Terms of Service - Captchainbox

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of Captchainbox, operated by Felix Doerp (sole proprietor, based in Germany) at captchainbox.com. By using the service, you agree to these Terms.

1. Description of Service

Captchainbox is an email protection service for Gmail. It automatically archives emails from unknown senders and sends them a pay-to-deliver request. Once a sender completes payment, their email is unarchived and they are added to your trusted sender list for a limited period. Inbox owners may choose a CAPTCHA gate instead of payment.

2. Account Registration

To use Captchainbox, you must sign in with a Google account and grant access to your Gmail. You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account. You must be at least 13 years old to use the service.

3. Gmail Access and Permissions

By connecting your Gmail account, you authorize Captchainbox to:

Read email metadata (sender, subject, date) to classify messages
Modify email labels to archive and unarchive messages based on sender verification status
Send verification challenge emails to unknown senders on your behalf
Set up Gmail push notifications to monitor incoming messages in real time

You may revoke these permissions at any time through your Google Account settings. Revoking access will stop all Captchainbox functionality for that Gmail account.

4. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

Use the service for any unlawful purpose
Attempt to interfere with or disrupt the service or its infrastructure
Use the service to send spam, phishing, or other unsolicited bulk messages
Reverse-engineer, decompile, or disassemble any part of the service
Create multiple accounts to circumvent usage limits or abuse the service
Use self referrals, duplicate accounts, or manipulated payments to obtain referral commissions

5. Service Availability

We strive to keep Captchainbox available at all times, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free operation. The service depends on third-party APIs (including Google Gmail, Stripe, and Cloudflare Turnstile) that are outside our control. We may modify, suspend, or discontinue the service at any time with reasonable notice.

6. Email Processing

By using Captchainbox, you understand and accept that:

Emails from senders not on your whitelist will be automatically archived. This may include legitimate emails that you want to receive.
Verification emails will be sent to unknown senders from your Gmail address. Recipients will see your email address.
There may be a delay between receiving an email, archiving it, and sending the verification challenge due to processing time.
The initial whitelist is built from your email history and may not capture all legitimate contacts.

7. Pricing and Payments

Captchainbox is free for individual use. Team plans are arranged individually — contact us for details. For each successful pay-to-deliver transaction, Stripe first deducts its actual processing fee. Captchainbox retains 10% of the amount remaining after that fee. The other 90% is allocated to the inbox owner's selected payout destination. We may change future pricing with reasonable notice; changes do not alter completed transactions.

8. Pay-to-deliver verification

Payment is the default gate for new and existing inbox-owner accounts. The inbox owner sets the amount. When a sender pays, the payment unlocks delivery of that sender's held message and may generate a payout for the inbox owner or a contribution to the organization selected by the inbox owner. CAPTCHA remains available as an alternative in Settings.

Pay-to-deliver is a one-time digital service performed after successful payment. Refunds remain available where required by law. Requests for accidental duplicate charges or failed delivery may be submitted to us and will be assessed case-by-case. Disputes are also subject to Stripe's payment and dispute processes.

If Stripe is unreachable when a sender attempts to pay, the verification page automatically falls back to a CAPTCHA challenge so that delivery still completes without payment. The inbox owner's preference remains "Payment" in this case; only the current attempt falls back.

9. Payouts

Inbox owners may select themselves, the Internet Archive, or the Electronic Frontier Foundation as the destination for their share of future transactions. Self-payouts require a Stripe connected account and completion of Stripe's identity, eligibility, and banking checks. Eligible self-payout balances are normally transferred to the connected Stripe account after each calendar month closes. Inbox owners may also request an earlier transfer from Settings. Nonprofit-directed balances are reviewed monthly and transferred manually. Stripe may delay, restrict, or reject a connected account or payout. Captchainbox does not control those decisions.

Amounts shown as pending are ledger balances, not bank deposits or interest-bearing funds. Transfers may be delayed by refunds, disputes, reserves, technical failures, sanctions screening, or legal requirements. Reversals and chargebacks may reduce a pending balance or require recovery from a connected account. Inbox owners are responsible for taxes and reporting obligations arising from payouts they receive.

10. Referrals

A new account may be attributed to the first valid Captchainbox referral link used before signup. Attribution is available only when the referred person creates a new account and cannot be added or changed later. Self referrals are not eligible.

For each eligible sender payment earned by a referred account, the referrer receives 25% of Captchainbox's 10% platform fee, rounded to the nearest cent. The referred inbox owner's share is not reduced. Referral commissions continue while both accounts remain eligible and are paid only to the referrer's connected Stripe account through the same monthly and manual payout processes used for other self payouts.

Refunds, disputes, reversals, fraud, sanctions checks, account termination, or technical errors may cancel or recover a commission. Referrers are responsible for taxes and reporting obligations arising from referral payouts. We may suspend abusive referrals and may change the rate for future transactions with reasonable notice without altering completed transactions.

11. Data and Privacy

Your use of the service is also governed by our Privacy Policy, which describes how we collect, use, and protect your data.

12. Intellectual Property

The Captchainbox service, including its design, code, and branding, is owned by us. You retain all rights to your email data. We claim no ownership over any content in your Gmail account.

13. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Captchainbox is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind. We are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages arising from your use of the service, including but not limited to:

Missed or delayed emails due to archiving
Verification emails that are not delivered or are marked as spam
Unauthorized access to your account due to compromise of your Google credentials
Service interruptions caused by third-party API outages

14. Termination

You may stop using Captchainbox at any time by revoking Gmail access and deleting your account. We may suspend or terminate your account if you violate these Terms. Upon termination, we will delete your data in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

15. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by posting the updated Terms on this page and updating the "Last updated" date. Continued use of the service after changes constitutes acceptance of the new Terms.

16. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of Germany. Any disputes arising from these Terms or the service will be resolved in the courts of Germany.

17. Contact

If you have questions about these Terms, please contact us at felixdoerp@gmail.com.