content infringes, misappropriates, or otherwise violates any third party's rights.
• Your interactions with other users, whether on the Service, at a venue, or anywhere else, including without limitation any claim for assault, battery, harassment, stalking, sexual misconduct, defamation, emotional distress, property damage, personal injury, or wrongful death arising from such interactions.
• Your misrepresentation of your identity, age, sobriety, marital status, criminal history, health status, or any other personal attribute, whether to BarMatch, another user, or a venue.
• Your violation of any law, rule, ordinance, or regulation, including without limitation laws relating to alcohol, controlled substances, identity, privacy, or sexual conduct.
• Any claim that your conduct caused or contributed to harm to another user, a venue, a venue employee, or any other person, regardless of whether such harm occurred on the Service, at a venue, or anywhere else and regardless of whether the harm arose during or after your use of the Service.

This indemnification applies regardless of whether such claims are caused in part by the negligence of BarMatch, except to the extent caused by the sole negligence, intentional fraud, or willful misconduct of BarMatch.

21.2 Control of defense

Within thirty (30) days of receipt of written notice of a claim subject to indemnification under this Section, and upon written request by BarMatch, you shall assume, at your sole cost and expense, the defense of any third-party claim or lawsuit brought against any Indemnified Party that falls within the scope of this Section. You shall retain competent legal counsel reasonably acceptable to BarMatch to conduct such defense. BarMatch shall have the right, at its own option and expense, to participate in the defense of any such claim through counsel of its own choosing, and you shall not settle any claim without the prior written consent of BarMatch. If you fail to assume the defense within thirty (30) days, BarMatch may assume the defense at your cost, and your indemnification obligation shall include all reasonable expenses BarMatch incurs in doing so.

21.3 Notice and cooperation

BarMatch will give you reasonable written notice of any claim subject to indemnification under this Section; provided, however, that failure to give such notice shall not relieve you of your obligations under this Section except to the extent that you are materially prejudiced by the delay. BarMatch will cooperate reasonably with you, at your reasonable expense, in the defense of any such claim.

21.4 Survival

Your indemnification obligations under this Section survive any termination, suspension, or expiration of your account or of these Terms.

21.5 Venue-owner indemnification

Venue owners are subject to the separate indemnification, control-of-defense, and notice-and-cooperation obligations set forth in Section 11.9, which supplement (and do not replace) the user-side obligations in Sections 21.1 through 21.4.

22. General provisions

22.1 Entire agreement

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, Community Guidelines, and any additional terms that apply to specific features (e.g., Apple App Store / Google Play Store terms for in-app purchases), constitute the entire agreement between you and BarMatch regarding the Service.

22.2 No waiver

BarMatch's failure to enforce any provision of these Terms does not waive that provision or BarMatch's right to enforce it later.

22.3 Severability

If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be enforced to the maximum extent permitted by law and the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.

22.4 Assignment

You may not assign these Terms or any rights or obligations under them without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms to any successor in connection with a business transaction or otherwise.

22.5 Notices

We will send notices to the email address associated with your account. You will send notices to BarMatch at legal@barmatch.com with a copy by certified mail to the address listed at the end of these Terms.

22.6 Apple App Store and Google Play Store terms

If you downloaded the BarMatch app through the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, those stores' terms of service also apply to your use of the app. In the event of any inconsistency, those stores' terms govern only the specific transaction or conduct they address; these Terms otherwise apply.

23. Contact

For questions about these Terms or general inquiries:

Mail: BarMatch LLC

980 N MICHIGAN AVE STE 1090 # 943505

CHICAGO, IL 606110000

Or electronically at:
legal@barmatch.com
support@barmatch.com