Terms of Service

Last updated: March 13, 2026

Welcome to zap.cooking. These Terms of Service ("Terms") are a legally binding agreement between you and Zap Cooking LLC ("Zap Cooking," "we," "our," or "us") governing your access to and use of our website, mobile applications, interfaces, and related services we make available (collectively, the "Service").

By accessing or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

Please read these Terms carefully. They include a binding arbitration provision and class action waiver in Section 16 that affect your legal rights.

1. About the Service

Zap Cooking is a recipe and food community platform built on the Nostr protocol. The Service enables users to discover, share, and interact with recipes and food-related content using decentralized technology. The Service may also include The Market, a classifieds feature where eligible users can list food and cooking-related goods for sale and connect with potential buyers.

Zap Cooking is primarily a client application and community platform. Content published through the Service may be transmitted to or stored on decentralized Nostr relays, which are independently operated. Zap Cooking may also operate or support certain community-managed components, including relays, indexes, caches, listing surfaces, promotional tools, and other optional services.

Because the Service interoperates with decentralized infrastructure, Zap Cooking generally does not control user identities, content persistence, or content availability across the broader Nostr network. Our ability to remove, restrict, modify, or disable content may be limited to Zap Cooking-operated components and interfaces under our control.

Zap Cooking may also provide user-controlled moderation and preference tools, such as muting, filtering, blocking, hiding, or feed customization features, to help users manage their own experience.

2. Eligibility

2.1 General Use

You must be at least 13 years old to use the Service. The Service is not directed to children under 13, and users under 13 are not permitted to use the Service.

If you are between 13 and 17 years old, you represent that your parent or legal guardian has reviewed and agreed to these Terms on your behalf and has authorized your use of the Service.

We reserve the right to use age-screening or age-verification measures and to restrict access to Zap Cooking-operated components if we believe a user does not satisfy the applicable age requirements.

2.2 Marketplace Use

You must be at least 18 years old to use The Market, including creating listings, purchasing goods, or communicating with other users for the purpose of a transaction. By using The Market, you represent and warrant that you are at least 18 years old and have the legal capacity to enter into binding transactions.

2.3 Account, Identity, and Key Responsibility

You are solely responsible for maintaining the security of your Nostr identity, private keys, wallet credentials, devices, backups, and any other access credentials associated with your use of the Service. Zap Cooking does not store, recover, or control your private keys. We are not responsible for any loss of access, unauthorized use, wallet compromise, mistaken transaction, or loss of funds resulting from your handling of keys, wallets, credentials, or devices.

3. User Content

You are solely responsible for any content you publish, submit, transmit, display, link to, or otherwise make available through the Service, including recipes, comments, images, videos, profile information, marketplace listings, product claims, and messages.

Content published using the Nostr protocol may be copied, indexed, cached, republished, archived, or retained by third-party relays, clients, users, search engines, and other parties beyond Zap Cooking's control. Once content is published to decentralized infrastructure, complete deletion may not be possible.

You retain ownership of your content, subject to the rights you grant in these Terms. By publishing content through the Service, you grant Zap Cooking a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable license to host, cache, index, reproduce, display, distribute, adapt for formatting and technical delivery, moderate within Zap Cooking-operated components, promote, and otherwise use your content as reasonably necessary to operate, improve, secure, market, and provide the Service.

You represent and warrant that:

  • you own or control all rights necessary to publish the content;
  • your content is accurate to the extent it contains factual or commercial claims;
  • your content does not violate applicable law, regulation, or third-party rights; and
  • your content does not contain deceptive, misleading, unsafe, unlawful, or infringing material.

We may, but are not obligated to, monitor, review, limit visibility of, preserve, or disclose content within Zap Cooking-operated components where we believe doing so is necessary to operate the Service, enforce these Terms, protect users or the public, respond to legal process, investigate fraud or abuse, address food or product safety concerns, or reduce legal risk.

4. Prohibited Conduct

You agree not to use the Service to:

  • publish, promote, or transmit content that is unlawful, fraudulent, deceptive, defamatory, infringing, obscene, unsafe, or harmful;
  • make false, misleading, or unsubstantiated statements about any food, ingredient, product, seller, buyer, or listing;
  • publish medical, health, nutritional, disease-treatment, or regulatory-compliance claims that are false, misleading, unapproved, or unlawful;
  • infringe the intellectual property, privacy, publicity, or other rights of any third party;
  • distribute spam, malware, malicious code, or other disruptive content;
  • interfere with the operation, security, availability, or performance of the Service;
  • impersonate any person or entity or misrepresent your affiliation, identity, qualifications, permits, licenses, or authority;
  • engage in harassment, bullying, threats, hate, stalking, targeted abuse, or doxxing;
  • publish, request, promote, or distribute child sexual abuse material or engage in any form of child sexual abuse or exploitation (see our Child Safety Standards);
  • use the Service for money laundering, sanctions evasion, fraud, unlawful financing, or other illegal financial activity;
  • circumvent access controls, moderation tools, rate limits, security features, or eligibility restrictions applicable to Zap Cooking-operated components;
  • use bots, scrapers, scripts, or automated means to access or interact with the Service in a way that imposes unreasonable load, extracts data at scale, or disrupts other users, unless expressly authorized in writing by Zap Cooking.

Marketplace-Specific Prohibited Conduct

In addition to the above, users of The Market agree not to:

  • list goods that are counterfeit, stolen, recalled, unsafe, adulterated, contaminated, expired, illegal, or materially misrepresented;
  • list goods outside permitted categories or goods requiring compliance you cannot lawfully satisfy;
  • fail to disclose material defects, safety risks, allergen information, handling requirements, shipping restrictions, or legal limitations applicable to a product;
  • sell food or food-related goods in violation of applicable federal, state, or local law;
  • use The Market to evade taxes, licensing requirements, labeling laws, food safety rules, shipping restrictions, or consumer protection obligations;
  • manipulate reviews, engagement, pricing, sponsorship disclosures, or listing visibility;
  • move a transaction off-platform for the purpose of evading these Terms, safety rules, reporting mechanisms, or enforcement within Zap Cooking-operated components.

5. Payments to Zap Cooking

Certain features of the Service, including memberships, recipe boosts, Kitchen Sponsors placements, promoted listings, premium tools, and other optional features, may require payment to Zap Cooking.

Unless otherwise stated at the point of purchase:

  • all prices are stated in the currency or payment method displayed at checkout;
  • payments are due in advance;
  • fees paid to Zap Cooking are non-refundable except as required by law or expressly stated by us in writing;
  • taxes, network fees, processor fees, Lightning routing fees, miner fees, and similar charges are your responsibility unless expressly included.

Payments made to Zap Cooking are solely for platform features and are separate from any transaction between users on The Market.

We may change pricing, features, packaging, or eligibility for paid features at any time, but price changes for an active recurring membership will apply no earlier than the next renewal term after reasonable notice.

6. Sponsored Content, Promotional Placements, and Boosted Listings

Zap Cooking may offer sponsored placements, paid partnerships, recipe boosts, promoted marketplace listings, and other promotional features within the Service.

Promoted or paid placements may receive increased visibility within Zap Cooking-operated components. Such visibility does not constitute an endorsement, verification, warranty, or guarantee of any person, listing, recipe, product, or business.

Promotional content may be labeled with disclosure language such as "Promoted," "Boosted," "Sponsored," or similar wording. Users agree not to remove, alter, conceal, or misrepresent sponsorship or promotional disclosures.

Zap Cooking reserves the right within Zap Cooking-operated components to review, reject, relabel, limit, suspend, discontinue, or remove sponsored placements, boosted content, promoted listings, or promotional materials at any time to protect legal compliance, disclosure standards, community trust, technical performance, business operations, or platform integrity.

Additional terms may apply to sponsored content and promotional features, including the Sponsor Terms and Sponsorship Disclosure.

7. The Market

7.1 Platform Role; No Agency; No Marketplace Facilitation

The Market is a venue and technology feature that allows eligible users to create listings, discover listings, and communicate directly with one another regarding food- and cooking-related goods.

Zap Cooking is not the seller, buyer, merchant of record, reseller, distributor, broker, agent, consignee, shipper, warehouse provider, fulfillment provider, escrow provider, insurer, payment processor, or marketplace facilitator for user-to-user transactions unless expressly stated otherwise in a separate written agreement signed by Zap Cooking.

Zap Cooking is not a party to any contract, sale, refund arrangement, shipment, recall process, or dispute between users. We do not take title to, possess, inspect, test, certify, store, ship, deliver, recall, or guarantee any goods listed or sold through The Market.

Listings and related content may be transmitted through decentralized Nostr infrastructure. Zap Cooking does not guarantee the availability, persistence, editability, removability, authenticity, legality, or accuracy of any listing.

7.2 Permitted Listings

The Market is limited to food- and cooking-related categories approved by Zap Cooking, which may include:

  • food products, where lawful;
  • cooking equipment, utensils, kitchenware, bakeware, and preparation tools;
  • ingredients, spices, specialty food items, and food-related supplies;
  • cookbooks and food-related publications; and
  • other goods directly related to cooking, food preparation, or kitchen use, as approved by Zap Cooking.

Zap Cooking may determine, in its sole discretion, whether a listing is permitted within Zap Cooking-operated components and may limit visibility of or remove any listing from such components at any time.

7.3 Prohibited Listings

Without limiting other restrictions in these Terms, the following may not be listed or sold through The Market:

  • alcohol, tobacco, nicotine products, cannabis, hemp-derived ingestible products, CBD products, or any product containing a controlled substance under federal or applicable state law;
  • weapons, ammunition, explosives, fireworks, or hazardous materials;
  • pharmaceuticals or medical products;
  • supplements or ingestible products marketed with unlawful or unsubstantiated health, disease, prevention, cure, mitigation, treatment, or performance claims;
  • live animals;
  • recalled, contaminated, adulterated, unsafe, or illegally imported goods;
  • counterfeit, stolen, pirated, or otherwise unlawful goods;
  • any item requiring a license, permit, inspection, registration, or regulatory approval that the seller does not hold and maintain;
  • perishable, temperature-controlled, meat, seafood, dairy, canned low-acid, infant, or other high-risk food categories unless the seller fully complies with applicable law and any additional requirements we impose;
  • any product whose sale, shipment, labeling, or advertising would violate applicable law or regulation.

Zap Cooking may adopt additional category restrictions, documentation requirements, shipping restrictions, insurance requirements, or seller standards at any time for Zap Cooking-operated components.

7.4 Seller Responsibilities

If you list or sell goods on The Market, you represent, warrant, and agree that:

  • you are at least 18 years old;
  • you have the full legal right and authority to list and sell the goods;
  • your listings, labels, descriptions, pricing, images, and claims are accurate, complete, current, and not misleading;
  • you will comply with all applicable federal, state, local, and international laws and regulations, including those relating to food safety, licensing, permits, inspections, registration, packaging, labeling, allergen disclosure, advertising, weights and measures, taxes, consumer protection, shipping, and recall obligations;
  • you are solely responsible for the quality, legality, safety, packaging, storage, handling, shipment, delivery, refund practices, and customer communications associated with your goods;
  • you are solely responsible for determining whether your products may legally be sold or shipped within, into, or across any jurisdiction;
  • you are solely responsible for taxes, reporting obligations, and recordkeeping arising from your listings and sales;
  • you will not make deceptive, unsafe, unlawful, or unsubstantiated claims about any product;
  • you will cooperate with reasonable requests for information or documentation relating to your listings, identity, age, legal authority, compliance, insurance, permits, product origin, or authenticity.

We may require sellers to provide documentation, including identification, permits, licenses, registrations, insurance certificates, product information, ingredient or allergen information, shipping restrictions, or proof of compliance for participation in Zap Cooking-operated components. Failure to provide requested documentation may result in listing visibility limits, removal from Zap Cooking-operated components, or loss of access to optional Zap Cooking-operated marketplace features.

7.5 Food Safety; Allergens; Compliance

Zap Cooking does not inspect, verify, endorse, certify, test, or monitor food products listed on The Market.

Sellers of food products are solely responsible for compliance with all applicable food laws and regulations, including laws relating to ingredients, allergen disclosure, kitchen or facility requirements, manufacturing, sanitation, packaging, labeling, shelf life, date coding, temperature control, direct-to-consumer restrictions, interstate shipment restrictions, and cottage food limitations.

Where applicable, sellers must provide legally required disclosures, which may include ingredient information, allergen disclosures, required warnings, handling or storage instructions, expiration or best-by dates, producer identity, jurisdictional restrictions, and any disclosure required for homemade, cottage food, or non-commercial kitchen products.

Each seller is solely responsible for any contamination event, spoilage, foreign material, undeclared allergen, mislabeling, defect, illness, allergic reaction, injury, death, recall, warning, enforcement action, seizure, fine, or claim arising out of the goods they list, advertise, sell, distribute, or ship.

Buyers acknowledge that some food products may be homemade, cottage food products, or otherwise not produced in a commercial or inspected facility. Buyers assume all risks associated with purchasing, handling, and consuming such products.

7.6 Buyer Responsibilities; Assumption of Risk

If you purchase or attempt to purchase goods through The Market, you acknowledge and agree that:

  • all transactions are peer-to-peer transactions between you and the seller;
  • Zap Cooking is not a party to the transaction and has no duty to mediate, guarantee, insure, refund, replace, or resolve disputes;
  • you are solely responsible for conducting your own due diligence regarding the seller, product, legality, safety, condition, suitability, and transaction terms;
  • Lightning and Bitcoin transactions are generally irreversible, may be final once sent, and may involve network, routing, or wallet risks;
  • food products may present allergy, contamination, spoilage, handling, labeling, temperature, or other health and safety risks;
  • to the maximum extent permitted by law, you knowingly and voluntarily assume all risks arising from your purchase, receipt, use, handling, or consumption of goods obtained through The Market.

7.7 Payments Between Users

Payments between users are conducted directly between the parties using third-party tools, wallets, payment rails, or processors selected by the users. Zap Cooking does not hold customer funds, transmit money on behalf of users, act as an escrow provider, or control third-party wallet or payment services.

Users are solely responsible for ensuring their transactions comply with all applicable laws, including sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), export controls, and anti-money-laundering laws.

We are not responsible for payment failures, wallet outages, routing issues, fraud, mistaken payments, irreversible transactions, chargebacks, payment disputes, sanctions screening decisions by third parties, or any loss arising from third-party payment tools.

7.8 Reporting; Safety and Compliance Actions

Users may report listings, sellers, or conduct that may violate these Terms or present fraud, safety, legal, or trust concerns.

Where Zap Cooking operates a relay, listing surface, cache, index, promotional placement, or other Zap Cooking-controlled component, we may investigate and take action within that component where we believe doing so is advisable for safety, fraud prevention, legal compliance, intellectual property enforcement, food safety, public protection, or protection of Zap Cooking and its users.

Such actions may include removing or limiting visibility of listings or promotional content within Zap Cooking-operated components, disabling paid enhancements or sponsored placement, modifying how content is surfaced in interfaces we control, preserving relevant records, or providing reporting and user-side moderation tools.

Because listings and related content may also be transmitted through decentralized infrastructure, actions taken by Zap Cooking within Zap Cooking-operated components may not result in deletion or removal of content from third-party relays, clients, caches, archives, or other systems beyond our control.

If we believe a listing or product may present a contamination risk, allergen risk, regulatory risk, fraud risk, recall risk, or other safety concern, we may take immediate action within Zap Cooking-operated components without prior notice and may, where appropriate, notify affected users or cooperate with regulators, law enforcement, or other third parties.

8. Memberships and Recurring Billing

Zap Cooking may offer optional memberships, subscriptions, or other recurring plans. Applicable pricing, billing interval, included features, renewal terms, cancellation method, and any trial terms will be disclosed at the point of purchase.

Unless otherwise stated at signup, memberships automatically renew at the end of each billing period until canceled.

By purchasing a recurring membership, you authorize Zap Cooking and its payment processors to charge the payment method you provide for the recurring fees, applicable taxes, and other disclosed charges at each renewal until cancellation.

You may cancel a recurring membership at any time through the account or billing settings we make available, or through any other cancellation method we provide. Cancellation will take effect at the end of the then-current billing period unless otherwise required by law or stated at signup. Except where required by law, we do not provide prorated refunds for partial billing periods.

We may change membership pricing, packaging, or features upon reasonable advance notice. Changes will take effect no earlier than your next renewal after such notice.

If your payment method fails, we may suspend, downgrade, cancel, or discontinue access to the relevant paid feature, membership benefits, or Zap Cooking-operated paid components.

Memberships do not confer any ownership, equity, governance, fiduciary, employment, partnership, or agency rights in Zap Cooking.

9. Intellectual Property

The Zap Cooking name, logo, branding, site design, and proprietary software elements are the property of Zap Cooking LLC or its licensors, except where otherwise stated.

Nothing in these Terms grants you any right to use the Zap Cooking name, logo, trademarks, trade dress, or branding without our prior written consent.

To the extent certain software components are released under an open-source license, your rights to those components are governed by the applicable open-source license and not solely by these Terms.

10. Copyright and Intellectual Property Claims

Zap Cooking respects intellectual property rights and responds to notices of alleged infringement in accordance with applicable law, including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA").

If you believe material accessible through the Service infringes your copyright or other intellectual property rights, you may submit a notice to support@zap.cooking. Your notice should include sufficient information for us to identify and locate the allegedly infringing material, your contact information, a description of the copyrighted work you believe has been infringed, and a good-faith statement that the use is not authorized.

Because content may be stored, relayed, or reproduced through decentralized infrastructure and third-party relays, our ability to remove material may be limited to content or access points within Zap Cooking-operated components.

Zap Cooking may restrict access to Zap Cooking-operated components for repeat infringers or repeat violators in appropriate circumstances.

11. Third-Party Services and Decentralized Infrastructure

The Service may interact with third-party services, including relays, clients, wallets, payment processors, hosting providers, search providers, app stores, analytics providers, and other external services or infrastructure.

Zap Cooking does not control and is not responsible for third-party services, including their availability, uptime, policies, security, legality, moderation, fees, or technical operation. Your use of any third-party service is governed solely by that service's own terms, policies, and practices.

We are not liable for any loss, damage, outage, content persistence, content removal failure, wallet compromise, routing failure, payment failure, sanctions screening decision, transaction reversal, or other harm arising from or relating to third-party services or decentralized infrastructure.

12. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS," "AS AVAILABLE," AND "WITH ALL FAULTS," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, QUIET ENJOYMENT, ACCURACY, OR RELIABILITY.

ZAP COOKING DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE OR ANY CONTENT, FEATURE, LISTING, RELAY, WALLET INTEGRATION, PAYMENT FLOW, SEARCH RESULT, OR COMMUNICATION WILL BE AVAILABLE, UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, ERROR-FREE, AUTHENTIC, COMPLETE, OR FREE OF HARMFUL COMPONENTS.

ZAP COOKING DOES NOT CREATE, MANUFACTURE, PREPARE, TEST, STORE, SHIP, INSPECT, VERIFY, ENDORSE, CERTIFY, OR GUARANTEE ANY GOODS LISTED OR SOLD THROUGH THE MARKET. ALL GOODS ARE OFFERED BY THIRD-PARTY USERS, AND ALL TRANSACTIONS ARE CONDUCTED DIRECTLY BETWEEN USERS.

ZAP COOKING MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES REGARDING:

  • THE QUALITY, SAFETY, LEGALITY, AUTHENTICITY, LABELING, ALLERGEN STATUS, MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY, OR CONDITION OF ANY GOODS;
  • THE TRUTHFULNESS OR ACCURACY OF ANY LISTING OR SELLER REPRESENTATION;
  • THE IDENTITY, QUALIFICATIONS, LICENSING, OR COMPLIANCE STATUS OF ANY USER;
  • THE REVERSIBILITY, FINALITY, OR SECURITY OF ANY BITCOIN OR LIGHTNING TRANSACTION.

ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED THROUGH THE SERVICE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE LEGAL, TAX, REGULATORY, FINANCIAL, MEDICAL, OR NUTRITIONAL ADVICE.

13. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, ZAP COOKING AND ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, MANAGERS, MEMBERS, EMPLOYEES, CONTRACTORS, AGENTS, SUCCESSORS, AND AFFILIATES WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, BUSINESS, OPPORTUNITY, DATA, GOODWILL, REPUTATION, OR DIGITAL ASSETS, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE OR THESE TERMS, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, ZAP COOKING WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO:

  • ANY USER CONTENT, LISTING, MESSAGE, OR THIRD-PARTY CONDUCT;
  • ANY TRANSACTION, NON-TRANSACTION, PAYMENT FAILURE, DELIVERY FAILURE, NON-DELIVERY, FRAUD, MISREPRESENTATION, OR DISPUTE BETWEEN USERS;
  • ANY FOODBORNE ILLNESS, ALLERGIC REACTION, SPOILAGE, CONTAMINATION, MISLABELING, DEFECT, PRODUCT FAILURE, PERSONAL INJURY, OR DEATH ASSOCIATED WITH GOODS OFFERED THROUGH THE MARKET;
  • ANY USE OF OR RELIANCE ON THIRD-PARTY RELAYS, WALLETS, PAYMENT TOOLS, APP STORES, OR EXTERNAL SERVICES;
  • ANY UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO, ALTERATION OF, OR LOSS OF CONTENT, KEYS, WALLETS, ACCOUNTS, OR TRANSMISSIONS;
  • ANY GOOD-FAITH ACTION TAKEN BY ZAP COOKING WITHIN ZAP COOKING-OPERATED COMPONENTS TO LIMIT VISIBILITY, CHANGE FEATURE ACCESS, PRESERVE RECORDS, OR ADDRESS SAFETY, FRAUD, OR LEGAL COMPLIANCE CONCERNS.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, ZAP COOKING'S TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF:

(A) THE TOTAL AMOUNT YOU PAID TO ZAP COOKING IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM; OR

(B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS (US $100).

SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW CERTAIN LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS OF LIABILITY. IN THOSE JURISDICTIONS, OUR LIABILITY WILL BE LIMITED TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

14. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Zap Cooking and its officers, directors, managers, members, employees, contractors, agents, successors, and affiliates from and against any claims, actions, demands, investigations, liabilities, damages, judgments, losses, fines, penalties, costs, and expenses, including reasonable attorneys' fees, arising out of or relating to:

  • your use of the Service;
  • your content, listings, goods, messages, or commercial activity;
  • your actual or alleged violation of these Terms;
  • your actual or alleged violation of any law, regulation, permit, license, duty, or industry requirement;
  • any transaction or dispute between you and another user;
  • any allegation that your goods caused contamination, spoilage, undeclared allergen exposure, illness, injury, death, recall, warning, or enforcement action;
  • your infringement or violation of any third-party rights.

Zap Cooking may assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification, and you agree to cooperate fully with our defense.

15. Changes to Access; Zap-Controlled Services

Zap Cooking may modify, suspend, discontinue, or limit access to any Zap Cooking-operated feature, integration, relay, paid tool, promotional feature, listing enhancement, index, cache, search layer, or other Zap Cooking-controlled component of the Service at any time, with or without notice.

Because the Service interoperates with decentralized infrastructure, Zap Cooking may not be able to delete, disable, suspend, or terminate a user's underlying Nostr identity, published content, or access across third-party relays, clients, or other systems outside Zap Cooking's control.

Zap Cooking may determine how Zap Cooking-operated software and services display, rank, label, cache, index, filter, or surface content within interfaces and infrastructure we control. We may also provide user-controlled moderation tools, including muting, filtering, hiding, blocking, and other preference settings, to help users manage their own experience.

If Zap Cooking operates any community-managed relay, paid feature, membership feature, sponsorship tool, promoted listing feature, or other optional service, we may restrict, discontinue, or change access to those specific Zap Cooking-operated components where reasonably necessary for legal compliance, safety, abuse prevention, technical protection, payment failure, fraud prevention, product changes, or business operations.

Because content may be stored, copied, or retransmitted through decentralized infrastructure, modifying or discontinuing Zap Cooking-operated services does not guarantee deletion or removal of content from relays, caches, archives, search indexes, or third-party systems beyond our control.

Sections of these Terms that by their nature should survive will survive, including those relating to licenses, disclaimers, limitations of liability, indemnification, dispute resolution, governing law, and general terms.

16. Dispute Resolution and Binding Arbitration

PLEASE READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY. IT AFFECTS YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS.

16.1 Informal Resolution

Before filing a claim against Zap Cooking, you agree to first send a written notice of dispute to support@zap.cooking with sufficient detail to allow us to evaluate the claim. You and Zap Cooking agree to attempt in good faith to resolve the dispute informally for at least thirty (30) days before initiating arbitration or court proceedings, unless emergency injunctive relief is necessary.

16.2 Agreement to Arbitrate

Except for the exclusions below, any claim, dispute, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms, the Service, The Market, any paid feature, or any transaction or interaction facilitated through the Service shall be resolved by final and binding arbitration on an individual basis.

The arbitration shall be administered by the American Arbitration Association ("AAA") under the AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules if the claim qualifies as a consumer matter, or under other AAA rules as applicable. Judgment on the award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.

16.3 Arbitration Procedure; Location

The arbitration will be conducted in English. Unless otherwise required by applicable AAA rules or applicable law, the seat of arbitration will be Blair County, Pennsylvania. If an in-person hearing is required, it may take place in or near Blair County, Pennsylvania, unless the parties agree otherwise or AAA rules provide another format.

16.4 Fees

Payment of filing, administration, case-management, and arbitrator fees will be governed by the applicable AAA rules. To the extent required by the AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules, Zap Cooking will pay fees and costs allocated to businesses under those rules.

16.5 Exceptions

Nothing in this Section prevents either party from:

  • bringing an individual action in small claims court, if the claim qualifies;
  • seeking temporary, preliminary, or emergency injunctive relief in a court of competent jurisdiction to prevent unauthorized access, misuse, infringement, abuse, fraud, security incidents, or threatened irreparable harm;
  • reporting matters to law enforcement or regulators.

16.6 Class Action Waiver

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, YOU AND ZAP COOKING AGREE THAT EACH MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST THE OTHER ONLY IN AN INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF, CLASS MEMBER, PRIVATE ATTORNEY GENERAL, OR REPRESENTATIVE IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS, COLLECTIVE, CONSOLIDATED, OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION OR PROCEEDING.

Unless both parties agree otherwise, the arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims and may not preside over any class, collective, consolidated, or representative proceeding.

16.7 Jury Trial Waiver

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, YOU AND ZAP COOKING KNOWINGLY AND VOLUNTARILY WAIVE ANY RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL FOR ANY DISPUTE PERMITTED TO PROCEED IN COURT.

16.8 Opt-Out

You may opt out of this arbitration agreement by sending written notice to support@zap.cooking within thirty (30) days after first accepting these Terms. Your notice must include your full name, your Nostr public key if applicable, the email address associated with your account if any, and a clear statement that you wish to opt out of arbitration. If you opt out, the remainder of these Terms will continue to apply.

16.9 Severability

If any portion of this Section 16 is found unenforceable as to a particular claim or remedy, that portion shall be severed and the remaining portions shall remain in full force to the maximum extent permitted by law. If the class action waiver is found unenforceable as to a particular claim and that determination is not subject to appeal, then that claim shall proceed in a court of competent jurisdiction and not in arbitration.

17. Governing Law and Venue

These Terms and any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service shall be governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, without regard to conflict of laws principles, except to the extent preempted or displaced by federal law.

For disputes permitted to proceed in court, you and Zap Cooking consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of:

  • the state courts located in Blair County, Pennsylvania; and
  • the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Johnstown Division.

18. Changes to the Service and Terms

Zap Cooking may modify, suspend, discontinue, or remove any aspect of the Service at any time, including features, integrations, relay support, indexing methods, caching behavior, listing eligibility, technical limits, search behavior, ranking systems, paid tools, promotional tools, membership benefits, and user experience features.

Because the Service interoperates with decentralized infrastructure, changes to the Service may affect only Zap Cooking-operated components and may not affect content, identities, or availability across third-party relays, clients, or other systems outside our control.

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will post the updated Terms and revise the "Last updated" date. We may also provide notice through the Service, by email, or by other reasonable electronic means.

Unless otherwise stated, updated Terms will become effective when posted. If applicable law requires advance notice for certain changes, we will provide such notice.

Your continued use of Zap Cooking-operated components of the Service after the effective date of updated Terms constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

19. Contact

If you have questions about these Terms, contact us at:

20. Electronic Communications

You agree to receive communications from Zap Cooking electronically, including notices, disclosures, billing communications, support messages, and legal notices, by email, in-app message, website posting, or other electronic means. You agree that such electronic communications satisfy any legal requirement that communications be in writing, to the extent permitted by law.

21. General Terms

21.1 Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with any incorporated policies, product-specific terms, Sponsor Terms, disclosures, and other legally operative terms referenced by the Service, constitute the entire agreement between you and Zap Cooking regarding the Service.

21.2 Severability

If any provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be limited or severed to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.

21.3 No Waiver

No waiver of any provision of these Terms will be deemed a further or continuing waiver of that provision or any other provision.

21.4 Assignment

You may not assign or transfer these Terms or any rights or obligations under them without our prior written consent. Zap Cooking may assign these Terms, in whole or in part, in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, corporate reorganization, sale of assets, or by operation of law.

21.5 No Third-Party Beneficiaries

Except as expressly stated, these Terms do not create any third-party beneficiary rights.

21.6 Force Majeure

Zap Cooking will not be liable for any delay or failure in performance resulting from causes beyond its reasonable control, including acts of God, natural disasters, epidemics, labor disputes, outages, denial-of-service attacks, internet failures, relay failures, blockchain failures, payment network disruptions, power failures, war, terrorism, civil unrest, governmental action, sanctions, or supply chain disruptions.

21.7 Interpretation

Headings are for convenience only and do not affect interpretation. The words "including" and "include" mean "including without limitation."