Terms & Conditions

1.1 These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are an agreement between you and SWIPSWXP (Pty) Ltd (registration number 2026/221606/07), a private company incorporated in the Republic of South Africa (“SWIPSWXP”, “we”, “us”). Our registered address is 26 Higgo Road, Higgovale, Cape Town, Western Cape, 8001. Our website is https://www.swipswxp.com and our support address is support@swipswxp.com.

1.2 These Terms govern your access to and use of the SWIPSWXP website, mobile application and related services (together, the “Platform”), including buying, selling and swapping goods through the Platform.

1.3 By creating an account or using the Platform you agree to these Terms, our Privacy Policy, our Community Guidelines, our Prohibited Items Policy, our Refund Policy and the Fee Schedule, each of which is incorporated into these Terms by reference.

1.4 Nothing in these Terms removes or limits any right you have under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 (“CPA”), the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 (“ECTA”), the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (“POPIA”) or any other law that cannot be excluded by agreement. If any part of these Terms conflicts with such a right, the right prevails.

2.1 In these Terms: “Buyer” means a user who makes an Offer on or purchases a Listing. “Seller” means a user approved to list goods for sale or swap. “Listing” means an item a Seller offers on the Platform. “Offer” means a proposal by a Buyer to purchase or swap, at the listed price or otherwise. “Swap” or “SWXP Transaction” means an exchange of goods between two users facilitated by the Platform, with or without a cash component. “Escrow” means the holding of a Buyer’s payment by the Payment Service Provider pending delivery confirmation as described in clause 9. “Payment Service Provider” or “PSP” means the third-party payment processor appointed by SWIPSWXP, being Ozow at launch. “Business Seller” means a Seller who sells in the ordinary course of business; “Private Seller” means any other Seller.

3.1 SWIPSWXP provides the Platform on which users transact with each other. Except where these Terms state otherwise, SWIPSWXP is not the buyer, seller or swapper in any transaction, does not own the goods listed, and is not a party to the contract of sale or exchange concluded between users.

3.2 We do provide the following services as principal: the Platform itself, the escrow-backed payment orchestration described in clause 9, the dispute process described in clause 12, and Buyer protection as described in the Fee Schedule. We are responsible for those services under the CPA as the supplier of those services.

3.3 Sellers are responsible for their Listings, the accuracy of descriptions, the condition and lawfulness of their goods, and their own tax obligations. Business Sellers carry the obligations the CPA places on suppliers of goods.

4.1 There is no minimum age to use the Platform. If you are under 18, you confirm that you use the Platform and transact with the assistance or consent of a parent or guardian where the law requires it, and your parent or guardian is responsible for your use of the Platform. We may require proof of age or identity at any time and will require identity verification before any payout to a Seller (clause 5.4).

4.2 You may hold one account. Account details must be accurate and kept current. You are responsible for activity on your account and for keeping your credentials secure. Notify support@swipswxp.com immediately of any suspected unauthorised use.

4.3 We process personal information as described in our Privacy Policy, in accordance with POPIA.

4.4 You may hold only one account, tied to your ID number and phone number, but you may run multiple business profiles under that one account. You may not use another person’s identity, or use software, multiple devices or false information to mask or fabricate your identity. We may refuse, suspend or close any account we reasonably believe is fraudulent, duplicated, or created to evade a prior suspension.

4.5 If you let someone else use your device while you are logged in, or you share your credentials, you are responsible for what they do on your account, including any transactions they enter into.

5.1 Selling is by approval. We curate Sellers for quality and safety and may decline, limit or withdraw selling privileges in line with these Terms and the Community Guidelines.

5.2 You warrant that each Listing is accurate and not misleading, that photographs show the actual item, that you own the item or are authorised to sell it, and that the item complies with the Prohibited Items Policy.

5.3 On registration as a Seller, and whenever your circumstances change, you must declare whether you sell in the ordinary course of business. Business Sellers must comply with the additional obligations in the Seller Agreement and applicable consumer law.

5.4 Before your first payout you must complete identity verification with our verification partner. Payouts are made to a South African bank account in your name within 1 day of escrow release.

5.5 You are responsible for your own tax affairs, including income tax and, where applicable, VAT on your sales.

5.6 Payouts are made only to a bank account after you have passed identity verification. You are responsible for the accuracy of your banking details; we are not liable for delays or losses caused by incorrect details you provide.

5.7 We and our payment partners must comply with anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism-financing law, including the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001 (FICA). We may ask you for identity documents, proof of address or source-of-funds information, and may hold a payout or limit your account until you provide it. We may share this information with the authorities where the law requires.

6.1 The Prohibited Items Policy lists what may not be sold, including weapons, medicines, counterfeit goods, stolen property, liquor, CITES-protected wildlife products and other regulated items. We may remove any Listing that breaches it and may report unlawful listings to authorities.

6.2 You retain ownership of content you upload. You grant SWIPSWXP a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to host, display, reproduce and promote that content for the operation and marketing of the Platform, for as long as the content remains on the Platform and a reasonable period after removal for archival, dispute and legal purposes.

6.3 You warrant that you hold the rights to content you upload, including photographs, and that identifiable people in your photographs have consented to their use. POPIA applies to identifiable people in photographs, not only account holders.

6.4 Rights holders may report infringing content to support@swipswxp.com. We operate a takedown process as described in the Community Guidelines.

6.5 Condition grading

You must select the condition grade that most accurately describes the item’s actual state. The SWIPSWXP condition scale has five tiers:

• Pristine: essentially new. Never or barely used. No visible wear.
• Very Good: minimal wear. Used with care. Looks close to new.
• Good: normal wear. No significant damage. Minor signs of use.
• Fair: visible signs of regular use. Light scuffs, minor marks, some pilling. Fully functional.
• As Is: significant wear, damage or flaws. Sold as seen. All defects must be described and photographed clearly.

Deliberately misrepresenting an item’s condition is a breach of these Terms and may result in a trust strike (clause 16) and suspension.

6.6 SWXP hashtags and swap matching

The SWXP mechanic lets you attach hashtags to a Listing to indicate the items or categories you would accept in a Swap. These hashtags feed the Platform’s swap-matching algorithm.

• Hashtags must accurately reflect items or categories you would genuinely accept in a Swap. Misleading or irrelevant hashtag use to game the matching algorithm is a breach of these Terms.
• Hashtags are normalised to lowercase hyphenated format automatically, and synonyms are mapped to canonical forms.
• A maximum of 20 hashtags may be attached to any single Listing.
• The swap-matching algorithm runs continuously across the Platform. Match notifications are not guaranteed.

6.7 If we receive a complaint that a Listing breaches the Prohibited Items Policy, we may suspend the Listing or the account while we investigate. If we find a Seller knowingly listed a prohibited item, we may remove the Listing, cancel related transactions, suspend or close the account, and report the matter to the authorities or the rights holder. A Seller has no right to the return of a prohibited item that has been removed or seized, and a Seller who lists counterfeit goods may face civil or criminal action by the rights holder, for which SWIPSWXP is not responsible.

7.1 A Buyer may purchase at the listed price or make an Offer. An Offer is open for 48 hours and then lapses. A Seller may counter-offer; a counter-offer is open for 48 hours.

7.2 A Seller may accept multiple Offers on the same Listing. The first Buyer to complete payment secures the item. Acceptance of an Offer moves the Buyer into the payment window, during which the Listing is locked for 5 to 20 minutes depending on the payment method. If payment fails, the Offer may be re-accepted and the Buyer re-enters the payment flow.

7.3 Before you commit to any transaction, the Platform displays the full price including all fees and shipping, as required by ECTA section 43. The transaction concludes only on successful payment.

8.1 The fees for using the Platform are set out in the Fee Schedule at the Fee Schedule Page on our website. Both buyers and sellers pay fees: on a cash purchase the seller pays a commission and the buyer pays a protection fee; on a swap each party pays a swap protection fee. Every fee is shown in rand, in full, before you commit.

8.2 Every fee is shown in rand, in full, before you commit to a transaction. The formula used to calculate a percentage-based fee is displayed with the amount.

8.3 We may amend the Fee Schedule. We will give at least 15 days’ notice of any fee increase or new fee by in-app notice and email. Changes apply only to transactions concluded after the effective date.

8.4 If an order is cancelled because the Seller did not ship, or is resolved in the Buyer’s favour under clause 12, or cancelled under a valid cooling-off or return right, the Buyer is refunded in full including the buyer protection fee. We may retain the protection fee where an order is cancelled because of the Buyer’s own breach of these Terms. The detail is in the Refund Policy.

9.1 All payments are processed by the PSP. When a Buyer pays, the funds are held by the PSP and are not released to the Seller until the conditions in clause 9.2 are met. SWIPSWXP does not itself hold, control or take possession of user funds at any point.

9.2 The PSP releases funds to the Seller when the Buyer confirms receipt of the item, or automatically 72 hours after confirmed delivery if the Buyer has neither confirmed receipt nor opened a dispute. If a dispute is opened within that window, the funds remain held until the dispute is resolved under clause 12.

9.3 If a transaction is cancelled or a dispute is resolved in the Buyer’s favour, the held funds are returned to the Buyer through the PSP. Refund timing depends on the payment method.

9.4 We may change PSP on notice. A change of PSP does not change how escrow protection works.

9.5 If a payment fails, is reversed, or is charged back after a transaction has proceeded, we may suspend the affected transaction, reverse any release of funds, and recover amounts owed to us or to the Seller, including from future payouts. We may suspend an account with a pattern of failed payments or chargebacks while we investigate.

10.1 Shipping runs through the Platform’s integrated courier and locker partners. The Seller must dispatch within 5 days of payment (the “shipping window”). Tracking is integrated into the Platform. Available carrier methods are shown at checkout and listed on the shipping page.

10.2 An item is treated as lost in transit if not delivered within 15 days of dispatch, at which point the lost-in-transit process starts and the Buyer is refunded, or the parties are restored as near as possible to their original position, in line with the Refund Policy.

10.3 Risk in the goods passes to the Buyer on delivery. Sellers must package items adequately; damage attributable to inadequate packaging is the Seller’s responsibility in a dispute.

10.4 A Seller may cancel an order before dispatch, but doing so is a breach of these Terms. The Buyer receives a full refund of all amounts paid, including fees, and the Seller receives a trust strike under clause 16.

11.1 A Swap is an exchange of goods between two users matched through the Platform. Each party to a Swap pays the swap protection fee in clause 8.1. Where a Swap includes a cash component, the cash component is held in escrow under clause 9.

11.2 On a swap, both parties ship. By default both ship at the same time under the simultaneous shipment lock: neither collection code is released until both items are confirmed in transit. Sequenced shipping, where the party with the lower swap streak ships first, is optional and available on request only to users with more than 15 successful swaps. Swap streak tiers and their thresholds are described on the Platform.

11.3 Before dispatch, each party must complete the video verification step, in which a short video of the item is compared against the Listing. A party who fails or refuses verification may not proceed with the Swap.

11.4 Aramex is not available for Swap transactions. The courier options available for a Swap are shown at checkout.

11.5 For eligible categories (electronics, handbags, watches, luxury goods, sneakers), parties may elect authentication within a 48-hour election window. Electing authentication moves the parties to payment of the swap protection fee, the authentication fee in the Fee Schedule, and two-way shipping. The process continues only once both parties have paid. Assessment takes up to 5 days after the item reaches the authentication partner. Authentication fee: R500 for eligible items under R20,000, and free at R20,000 and above. On a pass, the party who requested authentication pays.

11.6 If an item fails authentication or a Swap leg fails (item not as described, damaged in transit or similar), the dispute process in clause 12 applies and the parties are restored as near as possible to their original position. For failed authentications such as fraud, the authentication fee and 2-way transport of the passed authentication is paid by the failed party.

12.1 A Buyer (or either Swap party) may open a dispute within 72 hours of confirmed delivery if the item was not received, is not as described, or arrived damaged. Opening a dispute suspends escrow release.

12.2 Both parties must supply requested evidence (photographs, video, tracking) within the timeframes set in the dispute flow. We aim to resolve disputes within 5 days of the evidence closing.

12.3 Funds are held in escrow from the point of payment and are only released to the Seller once the Buyer confirms receipt of the item in the condition described, or automatically once the 72-hour dispute window closes with no dispute raised. If the Buyer raises a dispute within the window on the grounds that the item is not as described (INAD), damaged, or otherwise not what was listed, no funds are released to the Seller. The funds remain held until the dispute is resolved through SWIPSWXP’s dispute resolution process, and are then released to the Seller, refunded to the Buyer in full, or refunded in part, according to the outcome.

12.4 Raising a dispute in bad faith, or providing false or misleading evidence, is a breach of these Terms and may result in a trust strike and suspension or termination under clauses 16 and 17. It does not result in forfeiture of your funds: money held by the PSP is always returned or released through the escrow and dispute process, never retained by SWIPSWXP as a penalty.

12.5 Our dispute process does not replace your legal rights. You may at any time refer a complaint to the Consumer Goods and Services Ombud (CGSO), the National Consumer Commission (NCC), or a court. Nothing in these Terms ousts those remedies.

13.1 Where ECTA section 44 applies to your purchase, you may cancel within 7 days of delivery without reason and receive a refund, less the direct cost of returning the goods.

13.2 The Refund Policy describes when refunds are given, who pays return shipping, and how refunds interact with escrow. Refunds required by law are always honoured; platform goodwill refunds are additional to, and never a substitute for, your statutory rights.

14.1 The Platform uses automated systems for feed personalisation, fraud and risk detection, and content moderation. Some decisions, such as flagging a transaction for review or blocking a listing, are made or initiated automatically.

14.2 Where a decision that significantly affects you is made solely by automated means, you have the right under POPIA section 71 to have the decision reviewed by a human. To exercise it, contact support@swipswxp.com. The Privacy Policy describes these systems and the contest path in more detail.

14.3 How your feed and search results are ranked. The order in which Listings appear to you is set by our personalisation and ranking systems, which use signals such as: the words in Listing titles and descriptions; tags and categories; how recent the Listing is and whether the Seller is new; your avatar and your past activity and preferences; and, for related-item suggestions, similarity between Listings. Some areas of the Platform show selections we curate by hand on grounds such as quality, season and popularity. Where a Seller has paid to boost a Listing, that is a ranking factor and is identified as promoted.

15.1 You must comply with the Community Guidelines. You must not: use the Platform for unlawful purposes; harass or defraud other users; manipulate reviews, streaks or the matching system; create Listings you cannot fulfil; or interfere with the Platform’s operation or security.

15.2 Off-platform dealing. You may not use the Platform to find a counterparty and then complete the transaction off the Platform to avoid fees or protections, and you may not solicit or share contact details for that purpose. Transactions completed off the Platform carry no Buyer protection, no escrow and no dispute process, and off-platform dealing is grounds for suspension.

15.3 Monitoring and moderation. To keep the Platform safe and lawful, we may review Listings, content and messages sent through the Platform, including with automated tools, and may remove or hide content, or restrict an account, that breaches these Terms or the Community Guidelines. We do this proportionately and in line with our Privacy Policy and POPIA. Automated flags that materially affect you are subject to the human-review right in clause 14.2. We are not obliged to monitor, and reviewing some content does not make us responsible for all of it.

16.1 SWIPSWXP operates a progressive three-strike trust system to maintain community standards. Trust strikes are recorded against your account and are not publicly visible.

• First strike: a warning is issued and recorded. No restriction on account activity.
• Second strike: a warning is issued. You are informed that a third strike will result in a selling suspension.
• Third strike: selling privileges are suspended. You may contact support to appeal.

16.2 Trust strikes are issued for: non-shipment within the shipping window (cash and swap), cancellation of an order after payment by a Seller, fraudulent listing or dispute conduct, and material misrepresentation of an item’s condition. A strike is not issued to a Swap party for non-completion within a permitted response window where these Terms or the Platform allow that time.

17.1 We apply a graduated enforcement approach: warnings before restrictions, restrictions before suspension, except where the conduct involves fraud, illegality, danger to users or repeated serious breaches, in which case we may suspend or terminate immediately.

17.2 If your account is suspended or terminated, transactions already paid for are completed or unwound through the normal escrow and dispute process. Funds held by the PSP are dealt with under clauses 9 and 12, not forfeited.

17.3 You may close your account at any time. Closing your account does not affect transactions in progress or accrued rights and obligations.

18.1 Read this clause carefully. It limits our liability.

18.2 We are liable, without limitation, for harm caused by our gross negligence or wilful misconduct, and for any liability that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded, including under CPA sections 48, 49 and 51.

18.3 Because we are not a party to sales between users (clause 3), we are not liable for the goods themselves: their condition, safety, lawfulness or conformity with the Listing. Our responsibility for a failed transaction is discharged through the Buyer protection and dispute process, escrow refund and, where applicable, the Refund Policy.

18.4 For the services we do supply as principal (clause 3.2), and to the extent the law allows, our total liability to you in any 12-month period is limited to the greater of (a) the fees you paid us in that period and (b) R5,000.

18.5 We do not exclude or limit liability where the CPA or any other law prohibits it, and nothing in this clause limits your statutory rights.

19.1 To the extent permitted by law, you indemnify and hold harmless SWIPSWXP (Pty) Ltd, its directors, employees and agents against any claims, damages, losses, costs and reasonable legal fees arising from: (a) your use of the Platform; (b) your Listings or transactions; (c) your breach of these Terms; or (d) your violation of any law or the rights of any third party.

19.2 This indemnity does not apply to the extent a loss is caused by our own gross negligence or wilful misconduct, and nothing in it limits any right you have under the CPA or other law that cannot be excluded by agreement.

20.1 We work to keep the Platform available and secure but do not promise uninterrupted or error-free operation. Planned maintenance will be notified where practical. Clause 18 governs liability for downtime.

20.2 The Platform is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. To the extent the law allows, we do not warrant that it will be error-free, secure or free of harmful code, and you access it at your own risk using your own device and connection. This clause does not limit the responsibility we accept for our own services in clause 3.2, and does not affect any right you have under the CPA that cannot be excluded.

21.1 We may amend these Terms. Material changes will be notified at least 30 days in advance by in-app notice and email, with a plain-language summary of what is changing. Continued use after the effective date is acceptance. If you do not accept a change, you may close your account under clause 17.3 before the effective date.

21.2 The current version and its effective date are always published on the Platform. We keep prior versions available on request.

22.1 These Terms are governed by the law of the Republic of South Africa.

22.2 Disputes between you and SWIPSWXP that our support process cannot resolve may be brought before any court with jurisdiction, and consumers retain all rights to approach the CGSO, the NCC and any other statutory forum. To the extent permitted, the parties consent to the jurisdiction of the Western Cape Division of the High Court and to magistrates’ courts with jurisdiction.

22.3 For Apple App Store users: these Terms are an agreement between you and SWIPSWXP (Pty) Ltd only, and not with Apple Inc. Apple is not a party to these Terms, does not sponsor or endorse the Platform, is not responsible for the Platform or its content, and has no obligation to provide maintenance or support for the Platform.

22.4 For Google Play users: these Terms are an agreement between you and SWIPSWXP (Pty) Ltd only, and not with Google LLC. Google is not a party to these Terms and bears no responsibility for the Platform.

23.1 These Terms, with the documents incorporated in clause 1.3, are the whole agreement between you and SWIPSWXP for the Platform. If any provision is unenforceable, the rest remain in force. Our not enforcing a provision is not a waiver. You may not cede or assign your account; we may assign these Terms within a group restructure or sale of the business, on notice.

23.2 We may send notices in-app, by email to your registered address, or by WhatsApp where you have opted in. Legal notices to us go to support@swipswxp.com and to the registered address in clause 1.1, marked for the attention of the directors. Electronic communications satisfy any requirement of writing under ECTA.

24.1 The Platform and everything in it that is ours, including the software and code, the SWIPSWXP name and logo, the SWXP mark, the avatar system, the interface design, graphics and text, is owned by or licensed to SWIPSWXP and is protected by law. We reserve all rights not expressly granted.

24.2 We grant you a personal, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the Platform for its intended purpose while you comply with these Terms. You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, reverse-engineer or create derivative works from our intellectual property, or remove our branding, without our written consent.

24.3 This clause is separate from the licence you give us over your own content in clause 6.2, which remains yours.

25.1 Neither party is in breach for a failure or delay caused by an event beyond its reasonable control, including load-shedding and power surges, network or payment-provider outages, natural disasters, fire, flood, epidemic, government action, or civil unrest. The affected party must take reasonable steps to limit the effect and resume performance.

25.2 These Terms do not create any partnership, joint venture, employment or agency relationship between you and SWIPSWXP. We provide a marketplace service; the sale or swap is between users.

25.3 In these Terms, the singular includes the plural and one gender includes the others; headings are for reference only and do not affect interpretation; and a reference to a policy or law includes it as amended from time to time.

B1.1 The Platform is in a curated beta: access is by invitation, the service is under active development, and features, policies and limits may change frequently. This Addendum applies from your acceptance until public launch is announced under clause B9.

B2.1 Beta access is personal and non-transferable. You may not sell, publish or share invitation codes. Where you are given invitations to share, they may only be passed directly to people you know, and each invitee is subject to these Terms.

B2.2 We may cap the number of beta users, pause registrations, or revoke beta access at our discretion, with notice where reasonable. Revocation of beta access is not a sanction under clause 17 of the Master Terms unless we say so; in-progress transactions complete normally under escrow.

B3.1 During the beta, selling is by application and curation. We may approve, decline, limit or withdraw selling privileges on quality grounds without a breach having occurred. Curation decisions are not dispute outcomes and carry no compensation.

B4.1 Beta features may be added, changed, withdrawn or interrupted without notice. We give no service-level or uptime commitment during the beta. Escrow protection, the dispute process and your statutory rights are not reduced by this clause: money and disputes are handled exactly as in the Master Terms.

B5.1 If you give us feedback, ideas or suggestions about the Platform, we may use them without restriction or payment, and you waive any claim to compensation or attribution for improvements built from them. This does not transfer ownership of your content (clause 6.2 of the Master Terms still applies).

B6.1 During the beta we collect more detailed usage analytics than we will at public launch (for example screen-level interaction data and funnel instrumentation) to fix problems and improve the product. This is described in the Privacy Policy, processed under POPIA, and never includes reading your private messages for product analytics.

B7.1 Beta rewards, credits or founding-seller benefits have no cash value, are not transferable, and expire at public launch unless we state otherwise in writing when granting them. Founding-seller status and its benefits will be defined in the ambassador and partnership framework.

B8.1 Accounts, listings, streaks and reviews carry over to public launch by default. If a reset of any data is required, we will give at least 14 days’ notice and a way to export your listings and transaction history. Transaction and payout records are retained as required by law.

B9.1 We will announce public launch in-app and by email. On the announced date this Addendum falls away and the Master Terms (as then published) apply on their own. Continued use after that date is acceptance of the then-current Master Terms.