Policies & help
Sparks & Refunds
How Sparks work, what they cost, when they're refunded automatically, and how to request a refund for a purchase.
On this page
These terms cover Sparks, Hinvel's virtual credits, and purchases of Sparks packs. They are part of our Terms of Service.
Payments are currently in preview. You can walk through checkout, but no payment is taken and no Sparks are added. These terms apply once paid purchases go live.
1. What Sparks are
- Sparks are a limited, non-exclusive, revocable licence to use certain Hinvel features. They are not money, e-money, a deposit or property.
- Sparks have no cash value and can't be exchanged for cash, sold, gifted or transferred to another account, except where the law requires otherwise.
- Sparks can only be used on Hinvel.
2. What's free and what uses Sparks
- Free: reading, picking author-written choices, browsing, and a daily allowance of free Talk turns for signed-in adults.
- Uses Sparks: Talk turns beyond the free allowance; generating stories and their assets (story bible, sprites, backgrounds, CGs, cover, chapters); regenerating steps in the Studio. Higher quality tiers cost more.
- Before anything that uses Sparks starts, we show an estimate. Sparks are held when a step starts and settled when it completes; the final amount may differ slightly from the estimate.
3. Automatic refunds for failed generations
If a generation or Talk reply fails — including when it is blocked by a safety filter or interrupted by an error on our side — the Sparks held for that step are returned automatically to your balance. You don't need to ask. If you think a refund was missed, contact us with the time and the story or character involved.
4. Buying Sparks
- Sparks are sold in one-time packs on the Sparks page. There are no subscriptions and no automatic renewals.
- Prices are shown in US dollars before you pay, including any applicable taxes shown at checkout. Your bank may charge currency-conversion fees.
- Payments are processed by our payment provider (Stripe). We never see your full card details.
- Sparks are added to your balance once the payment provider confirms the payment.
- Promotional or bonus Sparks (for example welcome or daily gifts) are free, may have conditions shown when they're offered, and are not refundable.
5. Expiry
Purchased Sparks do not expire while your account is open. If we ever introduce expiry for promotional Sparks, we'll say so clearly when they're granted.
6. Refunds for purchases
- Unused packs: you can request a full refund of a pack within 14 days of purchase if none of the Sparks from that pack have been used. Email hello@hinvel.com from your account email with the purchase date.
- Partly used packs are not refundable, except where the law requires it or the Service did not work as described.
- Billing errors (for example being charged twice) are always refunded.
- Refunds go back to the original payment method. Refunded Sparks are removed from your balance.
7. Your statutory rights (EU, UK and similar)
If you're a consumer in the EU, UK or another country with a similar law, you normally have a 14-day right to withdraw from online purchases. Sparks are digital content supplied immediately: at checkout we ask you to agree to immediate supply and acknowledge that you lose the right of withdrawal once the Sparks are delivered to your account. Our unused-pack refund in section 6 still applies, and nothing here limits your rights if the Sparks or the Service are faulty or not as described.
8. Chargebacks
If you think a charge is wrong, please contact us first — we can usually fix it faster than a bank dispute. If a chargeback is filed, we may suspend the related Sparks or the account while it's resolved. Abusive or fraudulent chargebacks may lead to account termination.
9. Account closure
- If you delete your account, unused Sparks are forfeited and can't be restored after deletion is final. Ask for any refund you're entitled to before deleting.
- If we terminate an account for a serious breach of our Terms or Content Policy, Sparks are forfeited to the extent the law allows.
- If we discontinue Hinvel, we'll give reasonable notice and refund unused purchased Sparks as required by law.
10. Price changes
We may change pack prices or how many Sparks a feature costs. Changes don't affect Sparks already in your balance, and we always show the cost before you spend.
11. App stores
If Hinvel is offered through an app store in the future, purchases made there are processed and refunded under that store's rules.
12. Contact
Purchase questions and refund requests: hello@hinvel.com.