How Teslings works
1. Chip in, or bid on a panel
Two ways to help buy the truck. Chip in any amount (from $5) and you're listed on the Backers wall — no panel involved. Or bid on a panel: the truck has six sponsorable spots — frunk, tailgate, and all four doors. Each runs its own independent auction, starting at $5, and any bid above a panel's current leader becomes the new leader for that panel only. Every dollar of both counts toward the same goal.
2. Every bid is charged immediately
(Contributions stay open after bidding closes — the truck still has to be paid for.) Your card is charged in full via Stripe the moment your bid completes checkout — not when bidding closes, and not only if you win. Placing a bid is a real, immediate purchase.
3. No refunds, ever
If someone later outbids you on a panel, you are not refunded. There is no refund path for any reason once a bid is confirmed — treat every bid as a final, non-refundable contribution toward the vehicle, with a shot at the print as the upside. Contributions are not tax-deductible: this is a private, community-funded project, not a charity.
4. Closing & the winners
There's no fixed end date. All six panels stay open until bidding is manually closed, all at once. Whoever is leading each panel at that moment wins it — their name (and logo, if they uploaded one) gets printed there. Once we hit the goal, we buy a real Tesla Cybertruck and print each winning panel's logo directly onto it — this isn't a simulation. We'll be driving it around Orange County, CA, with your logo on it.
5. The Garage
Every paid bid — not just each panel's winner — and every contribution gets a permanent listing on the Garage page, labeled with the panel it was for. Getting outbid doesn't remove your contribution from the record, it just means you're no longer the one getting printed there.
6. Transparency
The full cost breakdown of the vehicle purchase — price, tax, fees, print install — is public on the Transparency page and updated as real numbers come in.