Migration Slot - rules
Each active shutdown page carries exactly one labeled "Sponsored migration partner" slot. It is the only paid surface on this site. The factual data - deadlines, export steps, migration options, datasets - is never for sale and never affected by sponsorship. Sponsorship ≠ endorsement.
Pricing (outbid-style)
- Floor price: $5. Every subsequent claim costs the current price + $1.
- A claim holds the slot until someone outbids you or until the event's shutdown date, whichever comes first. The slot dies with the event.
- Payments are non-refundable placement fees (the single exception: moderation rejection, refunded manually). There is no hold guarantee - being outbid does not refund you; it emails you a one-click reclaim link.
- The current price is public. The floor price is the only synthetic number on the slot; every other price shown reflects a verified transaction.
Pre-purchase screening (automatic)
- Before you can pay, your domain is screened automatically: category blocklist (crypto, adult, malware/phishing), a cross-check against the fleet's scam registry, and a DNS/liveness check. Fail ⇒ the pay link is never shown - so there is no refund to chase.
- Post-live, any later flag or inbound complaint auto-suspends the slot pending a re-screen. Sponsorship is never an endorsement.
Activation
- After a verified claim you submit your link + one-line pitch at
/shutdowns/sponsor/activate. - New sponsor domains are human-reviewed before going live; until then the slot shows "sponsor pending review". Previously-approved domains go live instantly.
- Rejected categories: crypto, adult content, malware/phishing, impersonation (including anything flagged by our own scam data), illegal goods, misleading financial schemes. Rejection ⇒ manual refund and the slot reverts.
Integrity
- We never bid on, seed, or shill a slot.
- Slot content never appears in data.json, data.csv, changes.xml, structured data, or llms.txt.
- Sponsor emails are transactional (slot status only), capped, with List-Unsubscribe.
Shutdown Watch tracks vendor announcements and public deadlines; it is monitoring assistance, not legal or migration advice.