All legal documents
Draft: pending professional Philippine legal review. This describes how DinkingBuds actually works today but has not yet been reviewed by a lawyer, and is not a final, binding agreement. Sections marked ⚖ specifically await legal judgment.

DinkingBuds Marketplace Disclaimer (DRAFT: not yet reviewed by counsel)

*Also included as Terms of Service §3. Kept as a standalone document so

a Venue Partner or player can be pointed to it directly.*

What DinkingBuds is

DinkingBuds is a booking, scheduling, and payment-verification

platform that connects players with independently owned and operated

pickleball venues ("Venue Partners"). DinkingBuds is not a court

operator, is not a party to the game/lesson/tournament/league itself,

and does not process or hold payments.

Who is responsible for what

The Venue Partner is responsible for:

  • The physical court facility: its condition, safety, and maintenance.
  • Any coaching, officiating, or event-running quality.
  • Verifying player payments accurately and promptly against their own

GCash/Maya/bank account.

  • Paying out any refund obligation the app records.
  • Compliance with their own business's tax, safety, and local permit

obligations.

DinkingBuds is responsible for:

  • The booking system itself: preventing double-bookings, tracking

status accurately, and maintaining an honest audit trail of every

booking, payment claim, and refund.

  • The payment-verification workflow (the tool venue staff use to

confirm a payment), not the payment itself, which happens entirely

outside the Platform, wallet-to-wallet or bank-to-bank, directly

between player and venue.

  • Dispute-mediation tooling that surfaces the full audit trail to

DinkingBuds staff for investigation.

  • Platform-level access controls (who can see what data).

Payments, plainly stated

When you pay for a booking:

1. The venue shows you their own GCash/Maya/bank details in the app.

2. You send the money directly to the venue, using your own banking

or e-wallet app, not through DinkingBuds.

3. You type the transaction reference number into DinkingBuds.

4. A staff member at that venue checks their own account statement and,

if the payment is really there, marks your booking confirmed.

**A screenshot, a claim, or a reference number by itself never confirms

a booking.** Only a venue staff member's own account check does. This is

a deliberate anti-fraud design, not a workflow limitation.

Because money never passes through DinkingBuds, DinkingBuds cannot

"hold funds in escrow," cannot instantly refund you itself, and is not a

payment processor. [⚖ This section directly informs the BSP

payment-services compliance question in the legal-review checklist §2.

Counsel review is required before this disclaimer can be relied on as a

regulatory position, not just a plain-English explanation to users.]

Disputes between a player and a venue

If something goes wrong (a court wasn't as described, a coach didn't

show up, a refund wasn't paid), DinkingBuds can investigate using the

recorded audit trail and mediate, but the underlying service and any

money owed is between the player and the Venue Partner, not

DinkingBuds.