Crown & Bidding Rules

What a Crown Is

A Crown is a paid sponsored placement on HugeTen. It is an advertising position, not an objective ranking, an award, or an endorsement by HugeTen. Crowns are displayed prominently within their market to give a business, creator, or sports club visibility.

Crown Positions

Each market has exactly 10 Crown positions, numbered 1 through 10. Position 1 is the most visible position in the market.

12-Month Placement Cycle

Each Crown placement lasts for a 12-month placement cycle. A fresh 12-month cycle starts when:

• A participant successfully purchases or claims an available Crown.
• A challenger wins a competitive auction, successfully pays, and the new ownership or placement activates according to the applicable takeover rules.
• The current Crown owner faces a real competitor, wins the competitive auction, successfully pays, and keeps the Crown. In this case, the existing owner receives a fresh full 12-month placement cycle because they made a new successful competitive-auction payment.

The end of a monthly auction period by itself does not restart the 12-month placement. If there is no competitor, the owner is not charged merely because the monthly auction period ends, the owner keeps the Crown, and the existing 12-month placement expiration remains unchanged.

Buying an Available Crown

When a Crown position is AVAILABLE, it can be purchased directly for a 12-month term. The price shown on the Crown is the purchase price for the full 12-month placement cycle.

Challenging an Owned Crown

When a Crown position is OWNED, it can be challenged by placing a Bid. Bidding lets you compete for the position against the current holder and any other challengers.

Bid Amounts and Increments

• The minimum bid increment is €5.
• The first bid in a Crown may start at the starting price shown for that position.
• Once a bid has been placed, the minimum next bid is the current highest bid plus €5.

Bids Are Binding

A bid is a binding commitment to pay up to your bid amount if you win. Bids cannot be cancelled or reduced after they are placed. You may increase your own bid at any time while bidding is open.

Anti-Sniping Extension

If a valid bid is placed during the final 5 minutes of an auction, the auction closing time is automatically extended by 5 minutes from the time that bid is received. This extension may occur repeatedly if further valid bids are placed during each extended period. This prevents last-second bidding and gives all participants a fair opportunity to respond.

Losing Bidders

If you do not win the Crown, you are not charged. Only the winning bidder pays.

Auction Settlement and Winner Payment

Placing a bid does not charge you immediately. When you place a bid, you authorize HugeTen and its payment provider to save your payment method for auction settlement. If you become the winning eligible bidder, the winning amount may be charged automatically using the saved payment method without requiring you to manually return and initiate the payment.

Failed Winner Fallback

If the highest eligible bidder cannot be successfully charged, is disqualified, or otherwise cannot complete settlement, HugeTen may proceed to the next highest eligible bidder according to the auction ordering. The next eligible bidder may therefore become the winner and become liable for their own winning bid amount. The auction does not automatically restart in this situation.

Increasing Your Own Bid

Increasing your own bid does not increase the bid count for the Crown. The bid count reflects the number of distinct bidders who have placed a bid, not the number of bid changes you make.

Competitive Auction Win and Fresh 12-Month Cycle

When a challenger wins a competitive auction and successfully pays, the Crown ownership transfers to the challenger and a new 12-month placement cycle begins according to the applicable activation or takeover timing.

When the current owner wins a competitive auction and successfully pays, the owner keeps the Crown and a fresh full 12-month placement cycle begins immediately from the successful settlement moment.

Manual Renewal

There is no automatic renewal. HugeTen does not automatically charge the owner at the end of the 12-month placement term. There is no auto-renew toggle.

Manual renewal becomes available during the final 7 days before the current Crown expiration. The owner must manually initiate and successfully complete a new payment to renew. The renewal price is the applicable Crown base starting price for that position. Applicable VAT, sales tax, GST, or similar transaction taxes may be added. Tax is determined at payment time based on relevant customer information, location, applicable law, and HugeTen's tax registrations.

A successful manual renewal extends the Crown by another full 12 months from the current (old) expiration date. The owner does not lose the remaining days by renewing early during the 7-day renewal window.

Manual renewal is not available after the Crown expires. A failed manual renewal payment does not extend the Crown. The owner may retry while the Crown is still within the valid pre-expiration renewal window.

HugeTen may send service notifications or reminders relating to Crown expiration and renewal. Failure to receive a reminder does not extend the Crown term or the renewal window.

Expiry and Release

If the owner does not successfully complete a manual renewal before the 12-month placement expires, the Crown becomes Available at expiration. There is no post-expiration renewal grace period.

Taxes on Crown Purchases and Bids

Crown prices and bid amounts shown on HugeTen are base advertising prices unless explicitly stated otherwise. Applicable VAT, sales tax, GST, or similar transaction taxes may be added to the amount charged.

For auction bids, the applicable tax is determined when payment is collected from the winning bidder, not when the bid is placed. Therefore the final amount charged to the winner may be higher than the winning bid amount.

Tax treatment depends on the buyer's information and location, applicable law, and HugeTen's relevant tax registrations. HugeTen does not estimate or display the tax percentage at the time a bid is placed.

Applicability

These rules apply to businesses, content creators, and sports clubs, subject to any category-specific rules. Sports Crowns are also subject to the Sports Crown Rules, which supplement these rules.

Contact

Questions about these rules can be sent to hello@hugeten.com.