Acceptable Use Policy

This Acceptable Use Policy (“Policy”) sets out the rules governing what you may sell, promote, and do using the Shopeak platform, mobile applications, websites, and related services (collectively, the “Services”), operated by Shopeak Global (“Shopeak”, “we”, “us”, or “our”), a company incorporated in Kenya and operated by Theta Holdings.

This Policy forms part of our Terms of Service and applies in addition to the Terms. By using the Services, you agree to comply with this Policy. Violations may result in listing removal, payment holds, account suspension, or permanent termination; where required we will report unlawful activity to law enforcement, regulators, and our payment partners.

This Policy applies to every user of the Services, including Merchants operating storefronts on Shopeak, Buyers, developers and partners integrating with our APIs, and anyone accessing the Platform. Merchants are responsible for ensuring that their listings, staff, and use of connected services comply with this Policy at all times.

Capitalised terms used but not defined in this Policy have the meaning given in our Terms of Service.

You may not use the Services to sell, list, or facilitate the sale of:

• Illegal drugs, narcotics, controlled substances, or drug paraphernalia.
• Counterfeit, stolen, or pirated goods, or items that infringe intellectual-property rights.
• Weapons, firearms, ammunition, explosives, and their parts or accessories.
• Products or services that are unlawful under the laws of Kenya or the jurisdiction of the Buyer.
• Human organs, human remains, or protected wildlife and wildlife products (including ivory).
• Sexually explicit content or services, adult entertainment services, escort or sex-work services, and non-consensual imagery.
• Fraudulent goods or services, pyramid schemes, ponzi schemes, multi-level marketing recruitment, or “get rich quick” schemes.
• Unlicensed financial services, including money transmission, currency exchange, lending, buy-now-pay-later, or investment products offered without the required Central Bank of Kenya or Capital Markets Authority licence.
• Cryptocurrency, virtual assets, and related services offered without registration under the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025 (or any successor framework).
• Gambling, betting, lotteries, or games of chance operated without the required Betting Control and Licensing Board licence.
• Hazardous materials, toxic substances, radioactive materials, asbestos, and recalled products.
• Personal data, hacked accounts, credentials belonging to third parties, or tools primarily designed to gain unauthorised access to systems.
• Political campaign services, political advertising placement, or election-related fundraising in violation of Kenyan elections law.

The following categories require prior written approval from Shopeak. Approval typically requires you to provide additional documentation, licences, and enhanced due-diligence information, and may be subject to additional Reserves, transaction limits, or payout terms:

• Alcoholic beverages (valid liquor licence required).
• Pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and health supplements (Pharmacy and Poisons Board approval or equivalent required; controlled substances remain prohibited).
• Tobacco products, electronic cigarettes, and nicotine delivery devices.
• Agrochemicals, pesticides, and veterinary products (relevant regulatory approval required).
• Event tickets, travel packages, and other high-value future delivery services (delivery guarantees and refund policies required).
• Precious metals, gemstones, and high-value jewellery.
• Firearms training services, licensed security services, and regulated safety equipment.
• High-value collectibles and art (KES 500,000+ per listing).
• Cross-border trade services and freight forwarding.
• Live animals and pets.

To request approval for a restricted category, contact legal@shopeak.co.ke with your business details and applicable licences. Selling in a restricted category without prior approval is treated as a material violation of this Policy.

You may not use the Services to:

• Engage in fraud, money laundering, terrorist financing, sanctions evasion, or any other financial crime.
• Evade taxes or misrepresent the nature of your business or transactions to KRA, Shopeak, or the Payment Processor.
• Process payments on behalf of an undisclosed third party or act as an unregistered payment aggregator, money remitter, or agent for another business.
• Harass, threaten, defame, dox, or infringe the rights of others.
• Distribute malware, viruses, or any harmful code.
• Interfere with or disrupt the Platform’s infrastructure or security, probe for vulnerabilities without authorisation, or bypass rate limits.
• Scrape, mine, or extract data from the Platform without authorisation; use automated tools other than our published APIs; or use API keys of another Merchant.
• Circumvent access restrictions, security measures, KYC, or verification requirements, or make false statements during verification.
• Impersonate another person, business, or Shopeak itself.
• Create multiple accounts to evade suspension, transaction limits, or review; or transfer an account to another person without our written consent.
• Send unsolicited bulk marketing (spam) to Buyers or third parties using the Services or data collected through them.

All listings, storefront content, marketing materials, and Merchant ↔ Buyer communications sent through the Platform must be accurate and lawful. You must not publish content that:

• Is deceptive or misleading about the nature, price, origin, authenticity, or quality of a product or service, including fake “strike-through” original prices, fictitious countdowns, or misleading scarcity claims;
• Promotes violence, hatred, discrimination, or extremism;
• Contains another person’s personal information (name, phone number, address, ID, photo) without their consent;
• Depicts or promotes self-harm, suicide, or dangerous challenges;
• Uses another business’s trademarks or brand assets in a way that suggests false affiliation.

Product images and descriptions must reflect the actual item being sold. Where regulatory disclosures are required (for example, expiry dates, ingredient lists, ownership disclaimers), you must include them clearly.

The Services enable Buyers and third parties to post ratings, reviews, comments, questions, and other user-generated content (“UGC”). We rely on a combination of automated screening, community reports, and human review to enforce this Policy.

• Authenticity of reviews. Merchants may not solicit, incentivise, buy, or write fake reviews of their own Storefront or of competitors, and may not filter or hide legitimate negative reviews.
• Right of reply.Merchants may publicly respond to Buyer reviews on their Storefront in a professional manner. Personal attacks, revealing a Buyer’s personal information, or threats are prohibited.
• Removal. We may remove any UGC that violates this Policy, is unlawful, or that a court or regulator has ordered be removed.
• No general monitoring duty. We do not pre-screen all UGC. Where we act on a report, we do so without accepting any duty to monitor UGC generally.

Shopeak respects intellectual-property rights. If you believe that Content on the Platform infringes your copyright, trademark, patent, design right, or other intellectual property, please send a takedown notice to legal@shopeak.co.ke with the information listed in the aside opposite (or below on mobile).

Our response. On receipt of a valid takedown notice we will acknowledge receipt, notify the Merchant, and remove or disable access to the identified Content within a reasonable period. We may re-instate Content if the Merchant submits a valid counter-notice and the rights holder does not confirm legal action within 10 Business Days.

Counter-notice. A Merchant whose Content has been removed may submit a counter-notice to the same email address, stating under penalty of perjury that the removal was the result of mistake or misidentification and providing contact details for service of any resulting legal proceedings.

Repeat infringers. We terminate the accounts of Merchants who are the subject of repeated substantiated infringement notices, and we cooperate with rights-holder associations and regulators as required.

Bad-faith notices. Submitting a knowingly false or bad-faith takedown notice may itself be a breach of this Policy, and rights holders may be liable to the affected Merchant for resulting losses.

Payments processed through the Platform must correspond to genuine sales of goods or services made through your Shopeak Storefront. You must not:

• Process transactions unrelated to your registered business activity, or use the Platform to collect payments for another business;
• Split transactions to evade limits, or artificially inflate transaction volumes;
• Use the Platform to cash out cards or mobile money without an underlying sale (also known as “card testing” or “transaction laundering”);
• Provide false or misleading KYC information, settlement details, or business documentation;
• Use another Merchant’s subaccount, or route funds to a settlement account belonging to a third party without our approval;
• Encourage or induce a Buyer to pay outside the Platform to avoid fees, dispute mechanisms, or KYC requirements.

We reserve the right to suspend settlement or subaccount provisioning, offset amounts owed against future Settlements, hold any legacy balance, and request additional documentation whenever a transaction pattern appears inconsistent with your registered business profile.

We review Merchants at onboarding and on an ongoing basis. Our monitoring includes:

• Verification of identity and business documentation at onboarding, at material changes to the business, and periodically thereafter;
• Automated screening of listings against prohibited-keyword, trademark, and image-similarity signals;
• Monitoring of transaction, refund, and dispute patterns for signs of fraud, laundering, or scheme abuse;
• Review of Buyer reports and takedown notices;
• Sanctions and adverse-media screening, at onboarding and periodically thereafter.

Where a review indicates a possible violation, we may contact you for information, temporarily pause specific functionality (for example, subaccount payouts) pending review, and take the actions described in the next section.

We aim to enforce this Policy proportionately. The typical enforcement ladder is:

• 1. Notice and cure. For low-severity, first violations we notify the Merchant, explain the issue, and give a reasonable opportunity to fix it (for example, edit a listing or complete a missing document).
• 2. Restriction. If the issue persists or is more serious, we may remove specific listings, disable a payment channel, impose a Reserve, or place a temporary hold on Settlement.
• 3. Temporary suspension. For repeat or serious violations, we may suspend the account for a defined period pending investigation and remediation.
• 4. Permanent termination. For severe violations, fraud, sanctions matches, or after repeated unremediated warnings, we may permanently terminate the account and, where required, report the activity to regulators, payment partners, or law enforcement.

We may skip earlier steps and act immediately, and without notice, where a violation is severe (for example, sale of prohibited items, active fraud, sanctions matches, or a legal or regulator order requires it).

Repeat violators. Accounts with a pattern of repeated violations of this Policy, or that repeatedly fail to comply with the enforcement steps above, will be permanently terminated.

If we suspend your account or take enforcement action, we will tell you the reason, unless we are legally prohibited from doing so. You may appeal by replying to the notice or emailing legal@shopeak.co.ke with any documentation that clarifies the issue.

Appeals are reviewed by a different Shopeak team member than the one who took the original action. We aim to acknowledge appeals within 2 Business Days and issue a decision within 10 Business Days. Where the review finds that the original action was mistaken, we will reverse it and, where practicable, restore any Content, listings, or Settlement affected.

Nothing in this section affects your right to lodge a complaint with a regulator or to pursue legal remedies.

If you believe a Merchant or listing on Shopeak violates this Policy, please report it to legal@shopeak.co.ke (or, for intellectual-property claims, follow the takedown procedure in Section 8). Include the storefront or listing link, a description of the concern, and any supporting evidence. We review all reports and take appropriate action.

We may update this Policy from time to time to reflect changes in law, our payment partners’ requirements, or our Services. Material changes will be notified via email or an in-product notification. Your continued use of the Services after the effective date of any changes constitutes your acceptance of the revised Policy.

If you have questions about this Policy, please contact us: