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Last updated: March 2026

Terms of Service

These terms govern your access to and use of the Palpluss platform. Please read them carefully — they cover how transaction fees work, our reversal policy, what constitutes abuse, and the principles that guide how we operate.

Acceptance of Terms

Agreement

By creating a Palpluss account or accessing any part of the platform — including the API, Console, or SDKs — you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service, our Privacy Policy, and any additional guidelines published by Palpluss. If you are accessing the platform on behalf of a business entity, you represent that you have authority to bind that entity to these terms.

Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years of age and capable of forming a binding contract under Kenyan law. Businesses must be duly registered under the laws of Kenya or the jurisdiction in which they operate. We reserve the right to deny service to any person or entity that does not meet eligibility requirements or that poses a compliance risk.

Changes to Terms

Palpluss may revise these terms at any time. We will notify you of material changes via email or a prominent notice in the Console. Continued use of the platform after the effective date of changes constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.

Service Wallet and Transaction Fees

Pre-Funded Wallet

The Palpluss service wallet is a pre-funded balance maintained by you within our platform. This balance is used exclusively to pay the per-transaction fees charged by Palpluss for processing STK Push and B2C payment requests. The service wallet does not hold M-Pesa float or settle merchant funds — it is solely a fee-payment mechanism.

Fee Deduction at Initiation

A transaction fee is deducted from your service wallet at the moment a request is initiated — before the underlying M-Pesa transaction is confirmed. This means fees are charged for attempts, not only for successful transactions. By submitting a payment request, you authorise the immediate deduction of the applicable fee from your service wallet balance.

Insufficient Balance

If your service wallet balance is insufficient to cover the fee at the time of initiation, the request will be rejected and no transaction will be submitted to M-Pesa. It is your responsibility to maintain adequate balance. Palpluss is not liable for failed business operations resulting from an empty or insufficient wallet.

Wallet Top-Up

You may top up your service wallet at any time through the methods available in the Palpluss Console. Top-up amounts are reflected immediately upon confirmed payment. Palpluss does not charge a fee for wallet top-ups.

Wallet Refunds

Unused service wallet balance may be refunded upon account closure or upon written request, subject to identity verification and a review period of up to 14 business days. Palpluss reserves the right to withhold balances that are subject to an active investigation or compliance hold.

Transaction Reversals

Nature of M-Pesa Transactions

STK Push and B2C transactions processed through the Palpluss platform are executed via Safaricom's M-Pesa infrastructure. Once a transaction is confirmed by Safaricom, it is considered final and settled. Palpluss does not have the technical ability to unilaterally reverse a completed M-Pesa transaction.

Reversal Requests

If you believe a transaction was processed in error — such as a duplicate payment, incorrect recipient phone number, or a fraudulent instruction — you must submit a reversal request through the Palpluss Console or via our support team within 48 hours of the transaction timestamp. Requests submitted after this window will not be eligible for reversal assistance.

Reversal Process

Upon receiving a valid reversal request, Palpluss will initiate a formal reversal request on your behalf to Safaricom through the Daraja API. Reversals are subject to Safaricom's own policies, eligibility criteria, and processing timelines, which are outside Palpluss's control. Palpluss makes no guarantee that a reversal request will be approved or that funds will be recovered.

Fees on Reversed Transactions

Transaction fees deducted at initiation are non-refundable, including for transactions that are subsequently reversed. If Safaricom approves a reversal, the original transaction amount is returned to the source, but the Palpluss service fee for that request is not credited back to your wallet.

Erroneous Disbursements

In the case of B2C payments sent to an incorrect recipient, Palpluss may — at its sole discretion — attempt to contact the recipient and facilitate a voluntary return of funds. This is a best-effort service only. Palpluss assumes no financial liability for funds disbursed to the wrong recipient due to incorrect data submitted by the developer or business.

Chargebacks and Disputes

As Palpluss is a payment API intermediary and not a direct payment processor, conventional chargeback mechanisms do not apply. Disputes related to STK Push collections between you and your end customers are your responsibility to resolve. Palpluss may provide transaction logs and evidence to assist in dispute resolution upon request.

Acceptable Use and Abuse

Permitted Use

The Palpluss platform is designed for legitimate business and developer use cases, including collecting payments from customers via STK Push and disbursing funds to employees, contractors, or customers via B2C. You may only use the platform in accordance with applicable Kenyan law, Safaricom's M-Pesa terms, and these terms.

Prohibited Activities

You must not use the Palpluss platform to: process payments for illegal goods or services; initiate transactions without the explicit consent of the payer; facilitate money laundering, terrorist financing, or sanctions evasion; send unsolicited STK Push prompts to users who have not authorised a payment; engage in wash trading or circular payment schemes; or misrepresent the nature or purpose of a transaction in API metadata.

API Abuse

You must not use the API in a way that degrades service quality for other users. This includes: sending requests at rates that exceed your allocated limits without prior agreement; deliberately triggering retries or timeouts to probe system behaviour; reverse-engineering the platform to bypass security or billing controls; or using automated scripts to stress-test the production environment without written consent.

Credential Security

Your API keys and service account credentials are your responsibility. You must not share API keys publicly, embed them in client-side code, or store them in version control. If you believe a key has been compromised, you must rotate it immediately via the Console. Palpluss will not compensate for charges or data exposure resulting from leaked credentials.

Reporting Abuse

If you become aware of abuse of the Palpluss platform — including by another user — please report it to abuse@palpluss.com. We investigate all reports and take action including account suspension and referral to law enforcement where appropriate.

Consequences of Abuse

Violation of these acceptable use terms may result in immediate suspension or termination of your account, forfeiture of service wallet balance, reporting to relevant regulatory authorities (including the FRC and CBK), and legal action. Palpluss reserves the right to withhold termination notice when doing so is necessary for security or legal reasons.

Platform Content Philosophy

Developer-Centric Design

Palpluss is built on a belief that the API contract is sacred. We do not make breaking changes to request or response structures without a minimum 90-day deprecation notice. Where breaking changes are unavoidable due to Safaricom API updates, we will provide migration guides and extended support periods.

Transparent Operations

We publish our current transaction fee schedule publicly and update it with at least 30 days notice before changes take effect. Planned maintenance windows, known degradations, and historical uptime data are available on our status page at palpluss.instatus.com. We do not hide fees in fine print or adjust pricing retroactively.

Data Minimalism

We collect only the data we need to operate the service. We do not analyse your end customers' transaction histories for commercial purposes. Anonymised aggregate data (e.g. total volume processed through the platform) may be used for product analytics and public reporting.

No Lock-in

You own your data. Transaction history exports are available at any time in CSV and JSON format from the Console. If you decide to stop using Palpluss, we will assist with a transition and provide your records in a portable format within 10 business days of a written request.

Responsible Growth

We do not approve accounts for use cases that we believe carry disproportionate risk of consumer harm — regardless of transaction volume. We apply additional scrutiny to high-volume B2C disbursement use cases and reserve the right to request additional documentation before enabling access to certain features.

Limitation of Liability

Service Availability

Palpluss provides the platform on an 'as available' basis. While we target high availability, we do not guarantee uninterrupted service. Downtime caused by Safaricom's M-Pesa infrastructure, force majeure events, or scheduled maintenance is outside our control and does not give rise to liability.

Maximum Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Palpluss's total liability to you for any claim arising out of or related to these terms or the platform shall not exceed the total service fees paid by you to Palpluss in the three (3) months preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

Exclusions

Palpluss shall not be liable for: indirect, consequential, or incidental damages; loss of revenue or profits; loss of data; or damages arising from your reliance on the platform for time-sensitive business operations without maintaining appropriate fallback mechanisms.

Governing Law

Jurisdiction

These Terms of Service are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Kenya. Any dispute arising out of or in connection with these terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Nairobi, Kenya.

Dispute Resolution

Before initiating formal legal proceedings, both parties agree to attempt in good faith to resolve any dispute through direct negotiation for a period of 30 days. If unresolved, disputes may be referred to arbitration under the Arbitration Act, Cap. 49 of the Laws of Kenya.

Questions

For questions about these terms, contact our legal team at:

hello@email.palpluss.com