Terms of Service & Placement Agreement

1. Eligibility & Acceptance of Terms

By accessing RankRope, registering an account, submitting a software product for listing, or initiating an advertising payment, you enter into a binding contractual agreement with RankRope ("RankRope", "we", "us", or "our").

Eligibility Requirements: You represent and warrant that:

• You are at least 18 years of age or the age of legal majority in your jurisdiction.
• If you are registering or submitting on behalf of a company, startup, open-source organization, or other legal entity, you possess full legal authority to bind that entity to these Terms.
• Your use of RankRope does not violate any applicable local, national, or international laws, trade sanctions, or export regulations.

2. Definition of the Service & Directory Scope

RankRope operates an open, skin-in-the-game product discovery platform and software directory. The Service enables software developers, independent founders, startups, and companies to list their digital products, developer tools, artificial intelligence applications, mobile apps, and SaaS platforms, and compete for discoverability and public rank based on verified financial conviction.

Explicit Non-Financial Disclaimer: RankRope is strictly a digital marketing, discovery, and advertising service. Specifically:

• RankRope is NOT an investment fund, broker-dealer, stock exchange, or crowdfunding portal.
• Listing payments do NOT grant any equity, ownership shares, dividends, profit-sharing, token rights, voting power, or financial return in RankRope or in any listed product.
• RankRope is NOT a lottery, raffle, wagering contest, or game of chance. Leaderboard rankings are strictly deterministic, public, and governed entirely by verified cumulative advertising expenditures.

3. Founder Accounts, Authentication & Profile Integrity

To manage listings, founders authenticate using passwordless cryptographic magic links sent directly to their verified email address or through OAuth providers.

Account Responsibilities:

• You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and control of the email address and devices used to access your RankRope founder account.
• You agree to notify RankRope immediately at support@rankrope.com upon suspecting any unauthorized access, session compromise, or security breach.
• RankRope is not liable for any losses or unauthorized alterations to product listings resulting from compromised founder credentials.
• Makers may claim their unique maker handle (e.g. /u/alexm). Impersonation of well-known public figures, companies, or other founders without authorization is strictly prohibited and results in immediate handle reclamation and account termination.

4. App & Software Submission Standards (ASO Compliance)

To ensure RankRope remains the highest-trust directory for users, enterprises, and AI search engines, all listed products must adhere to stringent Software Submission and App Store Optimization (ASO) quality standards:

• Supported Software Formats: Web Applications, SaaS platforms, Mobile Apps (iOS App Store, Google Play Store), Mac/Windows desktop binaries, CLI developer tools, Browser Extensions, Open Source libraries, and autonomous AI Agents.
• Canonical Destination URLs: Every listing must provide a functional, secure (HTTPS) destination URL to the genuine homepage, app store listing, GitHub repository, or documentation page of the software. Redirection to scam pages, URL shorteners, or affiliate cloakers is prohibited.
• Accuracy of Metadata: Product names, taglines, long-form descriptions, and category tags must truthfully describe the software's functionality, features, pricing, and capabilities. Misleading claims (e.g., claiming non-existent partnerships, false endorsements, or fabricated awards) are grounds for listing revision or delisting.
• Asset Specifications: Logos and icons must be owned by the submitter or used with express permission. Resolution must be sharp, professional, and free from offensive or deceptive graphic elements.
• Store Badges & Trademarks: When referencing third-party platforms (Apple App Store, Google Play, Chrome Web Store, Product Hunt, GitHub), submitters must comply with those platforms' trademark guidelines. RankRope claims no endorsement by third-party app stores.

5. Cumulative Ranking Mechanics & Mathematical Invariants

Leaderboard positioning on RankRope is mathematically auditable, deterministic, and free from algorithmic bias or editorial favoritism. By participating, founders agree to the governing algorithmic specifications:

6. Financial Terms, Whop Processing & Non-Refundable Policy

All financial transactions on RankRope are processed securely via our certified third-party merchant processor (Whop Inc. and its underlying payment networks, including Stripe).

Payment Policies:

• Currency: All listings and leaderboard values are denominated and billed in United States Dollars ($ USD). Any currency conversion fees imposed by your issuing bank are your sole responsibility.
• Taxes: You are responsible for all applicable sales taxes, value-added taxes (VAT), or goods and services taxes (GST) associated with your advertising purchase as assessed by the merchant of record.
• Chargeback & Dispute Remedies: Initiating an unauthorized chargeback or payment reversal constitutes fraud and a material breach of this Agreement. In the event of a chargeback, RankRope reserves the right to:
  1. Immediately deduct the disputed funds from the product's cumulative ledger balance.
  2. Recalculate leaderboard positions across the entire directory in real time.
  3. Permanently suspend the product listing and ban the associated founder account and email domain.
  4. Report fraudulent payment activity to relevant fraud prevention registries and merchant bureaus.

7. Intellectual Property Rights & Promotional Marketing License

Makers Retain 100% Ownership: You retain all right, title, interest, and intellectual property ownership in and to your submitted software, code repositories, logos, trademarks, copyrights, and promotional media. Nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of your software to RankRope.

License Grant to RankRope: By submitting a product listing, you grant RankRope a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free, fully paid-up license to:

• Display, reproduce, format, store, and publicly transmit your product name, logo, screenshot, tagline, description, and URLs across RankRope.com.
• Syndicate your listing data via public APIs, RSS feeds, machine-readable formats (/p/[slug].md, llms.txt), and official RankRope embed badges (/badge/[slug].svg).
• Feature your product in RankRope marketing materials, newsletters, social media channels (@rankrope), investor decks, and promotional case studies celebrating top-performing launches.

RankRope Intellectual Property: The RankRope name, logo, design system, cumulative ranking algorithm, website source code, UI elements, and brand aesthetics are the exclusive intellectual property of RankRope. You may not copy, reverse-engineer, frame, or mirror any part of RankRope without our express written consent.

8. Prohibited Products, Content & Anti-Abuse Policies

RankRope enforces zero tolerance for malicious, fraudulent, or harmful software. You agree not to submit, advertise, or promote any of the following:

RankRope reserves the absolute right, without prior notice or refund, to immediately delist any product that violates these standards.

9. Outbound Telemetry, Redirect Links & Click Verification

RankRope provides verified click tracking to display transparent discovery metrics to founders and visitors.

• Redirection Mechanics: Outbound clicks to listed software may route through our secure verification endpoint (/r/[slug]). This endpoint logs click timestamp, referrer, and user-agent category before transparently redirecting the user to the canonical destination URL via HTTP 302.
• No Tracking Cookies: Our redirection telemetry does not set cross-site surveillance cookies, fingerprint visitors, or trade visitor behavior to third-party ad networks.
• Integrity Filters: Automated bot clicks, web crawlers, and denial-of-service attempts are filtered out of public click counters using proprietary rate-limiting and anomaly detection algorithms.

10. Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), AI Search & LLM Syndication

RankRope is intentionally engineered for modern search and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) architectures, including OpenAI ChatGPT Search, Perplexity AI, Google AI Overviews, Anthropic Claude, and Microsoft Copilot.

• Machine-Readable Endpoints: RankRope provides public machine-readable markdown representations of verified software profiles at /p/[slug].md and an open directory index at /llms.txt.
• Crawler Access Grant: Legitimate AI search crawlers and research engines are granted permission to ingest, index, and cite RankRope directory data in accordance with our /robots.txt and /llms.txt specifications.
• Attribution Rights: When AI engines retrieve information regarding software rankings, delta costs, or verified maker identities from RankRope, proper canonical citation to https://rankrope.com/p/[slug] is requested.

11. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) & Takedown Procedure

RankRope respects the intellectual property rights of creators and complies with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512). If you believe your copyrighted work has been listed on RankRope without authorization, please submit a formal takedown notice to our designated Copyright Agent:

Required Notice Elements:

1. A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or authorized representative.
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed.
3. The exact URL of the allegedly infringing listing on RankRope.
4. Your contact information (full legal name, address, telephone number, and email).
5. A statement that you have a good-faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
6. A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.

12. Listing Modification, Delisting & Ledger Adjustments

Founder-Requested Delisting: A founder may request the removal of their software listing from the public leaderboard at any time by contacting support@rankrope.com from their verified account email. Delisting removes the public profile and search indexation. Because ranking payments deliver immediate advertising upon placement, historical placement fees are non-refundable.

Platform Right of Suspension: RankRope reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify, restrict, suspend, or terminate any listing, account, or badge embed if the listing violates these Terms, exhibits malicious code, or causes legal liability, with zero refund obligation.

13. Disclaimer of Warranties ("As-Is" & "As-Available")

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE BY LAW, RANKROPE AND ITS AFFILIATES, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS PROVIDE THE PLATFORM, SERVICES, LEADERBOARDS, AND PLACEMENT ADVERTISING ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.

WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, RANKROPE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS:

• ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, QUIET ENJOYMENT, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.
• ANY GUARANTEES REGARDING TRAFFIC VOLUMES, PAGE IMPRESSIONS, CONVERSIONS, USER SIGNUPS, SALES, OR COMMERCIAL OUTCOMES RESULTING FROM PLATFORM PLACEMENT.
• THAT THE PLATFORM WILL OPERATE UNINTERRUPTED, BUG-FREE, SECURE, OR ACCURATE AT ALL TIMES.

14. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL RANKROPE, ITS FOUNDERS, EMPLOYEES, OR SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF REVENUE, LOSS OF DATA, GOODWILL, WORK STOPPAGE, OR SYSTEM FAILURE), ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR ACCESS TO OR INABILITY TO ACCESS RANKROPE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

IN ALL EVENTS, RANKROPE’S TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING FROM ALL CLAIMS UNDER THESE TERMS SHALL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF: (A) THE TOTAL AMOUNT PAID BY YOU TO RANKROPE IN THE THREE (3) MONTHS IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO LIABILITY, OR (B) ONE HUNDRED UNITED STATES DOLLARS ($100.00 USD).

15. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless RankRope, its founder, contractors, and partners from and against any third-party claims, damages, liabilities, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to:

• Your software product, service, website, or submitted listing content.
• Any claim that your software infringes, misappropriates, or violates any third-party intellectual property, privacy, or proprietary right.
• Your breach or alleged breach of any provision of these Terms of Service.
• Your violation of any regional consumer protection, anti-spam, or data protection law.

16. Governing Law, Dispute Resolution & Binding Arbitration

Informal Resolution First: Before initiating any formal legal proceeding, you and RankRope agree to attempt to resolve any dispute, claim, or controversy informally by notifying support@rankrope.com with a concise summary of the issue. Both parties agree to negotiate in good faith for at least thirty (30) days.

Binding Arbitration: If an informal resolution cannot be achieved, any remaining dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service shall be settled by binding individual arbitration administered by an established international arbitration provider under its commercial arbitration rules.

Class Action Waiver: YOU AND RANKROPE AGREE THAT EACH PARTY MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST THE OTHER ONLY IN AN INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS, COLLECTIVE, OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING.

17. Miscellaneous, Severability & Amendments

Entire Agreement: These Terms of Service, together with our Privacy Policy and Ranking Rules, constitute the entire and exclusive agreement between you and RankRope regarding the Service.

Severability: If any provision of these Terms is found to be unlawful, void, or unenforceable, that provision shall be deemed severable and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.

Modifications: We reserve the right to revise these Terms at any time. When material changes occur, we will update the "Effective Date" at the top of this document and post a notice on the platform. Continued use of RankRope after such revisions constitutes your binding acceptance of the updated terms.