Merchant Agreement (ZAR)
PAYGENIUS MERCHANT AGREEMENT (ZAR)
PayGenius (Pty) Ltd trading as PayGenius
Registration number 2008/022833/07
The WaterClub, Nautica Building Suite 1B, Beach Rd, Granger Bay,
8005 Cape Town – South Africa
support@paygenius.co.za
+27 (0)21 911 5611
(hereinafter referred as to “PayGenius”).
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 By using or subscribing to PayGenius ZAR Payment Service (“the Service”), you agree that you have read, understand and are bound by:
1.1.1 this ‘PayGenius Merchant Agreement (ZAR)’ (“ZAR Merchant Agreement”);
1.1.2 the ‘PayGenius General Terms’ (“General Terms”);
1.1.3 the provisions of the hardcopy or electronic application form relevant to PayGenius Application (“Application Form”); and
1.1.4 any notices which may be published under “Notices” on the Website from time to time.
1.2 Your use of the Service indicates your acceptance without modification of this ZAR Merchant Agreement, as read with the General Terms, and the Application Form which will together constitute a legal agreement (“the Agreement”) between you and PayGenius.
1.3 Unless the context clearly indicates the contrary, any term defined in the General Terms when used herein, shall bear the same meaning as defined in the General Terms. In this regard note that, because the Service enables you to receive payments made to you online, you are a ‘Merchant’ for purposes of this Agreement. To the extent that there is any inconsistency between any provision of the General Terms and this ZAR Merchant Agreement, then this ZAR Merchant Agreement shall override the General Terms to the extent of the inconsistency.
1.4 Note: that the Service entails the acquiring and settling of transaction amounts in South African Rand only, so if you wish to have amounts acquired and/or settled in other currencies, you should not subscribe to this Service.
2. DURATION
This Agreement shall commence with effect from the date of activation of the Service by PayGenius which date shall not be earlier than the requested commencement date set out in your Application Form and shall endure until either of us terminates it in accordance with the General Terms.
3. THE SERVICE
3.1 General
3.1.1 The Service enables you, as the seller of products and/or services, to receive payments from third parties, including but not limited to PayGenius users and PayGenius Wallet users (“Payers”), in respect of your transactions with them, in South African Rand, for the payment methods selected by you in the Application Form or are made available to you by PayGenius, being:
(a) Visa and MasterCard card not present enabled credit-, debit- or hybrid cards transaction processing services; and/or
(b) PayGenius Wallet (“Wallet”) transactions and the services made available and supported via the Wallet;
(d) such other alternative payment methods as may be available as part of the Services from time to time and selected by you in your Application Form (each hereinafter referred to as an “Alternative Payment Method” or “APM”),
but in all instances without having to have your own merchant acquiring account with a bank or other financial institution.
3.1.2 Payers will make their payments to you, but such funds will be paid into PayGenius’ own bank account, where the funds will be held for you until paid out to you in accordance with clause 3.4.
3.1.3 Regarding the PayGenius Wallet which is made available to you, PayGenius will receive the payments made by Payers via the Wallet into its own bank account. You acknowledge and agree that you are required to integrate and activate the Wallet on your website. The integration and activation of the Wallet will be at no additional cost to you.
3.2 Processing your transactions and receiving the Proceeds
3.2.1 By registering for the Service you appoint PayGenius to process payments and to accept the proceeds of payment instructions from your Payers (“Proceeds”) on your behalf in accordance with your instructions, subject to the terms and restrictions of this Agreement.
3.2.2 Proceeds will be received into the bank account PayGenius has with a South African bank. PayGenius will at all times hold such Proceeds on your behalf, separate from our own funds, and will not use your Proceeds for our own expenses or voluntarily make same available to our creditors. However:
(a) in the same way that Proceeds from your transactions are received into PayGenius’ bank account on your behalf applies any credit card chargebacks associated with those transactions are similarly deducted from PayGenius’ bank account and thus paid by PayGenius on your behalf;
(b) the Service is a payment processing service, not a banking service and PayGenius is not acting as a bank, trustee, fiduciary or escrow in respect of your funds; and
(c) your account balance represents an unsecured debt owed by PayGenius to you, which is at risk in the event of PayGenius’ insolvency and is not covered by any compensation scheme or any other public or private insurance scheme.
3.2.3 All interest accruing on any Proceeds held by PayGenius for you from time to time, including interest accruing on any Withheld Portion (as described in clause 3.4.3 below), shall accrue for the benefit of PayGenius, and you shall have no claim whatsoever in relation to such interest amounts.
3.2.4 PayGenius may process your transactions via 3D Secure (as defined in the General Terms), but that whether or not 3D Secure will be enabled for you at all, or if enabled, whether it will apply to all or only some of your transactions, is something that will be determined by PayGenius and/or its acquiring bank in its sole discretion. If you subscribe for any additional PayGenius Services which do not support 3D Secure and as such, such transactions are not be passed through 3D Secure, this may result in an increased risk to you. You understand and agree that you will be solely responsible for all chargebacks and other losses that may arise as a result of you processing such transactions.
3.2.5 PayGenius may restrict your transactions to South African issued cards, but whether or not the restriction will be enabled for you at all, or if enabled, whether it will apply to all or only some of your transactions, is subject to PayGenius’ discretion.
3.3 Amounts due by you which will be deducted from Proceeds
3.3.1 Service Fees: You will be liable for Service Fees as set out in clause 4 below, which you agree will be deducted and withheld from the funds paid out to you from time to time.
3.3.2 Chargebacks: Chargebacks related to your transactions are deducted from PayGenius’ bank account, and it remains your responsibility to contest any such chargebacks. Although PayGenius will notify you of any such chargebacks, should you wish to contest any such chargeback, it will be your responsibility to collate the required information and to provide with same timeously to PayGenius to enable PayGenius to submit same to the bank on your behalf. Chargeback amounts will be subject to exchange rate variation where applicable.
3.3.3 Refunds: PayGenius will endeavour to take reasonable steps to process requested refunds to your Payers to the extent that the payment methods used allows for the refund to be processed, and may, from time to time, request certain documentation from you in order to do so, including documentation to prove the existence of a sale to your customer, the delivery of a product pursuant to a sale, the cancellation of a sale by your customer and/or a request for a refund by your customer. You are obliged to provide such documentation timeously to PayGenius in order to facilitate PayGenius’ processing of refunds to your Payers. In the event that PayGenius is, by reason of your failure to deliver any document so requested or due to any applicable law, regulation, banking practice or other reasonable grounds, unable to process a refund to your customer, you will be responsible for refunding your customer directly.
3.4 Settlement of net Proceeds to you
3.4.1 Subject to clause 3.4.3 below, Proceeds will be paid out to you net of any Service Fees, Tax, fines, penalties, refunds/reversals and chargebacks, upon the expiry of such periods of time as may be specified in your Application Form (“Settlement Periods”)
3.4.2 Payment will be made electronically into your bank account as stipulated in your Application Form. PayGenius will not be held responsible for incorrect banking details being provided by you which may lead to funds held by PayGenius on your behalf being transferred to the incorrect party. It is your responsibility to ensure the accuracy of the provided banking details.
3.4.3 Withholding: In order to cater for potential chargebacks and/or reversals on your payment methods like credit-, debit or hybrid cards, or Wallet transactions, a certain percentage of Proceeds we receive on your behalf, as indicated in your Application Form (“Withheld Portion”), may be withheld for the period described in your Application Form (“Holding Period”). During the Holding Period applicable to any specific Proceeds received by PayGenius, you will not be entitled to, and PayGenius will not be obliged to, pay you the Withheld Portion of such Proceeds. PayGenius furthermore reserves the right, forthwith on written notice to you (which for purposes of clarity, includes notice via email), to increase the Withheld Portion and/or Holding Period applicable, under the following circumstances: (a) for specific transactions if PayGenius deems them suspicious; (b) all your transactions should your transactions carry high reversal or chargeback rates; or (c) all your transactions if they otherwise pose an increased risk of loss to PayGenius.
3.4.4 To the extent that the funds held by PayGenius on your behalf at any specific time are insufficient to accommodate all chargebacks, fines, penalties, taxes, reversals and/or Service Fees related to your transactions, you acknowledge that you remain liable to PayGenius for such amounts.
3.5 You acknowledge the nature of the Service and accordingly agree that the operation of the Service is known to you and you accept that it is suitable for the purpose it is intended to be used.
4. SERVICE FEES
4.1 The Service Fees payable by you for the Service are based on when and how you use the Service, as follows:
4.1.1 Fixed Successful Transaction Fee: a fixed fee on each transaction successfully processed;
4.1.2 Variable Transaction Fee: a variable fee expressed as a percentage of the value of each transaction successfully processed;
4.1.3 Chargeback Fee: a fixed fee on each reversal/chargeback (including those processed on Wallet transactions, if applicable);
4.1.5 Refund Fee: a fixed fee on each refund (including those processed on Wallet transactions, if applicable);
4.1.6 Pay-out Fee: a fixed fee per pay-out of funds to you (including for amounts due to you from Wallet transactions, if applicable);
4.1.7 Wallet Fee: a variable fee expressed as a percentage of the value of each successful transaction processed by us.
4.1.8 additional fees based on any particular APM selected for use by the persons making online payments to you (if applicable).
4.2 Unless otherwise agreed with you in writing, the specific Service Fees applicable to you are as set out in your Application Form or otherwise as set out on the Website.
4.3 Service Fees are due upon the processing of each relevant transaction, chargeback, refund or pay-out, as the case may be and are deducted from any funds we hold for you under this Agreement. In this regard it is recorded for clarity that you remain liable for the Service Fees levied on each transaction successfully processed irrespective of whether such transaction is thereafter denied, reversed, charged back or refunded. In the event that the funds held by PayGenius on your behalf are insufficient for the deduction of any applicable Service Fees, you remain liable for such Service Fees.
4.4 You acknowledge and agree that should your account reflect high levels of chargebacks and/or reversals, or otherwise pose an increased risk of losses for PayGenius, in the alternative or in addition to increasing the relevant Withheld Portion (as described in clause 3.4.3 above), we reserve the right to amend or vary the Service Fees and charges from time to time on 30 days prior written notice to you. When we notify you of any adjustments to the Service Fees which affect the Service, you are entitled to terminate the Service on written notice to us prior to the date in which the adjustments come into effect. If you do not terminate the Service after the adjustments come into effect, the adjustments apply to you from the date they come into effect.
5. REPORTING
5.1 PayGenius will account to you in writing in respect of each Settlement Period as to the Proceeds collected, chargebacks/reversals and/or refunds processed, Service Fees levied, and fines and penalties incurred, during such Settlement Period, notifying you of the net Proceeds payable to you, alternatively, the amount of funds due by you to PayGenius, as the case may be.
5.2 Any amount indicated as being due by you in any such aforesaid account must be paid within 10 working days from the date of such account, failing which, you hereby authorize PayGenius to deduct such amount from your bank account. To this end, you agree to the debit order authorization as accommodated within the Application Form.
6. DEPOSITS & BALANCES
6.1 You acknowledge that PayGenius does not hold a deposit-taking license (a banking license) and cannot hold funds on your behalf which are not the proceeds of payments due to from the sale of goods or services where the payment instructions were processed by PayGenius on your behalf.
6.2 You acknowledge that if PayGenius holds funds on your behalf which are not the proceeds of payments due to you from the sale of goods or services processed by PayGenius, that PayGenius will endeavour to return such funds to the payment maker within a period of 48 hours after those funds were deposited into your bank account.
7. IMPOSED TRANSACTION LIMITS & DELAYS
7.1 PayGenius reserves the right to –
7.1.1 impose an upper limit on the amount of a single transaction which will be accepted through the Service;
7.1.2 impose a transaction review for certain potentially high-risk transactions and impose limits on the amount of payments you can process through the Service without our prior written approval;
7.1.3 impose certain limits with regards to the flow of funds in the system including, but not limited to, funds received and funds withdrawn. Details of these limits will be available on the Website from time to time; and
7.1.4 freeze or suspend your access to the Service for an indefinite period if there is suspicion of any illegal activity taking place or for any other reason whatsoever.
8. NO SURCHARGES
Visa, MasterCard, Diner’s Club and American Express regulations stipulate that merchants may not charge any fees/surcharges to a person solely by reason of that person making payment via credit card (often called a “surcharge”). You thus agree that in using the Service you will not impose any fee or surcharge for the acceptance of funds through any means including, but not limited to, the acceptance of credit cards. It is recorded for the sake of clarity that handling fees charged by you for the sale of your goods or services are not prohibited, provided that the handling fees applicable to certain payment methods are no higher than those applicable to other payment methods.
9. PROHIBITED CONDUCT AND HIGH RISK TRANSACTIONS
9.1 You may not use the Service to –
9.1.1 accept payments for goods or services where payment is not yet due and for which no invoice exists which can be presented to PayGenius upon request;
9.1.2 accept payment for illegal products or services, including but not limited to materials that infringe the intellectual property rights of third parties;
9.1.3 receive payment or conduct activities in a manner that PayGenius, Visa, MasterCard, Diners, American Express or PayGenius’ bank acquirers and/or payment processors reasonably believe to be an abuse of the bank’s reversal process, credit card system or a violation of credit card association rules; or
9.1.4 to conduct any money laundering or any activity that constitutes a crime or contravenes any law, rule or regulation.
9.2 You may not, without PayGenius’ prior written approval and any third party approvals (as the case may be), in respect of the following high-risk activities, to use the Service to –
9.2.1 sell securities, business opportunities, franchises, or multi-level marketing;
9.2.2 receive payments for any sexually oriented or obscene materials or services;
9.2.3 receive payments for wagers, gambling debts or gambling winnings, regardless of the location or type of gambling activity;
9.2.4 offer, or conduct any form of direct marketing activities (such as, but not limited to inbound and/or outbound telemarketing activities) and travel-related services;
9.2.5 receive payments for any prescription and proprietary drugs and non-prescription (over-the-counter) medicines;
9.2.6 receive payments for the wholesale distribution of prescription drugs, proprietary drugs, vitamins, druggists’ sundries and toiletries, antiseptics, bandages, pharmaceuticals, and biological or related products;
9.2.7 receive payments in exchange for personal property left with you, as a merchant, as security (in other words, any services associated with a pawn shop); and/or
9.2.10 receive payments for tobacco or liquor.
9.3 In respect of the use of the Services to conduct any high-risk transactions listed in clause 9.2 above, you understand and agree that PayGenius, may, acting reasonably and upon prior written notice to you, decline or withdraw its approval to you to use the Service if (i) PayGenius believes that the use of the Service for such high-risk transactions exposes, or has exposed, PayGenius to increased risk,(ii) requested by any bank, or (iii)any card payment processors request PayGenius to withdraw such approval.
9.4 You agree that the damages that PayGenius may sustain as a result of the prohibited conduct outlined above may be substantial (especially since those payments are being made into PayGenius’ own acquiring account), and may include (without limitation) fines, penalties and other related expenses from our payment processors and service providers and/or your bank or the issuer of your cards. Consequently, in the event that you engage in such conduct, PayGenius may recover any losses suffered by PayGenius as a result of such prohibited conducted (including but not limited to associated legal and administrative costs), which you acknowledge could amount to at least R20 000 or, in the case of having been involved in prohibited gambling activities, R65 000. In addition, you agree that PayGenius is entitled to deduct any fines or penalties which PayGenius had to pay, together with such additional liquidated damages as PayGenius may suffer arising out of such prohibited conduct, directly from any funds held by PayGenius on your behalf or, if such funds are insufficient, to debit the bank accounts that you have registered with PayGenius in respect of any of the Services, in the amount of such penalties and/or liquidated damages.
9.5 If you use the Service in a manner that violates the Agreement, including but not limited by an act described in the categories described above, your Merchant Account will be subject to limitation or immediate termination, as stated in clause 17 of the General Terms.
10. DISCLAIMER & LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
10.1 No Warranties: Without derogating from the disclaimer provisions set out in the General Terms, but subject to your legal rights, the Service is provided to you without any warranty and not subject to any condition, except as may be expressly provided otherwise in the Agreement. More specifically, although we shall use reasonable care and diligence to ensure that the Service is available on a 24 hour per day basis and that requests for electronic debits and credits involving cards and bank accounts are processed in a timely manner, we make no representations or warranties regarding the time it will take to complete processing a transaction. This is because the Service is largely dependent upon many factors beyond our control, including (but not limited to) delays in the banking system or in card networks.
10.2 PayGenius does not warrant that the Service, in particular the monthly subscriptions, debit orders, ongoing monthly billing services, reports on successful and failed transactions, and/or log files, shall be error free, accurate and/or complete. Without limiting the generality of the aforegoing, PayGenius’ disclaimer of liability includes its liability for any loss or damages incurred by you, your own customer and any bank arising from any transaction executed, or online banking facilities used through use of the Service.
10.3 The Service, apart from being subject to these Service Terms as read with the General Terms, shall always be subject to the terms and regulations imposed by PayGenius’ payment processors, service providers and your bank and the issuers of your cards whose facilities are utilized in order to accept or effect payment by means of the Service. Therefore all fines, penalties or other charges, of whatever nature, imposed by the payment processors and/or service providers (including APM Providers if any) and/or banks and/or issuers of cards on PayGenius in respect of or arising from your use of the Service or your conduct of your Merchant Account will be debited to your account and you hereby authorize PayGenius to pay such fines, penalties or charges from any credit balance held by PayGenius on your behalf or, if there is no such credit balance, to recover the monies directly from you by debiting the bank accounts that you have registered in respect of the Services to the value of the fines, penalties or charges. You further indemnify PayGenius against any claim that may be made by the payment processors, service providers, APM Providers, your bank or the issuer of your cards in respect of or arising from your use of the Service or your conduct of your Merchant Account against PayGenius for any reason whatsoever.
11. YOUR WARRANTIES
In addition to any warranties and/or representations contained elsewhere in the Agreement, you hereby warrant that –
11.1 you are not a payment service provider;
11.2 you agree to use the Services solely for the purposes of receiving legitimate and lawful payments in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Agreement and all applicable laws, regulations and ordinances (“Applicable Laws”);
11.3 you will not use any of the Services for any unlawful activity and it is your responsibility to ensure that you comply with the Card Payment Processing Rules where applicable to you; and
11.4 you have never had a contract with Visa or MasterCard which was terminated at the direction of Visa, MasterCard, any regulatory authority or court of law.
12. CONSEQUENCES OF SUSPENSION & TERMINATION
12.1 To the extent that your access to the Service is suspended by PayGenius in accordance with the provisions of the Agreement, you acknowledge that you will forfeit your access to and/or use of the Service, including having funds paid out to you. Such suspension will not detract from any liability you have incurred prior to suspension. Also, note that chargebacks and reversals relating to transactions occurring prior to suspension will still be processed during suspension and you will thus be liable for those reversed/charged-back amounts as well as the Service Fees in respect thereof and any related fines or penalties which may be imposed in accordance with this Agreement.
12.2 Upon termination of the Service for any reason whatsoever, and without detracting from the provisions of the General Terms –
12.2.1 all funds held by PayGenius on your behalf (net of any and all Service Fees, Withheld Portions, as well as fines, penalties, other liabilities and charges incurred pursuant to clause 9 or clause 10.3 above) will be automatically paid out to you forthwith; and
12.2.2 at the end of any relevant Holding Period, the Withheld Portions (or the remaining balance thereof) will be paid out to you, provided that, should PayGenius reasonably anticipate a high level of chargebacks or reversals, or fraud or other illegal activity, PayGenius reserves the right to withhold any or all funds held on your behalf, for so long as is reasonably necessary for PayGenius to investigate and ascertain the extent of damages suffered due to your breach (if applicable), or whether any suspected illegal activity was indeed taking place via your Merchant Account and the extent of any harm caused thereby, at which point the amounts so withheld may be applied towards the damage/harm so suffered by PayGenius.
12.3 As with suspension, note that any chargebacks and reversals taking place after termination in relation to transactions occurring prior to termination will still be processed by PayGenius and you will thus still be liable to PayGenius for those reversed/charged-back amounts, the Service Fees in respect thereof, and any related fines or penalties which may be imposed in accordance with this Agreement. In this regard it is recorded that Payers are able to chargeback credit card transactions up to 6 (six) months after that transaction having taken place.