Terms of service

Botensten (operated by Charles Botensten, 1460 Broadway, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10036; "we", "us") provides Botensten Mail, Sign, Links, Analytics, Forms, Social, Share and Inbox, and the Todd Bot assistant on our pages. One Botensten account signs you in to every app. These terms apply to all of them; the sections for each app below add what's specific to it. The Privacy policy, Acceptable use policy, Subprocessors list and Refund policy are part of these terms.

By creating an account or using an app you agree to these terms. If you use Botensten for an organization, you agree for it and confirm you may.

You need a working email address to sign in. You must be at least 16, and old enough to enter a contract where you live to buy a plan. You're responsible for what happens in your account, including by people you invite and through API keys and AI agents you connect: keep them private and revoke the ones you no longer use.

Each app has its own plans and is billed on its own, through Stripe, to one customer record for your account: one card and one set of invoices for every app you use. Plans are paid in advance, monthly or yearly; a yearly plan costs 11 months. Prices are in US dollars and exclude sales tax where it applies.

A plan renews automatically at the end of each period, at the same price unless we've told you otherwise, until you cancel it. We'll email you at least 30 days before a price change affects your plan.

Each plan includes allowances (emails, envelopes, links, pageviews, responses, seats, channels or people). When you reach one, the app tells you and waits for an upgrade or the next period; we never charge overage without asking. Upgrades take effect at once and are prorated; a downgrade leaves a credit for later invoices.

If a payment fails, Stripe retries it for a few days and the plan keeps working meanwhile. If it still fails, the plan ends and the app's paid features stop until you pay.

You can cancel any app's plan at any time from that app's billing page or from Account & billing. It keeps working until the end of the period you paid for, then stops renewing. Refunds follow the Refund policy.

What you put in Botensten stays yours: newsletters, lists, documents, links, forms and answers, posts, conversations and statistics. You give us permission to store, process, display and send it only to run the apps for you, and you confirm you have the right to use it.

You can export your main data from each app where it offers an export, and we'll provide an export of anything else on request. When you delete your account, everything is erased after 30 days, during which signing in restores it, except records we must keep by law, such as invoices.

Only email people who agreed to hear from you, and follow the laws that apply to you and your readers, including CAN-SPAM, CASL and the GDPR. Every email carries an unsubscribe link and your postal address.

We pause campaigns automatically when bounces or spam complaints pass safe levels, and may block accounts whose sending harms deliverability for others. Mailbox providers decide where an email lands; we can't guarantee inbox placement.

Sign lets you and the people you invite sign documents electronically. In the United States, electronic signatures and records have the same legal effect as paper ones under the federal ESIGN Act and the state Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA); in the EU, Sign provides simple electronic signatures under eIDAS.

Some documents can't be signed electronically or need extra formalities (for example wills, certain court and family-law documents, some notices and notarized documents). You're responsible for deciding whether an electronic signature suits each document and for getting each signer's consent to sign electronically. Each envelope keeps an audit trail of who did what and when.

We provide the signing tool; we're not a party to your agreements and don't check who a signer is beyond the email address you give, unless you add a check.

Short links and QR codes must not lead to anything the Acceptable use policy forbids. We may disable a link that does, or that phishing and malware lists flag, without notice. Redirects keep working when you pass your plan's click allowance; only recording stops.

Mention Botensten Analytics in your website's privacy notice. Don't send names, email addresses or other personal data in custom events. Past your plan's allowance, new events aren't recorded; your website keeps working.

You're responsible for the questions you ask and for telling respondents how you'll use their answers. Don't collect passwords, full card numbers or government ID numbers, or health data without the consent and safeguards the law requires.

When you connect a social network account, you authorize us to publish and schedule the posts you create there and to read their statistics. Each network's own terms apply to what you publish. Networks change their rules and interfaces; if one stops a connection, we'll tell you, and we can't guarantee any network stays available.

Only share documents you have the right to share. Shared links record who viewed which pages and for how long: tell the people you share with. You're responsible for the access settings you choose (email, passcode, expiry, downloads).

When you put the chat widget on your website, you're responsible for your visitors' conversations and for telling them about the chat in your privacy notice. We process those conversations for you, as your processor.

Todd Bot is an AI assistant that answers questions about Botensten on our public pages. Its answers can be wrong or incomplete; the app's own pages and these terms are what count. It doesn't give legal, tax or financial advice.

Don't use any app for anything illegal, deceptive or harmful: spam, phishing, malware, impersonation, harassment, sexual content involving minors, infringing someone's rights, or attacking or overloading our systems. The Acceptable use policy has the details. We may suspend or close an account that breaks it, without refund when the breach is deliberate.

Several apps are built on open-source software, under licenses such as the GNU AGPL 3.0 and MIT. These terms cover the hosted service; the source code comes with its own license, and each app links to its source.

We work to keep every app running, but we can't promise uninterrupted service. We may change or retire features or apps; if we retire an app you pay for, we'll tell you at least 30 days ahead and refund the unused part of its plan.

You can close your account at any time from the account page. We may suspend or close an account that breaks these terms, puts others at risk or doesn't pay. If we close your account for a reason other than a deliberate breach, we refund the unused part of your plans.

The apps are provided as is. To the extent the law allows, we disclaim implied warranties, aren't liable for indirect, incidental or consequential damages or lost profits, and our total liability for any claim is limited to what you paid us in the 12 months before it. Nothing here limits liability that can't be limited by law.

You'll cover our reasonable costs if a claim against us arises from your content or from your breach of these terms.

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. Disputes go to the state or federal courts in New York County, New York, and both sides accept their jurisdiction. If you're a consumer, you keep the protections of the law where you live.

We'll email you before material changes to these terms take effect. Questions go through our contact form, or by post to Botensten, 1460 Broadway, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10036.