Vendor Services Terms

Fast-track listing review

Anyone can submit software for free. Free submissions are reviewed in batches, with no promised timing and no guarantee of listing.

Fast-track is a one-time $149 fee, paid through Stripe. We review a fast-track submission within 2 business days of payment. If it meets our listing bar (software you can buy or use today, pricing we can verify on the vendor's own website, and a category we cover), the page goes live within that window. If it doesn't, or we miss the window, we refund the fee in full.

The fee pays for review speed only. It does not buy inclusion, a position in any ranking, the CostBench Score, or any change to what the page says about pricing (see §5). A page that went live stays live if the fee is later refunded or disputed. We don't charge for a product that is already listed; we point you to the free claim instead. For 12 months after a fast-track page goes live, if the product's pricing changes, reply to our go-live email and we'll re-check it within 2 business days. Corrections remain free for everyone (§3).

1. Scope

These Vendor Services Terms apply to the CostBench Sync subscription and to directly-arranged category sponsorship placements. They supplement, and do not replace, the general CostBench Terms of Service and the vendor profile terms accepted when you claimed your product. Claiming a product profile, identity verification, and submitting pricing corrections are free and are not "services" under these terms — see Section 3.

2. CostBench Sync subscription

CostBench Sync is a per-product annual subscription, currently priced at $300/yr per product. Sync is sold annual-only; there is no monthly option. Subscribing daily re-verifies your product's pricing record against the vendor's public pricing page, republishes a detected change within hours (or on request, within 2 business days), emails you a diff whenever your record changes, delivers a monthly AI Answer Report, and unlocks full dashboard analytics. The full feature list is published on vendor pricing and is incorporated into these terms by reference.

Sync is billed annually in advance via Stripe and auto-renews for successive one-year terms unless cancelled. You may cancel at any time through the billing portal linked from your vendor dashboard; cancellation takes effect at the end of the current paid term — you keep Sync until the term you already paid for ends, and it does not renew afterward. [TODO(Aadil): confirm auto-renewal notice requirements for the relevant jurisdictions — some require advance notice before an annual auto-renewal charge.]

3. Corrections and claiming stay free

Identity verification, claiming your product profile, and submitting pricing corrections are free for every vendor, forever, whether or not you subscribe to Sync. Corrections are reviewed against primary sources and are never delayed, gated, or prioritized based on payment.

4. Refunds

Sync subscription fees are billed annually and are non-refundable for partial terms — cancelling mid-term stops the next renewal but does not refund the current term, except where required by applicable law. Where our own reconciliation, or a dispute we uphold, determines a charge was made in error, we refund it. [TODO(Aadil): set the refund-dispute SLA window.]

5. Neutrality invariant & editorial independence

Payment changes how fast a vendor's record is re-verified and how much evidence they can inspect — never CostBench's facts, rankings, methodology, or willingness to correct an error. Sync re-verifies against the vendor's public pricing page, never vendor-supplied numbers. A Sync subscription can never buy a ranking position, inclusion wording, a badge, or the removal of a competitor. Sponsored placements are labeled "Promoted", never appear inside our rankings or the machine-readable record AI assistants read, and do not influence editorial rankings, recommendations, pricing data, or how any product is presented, including yours. CostBench retains sole editorial control and may decline, pause, or remove any placement that we determine is misleading, infringing, or inconsistent with our editorial standards or applicable advertising law (including FTC disclosure rules).

6. Category sponsorship

Category sponsorship is sold by direct arrangement — there is no self-serve checkout — and only in categories that clear a published click floor (currently 50 verified outbound clicks in the trailing 30 days; see sponsorship). Below the floor, a category is not sold; we maintain a waitlist and will reach out when it qualifies. A sponsorship placement is labeled, sits beside — never inside — editorial rankings, and is priced and termed individually per arrangement. If a sponsored category falls below the click floor during a paid term, we credit the remaining term rather than continuing to bill for placement we can no longer honestly promise will be seen. [TODO(Aadil): confirm the exact credit mechanics (pro-rata refund vs. term extension) once a sponsorship deal is actually signed.]

7. Acceptable use

Placement and profile content must be accurate and must not misrepresent your product's pricing or capabilities. You may not attempt to manipulate retrieval counts, click metrics, or review content, or otherwise interfere with the integrity of CostBench's data. We may suspend Sync access or a sponsorship placement in response to detected abuse.

8. Changes & termination

You may cancel Sync at any time through the billing portal, effective at the end of the current paid term. You may end a sponsorship arrangement per its individual terms. We may change these terms with notice; continued use after a change constitutes acceptance. We may terminate Sync or sponsorship access for breach of these terms.

9. Disclaimers & liability

[TODO(Aadil): counsel to supply the warranty disclaimer, limitation-of-liability cap (suggest: capped at amounts paid in the prior 12 months), indemnity, governing law, and dispute-resolution / arbitration clauses. Cosmo intentionally did not draft these — they are jurisdiction- and risk-tolerance-specific.]

10. Contact

Questions about these terms or a specific charge: your vendor dashboard (billing) or partnerships@costbench.com (sponsorship). [TODO(Aadil): confirm the support contact address to publish here.]

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