Terms of Service

Shariz is a product of Rex Apricus (Pty) Ltd (registration number 2022/206409/07), a company registered in South Africa ("we", "us", "our"). References to "Shariz" in these terms mean the Shariz mobile application, web application and website operated by Rex Apricus (Pty) Ltd.

These terms form a binding agreement between you and Rex Apricus (Pty) Ltd. By creating an account or using Shariz you agree to them. If you do not agree, do not use the service.

Shariz is software. We provide tools to plan group events, pool contributions towards a shared budget, record expenses, and split bills between people.

Shariz is not a bank, is not a deposit-taking institution, and does not hold, control or have access to your money. We do not provide financial advice, credit, insurance or guarantees of any kind.

Contributions to an event are held in escrow by TradeSafe, an independent South Africa escrow provider, under TradeSafe's own terms and regulatory obligations. We instruct TradeSafe on your behalf and on the instruction of the event's participants. We cannot move funds outside the rules described in these terms and in the app.

You must be at least 18 years old and legally able to enter into a contract to use Shariz. Shariz is currently offered only in South Africa.

You are responsible for the accuracy of the information on your account, for keeping your credentials secure, and for everything done through your account. Tell us immediately at [email protected] if you believe your account has been accessed without your permission.

You may delete your account at any time from within the app. Deleting your account does not cancel an event you created, reverse a contribution already made, or remove records we are required to keep. See clause 10.

An event has an organiser (the person who created it) and participants. The organiser sets a target amount and a due date, and invites participants. Invitations expire 7 days after they are sent.

When you contribute to an event, your payment is collected by TradeSafe and held in escrow against that event. The minimum single contribution is R50.

Contributing to an event is voluntary. Being invited to an event, or being recorded in an event as expected to contribute a particular amount, does not create a debt owed to us, to the organiser, or to any other participant. Shariz does not collect debts and will not pursue anyone on your behalf.

Funds are released from escrow only when an expense is approved according to the approval rules configured for that event. You accept that where an event's rules permit an organiser or moderator to approve an expense, funds may be released without your individual approval. Review an event's settings before you contribute.

We charge 2.9% of each event contribution. This is deducted from the event's pooled funds, not added to what you pay. We charge nothing when funds leave escrow, including on a refund.

We currently charge nothing on bill payments. A 1% fee applies only where a bill settles through a payment provider that does not hold funds in escrow; no such provider is enabled, so no fee is charged today. If that changes we will publish it on our pricing page before it applies.

TradeSafe charges its own escrow and card-processing fees, which TradeSafe sets and which are separate from ours. Those fees are not refundable by us.

We may change our fees. If we do, we will publish the change on our pricing page before it applies to any event created after that date. A change will not apply retrospectively to an event already in progress.

The organiser of an event may cancel it. On cancellation, contributions held in escrow are refunded to the participants who made them, through TradeSafe.

A refund returns the contribution to its original payer. It does not return TradeSafe's processing fees on the original payment, which are not ours to return.

Once funds have been released from escrow for an approved expense, they cannot be recalled by us. A dispute about money already spent is between the event's participants.

Nothing in this clause limits any right you have under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 or other applicable South Africa law.

Shariz records what was contributed, approved and spent. We do not arbitrate disagreements between participants about whether money should have been spent, who owes what, or whether someone should have contributed.

If participants in an event are in dispute, that dispute is between them. Where an escrow dispute mechanism is available through TradeSafe, it operates under TradeSafe's terms.

You may not use Shariz to launder money, finance terrorism, evade tax, defraud anyone, or for any unlawful purpose. You may not use Shariz to raise funds from the public, to operate a lottery or investment scheme, or as a general-purpose payment service between unconnected parties.

You may not use another person's payment method without their permission, misrepresent who you are, attempt to interfere with the service, or upload receipts or content that is unlawful or that infringes someone else's rights.

We may suspend or close an account, and decline to process an instruction, where we reasonably believe these terms have been breached or where we are required to do so by law or by TradeSafe.

We aim to keep Shariz available but we do not guarantee uninterrupted access. The service depends on third parties, including TradeSafe, payment networks and mobile platforms, whose availability we do not control.

Receipt scanning uses automated text recognition. It is a convenience, not a guarantee of accuracy, and you are responsible for checking the amounts before creating or approving anything based on a scan.

We may change, suspend or discontinue features. Where a change materially affects money already held in escrow, we will tell affected users before it takes effect.

Our handling of personal information is described in our Privacy Policy, which forms part of these terms. We process personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA).

We retain transaction and escrow records after account deletion where we are required to, including to meet financial record-keeping obligations. See the Privacy Policy for retention periods.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or under the Consumer Protection Act.

Subject to that, we are not liable for loss that was not reasonably foreseeable, for loss of profit or opportunity, or for the acts or omissions of TradeSafe, a payment network, or another user.

Because we do not hold your funds, a claim relating to the custody of escrowed money is a claim against TradeSafe under its arrangement with you, not against us.

These terms are governed by the laws of South Africa, and the courts of South Africa have jurisdiction.

We may update these terms. We will post the updated version here and change the date at the top. If a change materially affects your rights, we will give you notice in the app or by email before it takes effect. Continuing to use Shariz after that means you accept the updated terms.

If any clause is found unenforceable, the rest remains in force. Our failure to enforce a term is not a waiver of it.

Questions about these terms: [email protected].