Draft for review by qualified lawyers in each country where TeePay operates (starting with Tanzania) before publication. Items marked [TO CONFIRM] must be completed or checked before this page is published.
Effective date: [TO CONFIRM: effective date]
These Terms of Service ("Terms") are an agreement between you and [TO CONFIRM: company legal name], a company registered in the United Republic of Tanzania under registration number [TO CONFIRM: company registration number], with its registered office at [TO CONFIRM: registered address] ("TeePay", "we", "us"). They apply when you open a TeePay merchant account or use TeePay at teepay.me, including the dashboard, payment links, payment pages, hosted checkout, invoices, Control Numbers, the developer API, webhooks and the TeePay MCP server for AI agents (together, the "Services").
Please read these Terms together with our Acceptable Use Policy, Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy, which form part of this agreement. If you do not agree, do not use the Services.
1. Who we are and our regulatory status
TeePay is a payments platform that lets businesses collect payments from their customers and receive payouts. We operate in Tanzania today and are built to grow to other countries. Where a country needs different terms, they are set out in Schedule A (Country-specific terms), which forms part of these Terms.
[TO CONFIRM: regulator licence status in each country where TeePay operates. State exactly how TeePay is authorised to operate, for example in Tanzania whether TeePay holds a licence or approval from the Bank of Tanzania under the National Payment Systems Act, 2015, or whether it provides the Services through licensed payment service providers, aggregators and mobile network operators. Do not state a licence number unless one has been issued.]
Payments are carried by mobile network operators, banks and payment service providers ("Payment Providers"). TeePay is not a bank and your TeePay balance is not a bank deposit and does not earn interest. [TO CONFIRM: how customer funds are held, for example in a trust or settlement account at a named bank.]
2. Your account
To use the Services you must:
be at least 18 years old and able to enter into a binding contract;
run a genuine, lawful business or activity [TO CONFIRM: which countries merchants may be based in];
give us accurate, complete and current information and keep it up to date;
keep your password, one-time codes and API keys secret and not share your account.
You are responsible for everything done through your account, including by your team members, your systems and any AI agent you connect using your keys. Tell us immediately at info@teepay.me if you think your account or keys have been used without your permission.
One business should have one account. You may not open additional accounts to get around limits, reviews, restrictions or a previous closure. If you need separate accounts for different legal entities, contact us first.
We protect your account with security checks. These include one-time codes sent by email or SMS, verification when you sign in from a browser we have not seen before, and an extra verification step before sensitive actions such as payouts or changes to payout details. You must not try to bypass these checks.
Sandbox and live
Your account has a sandbox environment for testing and a live environment for real money. Sandbox transactions are simulated and do not move money. Do not use real customer data in the sandbox where you can avoid it.
3. Verification (KYC and KYB)
We are required by law, including the anti-money laundering laws of each country where we operate, to know who our merchants are. Before you can collect live payments or receive payouts, and at any time afterwards, we may ask you to verify:
your identity, including your full name, date of birth, residential address, occupation and a copy of an accepted identity document (national ID, passport, driving licence or voter ID); and
your business, including the business name, type, address, industry, website, description, Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) and supporting documents such as a TIN certificate, certificate of incorporation or business licence, depending on your business type.
Our staff review what you submit. We may approve, ask for more information, or reject a submission and will tell you the reason we can give. We may ask you to verify again if your details change, if documents expire, or if our review finds something we need to check. We may limit what you can do until verification is complete, and we may decline to open or continue an account where we cannot verify it to our reasonable satisfaction or where the law does not allow us to serve you.
4. Using the Services
You may use the Services only to accept payment for genuine goods and services that you provide, in line with these Terms, our Acceptable Use Policy and the law. You must:
describe clearly what the customer is paying for, the price, and any delivery, cancellation and refund terms;
deliver what you sell, or refund the customer if you cannot;
not request payment for anything misleading, such as fake fees, prizes, loan release charges or impersonating another organisation;
handle customer complaints promptly and fairly;
comply with consumer protection, tax and data protection laws that apply to your business.
How customers pay
Customers pay with M-Pesa, Airtel Money, Mixx by Yas or HaloPesa by approving a payment prompt (USSD push) on their own phone with their own PIN, or by paying a Control Number. TeePay and you must never ask a customer for their mobile money PIN. Which networks are available can change, and a network may be temporarily unavailable.
A payment is complete only when TeePay records it as confirmed. A customer returning to your website, a "success" screen or a message from the customer is not proof of payment. Check payment status in your dashboard, through the API or through a signed webhook before you deliver goods or services.
5. Your content
You are responsible for everything you publish through TeePay, including payment pages, product and catalogue details, images, invoices, payment links, business names and logos ("Merchant Content"). You confirm that you have the right to use it and that it is accurate and lawful.
You give TeePay a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, display and process your Merchant Content as needed to provide the Services, to review it for compliance and security, and to keep records as required by law.
We review Merchant Content as described in the Acceptable Use Policy. Uploaded files are checked for malware before they can be used, and only certain file types are accepted.
6. Fees
You agree to pay the fees for the Services set out on our pricing page at teepay.me/pricing, in your dashboard, or in a separate written agreement with us ("Fees"). [TO CONFIRM: fee schedule reference and how Fees are charged, for example deducted from each collection before it is credited to your balance, or invoiced.]
Payment Providers may charge their own fees for payouts or other operations. Where they apply, we show them before you confirm the action. Fees are exclusive of taxes unless stated otherwise, and you are responsible for any taxes that apply to your sales. [TO CONFIRM: VAT treatment of TeePay Fees.]
We may change our Fees by giving you notice as described in section 17. Changes apply to transactions made after the change takes effect.
7. Your balance and payouts
Confirmed collections, less Fees, are credited to your TeePay balance. You can request a payout of your available balance to a mobile money account or a bank account.
Payout destinations must be held in your name or your business's name, unless we agree otherwise in writing. You are responsible for entering the correct details. If you send money to the wrong destination because of details you entered, we will help you try to recover it, but we cannot guarantee recovery.
Verification: we ask you to confirm sensitive actions, including payouts and changes to payout details, with an extra verification step.
Timing: we send payouts through Payment Providers. We aim to process payouts promptly, but timing depends on those providers, network availability, our reviews and the law, and we do not guarantee a particular time. [TO CONFIRM: any published payout timing or cut-off times.]
Limits: we may set limits on collections, payouts and balances, for example depending on your verification status and account history. We show the limits that apply to you in your dashboard or tell you about them.
Negative balance: if your balance becomes negative, for example after a reversal, you must pay the shortfall to us promptly. We may recover it from future collections.
8. Funds under review and holds
To protect customers, merchants and TeePay, and to comply with the law, we may delay, hold or withhold all or part of your balance or a payout ("hold funds") where we reasonably believe it is necessary. This includes where:
your verification is incomplete, out of date or could not be confirmed;
we see signs of fraud, scams, account takeover or unauthorised use of your account;
activity on your account appears to break these Terms or the Acceptable Use Policy, for example selling prohibited goods or using misleading payment requests;
a customer, Payment Provider, bank or other party reports a problem with a payment, such as an unauthorised payment, a payment sent in error or goods not delivered;
a Payment Provider reverses, recalls or questions a payment, or we expect it to;
a payment was credited to you incorrectly, for example because of a technical or reconciliation error;
we need to protect against losses we reasonably expect, such as reversals, refunds or Fees you owe;
a court, regulator, law enforcement agency or other authority requires or requests it, or the law requires us to; or
your account is restricted, suspended or closed.
When we hold funds we will normally tell you that funds are under review and what we need from you, unless the law or an authority prevents us from telling you, or telling you would compromise an investigation. We will hold funds only for as long as reasonably necessary to complete our review, resolve the issue, or meet a legal requirement. Once the review is complete we will release the funds that are not needed to cover amounts you owe, reversals, refunds or legal requirements.
Money held under review does not earn interest, and we are not responsible for losses caused by a hold that we applied in good faith under this section.
9. Reversals, refunds and errors
Mobile money and Control Number payments do not have card-style chargebacks, but a payment can still be reversed or recalled. This can happen, for example, when a Payment Provider reverses a transaction, when a payment was made in error or without the account holder's permission, when a payment was credited twice or to the wrong merchant, or when a court or authority orders it.
If a payment you received is reversed, recalled or found to have been credited incorrectly:
you are responsible for the amount, and any related Fees and Payment Provider charges we cannot recover;
we may deduct the amount from your balance or from future collections, or ask you to pay it back; and
where we can, we will show you the payment concerned and the reason.
Where you agree to refund a customer, you are responsible for doing so in line with your refund terms and the law. [TO CONFIRM: whether TeePay offers a refund feature, and how refunds made through TeePay are funded and charged.]
If we credit you money by mistake, you must not use it and must return it. We may correct the error by adjusting your balance.
You can raise a question about a reversal, a deduction or a held amount by contacting info@teepay.me. We will review the evidence you provide.
10. Restriction, suspension and termination
We may take one or more of the following actions where we reasonably believe it is necessary for the reasons in section 8, or where you break these Terms, the Acceptable Use Policy or the law:
content actions: unpublish a payment page, disable a product, or stop a payment link from starting new payments. We do not delete your content when we do this, and we can restore it if the decision changes;
restriction: limit certain features, for example new collections or payouts;
suspension: temporarily stop most use of your account while we review it;
deactivation or banning: close your account, and in serious cases refuse to open a new one.
We record the reason for each action. We will normally tell you about the action and the reason, unless the law or an authority prevents us, or telling you would compromise an investigation or the security of the Services. Where the issue can be fixed, we will tell you what you need to do.
Closing your account. You can ask us to close your account at any time by contacting info@teepay.me. Before we close it, you must settle any amounts you owe. We will pay out your remaining available balance to a verified destination in your name, subject to any funds held under section 8.
After closure these Terms continue to apply to anything that happened before closure, including Fees, reversals, held funds, indemnities and liability. We keep records as described in our Privacy Policy and as the law requires.
11. Appeals
If you disagree with a verification decision, a content action, a restriction, suspension or closure, or a hold on your funds, you can appeal by emailing info@teepay.me with the subject "Appeal" within [TO CONFIRM: appeal window, for example 30 days] of being told about the decision. Explain why you think the decision is wrong and include any documents that support your appeal.
A person reviews every appeal. Where practical, the appeal is reviewed by someone who did not make the original decision. We aim to respond within [TO CONFIRM: appeal response time]. We will tell you the outcome and, where the original decision is reversed, we will restore what we reasonably can, such as your content or account access.
An appeal does not affect your other legal rights.
12. Developer API, webhooks and MCP
If you use our developer API, webhooks or MCP server, these additional terms apply.
Keys. We issue you API keys. Keep secret keys on your server only and never put them in a website, mobile app or public code repository. You are responsible for every request made with your keys. Rotate or revoke a key immediately if you think it has been exposed.
Webhooks. We sign every webhook we send you. You must verify the signature and timestamp before trusting a webhook, and use HTTPS for your webhook address. Webhooks can arrive more than once or out of order; design your system to handle that.
AI agents and MCP. You may connect an AI agent to TeePay through our MCP server using a restricted key that you create for this purpose. That key can only do what it allows, such as creating payment links or reading payment status, and cannot override your prices, set fees, or make payouts or change payout destinations. Sending mobile money payment prompts from an agent is off unless you turn it on. You are responsible for the agents you connect and for every action they take with your key, as if you had taken it yourself. You must make sure an agent only sends payment prompts to customers who expect them.
Fair use. You must not overload, probe, scrape or try to break the Services, bypass rate limits or security controls, or use the API to build a competing service by copying ours. We may limit request rates.
Changes. We may change or retire API versions. Where a change could break your integration, we will give you reasonable notice, except where a change is needed urgently for security or legal reasons.
Sandbox. The sandbox is for testing only and may be reset.
13. Data protection and confidentiality
We process personal data as described in our Privacy Policy and in line with the data protection laws that apply, including, in Tanzania, the Personal Data Protection Act, 2022 and its regulations.
When you collect information about your customers through TeePay (for example custom fields on a payment page, or customer details on an invoice), you decide what to collect and why, and you are responsible for having a lawful basis, telling your customers how you use their data, and handling their requests. [TO CONFIRM: whether TeePay acts as a data controller or a data processor for customer data, and whether a separate data processing agreement is offered.]
Each of us must keep the other's non-public business information confidential and use it only for this agreement, except where the law requires disclosure.
14. Intellectual property
TeePay and its licensors own the Services, our software, our brand and our documentation. We give you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use the Services in line with these Terms. You may not copy, modify, reverse engineer or resell the Services except as the law allows. You keep ownership of your Merchant Content.
15. Liability
Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited under the law that applies to these Terms or to you, including liability for fraud or wilful misconduct.
Subject to that:
You use the Services at your own risk. The Services are provided "as is" and "as available". We work to keep them reliable and secure, but we do not promise that they will be uninterrupted or error-free, or that they suit your particular business. Payment Providers and networks are outside our control and may be unavailable.
Features we mark as beta, preview or early access (and anything you build with the Developer API or connect to an AI agent over MCP) are offered without any promise that they will keep working the same way. You decide whether to rely on them, test them before using them with real money, and stay responsible for what your integration or agent does with your account.
We are not liable for losses caused by Payment Providers, networks or banks, by events beyond our reasonable control, by your failure to follow these Terms or to secure your account and keys, or by actions we take in good faith to comply with the law or protect the Services, including holds, reversals and restrictions under these Terms.
We are not liable for loss of profit, revenue, business, goodwill or data, or for indirect or consequential loss.
Our total liability to you for all claims in any 12-month period is limited to [TO CONFIRM: liability cap, for example the Fees you paid to TeePay in the 12 months before the claim].
16. Indemnity
You agree to compensate TeePay, and its directors, staff and partners, for losses, fines, penalties, costs and reasonable legal fees arising from:
your breach of these Terms, the Acceptable Use Policy or the law;
your goods, services, Merchant Content or dealings with your customers;
reversals, refunds and disputes relating to your payments; and
the use of your account, keys or connected AI agents, whether or not you authorised it, unless the loss was caused by our own fault.
17. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms, for example to reflect changes to the Services, our Fees or the law. We will tell you about material changes by email or in your dashboard at least [TO CONFIRM: notice period, for example 30 days] before they take effect. We may make changes sooner where they are required by law or needed urgently for security. If you do not agree to a change, you can close your account before it takes effect. If you keep using the Services after that date, the new Terms apply.
18. General
Notices. We send notices to the email address on your account or show them in your dashboard. You can send notices to info@teepay.me [TO CONFIRM: postal address for legal notices].
Transfer. You may not transfer this agreement without our written consent. We may transfer it to a company that takes over the Services, and will tell you if we do.
Severability. If any part of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, the rest continues to apply.
No waiver. If we do not enforce a right straight away, we may still enforce it later.
Language. [TO CONFIRM: which language versions are provided, for example English and Kiswahili, and which version prevails.]
19. Governing law and disputes
These Terms are governed by the laws of the United Republic of Tanzania, unless Schedule A says otherwise for your country. We encourage you to contact us first at info@teepay.me so we can try to resolve any dispute informally. If we cannot, the dispute will be decided by [TO CONFIRM: competent court, for example the High Court of Tanzania (Commercial Division), or an arbitration clause].
20. Contact
[TO CONFIRM: company legal name]
[TO CONFIRM: registered address]
Email: info@teepay.me
Schedule A: Country-specific terms
These terms add to, and where they differ take priority over, the rest of these Terms for merchants in the country named.
Tanzania
Currency: Tanzanian shillings (TZS).
How customers pay: M-Pesa, Airtel Money, Mixx by Yas and HaloPesa (USSD push, approved by the customer with their own PIN), and Control Numbers.
Payouts: to mobile money and bank accounts in Tanzania held in your name.
Regulation: [TO CONFIRM: TeePay's authorisation in Tanzania, for example under the National Payment Systems Act, 2015, or through licensed partners.]
Data protection: the Personal Data Protection Act, 2022 and its regulations.
Governing law and disputes: as set out in section 19.
Other countries
We will add the terms for each new country here before we accept merchants there. [TO CONFIRM: countries, currencies, payment methods, regulators, data protection laws and governing law for each new market.]