Rules
What a drop must include, and what happens to your money
Last updated September 17, 2026.
What a drop must include
A real discount, as two codes or two discount links, one VIP and one standard: the VIP one runs during your hour and takes at least 20% off, the standard one takes over after your hour, takes at least 10% off, and has to work for 24 hours from the start of your hour. The VIP discount has to beat the standard one. Discount links go on the product or service’s own site, or on a checkout or membership platform, never on a social or link-in-bio page. No link may be shortened or redirected. One wide image, which we cut the email’s square from. A working link to the product or service.
What’s excluded
Adult content. Anything illegal. Ads with no perk behind them. A link that phishes, deceives or breaks the law: whoever booked the drop is banned for good and reported to the authorities.
How the hour works
Up to an hour. A drop booked more than 24 hours ahead goes up only once we approve it, from the moment we do if that is during its hour; if we have not approved it by the end of its hour it does not go up, and you are refunded in full. If we reject a drop, we tell you why, and you can fix it once: you have 6 hours, or until its hour ends if that is sooner, even inside the last day. A fixed drop goes up only once we approve it, even one booked inside the last day. If we reject the fix too, it is not made in time, or it is not approved before its hour ends, you are refunded in full. After your hour, your drop stays on the screen until the next drop airs, however long that is. The VIP code or link is shown during your hour. The standard code or link takes over after it and works for 24 hours from the start of your hour; if your drop is still up after that, the screen says it has expired.
How buying works
The calendar is open 7 days ahead and a new day opens every midnight Eastern, so there is always a full week of hours to choose from. A bid starts at $10, the launch floor, and a lock is $100. Both are launch prices, and both change when the launch period ends; any change is dated here. Each new bid has to beat the top bid by at least $5, and a bid always stays below the lock price: once the top bid is $95, the only way to take the hour is to lock it. Bidding closes 24 hours before the hour begins, and so do changes: until then, and until we approve it, you can edit your drop or call the hour off and be refunded, even while it is waiting for a fix. After that the schedule is fixed. The one exception is a fix you send back inside the last day, which you can still change until its fix window closes, or until we approve it if that comes first. If you call off a drop that was waiting for a fix and book that hour again, its one fix counts as used. Once we approve a drop, or once it has aired, nothing about it can change, codes and links included. When bidding closes, the top bid takes the hour and its name is shown on the calendar. A bid that loses keeps its money and its meaning: it can move to an hour that amount leads, go towards a lock on any hour still open to bidding on the calendar, with the bid counted towards the price, or be refunded. A losing bid left alone is refunded in full 10 days after its hour ends. A bid is never dropped without an offer. If the drop holding an hour cannot go up before bidding closes, bidding carries on. After bidding has closed, the other bids are offered the hour one at a time, highest first, for 2 hours each, until 12 hours before it begins. If you pass on an hour offered to you, or let the offer run out, your bid cannot take that hour at the $10 floor later; to buy it then, take your bid back first. An hour still empty inside the last day goes at the $10 floor to whoever asks first, and it is theirs the moment they pay. That window shuts 3 hours before the hour begins: inside those 3 hours nothing is for sale, because it is not long enough to buy an hour, build the drop and have anyone look at it. An hour taken inside the last day may go up before we can check it, so you confirm when you book it that it follows the rules and the law. We can still reject it before it goes up, which works as it does for any drop we reject, or take it down while it is on the screen, which is not refunded. If we reject a drop for good on an hour, whoever booked it cannot book that hour again.
Booking before your drop is ready
You do not need your drop finished to book an hour. Your brand, business or creator name is all the booking itself needs, because the calendar shows it the moment the hour is claimed. The title, the line, the image, the link, the two rates and your two codes or two discount links can all follow: fill in what you have, tick the box that says you will finish it later, and pay. Two things always travel together, so you cannot leave half of either: both discount rates or neither, and both codes or both links or neither. We review the drop once it is finished.
Finishing your drop
An hour booked more than 24 hours ahead has until that 24-hour line, the same one that closes bidding and changes. One booked inside the last day has until 6 hours before its hour, and because it starts too soon for us to check it, you confirm it follows the rules and the law at the moment you finish it rather than when you pay. You can keep changing your drop until your deadline. Nothing goes on the screen half written, so a drop still missing anything at its deadline does not go up: it is refunded in full, and its hour is offered to the other bids first, if there are any and there is still time, and otherwise goes back on sale. Losing an hour that way is not a rejection, so you can book it again if it comes back on sale. An hour bought inside its last 6 hours is bought with the whole drop filled in, because the deadline for finishing one has already passed.
Refunds
You are charged when you bid on an hour or buy one outright, not before, and raising a bid charges only the difference. A losing bid is different: nothing more is charged until you pick, and putting it towards a lock charges only the difference. You can call an hour off for a full refund until 24 hours before it begins, as long as we have not approved it. Once we have approved it, you can still ask support@heynews.co for a refund until that time. After it, if a code or link stops working, write to support@heynews.co before your hour starts. A drop we reject is refunded in full if it is not fixed in time or we reject its fix too, and the hour it bought goes to the other bids first, if there are any and there is still time, and otherwise back on sale. Inside the last 3 hours before it begins, it stays empty and the drop before it stays on the screen. A drop not approved before its hour ends is refunded in full too. A drop taken down while it is on the screen, for breaking the rules, is not refunded.
What the flames mean
One flame once 50 people have tapped the go button since the drop went live. Two at 100. Three at 200. Nothing below 50. Each person counts once, however often they tap. The levels may rise as the site grows, and any change is dated here.
The record your drop leaves
A drop we have approved keeps a page on the public record at /drops once its hour has aired, for good. The page shows the brand, the title, the one line, the image and a link to the product, with the discounts as figures. It never shows a code, a discount link, your email address, what you paid or anything else about your account. A drop we take off the screen for breaking the rules keeps no page, and neither does one from an account we have banned. If your drop went up on your own word inside the last day and we did not review it before it went up, we can still approve it afterwards, and it keeps its page from then; until we do, it has none. You can ask us to take a page down at any time.
Don’t announce until approved
Wait for our approval before you post about your hour. An hour booked inside the last day may go up before we review it, so announcing it is your choice, at your own risk.