Terms of Service — The Shoe Nerds

Last updated: July 24, 2026

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of theshoenerds.com (the "Site") and any community features, accounts, or services offered by The Shoe Nerds ("we," "us," or "our"). By creating an account or using the Site, you agree to these Terms.

1. Age Requirements

You must be at least 13 years old to use the Site. If you are located in the European Union or European Economic Area, you must be at least 16 years old. By creating an account, you confirm that you meet the applicable minimum age requirement for your location.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under these age thresholds. If you believe a minor has created an account, please contact us at theshoenerds@gmail.com and we will delete the account and associated data.

2. Accounts

To participate in community features (posts, reviews, rotations), you must create an account with a valid email address. You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account and password. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized access to your account.

You may not use another person's account, share your account credentials, or create accounts for purposes of abuse or spam.

3. User Content

You retain ownership of content you post— posts, comments, shoe reviews, rotations, and any other material you submit ("User Content").

By posting User Content, you grant The Shoe Nerds a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to display, distribute, reproduce, and promote your User Content in connection with operating and marketing the Site and community. This license ends when you delete your content or account, except where your content has been shared or aggregated in ways that make individual removal impractical.

You agree not to post content that:

Is false, misleading, or fraudulent
Violates the rights of others (copyright, privacy, defamation)
Is hateful, threatening, harassing, or abusive
Contains spam, unsolicited advertising, or malicious code
Violates any applicable law or regulation

We reserve the right to remove content or suspend accounts that violate these Terms, at our sole discretion.

4. Community Features

Reviews and Ratings

Community shoe reviews are the opinions of individual members and do not represent the views of The Shoe Nerds. All reviews must be honest and based on genuine personal experience with the product. Paid, incentivized, or brand-sponsored reviews are not permitted.

Our aggregated site ratings are editorially independent and are not influenced by commercial relationships. Community reviews feed into a separate "What the Nerds are Saying" section and do not affect aggregated scores.

Points and Status Tiers

We operate a points and status tier system to recognize community contributions. Points and status tiers have no monetary value, are not transferable, and may be adjusted or discontinued at any time.

Strava Integration

If you connect your Strava account, we will import your activity and gear data to power the shoe rotation tracker. Your Strava data is only displayed to you — we do not share individual Strava activity data with other users without your explicit consent. We may display anonymized or aggregated community statistics publicly. You can disconnect Strava at any time from your profile settings, which will stop future syncing.

5. Email & Push Communications

By creating an account, you will receive transactional emails (account confirmation, password resets, notifications about your account activity). These cannot be unsubscribed from while your account is active.

Marketing emails (new reviews, price drops, release alerts, community digest) are optional. You can update your email preferences at any time from your account settings or by clicking the unsubscribe link in any marketing email.

Push notificationsare entirely optional and off until you enable them on a device. When enabled, we may send notifications such as replies, mentions, and shoe alerts. You can turn them off at any time from Settings → Notifications or in your browser or device settings. Push delivery depends on your browser and operating system vendor's push service and is provided on a best-effort basis — we cannot guarantee that every notification will be delivered.

6. Affiliate Disclosure

The Shoe Nerds participates in affiliate programs including the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission when you click a link to a retailer and make a purchase, at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Affiliate relationships do not influence our editorial content, reviews, ratings, or recommendations. We never accept payment for positive reviews.

7. Marketplace (Future)

We plan to introduce a peer-to-peer marketplace for buying and selling running gear. When launched, additional terms will apply to marketplace transactions. Payments will be processed through Stripe. We will take a commission on sales. Specific rates and policies will be published before the marketplace launches.

8. Intellectual Property

All content on the Site that is not User Content — including our aggregated reviews, shoe data, guides, software, and design — is owned by or licensed to The Shoe Nerds and is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. You may not reproduce, redistribute, or create derivative works without our written permission.

9. Data and Privacy

Our collection and use of personal information is described in our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference. Your account data (posts, reviews, rotations) can be exported on request. You can delete your account and all associated data at any time by contacting us.

10. Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability

The Site and its content are provided "as is" without warranties of any kind. Shoe reviews and recommendations are informational only — we are not responsible for any purchase decisions made based on content on the Site.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, The Shoe Nerds will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages arising from your use of the Site.

11. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be communicated by email or by a notice on the Site. Continued use of the Site after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

12. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the United States. Any disputes will be resolved in the appropriate courts of the United States.

13. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Contact us at:
The Shoe Nerds
Email: theshoenerds@gmail.com
Website: theshoenerds.com