Kidbys

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Sparks & Virtual Items Terms

What Sparks are, how adults get and send them, how the child's Piggy Bank and Goals work, and what happens to Sparks in the beta.

DRAFT — pending legal reviewVersion 0.1-draftLast updated 2026-10-01

Short version (DRAFT — pending legal review; not yet in force)

  • Sparks are units of applause. Adults buy them in packs and send them to artwork they love; each tap sends one Spark.
  • Sparks are not money. You can't cash them out, sell them, or get a refund except where the law or the app store requires it.
  • When an artwork receives a Spark, Kidbys records part of its value in that child's Piggy Bank. Only the child's parent or guardian can ever redeem Piggy Bank value, and only once that feature is switched on.
  • Parents can set Goals for their child with a Spark reward. The reward is set aside when the Goal starts and goes to the child's Piggy Bank when it is completed.
  • No one ever sees public Spark counts or rankings.
  • In the beta, Sparks are simulated test units with no value, given free to invited testers.

Effective date: EFFECTIVE DATE

These terms form part of our Terms of Service.

1. What Sparks are

A Spark is a unit of applause on Kidbys. Adults (Collectors, and Agents acting as collectors for other families' art) use Sparks to encourage young artists. Every tap on the Spark button on an artwork sends one Spark to that artwork's Artist.

Sparks are a limited, personal, non-transferable licence to use a feature of the Service. They are not:

  • money, legal tender, electronic money, or a deposit;
  • a bank account, stored-value account or wallet that holds funds for you;
  • property you own; or
  • something you can sell, trade, gift outside Kidbys, or exchange for cash or for anything other than the uses Kidbys offers.

2. Getting Sparks (adults only)

  • Sparks are sold in packs, priced in US dollars, through the Apple App Store or Google Play in the app, or through Stripe on our website where that is allowed. The price of each pack is shown before you buy. The current reference price is SPARK PRICE — planning value USD 0.04 per Spark, sold in packs.
  • There is no free recurring allowance. We may occasionally give promotional Sparks; each promotion has its own limits and may be withdrawn if abused.
  • Only age-verified adults can buy Sparks. Children cannot buy, receive purchased Sparks to spend, or see pack prices.
  • Purchases through Apple or Google are governed by their terms, including their refund processes.

3. Sending Sparks

  • One tap sends one Spark. You can tap again to send more.
  • To protect against accidents and abuse, there are daily and speed limits on how many Sparks you can send SPARK DAILY CAP — not yet set.
  • Sending a Spark cannot be undone.
  • Every artwork you spark is saved to your private My Sparks list. Only you can see it.
  • You see only your own totals. No one, including the child, sees how many Sparks anyone else sent, and there are no public counts, rankings or leaderboards.

4. The child's Piggy Bank

4.1 What goes in

When an artwork receives a Spark, Kidbys records a child-benefit allocation for that Spark in the Artist's Piggy Bank: currently CHILD ALLOCATION PER SPARK — planning value 3 of every 4 cents. Kidbys keeps the rest as its fee, before store and payment costs. The Piggy Bank also shows:

  • Spark rewards from completed Goals (Section 5);
  • the child's share of print and merchandise sales (see Marketplace Terms);
  • Sparks the Agent has added by converting their own released earnings, at the same rate.

4.2 What the Piggy Bank is, legally

The Piggy Bank is a record kept by Kidbys to show the child the encouragement and value their art has earned. It is not a bank account in the child's name, a wage, or property the child can withdraw. The child can see their own Piggy Bank balance, and nothing about anyone else's. The Agent sees the same balance and controls any use of it.

4.3 Redemption

When Kidbys switches on its Redemption Program in your country, the Agent (never the child) will be able to redeem eligible Piggy Bank value into the family's payout balance, subject to the rate, limits, waiting period and checks published at that time: REDEMPTION RATE, LIMITS, COOLING PERIOD AND ELIGIBILITY — not yet set. The Redemption Program is not yet available. Until it is, Piggy Bank value cannot be redeemed for cash. A redemption is recorded permanently and can be reversed if the underlying Sparks or sales are refunded or charged back.

4.4 Agent top-up

An Agent may convert their own already-released earnings into Sparks credited to their child's Piggy Bank, at the standard Spark rate. This is a one-way transfer and cannot be reversed by the Agent.

5. Goals

An Agent can create a Goal for their child: a name, steps, a scratch card of 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9 or 10 slots, a deadline, and a Spark reward. Kidbys may create a unique badge image for the Goal using an AI image service (see our Subprocessor list). Only the Goal's name and description are sent to that service, so please do not include your child's real name or other personal details in them.

  • Starting a Goal sets the reward aside from the Agent's own Spark balance. The Agent must have enough Sparks at that moment. Set-aside Sparks cannot be spent on anything else while the Goal is active.
  • Completing a Goal (all slots scratched) moves the reward into the child's Piggy Bank.
  • If the Goal expires or is cancelled, the set-aside Sparks go back to the Agent.
  • The child sees the Goal as play: the badge, the scratch card and their own reward. They never see the Agent's balance or how the reward is held.

Goals created by Kidbys or by exhibition partners may be offered later under their own terms.

6. Refunds, reversals and errors

  • Sparks are non-refundable once bought, except where required by law or by the app store you bought them from.
  • If a Spark purchase is refunded or charged back, we may remove the corresponding Sparks from your balance, including by reversing Sparks already sent or allocated, and your balance may go negative until covered.
  • If Sparks are credited by mistake or obtained through a bug, fraud or abuse (including scripted tapping or farming), we may remove them and any value allocated from them.
  • All changes are recorded as new accounting entries; nothing is silently edited.

7. Expiry and account closure

Purchased Sparks do not expire while your account is open. If you delete your account or we close it for breach of our Terms, any unused Sparks in your balance are cancelled and have no cash value, except where the law requires otherwise. Before deleting an account, an Agent should redeem any eligible Piggy Bank value if the Redemption Program is available.

8. Changes to Sparks

We may change pack sizes, prices for future purchases, limits, and the child-benefit allocation for future Sparks with reasonable notice. Changes never reduce Sparks already in your balance or value already recorded in a Piggy Bank. If we ever stop offering Sparks, we will give at least NOTICE — e.g. 90 days notice and explain what happens to remaining balances.

9. Sparks in the beta

During the beta:

  • Sparks are simulated test units. They are given free to invited adult testers by Kidbys; they cannot be bought.
  • An Agent tester receives test Sparks for Goals and for sending in the gallery; a Collector tester receives test Sparks for sending.
  • Beta Sparks have no monetary value, carry no right to redemption or payment, and will not carry over to the live Service.
  • Sales, checkout, in-app purchases, payouts and redemption are switched off.

See also our Beta Test Terms.

10. Contact

Questions about Sparks: [email protected].