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Stakes & Payouts Policy

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Version: 1.2.2 | Effective Date: 2026-08-20 | Governing Law: Lithuania (EU) | Applies to: All users worldwide except U.S. (US users governed by AAA arbitration under T&C) | Contact: legal@motiw8.com

1. Purpose of This Policy

This Stakes & Payouts Policy explains how financial stakes work, how prize pools are formed, how winners are determined, and how payouts are executed. It is an appendix to the Terms & Conditions and forms part of the binding agreement when you use Motiw8.

2. Nature of Stakes — NOT Gambling

Motiw8 challenges are skill-based fitness competitions, not games of chance.

This classification is critical for legal compliance globally.

3. Stake Payment & Fees

3.1 When Stake is Charged

Stakes are charged immediately at the moment of joining a challenge.

3.2 Stake Refund Window

If you leave within 24 hours of joining, your stake is refunded in full — whether or not the challenge has already started. After 24 hours, once the challenge is running, the stake is forfeited to the prize pool. EU/EEA consumers also have a statutory right of withdrawal (see Section 10).

Refunds are executed via Stripe (see Section 10).

3.3 Fees

Fees help cover verification, fraud prevention, infrastructure, and payouts.

3.4 Currency

Stakes are priced in the currency displayed at checkout.

Exchange rates are handled by Stripe.

3.5 Regional Availability

Paid challenges are available only in regions where Stripe processes payments. Payout availability depends on Stripe Connect support in your country.

For a current list of supported countries, refer to Stripe's documentation at stripe.com/global.

4. Prize Pool Formation

Prize pools are formed from:

Your stake is an entry fee. Payments are processed by Stripe. If you place in a challenge, Motiw8 owes you your prize share and pays it to you through Stripe once the results are final and your payout details are complete.

5. Payout Eligibility Requirements

A user must satisfy all of the following:

Stripe Identity or equivalent service is used for KYC.

If Stripe Connect does not operate in your country, you may participate in free challenges but cannot receive prize payouts. For a current list of supported countries, refer to Stripe's documentation at stripe.com/global.

6. How Winners Are Determined

6.1 Weight-Loss & Body-Fat Challenges

Winners determined by:

Weight-loss scores apply a healthy creditable-loss cap that scales with challenge length (12% / 15% / 20% / 25% over 1 / 2 / 3 / 6 months); body-fat scores are not capped. Body-fat challenges are two-tier: baseline and final are certified laboratory body-composition tests from the same laboratory, while optional weekly check-ins are ordinary scale weigh-ins with no weekly lab requirement.

6.2 Steps Challenges

Winners determined by:

6.3 Tie-Breaking

6.4 Payout Distribution Tiers

The number of winners and their share of the prize pool is determined by the number of qualified participants (those who completed the challenge without disqualification) at settlement time:

Tiers are evaluated at the time of settlement, not at challenge creation or join time. If the number of qualified participants changes due to disqualifications, the applicable tier is determined by the final qualified count.

7. When Payouts Occur

7.1 Standard Timing

Payouts are executed within 7 days after final ranking is published.

7.2 Manual Delays

Delays may occur due to:

Users will be notified of delays.

8. How Payouts Are Delivered

8.1 Stripe Connect requirement (claiming your prize)

To receive prize payouts, winners must complete Stripe Connect account setup (onboarding) in the app. Payouts are sent only to your connected Stripe account. If you do not complete setup, Motiw8 may hold your payout until onboarding is complete; failure to complete setup within any stated deadline may result in delayed or held payouts as set out in our Terms.

Payouts occur via Stripe Connect Payouts:

Users are responsible for:

8.2 Unclaimed Prizes

When you win, we notify you and ask you to complete payout setup. If you have not completed it 90 days after we notify you, we close the claim in our systems and the amount returns to Motiw8. The money is still yours. Write to legal@motiw8.com and we will pay it, subject to identity and payout checks, for as long as the law allows a claim to be brought — ten years from the date we notified you (Civil Code Art 1.125).

To make that possible we keep a minimal record after the sweep: a reference to your account, the challenge, the amount and currency, the date we notified you, the date we closed the claim, and one way to contact you. We do not keep your photos, videos, or measurements for this purpose. If you ask us to delete your account, we will offer to pay you what you are owed first; if you would rather not, we keep only that minimal record, because we cannot pay a debt we have no record of (GDPR Article 17(3)(e)).

9. Withholding & Suspensions

Motiw8 may temporarily or permanently withhold payouts if:

10. Refund Policy (Stakes)

When a stake is refunded (always the full amount you paid):

When a stake is instead forfeited to the prize pool:

If our verification goes wrong. These forfeiture rules assume we have scored you correctly. If your submission was rejected, missed, or mis-scored because of a fault on our side — including an error in our automated reading of a photo, or a failure in our systems during the submission window — then you have not been disqualified and nothing is forfeited.

Tell us and we will re-score your entry. If it is too late to re-score, we will refund your stake in full.

Refunds occur via the Stripe Refund API to the same payment method you used to pay the stake (e.g. the card used at join) and may take 3–10 business days depending on bank processing. The platform fee is taken from the stakes that form the prize pool, never from a refund. We may hold a refund while we complete a fraud or integrity review, but this does not remove your right to a refund where one is due.

11. Failed Payments

If payment fails:

12. Tax Responsibilities

Prizes may be taxable where you live, and declaring them is your responsibility. We do not withhold tax from prizes.

12.1 United States

If a user earns $600+ in payouts within a calendar year:

Motiw8 does not provide tax advice and does not file taxes on behalf of users.

12.2 European Union

Prize winnings may be taxable depending on country of residence.

Users must report winnings according to local laws.

12.3 Other Regions

Users are responsible for determining tax obligations in their jurisdiction.

12.4 Germany

Prize money of this kind is generally treated as income from other services under § 22 No. 3 of the Income Tax Act (EStG). That provision has a threshold of €256 per calendar year — and it is a threshold, not an allowance: if your total income from such services reaches €256 in a year, the whole amount is taxable, not just the part above €256. This is general information, not tax advice. If you are unsure about your own position, speak to a Steuerberater.

13. Disputes & Appeals

Users may file disputes regarding:

Appeals. If you disagree with a decision about your submission, your qualification, or your placement, you can appeal. Email support@motiw8.com within 30 days of the day we notify you of the decision. Tell us which decision you are appealing and why, and attach anything you think supports your case.

Wherever it is practical, your appeal will be reviewed by someone other than the person who made the original decision. We will give you a reasoned answer in writing within 14 days, and we will tell you what evidence we relied on.

Our answer is our final word in our own process. It does not affect your legal rights. If you are not satisfied you can take the matter to the State Consumer Rights Protection Authority (Valstybinė vartotojų teisių apsaugos tarnyba, vvtat.lt), which handles consumer disputes out of court free of charge, or to a court. Nothing in these rules limits those rights.

14. Amendments

Motiw8 may modify this policy to ensure fairness, security, and regulatory compliance.