Shovu Terms of Service

By accessing or using Shovu (the website at shovu.app, the storefront domain at shovu.shop, the mobile applications, and any related services — together, the "Service"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree, you must not use the Service.

If you are using the Service on behalf of a business or other legal entity, you represent that you have the authority to bind that entity to these Terms, and "you" refers to that entity.

"We", "us", "our" and "Shovu" mean Shovu and any affiliates operating the Service. "You" and "your" mean the person or entity using the Service.

"Seller" means a user who creates a shop on Shovu to sell goods or services to buyers. "Buyer" means a person who browses a Seller's shop or places an order through Shovu. "Order" means a request by a Buyer to purchase one or more items from a Seller through the Service. "Content" means any text, photos, videos, prices, product descriptions, branding, or other material a Seller or Buyer uploads to or generates through the Service.

Shovu is a software platform that gives Sellers tools to create and operate an online shop. Shovu provides the technology that hosts the shop, captures Orders, processes payments through third-party providers, sends notifications, and assists with day-to-day operations.

Shovu is not the merchant. Every Order is a direct contract between the Buyer and the Seller. Shovu is not a party to that contract. Shovu does not own, sell, warrant, or take possession of any item listed by any Seller. Sellers are solely responsible for their products, their descriptions, their prices, their fulfilment, and their after-sales support.

To use Shovu you must be at least 18 years old and able to form a legally binding contract under Ghanaian law. If you are between 13 and 17, you may only use Shovu under the supervision of a parent or legal guardian who accepts these Terms on your behalf. Shovu is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect their information.

You must provide accurate, current, and complete information when registering. Sellers must be based in Ghana and able to receive payments in Ghana cedis. We may at our discretion expand to other markets in future, in which case the Terms will be updated accordingly.

You are responsible for safeguarding your account credentials (including the phone number you use to receive one-time passcodes) and for all activity on your account. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorised use of your account at hello@shovu.app.

We may reject, suspend, or terminate any account at our discretion if we reasonably believe it has been used to violate these Terms, applicable law, or the rights of another person.

Shovu offers a Free plan and one or more paid plans (collectively, "Pro"). Free plan limits may include caps on monthly orders, AI photo enhancements, broadcast SMS volume, and similar resources. Current limits are described in the app and may change with reasonable notice.

Pro subscriptions are billed in advance and renew automatically unless cancelled before the renewal date. Fees are non-refundable except where required by law. We may change Pro pricing or add new paid features by giving you at least 30 days' notice via email, in-app message, or both.

In addition to subscription fees, payment-processing fees charged by our payment partners (for example Paystack) apply to each transaction and are deducted before settlement to the Seller. Shovu may also charge a platform commission on transactions; the current rate is disclosed in your dashboard.

You agree, as a Seller, to:

• Accurately describe every item you list — including price, condition, materials, available stock, and any limitations or restrictions.
• Honour the orders you accept. If an item is unavailable, you must promptly inform the Buyer and either offer a replacement or issue a full refund.
• Hold and own (or have the right to sell) every item you list. You may not sell stolen, illegal, counterfeit, or restricted goods.
• Comply with all laws that apply to your business, including consumer protection, product safety, advertising, tax, and licensing requirements in Ghana and any other jurisdiction where you sell or ship.
• Honour your own stated refund and return policy. If you do not publish a policy, the default of these Terms applies (see section 14).
• Provide truthful and timely communication with Buyers via the contact channels you publish (WhatsApp, phone, email).
• Keep your business and payout details (MoMo or bank) accurate and up to date so withdrawals reach the right account.
• Pay all taxes you owe on income earned through Shovu.

You agree, as a Buyer, to:

• Provide accurate name, phone number, delivery address, and any other information the Seller reasonably requires to fulfil your Order.
• Pay for items you order using the payment methods provided.
• Not place fraudulent orders, use stolen payment instruments, or initiate chargebacks for legitimate Orders you have received.
• Accept that every Order is a direct contract with the Seller, and that refund / return / exchange decisions are made by the Seller subject to applicable consumer-protection law.

You may not use Shovu to list, sell, buy, advertise, link to, or otherwise offer:

• Firearms, ammunition, explosives, or weapons of any kind that are restricted under Ghanaian law.
• Illegal drugs, drug paraphernalia, or prescription medication sold without a valid licence.
• Counterfeit goods, items that infringe another party's trademark, copyright, or patent, or items sold in violation of an exclusive distribution agreement.
• Stolen goods or goods you do not own and have no right to sell.
• Items that promote hate, violence, terrorism, child sexual abuse material, or discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or age.
• Sexually explicit material, escort services, or any service prohibited by Ghana's criminal code.
• Live animals, regulated wildlife products, ivory, or any item whose trade is restricted under the CITES treaty.
• Currency, securities, equities, gift cards, or instruments that function as cash equivalents (other than products you are licensed to issue).
• Items or services that violate sanctions imposed by the United Nations, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, or the Republic of Ghana.

You also agree not to:

• Use the Service to send spam, phishing messages, malware, or unsolicited bulk communications.
• Attempt to disrupt, reverse-engineer, scrape at scale, or otherwise compromise the security or integrity of the Service.
• Impersonate another person or business, or use the Service to deceive Buyers about who you are.
• Manipulate ratings, reviews, sales counters, or any other metric the Service displays.
• Resell, sub-license, or commercialise the Service itself (the Shovu platform) without our written consent.

We may remove any listing, suspend any account, and report activity to the appropriate authorities if we reasonably believe these rules have been violated.

You retain ownership of the Content you upload — product photos, descriptions, your shop name, your logo, and so on. By uploading Content you grant Shovu a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to host, store, copy, transmit, modify (for example, resize and re-encode for the storefront), display, and distribute that Content for the sole purpose of operating, providing, and improving the Service.

You represent and warrant that you own or have the right to upload every piece of Content, that the Content does not infringe any third-party right, and that the Service may host it without violating any law.

"Shovu", the Shovu logo, the storefront domain pattern, and all original Shovu interface design, code, and copy are owned by Shovu and are protected by intellectual-property laws. Nothing in these Terms gives you any right to those marks except for the limited right to identify your shop as "powered by Shovu".

Shovu offers AI-assisted features, including the Mira assistant (which drafts copy, suggests prices, and answers questions about your shop) and AI photo enhancement (which upscales, sharpens, and denoises product photos via third-party models hosted on Replicate). These features are provided "as is" — outputs are generated by machine-learning models and may be inaccurate, incomplete, biased, or unsuitable for your purpose.

You are responsible for reviewing AI-generated text, prices, and images before publishing or relying on them. You must not use AI features to generate Content that is illegal, deceptive, defamatory, or that infringes another person's intellectual-property or privacy rights.

Shovu may use anonymised usage data from AI features to improve service quality, debug failures, and monitor cost, but will not use your private Content (your products, orders, customers) to train AI models without your explicit consent.

Shovu provides multiple ways for Buyers to pay Sellers. The available methods include direct WhatsApp arrangement, Mobile Money (MTN MoMo, Vodafone Cash, AirtelTigo Money) and Card, with card and Mobile Money payments processed by our payment partner Paystack Ltd. By using card or MoMo checkout you also agree to Paystack's terms (paystack.com).

When a Buyer pays through Paystack, the funds are received into a Shovu-controlled account, less Paystack's processing fee and any platform commission, and are then made available for withdrawal to the Seller as described in section 13. We may hold funds for a reasonable period to guard against fraud, chargebacks, refunds, or compliance concerns.

For WhatsApp orders, the Buyer and Seller arrange payment directly. Shovu does not capture or process those funds; we only record that the order took place.

Sellers can withdraw available balance to a Mobile Money wallet or a Ghanaian bank account. Withdrawals are subject to:

• A minimum withdrawal amount, displayed in the dashboard, intended to keep processing costs sustainable.
• Verification of the destination account belongs to the Seller. We may require government-issued ID, business registration documents, or other proof.
• Hold periods of up to 7 business days from the date of payment to allow chargeback windows to elapse.
• Anti-money-laundering and sanctions screening (see section 18). Withdrawals that fail screening will be paused while we review.
• Operator processing times — once approved, MoMo withdrawals usually arrive within minutes, and bank transfers within 1–3 business days.

We are not liable for delays caused by your bank, your MoMo operator, incorrect account details you supplied, or regulatory holds outside our control.

Refunds and returns are the Seller's responsibility. Each Seller may publish their own refund and return policy in their shop. If a Seller does not publish a policy, the following default applies:

• Buyers may cancel an Order for a full refund at any time before the Seller has shipped or handed over the item.
• If an item is faulty on arrival, materially different from the listing, or not delivered within a reasonable time, the Buyer is entitled to a full refund.
• If an item is delivered as described and the Buyer simply changes their mind, refunds are at the Seller's discretion.

Sellers are responsible for issuing approved refunds to the original payment method. Shovu may, at its discretion, process a refund on the Seller's behalf and deduct the corresponding amount from the Seller's available balance or future settlements.

Nothing in these Terms limits any non-waivable consumer protection rights Buyers have under Ghanaian law.

A "chargeback" is a payment dispute initiated by a Buyer through their card issuer or mobile-money operator. When a chargeback is raised against an Order:

• Shovu will notify the Seller and request evidence (delivery proof, order communication, photos, etc.) within the timeline imposed by the card scheme or operator.
• The Seller bears full financial responsibility for the chargeback amount plus any chargeback fee imposed by Paystack or the card scheme. We may debit that amount from the Seller's available balance, withhold it from future settlements, or invoice the Seller if the balance is insufficient.
• Repeated chargebacks — measured by ratio of chargebacks to total transactions in a rolling 90-day window, or by total chargeback value — may result in higher fees, restrictions on accepted payment methods, additional verification, or suspension of the Seller's account.
• Submitting fraudulent or knowingly misleading evidence in a chargeback dispute is grounds for immediate termination and may be reported to law enforcement.

Buyers agree not to file chargebacks for Orders they have received as described, or for issues that have not first been raised with the Seller. Chargebacks initiated in bad faith may result in suspension of the Buyer's account and referral to the relevant operator's fraud team.

Because every Order is a direct contract between Buyer and Seller, disputes about the goods or service itself (quality, delivery, fit, expectations) are between those two parties. Shovu encourages both parties to communicate directly and reach a resolution.

Shovu may, in its sole discretion and as a goodwill measure, assist with information from the Order record (delivery status, messages, payment confirmation) to help the parties reach a fair outcome, but is under no obligation to adjudicate the dispute and is not liable for its outcome.

Sellers are solely responsible for determining, collecting, reporting, and remitting all taxes that arise from their sales — including VAT, National Health Insurance Levy, GETFund Levy, income tax, and any local levies. Shovu does not file tax returns on behalf of Sellers and is not your tax adviser. If you are unsure of your obligations, consult a qualified tax professional.

We may, where required by law, collect and remit certain taxes on subscription fees we charge you. Those taxes will be shown in your invoice.

We are required by law and by our payment partners to perform "know your customer" (KYC) and anti-money-laundering (AML) checks. By using Shovu you authorise us to:

• Request government-issued identification, business registration documents, proof of address, source-of-funds documentation, and ultimate-beneficial-owner information.
• Screen your name, your business name, and your account details against domestic and international sanctions and politically-exposed-persons lists.
• Pause or refuse transactions and withdrawals where the result of these checks is incomplete or adverse.
• Report suspicious activity to the Financial Intelligence Centre and other competent authorities, in accordance with the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2020 (Act 1044) and related Bank of Ghana directives.

Our handling of personal data is described in our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference. By using Shovu you confirm that you have read the Privacy Policy.

Where you upload personal data about Buyers, customers, or team members, you confirm that you have the lawful basis to do so under Ghana's Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843) and any other law that applies to you.

We work hard to keep Shovu fast and reliable but cannot guarantee uninterrupted access. The Service may be unavailable from time to time for scheduled maintenance, emergency repairs, or for reasons outside our control (network failures, third-party outages, etc.).

We may add, remove, or change features at any time. Where a change materially reduces the functionality of a paid plan you are subscribed to, we will give you reasonable notice and, if you continue to be affected, a pro-rated refund of prepaid fees for the affected period.

You can stop using Shovu at any time and may close your account from your dashboard. Pending Orders, outstanding payouts, and tax records will remain accessible for a reasonable period to allow you to wind down.

We may suspend or terminate your account, with or without notice, if you violate these Terms, if your use of the Service exposes us or other users to legal or financial risk, if you fail required KYC checks, or if law-enforcement authorities so direct.

On termination, your right to access the Service ends immediately. We will preserve transaction records and other data as required by law and as described in the Privacy Policy. Any provision of these Terms that by its nature should survive termination (payments, indemnification, limitation of liability, governing law) will survive.

Except where prohibited by law, the Service is provided "as is" and "as available" with no warranties of any kind, express or implied. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure against every attack, or that any defect will be corrected. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any AI output, Seller content, or third-party content available through the Service.

To the maximum extent permitted by Ghanaian law, in no event will Shovu, its directors, officers, employees, or partners be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, goodwill, data, or business opportunity, arising out of or related to your use of the Service, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

Our total aggregate liability to you for any claim arising out of or related to the Service in any 12-month period will not exceed the greater of (a) the fees you actually paid to Shovu in the 12 months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim, and (b) GHS 500.

These limits apply jointly across all causes of action. Nothing in this section limits any liability that cannot lawfully be limited.

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Shovu and its directors, officers, employees, agents, and partners from and against all claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or related to: (a) your use of the Service; (b) the Content you upload or the products or services you list; (c) your violation of these Terms or any law; and (d) your violation of the rights of any third party, including any intellectual-property, privacy, or consumer right.

Neither party will be liable for any failure or delay in performance caused by events beyond its reasonable control, including acts of God, war, terrorism, civil unrest, government action, pandemic, fire, flood, power failure, telecommunications failure, or third-party-service outage.

These Terms and any dispute arising out of or in connection with them are governed by the laws of the Republic of Ghana, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles.

Before commencing any formal proceeding, the parties agree to attempt in good faith to resolve any dispute through direct negotiation, beginning by writing to hello@shovu.app with a clear description of the dispute and the resolution sought. If the dispute is not resolved within 30 days, it will be referred to mediation in Accra under the rules of the Ghana Arbitration Centre.

If mediation fails to resolve the dispute within a further 30 days, the dispute will be finally resolved by binding arbitration in Accra, in English, by a single arbitrator appointed under the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act, 2010 (Act 798). Each party will bear its own costs unless the arbitrator orders otherwise. Nothing in this section prevents either party from seeking urgent injunctive relief in the courts of Ghana.

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we make a material change, we will notify you in-app, by email, or both, at least 14 days before the change takes effect. Your continued use of the Service after the change takes effect constitutes your acceptance of the updated Terms. If you do not agree with the change, you may close your account before it takes effect.

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any additional terms you accept for a specific feature, form the entire agreement between you and Shovu and supersede any prior agreement on the same subject matter.

If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable, the remainder will continue in full effect. Our failure to enforce any right is not a waiver of that right.

You may not assign or transfer these Terms or any rights under them without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms to an affiliate or in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of substantially all our assets.

Questions, notices, or concerns about these Terms should be sent to hello@shovu.app or via WhatsApp at +233 55 813 8714.