Terms of Service

1This agreement

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are an agreement between you and ShowMarshal, of Santa Ana, California ("ShowMarshal," "we," "us"). They cover your use of showmarshal.com, every show app and page on it, and our texts, emails and phone alerts (together, the "Service").

You accept these Terms when you create an account, tick the box that says you agree, register a car, buy a booth, sign up to volunteer, or otherwise use the Service. If you do not agree, do not use the Service. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle information and is part of these Terms.

We are not the event organizer. Each show on the Service is organized by its own promoter. The promoter's rules, refund policy, waiver and any other terms it shows you also apply to your participation in that show. Those are between you and the promoter. If they conflict with these Terms about how the Service works, these Terms control; about the show itself, the promoter's terms control.

2Who uses ShowMarshal

These words mean the following in these Terms:

• Promoter: the person or company that organizes a show and uses our hub to run it, and the staff it invites.
• Car owner: someone who registers a car in a show, including a club member entering through a club block.
• Spectator: anyone who uses a show app to find cars, vote, get alerts or use safety features. No account is needed.
• Sponsor: a business that buys sponsorship from a promoter. Sponsors do not need an account; the promoter enters their materials.
• Vendor: a business that applies for or buys a booth at a show.
• Volunteer: someone who signs up for a shift at a show.
• Judge: someone the promoter asks to score cars.

Some sections apply only to one kind of user; the rest apply to everyone.

3Accounts

• Age: you must be 18 or older to create an account, register a car, buy a booth or run a show. Spectators of any age may use the show app with a parent's or guardian's permission.
• Accurate information: give your real name and an email you can open, and keep them current.
• One person per account. Do not share your account or sign in as someone else. A promoter adds each staff member as their own user.
• Keep it secure: keep your password private, and do not forward sign-in codes, password reset links or invitation links; anyone holding one can get into your account. Tell us right away at [email protected] if you think someone else has used your account.
• Your responsibility: you are responsible for what happens under your account, unless it happens because we failed to keep the Service secure.
• Business users: if you use the Service for a company, you confirm you may bind it to these Terms.

4Registrations, tickets and booths: the promoter is the seller

When you pay for a car registration, a spectator ticket, a booth, a sponsorship or vendor invoice, trailer parking, cruise tickets or any other show item, you are buying it from the promoter. The promoter is the merchant of record. We are not.

• Where the money goes: payments are processed by Stripe and paid into the promoter's own Stripe account. We never hold the promoter's money. The only amounts we receive are the $2.50 platform fee on a registration and the 65 cent service fee on a paid ticket (section 6), which Stripe sends to us from the same payment. We take nothing from booth fees, sponsorships or invoices.
• The promoter decides: prices, what is included, registration and renewal windows, space assignment and the space map, grandfathered spaces, waitlists, transfers, class and judging rules, vendor requirements, and the show's refund policy.
• Your card: you enter it on Stripe's secure checkout page, not on ours. Stripe's terms and privacy policy apply to that payment.
• A space is yours once payment succeeds and the confirmation screen or email shows your space. A held space is released if checkout is not finished in time.
• Taxes: the promoter is responsible for any tax on what it sells.

Spectator tickets

• A show may sell tickets online. You buy them from the promoter on Stripe's checkout page, and get one QR code per ticket by email and in the show app. Tickets are bought by an adult (18 or older) for themselves and the people with them.
• A ticket's QR code is scanned once at the gate. Keep it private: a copied code that is scanned first lets someone else in, and a used or refunded code is refused.
• Do not resell tickets for more than you paid, or copy or alter a code.

Invoices and bank payments (ACH)

• A promoter may send a sponsor or vendor an invoice with a pay link. You pay the promoter on Stripe's page, from a US bank account or, when the promoter allows it, by card.
• Bank payment authorization. When you pay from a bank account, you authorize the promoter, through Stripe, to debit that account once for the amount shown, under the authorization Stripe shows you before you pay. A bank payment takes a few business days to clear. If it fails (for example, for insufficient funds or a closed account), nothing is owed to the promoter for that attempt, the invoice says it failed and you can pay again; your bank may charge you its own fee for a returned payment. If you think a debit was not authorized, contact the promoter, or your bank under its rules.

5Refunds and chargebacks

• Refunds are the promoter's. Each show publishes its own refund and transfer policy in the app before you pay. Ask for a refund, transfer or change in the app or from the promoter; the promoter decides and issues it. We do not make refund decisions for promoters.
• Canceled, postponed or changed shows (for example, because of weather, a permit or the venue) are handled by the promoter under its policy. When a promoter calls off a show day for weather in the Service and chooses refunds or credits, we carry out its choice for it: the refund goes back to the card you paid with, or the credit is kept for next year's show, and you are told by email or in the app. The $2.50 platform fee and the 65 cent ticket fee are not refunded on a weather day.
• Chargebacks and disputes of a registration, ticket, booth or invoice payment are between you, your card issuer or bank, and the promoter. Stripe takes the disputed amount and any dispute fee from the promoter's account. Please ask the promoter first; many problems are fixed faster that way.
• Promoters: chargebacks on your show's money (registrations, tickets, booths and invoices) are yours: when one is lost, what you were paid for that charge comes back out of your Stripe account. You are responsible for refunds, chargebacks, dispute fees and any negative balance in your Stripe account, as your agreement with us and Stripe's terms say.

6The $2.50 platform fee and the ticket fee

Every car registration includes a fixed platform fee of $2.50, paid by the car owner at checkout and shown as its own line before you pay. It is our fee for the Service, not part of the promoter's price.

• Fixed. It is the same $2.50 at every show and on every plan. No promoter can change, raise or waive it. We pay the card processing cost on it ourselves, so you pay $2.50, never more.
• Cash at the gate. A car that pays the promoter in cash at the gate has no platform fee.
• When it is not returned. Once your registration is confirmed, the fee has been earned and is not returned when a promoter refunds you, in full or in part, for any reason, including when you cancel, when you do not attend, when a space is transferred, or when the promoter cancels, postpones or changes the show.
• When it is returned. If your payment arrives after the space it was for already went to someone else, so you received nothing, the whole payment is returned to you, the $2.50 included. We also return it where the law requires.
• The ticket fee. Each paid spectator ticket carries a 65 cent service fee, shown before you pay. There is none on free tickets or tickets bought with cash at the gate. When a promoter refunds a whole ticket order, the fee is refunded too; on a weather-day refund of one day's tickets it is not.
• Other fees: booths, sponsorships, invoices, trailer parking, cruise tickets and other add-ons carry no fee from us unless the checkout screen shows one. A promoter's own plan fees are set in its Promoter Terms with us.

7Car owners

• Your registration is with the promoter. Follow the show's rules, load-in times, cruise rules and staff directions. You may need to sign the promoter's rules and waiver in the app before your dash card works at the gate.
• Your car's details must be true, and you must have the right to show the car. The plate you enter is seen by show staff only.
• What fans see is up to you. The public map shows your first name and last initial, the car and its space by default. You can change this in Privacy (see section 8).
• Spaces are the promoter's to assign. Do not sell, trade or rent a space. Transfers are allowed only as the promoter's policy says.
• You are responsible for your car, its insurance and registration, your driving, and your passengers and guests.

8Spectators, voting and the map

The map shows only what owners choose to share

The map shows cars, spaces and the details each car owner chose to share. Owners can hide their hometown, show a first name only, turn off crowd photos of their car and remove their spot from the map after the show closes. The map never shows an owner's email, phone number, license plate or last name. Do not try to find out more, or use the map to follow, contact or bother an owner away from their car.

Use the map with care

The map, directions and distances are guides, not surveys. Spaces, streets and walking routes can change on show day, and a car may not be in its space or may not come at all. Watch where you walk, follow staff and posted signs, and look up from your phone near traffic and moving cars.

People's Choice voting

• Each phone may vote for the number of cars the promoter sets, and can change a vote until voting closes. Ratings follow the same rule.
• One person, one phone. Do not use extra devices, clear storage to vote again, use scripts or bots, or buy or trade votes.
• The promoter may remove votes it reasonably believes are fake and decides the awards. We may block a device or network sending fake votes.

Safety features

Emergency messages, weather holds and the Lost child button help the show's staff. They do not replace calling 911. In an emergency, call 911 first.

9Sponsors, vendors, volunteers and judges

Sponsors

• Sponsorship is bought from the promoter under the promoter's agreement and price. We do not take a share of it.
• The sponsor is responsible for its logo, offers, claims and any giveaway rules, and confirms it has the rights to them. Blasts need the promoter's approval and follow the show's limits and quiet hours.
• Sponsors receive totals (views, taps, blast opens). A sponsor receives a person's contact details only when that person taps to share with that sponsor, and must use them only as that person expects and as its own privacy policy says, honor opt-outs, and follow the law.
• Offers are the sponsor's alone. We do not endorse any sponsor, product or offer.

Vendors

• Booths are sold by the promoter, which decides approval, placement and requirements.
• You are responsible for your permits, licenses, insurance, food safety, taxes and what you sell. Documents you upload must be real and current.

Volunteers

• You volunteer for the promoter, not for us. The promoter sets shifts, duties and the age rule (for example, 18 or older, or 16 to 17 with a parent on the same shift).
• Keep your check-in code private; it identifies you at the show.

Judges

• Score honestly under the promoter's rubric, and declare any conflict, such as a car you own, sell, built or have a close tie to.
• Scores, results and any appeal are the promoter's to decide. Owners may receive their scoresheet.

10Promoters

If you run a show, the Promoter Terms you agreed to (and your order) cover plan fees, renewals, online sales, data, uptime, support and the rest of our business relationship, and they control if they conflict with these Terms. In addition:

• You are the organizer and seller for your show: permits, insurance, venue, safety, rules, prices, refunds, taxes, sponsor promises and the accuracy of your map and listings.
• You must have the right to every list you import (for example, last year's owners) and a lawful basis for every message you ask us to send.
• You own your show's data. We use it only to run the Service for you, as the Promoter Terms say, and you can download it from Settings in the hub at any time.
• Emergency messages sent through the Service support your safety plan. They do not replace police, fire or official alert systems.

11Text messages, email and phone alerts

Show texts program

• What we send: texts for a show you signed up with, starting with the show's name. Show alerts: registration confirmations, waitlist space offers, "still coming?" checks, arrival windows and show-day updates such as weather holds and emergencies. Volunteer texts: confirmations, check-in codes and shift reminders. Sponsor offers: offers from that show's sponsors, only if you ticked that separate box.
• How you join: by ticking an unticked text box on the show's registration page, in your account's text settings, or on the volunteer sign-up page. Texts are never required to register, volunteer or buy anything.
• How often: show alerts, up to 10 messages per show; sponsor offers, up to 4 messages per month. Frequency varies.
• Message and data rates may apply.
• To stop: reply STOP (or STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT, REVOKE or OPTOUT) at any time. You will get one message confirming it, and no more. One number sends for every show, so STOP ends texts from us for every show. Reply START to turn them back on.
• For help: reply HELP, or email [email protected].
• Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. Texts work on major US carriers; delivery is not guaranteed.
• Your number: tell us if you change or give up the number you signed up with, so we do not text someone else.

How we handle your number and consent records is in the Privacy Policy, sections 8 and 9. We do not sell or share mobile numbers or text opt-in data with third parties for their marketing.

Email

Account and transaction emails (sign-in, receipts, tickets, invoices, waitlist offers, refund answers) are part of the Service and come even if you unsubscribe from group emails. Group emails a show sends to its car owners, vendors or volunteers carry an unsubscribe link (and, in mail programs that offer it, a one-click unsubscribe); once you use it, that show sends you no more group emails. We do not send email to addresses that bounce or that reported us as spam.

Phone alerts

Phone alerts are on only if you turn them on. Sponsor offers come as alerts only if you also said yes to them. Emergency messages from the show reach every phone with alerts on. On iPhone, alerts need the app added to your Home Screen first.

12Photos and user content

"User content" is anything you add to the Service: photos, your car's story, comments, reviews, documents and messages.

• You keep ownership of your user content.
• License to us and the promoter: you give us, and the promoter of the show you post it to, a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to host, store, copy, display, crop, resize, blur (for example, license plates and faces) and distribute your user content in the Service and on that show's pages, emails, printed materials and social posts about the show. The license lets us run and promote the show and the Service. It ends when you or the promoter delete the content, except for copies already printed or shared before then, backups for a short time, and what the law requires us to keep.
• Ads need more. Neither we nor the promoter will use a photo in which a person can be recognized in a sponsor's advertisement without that person's permission.
• What you promise: you took the photo or have permission to post it; anyone who can be recognized in it agreed (and a parent agreed for any child); and it does not break the law or anyone's rights.
• Owners' choices come first. If an owner turned off crowd photos of their car, do not post them. License plates are blurred by default.
• Moderation: the promoter and we may review, refuse, blur or remove user content for any reason, including a report. Use the Report button or email [email protected].
• Copyright complaints: send notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to our designated agent at [email protected]. We remove infringing content and end the accounts of repeat infringers.
• Feedback: if you send us ideas or suggestions, we may use them without owing you anything.

13Acceptable use

Do not use the Service to:

• harass, threaten, stalk or bother anyone, including following an owner to or from their car or home;
• find out an owner's plate, address or other details they did not share, or use the map to target cars for theft or damage;
• post content that is unlawful, hateful, sexual, violent, misleading, or that shows someone's private information;
• send fake votes or ratings, or manipulate judging, awards or the waitlist;
• resell, scalp, trade or rent spaces or booths, or hold spaces you do not mean to buy;
• pretend to be someone else, a promoter, a sponsor, staff or us;
• scrape, copy or collect data from the Service in bulk, or use bots, scripts or automated tools, except a search engine following our robots rules;
• probe, attack, overload or get around the security or limits of the Service, or reach areas you are not allowed into;
• send spam, or text or email people without their consent through the Service;
• run a paid raffle or lottery through the Service (section 14);
• break any law or anyone's rights.

14Giveaways, contests and raffles

The Service may carry free giveaways (for example, "free detail kit for the first 50 at the tent") and skill contests such as People's Choice. It does not run paid raffles, 50/50 drawings or lotteries. A giveaway or contest is run by the promoter or sponsor that offers it, under its own official rules, which will say it is free to enter and who is eligible. Any paid raffle at a show is run by the promoter's qualified nonprofit partner outside the Service, under state law.

15Our software and third-party services

• Our property: the Service, its software, design, maps engine and our name and logo belong to us or our licensors. We give you a personal, limited, non-transferable right to use the Service as these Terms allow. Promoters and sponsors keep their own names, logos and content.
• Do not copy, modify, reverse engineer or resell the Service, or remove our notices, except where the law allows it anyway.
• Third-party services: the Service relies on others, including Stripe (payments, bank payments and payouts), Hostinger (the server and email), Amazon Web Services (texts, and email when we use it), Cloudflare (network and security) and your browser's push service. Their terms apply to their part, and we are not responsible for their services.
• Changes to the Service: we may add, change or remove features. We will not remove a feature a promoter relies on during its show days.
• Print and promo: print and promotion orders a promoter sends from its hub go to ZOOGABOOG!, a separate company that quotes and does that work under its own terms.

16Disclaimers

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available." To the fullest extent the law allows, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement.

In plain English, and without limiting the paragraph above:

• We do not run the shows. We are not responsible for a show's organization, safety, cancellation, prizes, judging results, vendors, sponsors or offers, or for anyone's conduct at a show.
• The map may be wrong. Spaces, routes, distances and car details may be inaccurate or out of date, and a car may not be present.
• Phones and networks fail. Crowded cell networks, dead zones, venue WiFi, power, your phone or browser, and outages at our providers can delay or stop the Service. The app keeps a copy on your phone to help, but we do not promise it will always be available, on time or free of errors.
• Messages can be late or lost. Do not rely on a text, email or phone alert for anything urgent. For emergencies, call 911.

17Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, we will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data or goodwill, arising from or related to the Service or these Terms, even if we were told they were possible.

To the fullest extent the law allows, our total liability for all claims arising from or related to the Service or these Terms is limited to the greater of (a) the platform fees you paid us in the 12 months before the event that led to the claim, or (b) one hundred U.S. dollars ($100).

Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law, including our liability for fraud, for willful injury to a person or property, or for violation of law (California Civil Code 1668), or for gross negligence where the law does not allow it to be limited. For promoters, the limits in the promoter's agreement with us apply instead.

18Indemnity

If you use the Service for a business (as a promoter, sponsor or vendor), you will defend and pay for claims brought against us by others, and the related losses and reasonable legal fees, to the extent they come from your content, your show or business, your breach of these Terms, or your violation of law or someone's rights. We will tell you promptly about the claim, let you control the defense, and cooperate at your cost. You may not settle a claim that admits fault for us or requires us to do something without our written agreement.

If you are an individual, you are responsible, to the extent the law allows, for losses caused by your own user content or your intentional misuse of the Service.

19Suspension and ending

• You may stop using the Service at any time and ask us to close your account (Privacy Policy, section 14). Closing your account does not cancel a registration or create a refund; those are the promoter's.
• We may suspend or close an account, remove content, or block a device or network if we reasonably believe it broke these Terms or the law, puts people at risk, or is needed to protect the Service. Where it is safe and lawful, we will tell you why and let you respond.
• A promoter may remove someone from its show under its own rules.
• If a promoter's plan stays unpaid, we may pause that show's online sales as the Promoter Terms say. The show's pages, registrations and tickets already bought stay valid, and the promoter remains responsible for them.
• Sections that by their nature should last (including sections 5, 6, 12, 16, 17, 18, 20 and 22) continue after an account ends.

20California law and disputes

• Governing law: the laws of the State of California and applicable federal law govern these Terms and any dispute about the Service, without regard to conflict of laws rules.
• Talk to us first: before filing a claim, email [email protected] with a short description and what you want. We will try in good faith to resolve it within 30 days.
• Where: any dispute not resolved informally will be decided in the state or federal courts located in Orange County, California, and you and we agree to their jurisdiction. Either of us may bring a qualifying claim in small claims court instead.
• Disputes about a show (refunds, spaces, rules, judging) are with the promoter.

21Changes to these terms

We may update these Terms. We will change the "Last updated" date, and for a significant change we will tell you by email or in the app at least 30 days before it takes effect. A change never applies to a dispute that started before it, and a change to the platform fee never applies to a registration already paid. If you keep using the Service after a change takes effect, the new Terms apply; if you do not agree, stop using the Service and ask us to close your account.

22General terms

• Entire agreement: these Terms, the Privacy Policy and any terms shown for a specific feature are the whole agreement between you and us about the Service. A promoter's Promoter Terms add to them as section 10 says.
• Severability: if a court finds part of these Terms unenforceable, the rest stays in effect, and that part is enforced as far as the law allows.
• No waiver: if we do not enforce a term right away, we can still enforce it later.
• Assignment: you may not transfer these Terms without our written consent. We may transfer them in a merger, sale or reorganization, and will tell you.
• Events beyond control: neither of us is responsible for delays caused by things outside reasonable control, such as network or power outages, severe weather, natural disasters or government action.
• Notices: we send notices to your account email or in the app. Send notices to us at [email protected].
• Language: if we provide these Terms in Spanish or another language and there is a difference, the English version controls, unless the law says otherwise.
• California users: under California Civil Code 1789.3, you may contact the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs in writing at 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112, Sacramento, CA 95834, or by phone at (800) 952-5210.

23Contact us

ShowMarshal, Santa Ana, California.
Help with the app or texts: [email protected]
Privacy: [email protected]
Legal notices: [email protected]

For a refund, a space, the rules or a judging question at a specific show, contact that show's promoter. Their contact is on the show's page in the app.