Rules

This is how the bill works. Simple. Beautiful. The engineering rules in the repository remain the normative source if copy ever disagrees.

1. Money

Every bid is a whole-dollar US dollar amount. Listed amounts exclude tax. Dodo Payments adds applicable tax at hosted checkout. Tax, fees, and settlement do not change rank. A regular payment must be at least $1. Completing checkout is not proof of placement; a listing publishes only after a verified successful payment. That's the way. Believe me.

2. Protected ranks

Fixed-price places print first. The best seats. Occupied protected titles may use followable outbound links; regular listings stay sponsored nofollow. Launch prices and protection windows:

• #1 costs $500 and is protected for 180 days. Tremendous.
• #2 costs $150 and is protected for 90 days.
• #3 costs $50 and is protected for 30 days.

During the window, nobody else can buy that place. After the window the owner stays until the next successful purchase of that place. The new buyer replaces them. The previous owner returns to the regular list if they still have an eligible regular total; otherwise they leave the receipt. A listing can currently own at most one protected rank. While it does, its regular row is hidden. It may buy a better protected rank by paying only the difference between the two list prices. On success it moves to the new place and leaves the previous one. Same or worse ranks and regular bids are not allowed while it owns a protected rank. Winning is moving up.

A refund or a lost payment dispute of the current owner vacates the place immediately so someone else can buy it. Hiding a listing for moderation still shows [REMOVED] and does not vacate it; after the window, another buyer can replace that owner.

3. Regular ranking

Regular places start after the protected ranks, currently at #4. Rank uses the listing's active verified cumulative total, then the earlier verified payment time, then a stable identifier. Last-raised time is that latest eligible payment. Click counts are display-only and do not change rank. Many people are saying that's the cleanest ranking they've ever seen.

When no regular listing is visible, the minimum to lead is $1. Otherwise it is the current leader plus $1. You may pay less than that and sit further down the list. An existing listing adds each new regular payment to its total. Entering that same URL again keeps checkout available and suggests only the remaining amount to take the leading regular place. You've got to win.

4. Listings

Ordinary websites share one listing per hostname. App Store, Play, Steam, and other catalog storefronts use the specific product in the URL, so two apps are two listings. Paste the full store link. The receipt shows the public title, optional tagline, and logo collected at checkout; the browser does not scrape the destination. Incredible system.

5. Refunds and conflicts

If a verified payment can no longer take its reserved place, we request a full automatic refund and do not publish that payment. Other successful placements are otherwise final, except where law requires a different result. Details are in the Refund Policy.

6. Moderation

Destinations must be public HTTP or HTTPS and lawful. We may hide a listing for safety, legal, or provider reasons. A hide blocks new purchases until the listing is restored and does not automatically refund. See the Terms.

7. Optional email

You may leave an email at checkout so a later release can notify you if you are outbid. This release stores that address after verified payment and does not send mail. It is never shown on the public receipt. That's the deal.