Terms of service

Last updated 2026-11-01

These terms are an agreement between you and Clincher ("we", "us") covering your use of this website, its text-messaging features, its API, and its MCP server (together, the "Service"). By creating an account, joining a competition, or replying to one of our texts, you agree to them.

1. What the Service does

The Service lets organizers create competitions (brackets, leagues) and team managers run teams (schedules, who's in, team talk), invite players and parents, track results and notify them by web, email, or text message. Organizers can do this from the website, by text, or through an AI assistant they connect. We provide the tooling; organizers run their events. We are not a party to the events themselves and don't referee disputes between players — organizers have the final say on results.

2. Accounts

Organizers and team managers sign in with a one-time code sent to their email or phone. You're responsible for keeping access to that email or phone secure and for everything done through your account, including through API keys you create. Tell us promptly if you believe your account has been compromised. You must be at least 18 to create an account.

3. Your responsibilities as an organizer

When you enter someone's phone number or email, you're telling us you're entitled to invite them and that they'd reasonably expect to hear about your event. Specifically, you agree that you will:

• only add people who know you and would want to be invited — friends, teammates, members, customers who signed up for your events;
• not add purchased, scraped, or otherwise unconsented contact lists;
• not use the broadcast feature for advertising, solicitation, or anything unrelated to the event;
• not enter contact details for children under 13 (a team may list a child by first name; only parents or guardians are texted or emailed), and use a parent's or guardian's contact for minors where appropriate;
• comply with laws that apply to you, including telemarketing and privacy laws.

Players can decline or opt out at any time and we will always honor that, even against an organizer's wishes.

4. Acceptable use

Team talk is visible to the whole team and is for adults and team business only; managers and authors can delete posts. Don't use the Service to harass anyone, to send unlawful or abusive content, to interfere with the Service or other users, or to probe or circumvent its security. Don't resell access. We may suspend or terminate accounts that break these rules, and we'll try to warn you first unless the situation is urgent.

5. Text messaging

Text messages are governed by our SMS messaging policy, which is part of these terms. Message and data rates may apply. Delivery depends on carriers and is not guaranteed; don't rely on the Service for anything where a missed text would cause harm.

6. Paid features

Some features (such as running an event by text) are paid. Prices are shown before you pay. Payments are processed by Stripe under its own terms; we don't store card details. Per-event purchases are for the named event. Refunds end when the event starts, or on its scheduled date, or 14 days after payment if it has no date, whichever comes first. Until then: when the event starts, we automatically refund the part of its price for people who didn't show, and if it's cancelled before it starts, we automatically refund the part of its texting it didn't use. After that nothing is refunded to the card, and unused texts carry over when you run the event again. Refunds never include the card processing fee, which our payment provider keeps. Team texting is sold as a season or yearly pass, or per team for leagues; it runs for the term shown at purchase and isn't refundable once paid. If a paid feature doesn't work because of a problem on our side, contact us at support@heyclincher.com within 14 days and we'll refund it in full, fees included.

7. Entry fees

By default an entry fee is paid directly: players pay the organizer on Venmo, Cash App, PayPal or in person, our pages only show where to pay, and the organizer marks who has paid. We never touch that money, don't process or guarantee it, and aren't a party to it. The card option below is separate.

An organizer may collect a registration fee from entrants through the join page. Those payments are made on the organizer's own account with our payment provider (Stripe Connect), and the organizer is the seller: we never hold the money, refunds and disputes come out of the organizer's account, and we're not a party to the arrangement between organizer and entrants. For card payments we add a platform fee (5% of the entry fee, capped at $2) and pass card processing costs through at the provider's published rate. Both are shown before the fee is set and are added on top of the entry fee in the entrant's total.

By setting an entry fee the organizer confirms that: the event is a contest of skill, not chance (no raffles, draws, or games decided by luck); they are responsible for any prizes and pay them themselves, outside this service; they are responsible for any tax or reporting obligations, including on prize payments and on the fees they collect; and the event is lawful where it takes place. Card payments are open to organizers as we roll them out, need a verified phone, and are limited for new accounts (the limit grows as they run events; they can ask us to raise it). An entry fee is at most $100 unless we agree otherwise. We may refuse, limit, pause or refund fee collection for any event. Refunds return the entry fee, not the fees on top (card processing and ours), which are spent when the card is charged: entrants removed before the start, or whose event is cancelled before it starts, are refunded automatically; once an event starts, refunds are at the organizer's discretion. Entrants must be adults.

League registration

A league may take registrations on its page. Card payments go straight to the league's own account with our payment provider (Stripe Connect); we never hold the money and we're not a party to the arrangement between the league and the families or teams who register. Families pay exactly the price the league sets: card processing and our platform fee (1% of each payment, capped at $1) come out of what the league receives, and the league sees both before it opens registration. A league may instead have families pay it directly (Venmo, Cash App, PayPal or in person); we only show where to pay and keep the league's note of who has paid. The waiver and any other forms a league adds are the league's own, and the league is responsible for what they say; we keep a copy of exactly what each person accepted or answered, and the league can download those records. Card payments are made on the league's own account, so refunds and disputes come out of the league's account. Anyone can cancel their own registration through the refund date the league sets, which can't be after the season's first game, and gets back what they paid by card less card processing and our fee; after that, refunds are the league's decision. A registration fee is at most $500 a player or $2,500 a team unless we agree otherwise. A team's fee may be split among its players, each paying a share by card; if the team cancels before the refund date, each share is refunded to whoever paid it, the same way.

8. API and MCP access

API keys give full control of your account's competitions and teams to whatever holds them — treat them like a password, and revoke any key you no longer use. You can also connect an AI assistant by signing in; it acts as you and can change your competitions and teams, so you are responsible for what it does, and you can disconnect it any time from your account page. Assistants can make mistakes, so check anything important. We may apply rate limits and may change the API with reasonable notice for breaking changes.

9. Inappropriate content

Anything you put into the Service (names, event and team names, messages, and any images) must be appropriate for a general audience, including families and kids' teams. We use automatic filters and review reports, and we may flag, hide, edit or remove any content we consider inappropriate, at our sole discretion and without notice. We may also suspend or close accounts that post it. Removing content doesn't make us responsible for content we didn't remove; organizers and team managers can remove posts on their own events and teams too. To report something, email us at support@heyclincher.com.

10. Your content

You own the information you put into the Service (competition names, entrant names, results, team schedules and team talk messages). You give us permission to store, display and transmit it as needed to run the Service — for example, to show a public bracket page if you make an event public, or to text a player their next match.

11. Availability and changes

We aim for the Service to be reliable but don't promise uninterrupted availability. We may change or discontinue features. If we discontinue the Service entirely we'll give reasonable notice where we can and make your data available for export.

12. Disclaimers

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose. Brackets, seedings and standings are generated automatically from the results entered; check them if the stakes are high.

13. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, we're not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost profits, data or goodwill, arising from your use of the Service. Our total liability for any claim is limited to the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim, or US $50 if you paid nothing. Some jurisdictions don't allow these limits, in which case they apply to the extent permitted.

14. Indemnity

If someone brings a claim against us because of how you used the Service — for example, because you texted people who hadn't agreed to hear from you — you agree to cover our reasonable costs and any resulting liability.

15. Termination

You can stop using the Service and ask us to delete your account at any time. We can suspend or end your access for breach of these terms. Sections that by their nature should survive (your content license for data already shared, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnity) survive termination.

16. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of WY, USA, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Before taking formal action, both sides agree to try to resolve any dispute informally by contacting each other first.

17. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. For material changes we'll update the date above and notify organizers through the account page or by email. Continuing to use the Service after a change means you accept it.

Contact

Clincher, WY, USA — support@heyclincher.com.