Terms and Conditions

1. About these terms

Podium Cards is a trading name of PODIUM APPS LIMITED, a company registered in Northern Ireland under company number NI630987. Our registered office is Opus House, 137 York Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT15 3GZ. In these terms, "Podium", "we", "us", and "our" mean PODIUM APPS LIMITED.

These terms apply when a business uses our gift card platform, or when any person visits podium.cards or a merchant storefront that we host. Some sections apply only to merchants or only to gift card buyers and recipients.

By creating an account or using the service, you agree to the parts of these terms that apply to you. If you act for a business, you confirm that you can bind that business to these terms.

2. The Podium service

Podium provides hosted storefronts and tools that help merchants sell, deliver, manage, and redeem gift cards. We may update the service, add or remove features, or stop a feature when needed for business, technical, security, or legal reasons.

We aim to keep the service available and secure. We do not promise uninterrupted or error-free operation, and we do not provide a service-level agreement unless we agree one separately in writing.

3. Merchant accounts

A merchant must:

• provide accurate business and account information;
• keep account credentials secure and restrict access to authorised people;
• remain responsible for activity performed through its account;
• use the service only for lawful business purposes; and
• tell us promptly about unauthorised access or a security concern.

Merchant accounts are for adults and properly formed businesses. Automated account registration is not permitted.

4. Merchant responsibilities

Each merchant, and not Podium, sells and issues its gift cards. The merchant is responsible for the goods or services supplied when a card is redeemed.

The merchant must:

• honour valid gift cards according to its published terms and applicable law;
• state any expiry, redemption, location, refund, or cancellation rules clearly;
• keep prices, descriptions, contact details, and storefront content accurate;
• handle buyer and recipient enquiries about its gift cards and services;
• comply with consumer, tax, voucher, marketing, and data protection law; and
• maintain the Stripe account and permissions needed to receive funds.

The merchant owns its content. It gives Podium a non-exclusive licence to host, display, copy, and process that content only as needed to provide and promote the service.

5. Merchant fees and payment

We charge the transaction fees shown when a merchant joins, shown on our current pricing page, or agreed with us in writing. We normally deduct these fees and any payment processing charges from each gift card sale before the remaining funds are paid to the merchant through Stripe.

Unless stated otherwise, fees exclude taxes. The merchant is responsible for its own taxes, chargebacks, refunds, and other amounts linked to its sales. We may change fees after giving reasonable notice to affected merchants.

6. Gift card purchases and redemption

When you buy a gift card, your purchase contract is with the merchant named on the storefront. Podium supplies the technology but is not the seller or issuer. Any gift card terms supplied by that merchant also apply to the purchase and redemption.

The storefront will show the gift card value and other purchase information. Stripe processes the payment. An order is complete only after payment succeeds and the order is confirmed.

Gift cards are sent to the email address provided during checkout. Buyers must check names, email addresses, messages, values, and delivery dates before payment. Contact the merchant or Podium support promptly if delivery fails.

The merchant decides where and how a gift card can be redeemed, whether it expires, and whether it can be refunded or transferred. These rules remain subject to mandatory consumer law. Nothing in these terms removes a legal right to a refund or other remedy.

Treat a gift card code like cash. The merchant and Podium may refuse or suspend a code that appears altered, copied, obtained unlawfully, or used fraudulently. Report a lost, stolen, or exposed code promptly. Replacement is not guaranteed.

If a buyer disputes a gift card payment with their bank, we will immediately set the gift card balance to zero in its currency. The balance will remain unavailable until the dispute is withdrawn or resolved. We may restore the balance if the payment remains valid. We will cancel the gift card if the payment is refunded or the dispute succeeds.

7. Acceptable use

You must not:

• break the law or another person's rights through the service;
• sell unlawful, deceptive, or unauthorised gift cards;
• upload malicious code or interfere with service operation or security;
• probe, scrape, or access the service through unauthorised automated means;
• misrepresent your identity, business, products, prices, or gift card values; or
• copy, resell, or exploit the platform without our written permission.

8. Data and privacy

Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal data. Merchants remain responsible for their own privacy notices, legal bases, instructions, and responses to customer rights.

9. Suspension, cancellation, and termination

A merchant can ask us to close its account. Closing an account does not remove accrued fees, refund duties, chargebacks, gift card obligations, or legal record keeping duties.

We may restrict or suspend access when needed to protect the service, users, or third parties, or when we reasonably suspect unlawful use, fraud, non-payment, a security risk, or a material breach of these terms. We may terminate an account for a material breach that is not fixed after reasonable notice, where a fix is possible.

We may act without advance notice when delay could cause harm, break the law, or compromise service security. We will give reasonable access to export merchant data where practical and lawful.

10. Intellectual property

Podium and its licensors own the service, software, design, branding, and related intellectual property. We give users a limited, revocable, non-transferable right to use the service as these terms permit. No other rights are granted.

11. Third-party services and warranties

The service relies on third parties, including Stripe. Their services and terms may also apply. We do not control and are not responsible for a third party's separate service, content, or decisions.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the service is provided "as is" and "as available". We do not promise that it will meet every requirement, remain available at all times, or contain no defects.

12. Liability

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, or any liability that law does not allow us to exclude or limit. Nothing limits a consumer's mandatory legal rights.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Podium is not liable to a merchant or other business user for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, punitive, or consequential loss arising from the service or these terms. This includes loss of profit, revenue, business, opportunity, goodwill, use, or data.

This exclusion includes loss caused by inability to use the service, obtaining a replacement service, unauthorised access to data, third-party conduct, merchant content, or a gift card transaction between a merchant and its customer.

13. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms to reflect service, business, or legal changes. We will post the current terms here and change the date above. We will give reasonable notice of material changes where practical. Continued use after the change takes effect means you accept the updated terms.

14. General terms

If part of these terms is unenforceable, the remaining parts will continue. A delay in enforcing a right does not waive it. A merchant cannot transfer its agreement without our written consent. We may transfer our agreement as part of a business reorganisation, sale, or transfer of the service.

These terms and any written agreement between Podium and a merchant form the entire agreement about the service. A written agreement takes priority if it clearly conflicts with these terms.

15. Governing law

For merchants and business users, Northern Ireland law governs these terms, and the courts of Northern Ireland have exclusive jurisdiction.

Consumers keep any mandatory rights given by the law of their home country. A consumer may bring a claim in any court that applicable consumer law permits.

16. Contact us

Questions about these terms can be sent to hello@podium.cards.