Refund & Cancellation Policy

Last updated: 10 March 2026  ·  Applies to all purchases on Directory of AI  ·  Payments via Polar.sh

1. Why we operate a no-refund policy

Directory of AI provides digital advertising services that are configured and delivered immediately upon payment confirmation. Unlike physical goods, digital placements cannot be "returned" once they are live. For this reason, and in accordance with the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 of India applicable to digital services with immediate delivery, we maintain a strict no-refund policy.

Specifically: once your sponsored ad placement goes live on our platform, or once Gold Approval processing has begun, the service has been consumed and no refund can be issued.

2. Summary: what is and is not refundable

3. Eligible refund conditions — detail

3.1 Technical failure

If your paid placement fails to display due to a confirmed bug or server-side failure on our platform for more than 24 consecutive hours of your paid period, you are entitled to remedy. Our first response will be to offer a free extension of your placement equal to the downtime. Only if an extension is not technically or operationally possible will we issue a pro-rata refund for the affected period. You must report the issue to us within the same paid period for it to be eligible.

3.2 Duplicate charge

If our payment processor (Polar.sh) charges you twice for the same order due to a technical error, we will refund the duplicate charge in full within 7 business days of verification. Please email info@directoryofai.com with your order details and we will investigate.

3.3 Pre-activation cancellation

If you contact us within 1 hour of payment and the placement has not yet gone live on the platform, we may — at our sole and absolute discretion — issue a refund. This is not a right; it is a goodwill consideration. To request this, email info@directoryofai.com immediately with your order ID in the subject line.

4. How to request a refund

If you believe you are eligible for a refund under Section 3, follow this process:

1. Email info@directoryofai.com with subject line: "Refund Request — [Your Order ID]"
2. Include: your order ID (from your confirmation email), the email address used at checkout, the reason for your request, and any relevant evidence (e.g. screenshots showing your ad was not displaying)
3. We will acknowledge within 2 business days and respond with a decision within 5 business days
4. If approved, the refund is processed through Polar.sh back to your original payment method
5. Polar.sh refunds typically appear on your statement within 5–10 business days depending on your bank

We do not issue refunds by cash, bank transfer, cryptocurrency, or any method other than through Polar.sh to your original payment method.

5. Chargebacks & payment disputes

We maintain comprehensive records for every order including:

• Payment confirmation records from Polar.sh (order ID, timestamp, amount)
• Ad activation logs with timestamps
• Email confirmation sent to you
• Screenshots of your live ad
• Impression and delivery data
• IP address and browser metadata at time of purchase

All of this evidence is submitted to Polar.sh and your card issuer in the event of a chargeback. Customers who file unwarranted chargebacks will have their accounts permanently banned, all listings removed, and — if the disputed amount is recovered — may be pursued for chargeback fees and associated costs.

6. Ad performance — not grounds for refund

We want to be completely transparent: we cannot guarantee traffic, clicks, impressions, leads, conversions, or any specific business outcome from advertising with us. Ad performance depends on many variables including your creative, your product's relevance to our audience, market timing, and competition. Poor ad performance is not grounds for a refund. Before purchasing, please review our advertising page for realistic expectations.

7. Gold Approval — specific terms

The $99 Gold Approval is a one-time fee for a service package that includes: manual review (completed within 1 business day), Gold Verified badge (applied to your listing permanently), dofollow backlink (applied permanently), and 1 month homepage grid placement. Because review processing begins immediately upon payment, this fee is non-refundable once processing has started. If we are unable to locate your tool listing for any reason, we will contact you within 1 business day to resolve the match — this does not affect the non-refundable nature of the payment.

8. Reservations (48-hour slot holds)

Reserving a future placement slot (our 48-hour hold system) is free of charge and requires no payment. There is nothing to refund. Payment is only taken when you proceed to complete the booking.

9. Consumer protection compliance

This refund policy is designed to comply with applicable Indian consumer protection law, including the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020. For digital services with immediate delivery, these rules permit non-refundable policies when clearly disclosed before purchase, which we do on every payment page.

If you are a consumer in a jurisdiction with stronger statutory refund rights (e.g. the EU 14-day cooling-off period under the Consumer Rights Directive), please note that for digital content that has begun delivery with your prior express consent and acknowledgement that you thereby lose your right of withdrawal, your statutory cooling-off right does not apply. We obtain this consent at the point of payment.

10. Contact

For all refund enquiries: info@directoryofai.com or our contact page. Please include your order ID in all correspondence. We aim to respond to refund requests within 2 business days.