Terms of use

1. About these terms#

These terms of use (“terms”) apply when you visit or use SMA (Smart Market Advert), including the marketplace at sma.rovidgh.com, every shop page on an SMA address or a shop’s own domain, and our apps (together, “SMA”). SMA is operated by Rovid (“we”, “us”), based in Ghana.

By browsing SMA, placing an order, creating an account or writing a review, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, please do not use SMA. If you run a shop on SMA, our seller terms also apply to you. How we handle personal data is explained in our privacy policy and cookie notice.

2. What SMA is, and what it is not#

SMA is an online marketplace and shop-building service. Independent businesses (“shops” or “sellers”) use SMA to list their products, receive orders and promote themselves. Shoppers use SMA to discover those shops and send them orders.

• We are not the seller. Every product on SMA is offered by the shop that lists it. The sale is an agreement between you and that shop. SMA is not a party to it.
• We do not take payment for products. You pay the shop directly, in the way you agree with it (for example cash on delivery or mobile money). SMA never collects, holds or refunds money for a product.
• We do not deliver. Delivery, collection, delivery fees and timing are arranged between you and the shop.
• We do not check every listing. Shops write their own product descriptions, photos and prices. We do not inspect goods and cannot guarantee their quality, safety, legality or that they match the listing, although we act on reports of listings that break our rules.

3. Using SMA and your account#

You can browse and order without an account. If you create a shopper account, you sign in with a one-time code we send to your email address; there is no password. You are responsible for keeping access to that email account secure, and for activity in your SMA account. Tell us straight away if you think someone else has used it.

You must be at least 18 years old, or have the permission and supervision of a parent or guardian, to place an order or create an account. You must give accurate contact details, because shops use them to confirm and deliver your orders.

You may sign out at any time, and you can ask us to delete your account as described in our privacy policy.

4. Placing orders#

When you place an order on SMA, you send a request to buy to the shop concerned. If your cart contains items from several shops, a separate order is sent to each shop, and each shop deals with its own order.

• An order becomes a binding sale only when the shop confirms it. A shop may decline or cancel an order, for example if an item is out of stock or a price was listed in error.
• Prices, descriptions, stock, options, discounts and flash-sale times are set by each shop. Prices are shown in the shop’s currency, usually Ghana cedis (GHS). Delivery costs are not normally included and should be agreed with the shop.
• After you order, the shop will contact you using the details you gave to agree payment and delivery. You can follow an order from your account or the shop’s “Track an order” page.
• Please only place orders you intend to complete. Repeatedly placing orders you do not collect or pay for may lead us to restrict your use of SMA.

5. Payment and delivery#

Payment for products is made directly to the shop, outside SMA. SMA will never ask you to pay SMA for a product or to send money to an SMA account for a purchase. If anyone asks you to do so in SMA’s name, do not pay, and report it to us.

Agree the payment method, the delivery or collection arrangements and any delivery fee with the shop before you pay. We strongly recommend that you inspect goods before paying where you can, and that you follow our safety tips.

6. Returns, refunds and disputes#

Returns, exchanges and refunds are handled by the shop you bought from, under its own policy and the law. Our returns and refunds policy explains the minimum standards we ask shops to meet and how to ask us for help if you cannot resolve a problem with a shop.

Because we are not a party to the sale and do not hold your money, we cannot make a refund ourselves or force a shop to make one. We can, however, look into complaints and take action against shops that break our rules, including suspending them. Nothing in these terms limits any rights you have under Ghanaian consumer protection law.

7. Reviews and content you submit#

After a shop confirms your order, you may receive a private link to review the products you bought. Only customers with a confirmed order can review a product, which is why reviews are marked as from verified buyers. When you write a review or send us or a shop any content, you agree that it:

• describes your own, genuine experience of the product and the shop;
• is not offensive, threatening, discriminatory, sexually explicit or defamatory;
• does not include anyone’s personal details, such as phone numbers or addresses;
• is not advertising, spam, or written or paid for by the shop or its competitors; and
• does not infringe anyone else’s rights.

The name you choose is shown with your review. Shops may publicly reply to reviews. We may hide or remove reviews or other content that breaks these rules. You keep ownership of what you write, and you give us a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to show, store and reproduce it on SMA and in promoting SMA and the shop concerned, for as long as it remains published.

8. Things you must not do#

When using SMA you must not:

• break any law, or use SMA for fraud, money laundering or any other illegal purpose;
• impersonate a person, a shop or SMA, or give false contact details;
• harass, threaten or abuse shops, shoppers or our staff;
• post fake orders, fake reviews or misleading information;
• try to take a transaction off SMA in order to defraud the other party;
• copy, scrape or harvest shop or shopper data, except as allowed by our robots.txt for search engines;
• interfere with SMA’s security or operation, probe for vulnerabilities without permission, or overload our systems;
• upload viruses or other harmful code; or
• list, buy or promote anything on our prohibited items list.

9. Selling on SMA#

Businesses that open a shop on SMA agree to our seller terms, which cover listings, order handling, delivery, returns, subscriptions and billing, verification and the content we use to promote shops. Paid SMA plans are subscriptions bought from us by sellers; they have nothing to do with the price a shopper pays a shop.

10. Intellectual property#

The SMA name, logo, website design and software belong to us or our licensors. You may use SMA for its intended purpose, but you may not copy, modify, sell or reverse-engineer it, or use our name or logo without our written permission. Shop names, logos, product photos and descriptions belong to the shops that provide them.

If you believe something on SMA infringes your copyright or trade mark, contact us with the address of the page, a description of your work and proof that you own it, and we will review it promptly.

11. Other services and links#

SMA links to services we do not control, such as WhatsApp when you message a shop, social networks, and shops’ own websites. Those services have their own terms and privacy policies, and we are not responsible for them.

12. Suspension and termination#

We may restrict, suspend or close an account or shop, remove content, or refuse service if we reasonably believe that these terms or the law have been broken, that there is a risk of harm or fraud to others, or if we are required to by law. Where it is safe and lawful to do so, we will tell you why and give you a chance to respond. You may stop using SMA at any time.

13. Disclaimers#

We work hard to keep SMA available and accurate, but we provide it “as is” and “as available”. To the extent the law allows, we do not promise that SMA will be uninterrupted or error-free, and we give no guarantee about any shop, product, listing, review, delivery or payment. Verified shop badges and verified-buyer reviews are signals to help you decide; they are not a guarantee of a shop’s products or conduct.

14. Limitation of liability#

To the fullest extent permitted by law:

• we are not liable for any loss arising from a sale between you and a shop, including faulty, late, missing or misdescribed goods, or a payment you made to a shop;
• we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, or for loss of profit, revenue, business or data; and
• our total liability to you for any claim connected with SMA is limited to the fees you paid to us in the twelve months before the claim arose or, if you have paid us nothing, one hundred Ghana cedis (GHS 100).

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded or limited by law, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.

15. Governing law and disputes#

These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of Ghana. If you have a complaint about SMA, please contact us first so that we can try to resolve it informally. If we cannot, the courts of Ghana have jurisdiction, without affecting any right you have to bring a claim in the courts where you live.

16. Changes to these terms#

We may update these terms as SMA changes or when the law requires it. We will change the “Last updated” date above and, for significant changes, give notice on SMA or by email before they take effect. If you keep using SMA after the changes take effect, the updated terms apply.

17. Contact us#

Questions about these terms? Reach us in any of these ways:

• Send us a message through our contact page.
• WhatsApp: +233247913462