The rules for playing with PadelSeat

who we are

PadelSeat is operated by [PadelSeat operating entity], LLC, a limited liability company registered in [State], United States.

Address for correspondence in Portugal: [street address], Lisboa, Portugal.
Email: hello@padelseat.com. This is our single point of contact for players, authorities and anyone else, for everything in these terms.

The matches are organised by two people we call Operators. They are the founders of PadelSeat, they book the courts, they run the crews, and they make the decisions described in these terms. PadelSeat is not a neutral marketplace between you and a club; it is the organiser of the match you are joining.

what padelseat is, and is not

PadelSeat organises padel matches in the greater Lisbon area. An Operator books a court at a club, on the club's own booking system and in PadelSeat's name, and opens the four seats in the app. You claim one seat and pay your share.

We do not own, run or control any club. See playing at the clubs.

you must be 18

PadelSeat is for adults. You must be 18 or over to have an account, to take a seat, or to hold a Balance. We do not knowingly let under-18s use PadelSeat, and we do not offer any features for children. If we find out an account belongs to someone under 18 we will close it and refund any Balance to its original payment source.

your account

You need one account, in your own name, with a working email address and a payment source. Keep your sign-in details to yourself; what happens on your account is your responsibility until you tell us it has been compromised.

Your account runs for as long as you want it to. You can close it at any time; see closing your account.

Our privacy policy explains what information we hold about you and why. It forms part of these terms.

crews, matches and seats

Crews are weekly groups with a fixed slot at a fixed club. Single matches are one-off games. Both are created only by Operators, and both appear on the Board with the club, the time, the target skill band and the price per seat.

Every match has exactly four seats. When you claim a seat you hold it; you are not charged yet. As a crew member you hold a seat in every one of the crew's matches by default and release the ones you cannot make.

The deadline. Each match has a deadline, normally 18:00 the day before, shown on the match. At the deadline:

• If at least three seats are held, the match confirms. Every held seat is charged, and any open seat is listed on the Board at the same price.
• If fewer than three seats are held, the match is cancelled and nobody is charged.

The fourth seat. A match needs four to play. If a seat is still unpaid two hours before play and is funded by a forfeit (see if you drop out), it becomes a free Gifted Seat. If a seat is still unpaid 45 minutes before play, the match is cancelled and every paid seat is refunded in full.

We may cancel a match for reasons outside our control, such as the club withdrawing the court, weather that makes an outdoor court unplayable, or an Operator's illness. When we cancel, you get your full share back; see how refunds are paid.

what you pay

Joining PadelSeat is free and there is no subscription. For each match you pay:

• Your share of the court: the court price divided by four; and
• The app fee, a fixed amount per seat.

Both amounts and the total, including VAT where it applies, are shown on the seat before you claim it, and the total is the only amount we will charge for that seat. The price of a seat does not change after you claim it, even if we change our prices later.

Payments are processed by Stripe Payments Europe Ltd. We accept cards for seats, and cards and MB Way for Balance top-ups. We do not charge for any payment method. If you ask for a Portuguese invoice we will issue one; you can add your NIF in Settings.

charging your saved card

When you take a seat, the match is not confirmed yet; it needs four players. When it confirms, we charge your saved card automatically for your share plus the app fee, without asking you again. You are agreeing to that now, when you take the seat. The same applies when you claim a seat on the Board after a match has confirmed: that seat is charged straight away.

We will only ever charge the amount shown to you when you took the seat. We tell you the amount before we charge it and send you a receipt after. If the charge fails, we tell you and give you 60 minutes to fix the card; if it is still unpaid after that, your seat is treated as a late release under if you drop out.

You can remove your saved card at any time, or pay from your Balance instead. Stripe holds your card details; we never see your full card number.

your padelseat balance

Instead of a card charge per match, you can top up a Balance in advance and have each share taken from it. The Balance is optional. Here is exactly what it is.

1. What it is. Your Balance is money you have paid us in advance for PadelSeat match seats. It is prepaid credit for our own services. It is not a wallet, not a payment account, not electronic money and not a deposit. It is held in euro, not in points or credits.
2. What you can spend it on. Only seats in matches organised by PadelSeat. Nothing else.
3. Clubs never take it. No club, venue or other business accepts your Balance, and we never pass your money to a club. We pay the clubs ourselves, out of our own funds, for the court time we book.
4. It is yours alone. Your Balance is personal. You cannot give it, gift it, send it, transfer it, share it or pool it with another player, and it cannot be moved to any other account.
5. Getting your money back. You can ask for your Balance back at any time, in full, for any reason, and we will refund it at no cost to you to the card or MB Way account you topped up from. This is the only way money leaves your Balance. We cannot pay it to a different card, to a bank account, or in cash.
6. It never expires. There is no expiry date, no inactivity fee, no dormancy fee and no charge of any kind for holding a Balance.
7. No interest. Your Balance does not earn interest.
8. Limits. You can hold up to €150 at a time and top up a maximum of €500 in any 12 months. We may change these limits with notice.
9. If PadelSeat stops trading. Your Balance is money we owe you. Because it is prepaid credit for our own services and not electronic money, it is not protected by any payment safeguarding rule or deposit guarantee scheme, and in an insolvency it would be an unsecured claim. If we decide to stop operating, we will refund every Balance to its original payment source before we close.
10. Free seats are not money. When a seat is given away after the deadline, the player who takes it receives free entry to that match. No money and no Balance passes between players.
11. If you close your account. We refund whatever is left in your Balance to your original payment source. We keep the payment records themselves for 10 years because tax law requires it.
12. Auto top-up. If you turn auto top-up on, we add the amount you chose to your Balance from your saved card whenever your Balance drops below one share. You can turn it off at any time.

If we need to match a refund to the source it came from, or there are objective signs of fraud or unauthorised use, we may ask you to confirm the last four digits of the card or the phone number used for an MB Way top-up, or to show that the payment source is yours. We ask only for that purpose, we delete what you send once the matter is settled, and we may freeze the account (never the Balance) while we look into it.

your 14-day cancellation right, and where it does not apply

Adding money to your Balance: you have 14 days from the top-up to change your mind, for any reason and with no cost. Tell us by email or use the form at the end of these terms, and we refund the amount, less anything you have already spent from it, to the card or MB Way account you paid from. Because you can ask for your Balance back at any time anyway, this right never runs out in practice.

Booking a seat in a match: the 14-day right does not apply. A padel match is a leisure service for a specific date and time, so under Article 17(1)(k) of Decree-Law 24/2014 there is no right of free withdrawal once you have taken a seat. What you have instead are the drop-out rules below, which are usually more generous than 14 days would be.

if you drop out

• Before the deadline: release your seat in the app and you are not charged at all. The seat goes back on the Board.
• After the deadline, more than two hours before play: your share has been charged. We list your seat on the Board at the price you paid. If someone claims it, we refund your share minus the card processing cost of the original charge, shown to you in cents before you confirm the release. If you paid from your Balance, the full share goes back to your Balance. If nobody claims it before the match, we cannot refund it; the court is already paid for.
• Inside two hours of play: your share is forfeit. We offer your seat free to another player as a Gifted Seat so the match still happens with four. That player pays nothing and receives no money or Balance from you.
• If you simply do not turn up: your share is not refunded and it counts as a no-show on your reliability record.
• If PadelSeat cancels the match, or the club cannot give us the court, you get your full share back to where it came from, at no cost to you, within 14 days.

The deadline and the two-hour cutoff are shown on every match. Times are Lisbon time.

how refunds are paid

Every refund goes back the way the money came: to the card you paid with, to the MB Way account you topped up from, or to your Balance if that is what you paid from. We never charge you for a refund, and we never ask you to accept credit instead of a refund you are owed. Refunds reach Stripe within 14 days of the event that caused them; your bank may take a few more days to show them.

your skill band and reliability flag

Your answers at signup place you in one of four skill bands, which other players see. Your attendance, cancellations and no-shows produce a reliability flag, which other players also see. The numeric score behind the band is seen only by Operators. A person reviews any decision that restricts your account, you can ask for a correction, and the reliability flag looks back 12 months only. The privacy policy explains how both work and how to object.

Crews carry a target band. Operators may move you to a different crew, or ask you to sit a match out, where your band is a poor fit for the group. They will tell you why.

playing at the clubs

We do not own, run or control any club, and we do not inspect the courts. We book court time from clubs on their own systems and open the seats to players. The club is responsible for the state of its courts, its lighting, its changing rooms and its premises, and its own rules apply while you are there.

Padel carries a real risk of injury. You take part at your own risk, you confirm you are fit to play, and you are responsible for your own equipment and insurance. Please tell the club and us if something is unsafe.

our liability

Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or injury to your life, body, health or moral integrity, or for our own fraud or gross negligence. Portuguese law does not allow that, and we do not try to.

For everything else, our liability to you in connection with a match is limited to the amount you paid us for that match. We are not liable for the acts of clubs or of other players, for a club withdrawing a court, or for you being unable to reach a match.

Nothing here removes any right you have as a consumer under Portuguese law or the law of the EU country where you live.

being a good player

Turn up on time, play fairly, and treat the other three, the club staff and the Operators with respect. Do not use PadelSeat to harass, threaten or discriminate against anyone, to sell anything, to book seats you do not intend to use, to hold more than one account, or to get around a suspension. Do not share other players' details outside the app.

your photo, bio and pins

Your photo, your bio and your Wanted Here pins are yours. By adding them you give us a licence to show them inside PadelSeat, to other players, for as long as they are on your profile. That is the whole licence: we do not use them anywhere else, and the licence ends when you remove them or delete your account.

You confirm that what you post is yours to post and is not unlawful, abusive or misleading. We can remove content that breaks these terms or the law; see suspending an account for how we tell you.

reporting a problem with someone's content

If you see a photo, a bio or a pin that you believe is illegal or breaks these terms, report it in the app (tap the profile, then Report) or email hello@padelseat.com with a link or description of the content, why you believe it is illegal, your name and email, and a statement that your report is accurate. We will confirm receipt, review it promptly and without bias, and tell you what we decided. If we remove content or restrict an account, we tell the person affected the reasons and how to reply.

suspending an account or removing you from a crew

We can suspend your account, or take you out of a crew or a match, if you break these terms, do not pay, repeatedly fail to turn up, or behave in a way that makes matches unsafe or unpleasant for others.

We will tell you, and we will tell you why. Except where the problem is serious and immediate, such as safety, abuse or fraud, we will give you reasonable notice first and a chance to put it right.

If you disagree, reply to us and a person will review the decision and answer you.

Suspension never takes your money. If we suspend or close your account, we refund your Balance to your original payment source as set out in the Balance section, and any seat you hold in a match that has not yet confirmed is released without charge.

closing your account

You can delete your account in the app, under Settings, Delete account, at any time, or by emailing privacy@padelseat.com from the address on your account.

When you do: your profile, photo, bio, neighbourhood, skill score and reliability flag are removed within 30 days; your name comes off past match listings; your Balance is refunded in full to your original payment source; and any seats you hold in upcoming matches are released. Seats in matches that have already confirmed follow the drop-out rules.

We keep invoices and payment records for 10 years because Portuguese tax law requires it. If you owe us money for a match you attended, we will ask you to settle it before we close the account.

changes to these terms

Your PadelSeat account runs for as long as you want it to, and you can close it at any time.

We may need to change these terms, to add features, to reflect a change in the law, or to change our fees. We will tell you at least 30 days before any change takes effect, by push notification and in the app, and we will say what is changing.

If you do not like the change, close your account before it takes effect and we will refund your Balance in full to your original payment source. Carrying on using PadelSeat after the change means you accept it.

Changes never apply to a match you have already booked and paid for.

law and disputes

These terms are governed by Portuguese law. If you live in another EU country, you keep the protections of your own country's consumer law; nothing here takes those away.

You can bring a claim in the courts of the country where you live. We will bring any claim against you in the courts where you live.

Before going to court, talk to us: hello@padelseat.com. We aim to reply within 14 days.

If we cannot sort it out, you can take the dispute, free of charge, to a consumer arbitration centre. In the Lisbon Metropolitan Area that is:

The European Commission's online dispute resolution platform was discontinued on 20 July 2025 and no longer exists.

language

These terms are published in Portuguese and in English. If the two versions differ, the Portuguese version applies to players resident in Portugal.

model withdrawal form

Use this only if you want to cancel a Balance top-up within 14 days. You can also just email us in your own words, or ask for your Balance back in the app at any time.