Questions & answers
What am I actually buying?
Because a stake is always public and the top amount always beatable, an element that is held today can be taken tomorrow: nothing here is a permanent claim to a tile.
Holding an element is the top advertisement on that element and nothing else: not equity or ownership in this site, not a security or an investment, not a claim on revenue, not a patent, trademark or domain right, not a licence, and not a transferable asset. It is a rank that lasts until someone stakes more, and it can be taken at any moment for a dollar over whatever the holder has staked there.
The practical version: a square on the table carries your domain, a title and a one-line pitch, and a link to the page you name. You are buying that slot, ranked against everyone else on the same element — nothing about the element itself, and nothing about the site.
What does a claim cost?
The smallest first claim on an element is $5. After that the price is set by whoever holds it: taking an element from its current holder means beating their total by at least $1 — in practice $1 more than they have on the element.
A tie is refused rather than silently merged, because two equal totals would be indistinguishable: if your amount matches one already on the board, the board asks you to add $1 to stand clear of the tie. If you were outbid and want the top of the element back, you pay the gap between you and the leader plus that same $1.
On a crowded element you can join at any free amount at or above the floor — the amount you choose is what ranks you.
How is rank decided?
Stakes are cumulative, not a single bid: your rank on an element is the total you have staked there over time, so topping up a claim you already own lifts it. Many small stakes can outrank one large one.
Element totals then feed the Table Order on the board, which ranks listings by the total staked across every element. A listing that an operator has hidden still counts toward its element's total — the money was really paid — but the row itself is not shown on the public surfaces.
What happens when someone outbids me?
Nothing you paid for is lost. Your stake stays on the element and keeps counting toward your total rank; the listing drops down the element's list. You can top up later, or take the lead back by covering the gap to the leader plus $1.
Why does an element look empty?
An element nobody has staked on has no list to show yet, and says so — "No stakes yet — the first claim lands here." is the honest empty state, not a broken page. The first claim on that element lands there, and costs $5 or more.
Some elements are held by launch inventory: seats the operator opened before launch, naming real companies and linking to their sites, so a stranger does not meet an empty table. Nothing on those seats was submitted, paid for or approved by the company named on them, and the company may not know the seat exists — a seat is a place on a leaderboard, not ownership, endorsement or sponsorship. Any of them is beatable for a dollar over whatever it holds, and the operator releases any seat nobody has paid for.
Can I get my money back?
No. Every stake is final, and the checkout asks you to acknowledge that before paying. The slot is delivered the moment the payment settles — your listing appears on the table and in the leaderboards immediately — and it is bought for one named element, so there are no refunds, cancellations, withdrawals, credits or transfers: not if you are outbid, not if you change your mind, and not for a listing removed for breaking the rules.
If something went wrong with a charge, write to info@periodictable.lol before disputing it — the receipt carries the reference needed to identify it, and almost every dispute starts as a charge nobody recognised. A dispute opened without writing first is a breach of the rules: the listings can be removed and further stakes refused. Nothing in the rules removes a refund right the law gives you and that cannot be waived.
What is shown about me, and who can see it?
The public face of a listing is the domain you named, its title, its pitch, and the rank numbers on its element and on the board. Nothing from your payment details is published, and card details never reach this site at all — they are entered on the payment provider's own page.
You can edit the title, the pitch and the link from your own listing at any time. An operator can hide a listing that breaks the rules; hiding takes the row off the public surfaces, and the stake stays on the element.
Do you track me?
Only if you say so. The visitor counter is a third-party script that is not loaded, and no pageview is recorded, until you press Allow on the banner; if you decline or have not answered, nothing is sent. What is measured, and what is stored for how long, is itemised in Privacy & data.
Something is wrong with a listing — who do I write to?
Report it from the listing's own row on the board, or write to info@periodictable.lol. Reports are acted on; a listing that breaks the rules is removed.
That one mailbox is the only way to reach the site — there is no telephone number, postal address or ticket system. Replying to any mail this site sent you — a receipt, an outbid notice, a confirmation link — arrives in the same inbox.
What happens to my stake if the site stops?
A stake has no expiry date. You stay ahead of an element until someone outbids you, and being outbid burns nothing: what you already staked there stays as a discount on that element and it never expires. Nobody's stake is running down.
Stakes never expire, and the board is committed to run at least until 9 September 2027. That date is written in the rules, repeated here, and printed under the price on every element page; if it is ever extended, the new date is published in those same three places.
If the site ever does stop, the rules say how: notice on the rules page and by email to every current holder at least 30 days in advance, no further stakes taken from that day, and the stakes already taken are not refunded — the same all-stakes-final rule as the refund answer above, applied to the worst case. Nothing here promises the board runs forever: the site is provided "as is" and "as available", and a stake is advertising, not a share of anything.