Terms of Service

Use of Content

StainScout provides educational content about stain removal, fabric care, laundry symbols, and cleaning products. The content is for general informational purposes only.

You may use the content for personal, non-commercial reference. You may not republish, resell, or redistribute substantial portions of the Site without our written permission. Brief quotations with a link back to the source are permitted.

Accounts

You can browse most of StainScout without an account. Some features (the AI Symbol Identifier, Premium features) require you to create a free account using your email address or a Google sign-in. You are responsible for keeping your sign-in credentials secure and for all activity that happens under your account. You must be at least 13 years old to create an account.

You can delete your account at any time from your Account page. Deletion is immediate and irreversible.

Premium Subscriptions

StainScout offers a Premium subscription with additional features (unlimited AI scans, AI Laundry Chat, ad-free browsing, saved history, and favorites). Premium is available on a monthly or yearly billing cycle at the prices listed on our Pricing page. Prices may change with reasonable notice.

Billing: Subscriptions are billed in advance through Stripe. By subscribing, you authorise recurring charges to your chosen payment method until you cancel. Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each billing period.

Cancellation:You can cancel your subscription at any time from your account through Stripe's billing portal. After cancellation, you keep Premium access until the end of the current billing period. We do not provide refunds for partial periods, except where required by law.

Failed payments: If a renewal payment fails, we may suspend Premium access until payment is successful or the subscription is cancelled.

AI Features

The Site uses third-party artificial intelligence to power the AI Symbol Identifier and the Premium AI Laundry Chat. These features produce results generated by a machine learning model and:

• infoMay be inaccurate, incomplete, or out of date
• infoShould not be relied on as professional or expert advice
• infoShould be cross-checked against your garment's actual care label before treating any item
• infoAre subject to usage limits to prevent abuse (5 scans per month on free accounts; daily message limits on chat)

When you submit a photo or chat message, the content is sent to our AI provider (currently Anthropic) for processing. Do not submit photos or messages containing personal information, sensitive data, or content you do not have the right to share.

Disclaimer of Warranties

All advice on StainScout is provided "as is"without warranties of any kind. Stain removal results depend on many factors including the fabric, the stain's age, the products used, and the method followed. We cannot guarantee any specific outcome.

Always:

• check_circleRead the care label on your garment before treating any stain
• check_circleTest cleaning methods on a hidden area first
• check_circleFollow product manufacturer instructions exactly
• check_circleUse protective gloves and ventilation where appropriate
• check_circleConsult a professional cleaner for valuable, antique, or sentimental items

Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, StainScout and its operators are not liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages — including damage to fabrics, surfaces, or property — arising from your use of the Site or any information found on it. You use the advice provided here at your own risk.

Affiliate Links and Product Recommendations

Some pages contain affiliate links, primarily to Amazon. We may earn a small commission on qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Our recommendations are based on relevance to the cleaning task being discussed and are not influenced by commission amounts. We do not guarantee that linked products will achieve any specific result for your situation.

Intellectual Property

All original content on StainScout — including text, layout, illustrations (other than where credited to third parties), and the StainScout name — is owned by us or our licensors and is protected by copyright. Brand names, product names, and trademarks belong to their respective owners and are used for identification only.

The laundry symbol icons used on this Site are sourced from the open-source tvler/laundry-symbols project (MIT-licensed).

Third-Party Sites

Our Site links to third-party websites (such as Amazon product pages and manufacturer information). We are not responsible for the content, practices, or privacy policies of those sites. Visiting them is at your own discretion.

Acceptable Use

When using StainScout you agree not to:

• blockUse automated scrapers, bots, or scripts to copy site content in bulk
• blockInterfere with the Site's normal operation or security
• blockSubmit malicious, abusive, or unlawful content via the contact form
• blockAttempt to access non-public areas of the Site or its underlying systems

Account Suspension and Termination

We may suspend or terminate your account if you violate these Terms, use the Site in a way that harms other users or our systems, or use AI features in ways that violate our AI provider's policies. We will give reasonable notice where practical. If we terminate your account, you may lose access to any data stored against it; please use the export options (where available) before that happens.

Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the jurisdiction where StainScout's operator is established, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Nothing in these Terms removes any mandatory consumer protection rights you may have under the law of your country of residence.

Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Updates will be posted on this page with a new "Last updated" date. Continued use of the Site after changes constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

Contact

Questions about these Terms? Reach us via our Contact page. See also our Privacy Policy for how we handle your information.