# Terms of service

> The agreement between Railbed and merchants who use it to accept card payments that settle as USDC to their own wallet. Read it before you sign up.

Source: https://railbed.io/terms/ · Last updated: 2026-09-25 · Railbed by DeepWork

These terms are the agreement between you and Railbed by DeepWork, operated by DeepWork (referred to below as "Railbed", "we" or "us"), for use of the Railbed service, including the merchant dashboard at https://app.railbed.io, the hosted checkout, payment links, the API, webhooks and the website at https://railbed.io. By creating an account or using the service you accept these terms, the [acceptable use policy](https://railbed.io/acceptable-use/) and the [privacy policy](https://railbed.io/privacy/), which form part of this agreement. If you do not agree, do not use the service.

If you are a buyer paying a merchant through a Railbed checkout, the section headed "Buyers" applies to you. The rest of these terms is written for merchants.

## Eligibility

To open a merchant account you must:

- be at least 18 years old, or the age of majority where you live if that is higher
- be using the service for business purposes, not as a consumer
- have the authority to bind the business you register, if you register on behalf of one
- give accurate and complete information when you sign up and keep it up to date
- not be barred from using the service under the laws that apply to you or to DeepWork, including sanctions laws

You are responsible for everyone who uses your account, including staff and contractors, and for keeping your password and API keys confidential. Tell us at [support@railbed.io](mailto:support@railbed.io) as soon as you suspect your account has been accessed without permission.

## The service

Railbed is software. It lets you publish a hosted checkout and payment links, take payments through the API, and receive webhooks about them. When a buyer pays:

1. The buyer is sent from the Railbed checkout to an independent, licensed on-ramp provider. The provider charges the buyer's card, or a wallet such as Apple Pay, Google Pay or PayPal where it supports one, under its own terms.
2. The provider converts the payment to USDC and delivers it on the Polygon network to a one-time forwarding address created for that payment by our payment infrastructure partner.
3. Our payment infrastructure partner forwards the USDC to the payout wallet on your account, after deducting the fees described below.
4. Railbed records the payment as paid when it receives and verifies the partner's signed notification, and notifies your systems by webhook.

**Railbed is non-custodial.** At no point does Railbed hold, pool, control or have the ability to move merchant or buyer funds. Railbed is not a bank, money transmitter, payment processor, money services business or exchange. It does not issue, sell, buy or exchange cryptocurrency, and it does not charge cards. Those functions are performed by the on-ramp providers and our payment infrastructure partner, each under its own licences and terms.

Smart Routing recommends a provider to each buyer based on the amount, the buyer's location and the providers available at the time. Providers decide independently whether to accept a payment and whether to ask a buyer for identification. Railbed does not guarantee that any payment will be accepted, that any provider will be available, or that a buyer will not be asked for identification.

## Your wallet and keys

You must provide a Polygon wallet address that you control, meaning you hold its private keys or seed phrase. That address is where every live payment is delivered.

- **Use a self-custody wallet.** Deposit addresses at exchanges and other custodial services may not credit USDC sent on the Polygon network, or may credit it to someone else, and funds sent to them can be lost with no way to recover them.
- **Check the address.** Blockchain transactions cannot be reversed. If the address on your account is wrong, or belongs to someone else, payments will go there and neither Railbed nor anyone else can retrieve them.
- **Protect your keys.** Anyone with your private keys or seed phrase controls your funds. Railbed never asks for them and cannot recover them if they are lost.

You are solely responsible for your wallet, its keys, the accuracy of the address on your account, and anything you do with USDC once you receive it, including converting it to other currencies, tax reporting and compliance with the laws that apply to you.

## Fees

Three amounts are deducted from each live payment before the USDC reaches your wallet:

1. **The provider's fee and exchange spread.** Set by the on-ramp provider the buyer uses, and varying by provider, amount and country. The provider shows the buyer its own fee before the buyer pays.
2. **A network fee of 1%.** Charged by our payment infrastructure partner for creating the forwarding address and delivering the funds.
3. **The Railbed fee.** A percentage of the payment, shown in your dashboard, which may differ from the standard rate by written agreement with us.

The fees for a payment are fixed at the moment the buyer starts paying, so a later change to our rates does not affect payments already in progress. We will tell you before changing the standard Railbed fee. There is no monthly fee, no setup fee and no reserve. Because fees are deducted before delivery, the amount that arrives in your wallet is the net amount.

Your account may also incur costs that are not ours, such as blockchain transaction fees when you move USDC out of your wallet, and whatever an exchange or off-ramp charges you.

## Test mode

Test mode simulates payments inside Railbed. No card is charged, no provider is contacted, no USDC moves and nothing is delivered to your wallet. Test payments are kept separate from live payments. Do not fulfil orders based on test payments.

## Refunds, disputes and chargebacks

Railbed cannot refund, reverse, cancel or claw back a payment. It never holds the funds, so there is nothing for it to return.

- **Refunds** are between you and your buyer. You are responsible for setting a refund policy that complies with the laws where you sell, telling buyers about it, and honouring it, for example by sending USDC back to the buyer or by another arrangement you agree with them.
- **Card disputes and chargebacks** are raised with, and handled by, the on-ramp provider that charged the buyer's card, under that provider's rules and the rules of the card networks. Railbed is not a party to those disputes. A provider may contact you, decline future payments from a buyer or region, or take other action under its own terms.
- **Blockchain transactions are final.** Once USDC has been delivered to a wallet, no one, including Railbed, our payment infrastructure partner or the provider, can recall it.

## Identity checks

On-ramp providers are licensed businesses and decide for themselves whether to verify a buyer's identity for a given payment. Smart Routing prefers providers that are less likely to ask at a given amount and location, but Railbed does not control those decisions and does not promise that a buyer will not be asked. You must not help buyers avoid a provider's checks, and you must not split payments to stay under a provider's limits. See the [acceptable use policy](https://railbed.io/acceptable-use/).

## Acceptable use

Your use of the service must comply with the [acceptable use policy](https://railbed.io/acceptable-use/), which is part of these terms. In summary, you may only sell goods and services that are legal both where you operate and where you sell them, you must follow the rules of the providers and card networks that handle your payments, and you must not use Railbed to move money that is not payment for your own goods or services. We may ask you for information about your business at any time, and you agree to provide it promptly and truthfully.

## API, webhooks and integrations

- **API keys** identify your account and can create payments on it. Keep them secret, store them only on servers you control, and revoke a key immediately if it may have been exposed. You are responsible for everything done with your keys.
- **Webhooks** are signed so that your systems can verify them. You are responsible for verifying the signature and timestamp before acting on a webhook, and for handling duplicate deliveries, which can occur.
- **Fulfilment** should be triggered by verified webhooks or by checking payment status through the API, never by a buyer arriving at a success page or by anything else the buyer's browser reports.
- **Your integration** is yours. You are responsible for the code you write against the API, the sites and stores you connect, and the way you present the checkout to buyers.
- **Fair use.** Do not exceed published rate limits, scrape the service, probe it for weaknesses except as described on the [security page](https://railbed.io/security/), or interfere with other merchants' use of it.

We may change the API and webhook formats. We will try to keep changes backwards compatible and to give reasonable notice of changes that are not.

## Buyers

If you pay a merchant through a Railbed checkout:

- Your purchase contract is with the merchant. The merchant is responsible for the goods or services, delivery and refunds.
- Your card or wallet is charged by the on-ramp provider you are sent to, under that provider's terms and privacy policy. The provider handles receipts, card-statement descriptors, identity checks and card disputes.
- Railbed provides the checkout page and payment records. It does not charge your card, does not hold your money and does not sell you anything.
- Railbed processes the email address you enter and the details of your payment as described in the [privacy policy](https://railbed.io/privacy/).

## Suspension and termination

You may close your account at any time by writing to [support@railbed.io](mailto:support@railbed.io) from your account email address.

We may suspend or close your account, or stop new payments on it, with or without notice, if we reasonably believe that you have broken these terms or the acceptable use policy, that your use of the service is unlawful or exposes Railbed, its providers or its partners to legal, regulatory or reputational risk, if a provider or partner requires it, or if we are required to by law. We will tell you the reason where the law allows and where doing so would not compromise an investigation.

Suspension or closure stops new payments. It does not and cannot affect USDC already delivered to your wallet, which remains yours. Payments in progress at the time may still complete and be delivered. Sections of these terms that by their nature should survive, including those on fees owed, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnity and disputes, continue to apply after the account is closed.

Providers and our payment infrastructure partner may decline or stop payments independently of us, under their own terms.

## Third-party services

The service depends on on-ramp providers, our payment infrastructure partner, the Polygon network and hosting providers, none of which we control. Their terms govern their part of each payment. Provider lists, minimum and maximum amounts, supported countries, fees and identity requirements change without notice, and a provider may withdraw at any time. Links from the service to third-party sites are provided for convenience and do not mean we endorse them.

## Intellectual property

Railbed, its software, design, documentation, name and logos belong to DeepWork and its licensors. We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the service for your business while your account is open and in accordance with these terms. You may not copy, modify, reverse engineer, resell or create derivative works from the service except as the law allows.

You keep the rights to the content you add to the service, such as product names, descriptions, logos and brand colours. You grant us a licence to use that content as needed to provide the service, for example to display it on your checkout pages. You confirm that you have the right to use it.

## Feedback

If you send us suggestions or feedback, we may use them without restriction or payment. We will not identify you as the source without your permission.

## Changes to the service

We may add, change or remove features at any time. We may also change providers, the routing between them, and the countries and currencies we support. Where a change would materially reduce what you can do with the service, we will try to give reasonable notice.

## Disclaimers

The service is provided "as is" and "as available". To the fullest extent the law allows, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. In particular, we do not warrant that:

- the service will be uninterrupted, error-free or secure, or that any level of uptime will be met
- any provider will accept a payment, be available in a given country, or refrain from asking a buyer for identification
- the Polygon network or USDC will operate as expected, or that USDC will keep its value
- the service will meet the legal or regulatory requirements of your industry or location

Nothing on the service is legal, tax, financial or investment advice. You are responsible for deciding whether the service is suitable for your business and for complying with the laws that apply to you, including licensing, consumer protection, tax and anti-money-laundering rules.

## Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows:

- DeepWork, its officers, staff, contractors and licensors are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, business, goodwill or data, arising from or related to the service or these terms, however caused, even if advised of the possibility.
- We are not liable for funds sent to a wrong or custodial wallet address, for loss of private keys, for actions or omissions of providers, partners or blockchain networks, for chargebacks or provider decisions, or for changes in the value of USDC.
- Our total liability for all claims arising from or related to the service or these terms in any twelve-month period is limited to the Railbed fees you paid to us during that period.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so some of the above may not apply to you. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law, including for fraud or for death or personal injury caused by negligence.

## Indemnity

You will defend, indemnify and hold harmless DeepWork and its officers, staff, contractors and licensors from any claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs and expenses, including reasonable legal fees, arising from your use of the service, the goods or services you sell, your breach of these terms or the acceptable use policy, your violation of any law or of any third party's rights, or any dispute between you and a buyer.

## Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. The date at the top shows when they last changed. For material changes we will give notice in the dashboard or by email to your account address before they take effect. Continuing to use the service after the effective date means you accept the updated terms. If you do not accept them, close your account before that date.

## Governing law and disputes

These terms and any dispute arising from them or from the service are governed by the law of the jurisdiction in which DeepWork is established, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. If a dispute arises, contact [legal@railbed.io](mailto:legal@railbed.io) first; most issues can be resolved informally. Any dispute that cannot be resolved that way will be brought in the courts of the jurisdiction in which DeepWork is established, and you consent to their jurisdiction, unless the law where you live gives you the right to bring a claim elsewhere and that right cannot be waived. Nothing in this section prevents either party from seeking urgent injunctive relief in any competent court.

## General

- These terms, together with the acceptable use policy and privacy policy, are the entire agreement between you and us about the service, and replace any earlier agreement.
- If any part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest continues in effect.
- Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it.
- You may not assign this agreement without our written consent. We may assign it to a successor or affiliate of DeepWork.
- Neither party is liable for delay or failure caused by events beyond its reasonable control, including outages of providers, partners or blockchain networks.
- Notices to you may be sent to your account email address. Notices to us go to [legal@railbed.io](mailto:legal@railbed.io).

## Contact

Questions about these terms: [legal@railbed.io](mailto:legal@railbed.io). Account and payment questions: [support@railbed.io](mailto:support@railbed.io).