Terms of use

1. About these terms

In short: These terms are an agreement between you and Pearnify. By using Pearnify, you agree to them.

These terms are an agreement between you and Pearnify Group Ltd ("Pearnify", "we", "us"). We are a company registered in Ghana (company number CS206581026), at Naa Leekai Road, Mataheko, Accra.

They cover the Pearnify app, the Pearnify web app and this website. When you create an account, or tap to agree, you accept these terms. Under the Electronic Transactions Act, 2008 (Act 772), agreeing in the app counts just like signing on paper.

Our privacy policy explains how we use your information. The rules shown in the app at the time you act (for example, when you cancel) are part of these terms.

2. What Pearnify is, and what we do

In short: We bring people together and look after the payment. The work or the sale is agreed between the two of you. We do not employ earners.

On Pearnify you can:

• Post work: ask for a job to be done, and pay for it.
• Earn: find work and get paid for it.
• Offer services and sell things: show what you offer, and sell goods.

In these terms, a "poster" is the person who posts and pays for work. An "earner" is the person who does it. A "courier" is an earner who carries a delivery. A "seller" sells goods and a "buyer" buys them.

Our role. Pearnify is a marketplace (a place where people meet to trade). When you agree a job or an order, the agreement is between you and the other person. Pearnify is not part of that agreement. We do not do the work, make the goods or carry the parcels ourselves. We do provide the app, hold the payment until the work or order is confirmed, and help settle problems.

Earners are independent. Earners, couriers and sellers work for themselves. They are not our employees, workers or agents. They choose which work to take, and when and how to do it. [Lawyer to confirm this wording under the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651).]

3. Your account

In short: You must be 18 or older. Give true details, have only one account, and keep your password safe.

• You must be 18 years old or older to use Pearnify. We check your age when you check your ID (section 4).
• Give your true legal names. We check your email address and phone number with codes before your account is made.
• One account per person. Each phone number, email address and ID document can be used on one account only.
• Your @username must not pretend to be someone else, or be a phone number or email address. Some names are reserved, like "admin" or anything with "pearnify" in it.
• Keep your password to yourself. You are responsible for what is done on your account. Tell us at once if you think someone else is using it. We advise you to switch on two-step sign-in in settings.
• Text messages. When you give us your phone number, you agree that we may send you text messages: codes to check your number and sign in, and messages about your account, your work, your orders and your money. We do not send adverts by text. How often we send them depends on what you do. Your mobile network may charge you for messages and data. Outside Ghana, you can reply STOP to stop our texts, or HELP for help. If you stop them, we cannot send you codes, so some things may not work. You can also contact us at hello@pearnify.com.
• To take work, apply for work or offer a service, you must add a Mobile Money account in Ghana. Pearnify pays out only to Mobile Money.
• The Mobile Money number does not have to be in your own name. It can be a number you trust, such as a family member's. When you add it, we check the number and show you the name it is registered in. Money we send to the number you choose counts as paid to you.
• People living in some countries outside Ghana (starting with the United Kingdom) can post and pay for work done in Ghana. They cannot take work.

4. Checking who you are

In short: Anyone can make an account and look around. To do anything more, you must check your ID with us.

Before your ID is checked, you can look at work, services and profiles, set up your profile, add your Mobile Money and save drafts. You can also buy goods from a seller's listing, and message that seller about your order. To post or pay for work, take any work, buy a service, sell, offer a service or send other messages, you must first check who you are with your Ghana Card or Ghana passport and a selfie. Our partner Smile ID does the check. Our privacy policy explains what happens to your details.

The check also confirms that you are 18 or older, from the date of birth on your document. If your document shows that you are under 18, the check fails and you cannot do the things that need it.

A Verified tick means the check passed at that time. It does not promise how a person will behave. Always follow the safety advice in section 16.

You must only use your own, real document. Using someone else's document, a fake one or an edited photo will close your account, and we may report it to the police.

5. Posting work

In short: Describe the work honestly and pay for it up front. Confirm when it is done.

• Describe the work truthfully: what it is, where, when, and anything risky about it.
• Every job has a fixed price per person, set by you. The smallest pay is GH₵10 a person. If you need three people at GH₵100 each, you pay GH₵300.
• You pay when you publish. Your post goes live only once it is paid. After that, the pay cannot be changed.
• Give the earner what they need: the exact address, access and safe conditions.
• When the earner says the work is done, check it and confirm, or tell us there is a problem. If you say nothing for 3 days, Pearnify confirms it for you and the earner is paid.
• If nobody takes your post in 14 days, it ends and your money goes to your Pearnify balance (see section 10).

6. Doing work

In short: Only accept work you can do. Do it as agreed, safely and well.

• Only accept work you have the skills, tools and any licence for. Some posts let the poster choose from people who apply.
• You may hold up to 3 jobs at a time.
• Do the work as described, on time, and with care for people and property.
• Do not send someone else to do a job in your place unless the poster agrees in Pearnify messages.
• When you finish, mark the job as done in the app. You are paid once the poster confirms, or after 3 days if the poster says nothing.

7. Deliveries

In short: Codes prove each handover. Never share a code before the item is in the right hands.

• Each delivery has a pick-up code and a delivery code. The courier never sees them. The sender gives the pick-up code when the courier collects. The person receiving gives the delivery code only after checking the item.
• Entering the delivery code confirms the delivery, and the courier is paid at once. So do not share the delivery code until you have the item and it is right.
• The sender must not send anything that is illegal, dangerous or not allowed (see section 15). The sender must pack it properly and describe it honestly.
• The courier must look after the item and take it straight to the place agreed. At each handover, the app takes a photo and notes the place and time as proof.
• While a parcel is on its way, the sender (and, for an order, the buyer and the seller) can follow it on a map.
• If a delivery cannot be finished, the courier says so in the app. The money stays held until it is sorted out.

[Lawyer to confirm: who is responsible if goods are lost or damaged on the way, and any limit.]

8. Selling and buying

In short: Sellers describe goods honestly and send them on time. Buyers pay through Pearnify and confirm when the goods arrive.

For sellers

• Only sell goods you own and are allowed to sell. Use real photos of the item.
• Describe the item, its condition, price and delivery honestly.
• Send the order, or have it ready to collect, within 3 days. Take the photo the app asks for when you send it.
• You can deliver it yourself, use another delivery service, or book a Pearnify courier.
• If you cannot fill an order, cancel it in the app. The buyer gets a full refund, and you pay the payment charge that is lost. Cancelling often may pause your selling.

For buyers

• Pay through Pearnify only. Your money is held until the order is confirmed.
• When the goods arrive, check them and tap Confirm received. Confirming is final: you cannot report a problem afterwards.
• If you say nothing, the money is released to the seller 2 days after the seller marks the order as sent or ready. We remind you before that happens.
• If something is wrong (not arrived, damaged, not as described or the wrong item), report it before the 2 days end.

9. Services

In short: You can show the services you offer. Describe them honestly.

You can list up to 10 services on your profile. Describe each one truthfully. Its cover picture must not show people or brands that could mislead buyers, and must not use another company's logo.

[The rules for ordering, delivering and paying for a service will be added here before ordering services opens.]

10. Money, fees and payouts

In short: Pay is held until the work or order is confirmed, then it is ready for the earner or seller at once. Payouts go to Mobile Money. Pearnify takes no fee at launch.

Paying

You pay in Ghana cedis through our payment partner, Paystack, by Mobile Money (and by card, when we offer it). We never see your card details.

How the money is held

The money is held for the earner or seller until the work or order is confirmed. It is kept with Paystack, and our records show whose it is. [Lawyer to confirm how this is described under the Payment Systems and Services Act, 2019 (Act 987).]

When you are paid

• Money is ready for you as soon as the work or order is confirmed. There is no waiting period.
• Payouts go to your Mobile Money account (MTN, Telecel Cash or AirtelTigo). You choose to be paid once a day at 6pm (Accra time), or as soon as money is ready. You can also tap Pay out now.
• If a payout fails, we tell you and try again.

Fees and charges

The app always shows the full amount before you pay. If we ever bring in a Pearnify fee, we will tell you before it starts. It will not apply to work or orders already paid.

Your Pearnify balance

When money for work comes back to a poster (for example, a post nobody took, or a cancelled job), it goes to your Pearnify balance. It does not go back to the card or phone you paid from. You can use it to pay for your next post. For now, a Pearnify balance cannot be taken out as cash. [Lawyer and owner to confirm the way to take out a balance, and what happens to it when you leave.]

Pearnify is not a bank or a wallet. You cannot add money to keep or spend later.

Money you owe

Sometimes a seller or earner may owe money. For example, when an order is refunded after a courier was already paid. We take what is owed from your next payment, or you can pay it back from the Money page.

Payment reversals

If a payment is reversed by a bank or network after you were paid (a "chargeback"), we look at what happened. If the proof shows you did everything right, Pearnify carries the loss. If not, we may take it from your future payments.

11. Cancelling and refunds

In short: Once someone has taken a job, ending it needs both of you to agree. If you do not agree, Pearnify decides.

Work

• Before anyone takes your post, you can end it. The money goes to your Pearnify balance.
• After someone takes it, either of you can ask to end the job. You must say why, and how much the earner should get: nothing, part or all.
• The other person can agree or refuse. If they agree, the money is split as asked. If they refuse, the money stays held and Pearnify decides (section 12). If they do not answer in 3 days, we treat it as agreed.
• The cancellation is recorded against the person who asked, not the one who agreed.

Deliveries

Either side can cancel before pick-up. After pick-up, ending early works like any other job. If a parcel has to be brought back, the courier is still paid in full.

Orders

• If the seller cancels, or does not send the order within 3 days, the buyer gets a full refund.
• If the buyer changes their mind before the order is sent, they get the price back less the payment charge.
• Refunds for orders go back the way the buyer paid. A card refund can take up to 10 working days.

12. Problems and disputes

In short: Try to fix it together first. If you cannot, we look at what happened on Pearnify and decide fairly. You can appeal once.

1. Report it in the app. The money stays held while a problem is open.
2. Try to fix it together for up to 48 hours: a refund, a part refund, or putting it right.
3. Pearnify decides if you cannot agree. Each of you can send one statement and photos within 24 hours of being asked. We decide within 3 working days. For amounts over GH₵1,000, two of our staff must agree.
4. Appeal once within 7 days. A different member of staff looks again. Their decision is final on Pearnify.

We decide using what Pearnify holds: messages on Pearnify, photos, times, codes and delivery proof. We cannot check talks or payments outside Pearnify. For goods, we may ask the buyer to send the item back before a refund.

Our decision settles how the money held on Pearnify is shared. It does not stop you going to court in Ghana.

13. Ratings

In short: Rate honestly. Ratings cannot be changed, bought or traded.

• After work is confirmed, both people can rate each other within 14 days. Ratings stay hidden until both have rated, or until the 14 days end.
• A rating cannot be changed once it is given.
• Rate only what really happened. Do not offer or ask for money or favours for a rating, threaten a bad rating, or rate yourself through another account.
• If a rating about you is offensive, false or shows personal details, report it. Our staff may remove it. We never edit a rating.

14. Messages, and staying on Pearnify

In short: Agree and pay for work on Pearnify. We cannot protect you outside it.

• You can message people you are linked to by work, an application or an order.
• Before a job is agreed, phone numbers, email addresses and links are blocked in posts and messages.
• Do not use Pearnify to find someone and then arrange or pay for the same work outside Pearnify. This hurts the people who rely on Pearnify, and you lose our payment protection, ratings and help with disputes.
• Messages are the record of what you agreed. Keep them polite and on Pearnify.

15. What is not allowed

In short: Nothing illegal, unsafe, misleading or hurtful.

You must not post, offer, ask for, sell or deliver:

• anything against the law of Ghana;
• weapons, drugs, medicines, or stolen or fake goods;
• sexual or adult content or services;
• official documents, or anything used to cheat or deceive others;
• dangerous work without proper skills and safety, or anything unsafe to carry;
• work that treats people unfairly because of who they are.

You must not:

• harass, threaten or insult anyone;
• give false information, or pretend to be someone else;
• make more than one account, or use someone else's account;
• post fake work, fake orders or fake reviews;
• try to break, overload or get around our systems, or copy data from Pearnify with automatic tools;
• record or photograph people without their agreement, except the proof the app asks for.

[A full list of goods that cannot be sold will be added.]

16. Safety

In short: We help keep you safe, but no app can promise safety. Trust your feelings and call for help in an emergency.

• For a first job with someone new, meet in daylight, and hand things over at the gate or in a public place where you can.
• Tell someone you trust where you are going.
• If you feel unsafe, leave. You can then cancel or report the job.
• In an emergency, call 112. Pearnify cannot send help or rescue anyone.
• Report anyone who makes you feel unsafe. You can also block them. They are not told.

We check identities and act on reports, but we cannot check everything about every person. You are responsible for deciding whether to work with someone.

17. Your content and AI help

In short: What you post stays yours. You let us show it on Pearnify. You are responsible for it, even after AI tidies it.

"Your content" means the words, photos and other things you add to Pearnify. It stays yours. You give Pearnify permission (a "licence") to store, show, copy and adjust it, only to run and improve Pearnify and to tell people about Pearnify. This permission is free. It ends when your content is deleted, unless it is still needed for a record (for example, a dispute).

You promise that your content is true, that you are allowed to share it, and that it follows these terms.

AI help. Our AI may tidy the words of your posts, listings and profile, and draw cover pictures. It must not add facts you did not give. Always read the result before you publish. You can put your own words back, or use your own photo. Once you publish, the content is yours and you are responsible for it.

Work you deliver. Who owns the result of a job (for example, a design or a piece of writing) is agreed between the poster and the earner. If you do not agree anything else, the poster owns it once it is paid for. [Lawyer to confirm.]

We may remove content that breaks these terms or the law.

18. Our name and app

In short: The Pearnify name, logo and app belong to us.

The Pearnify name, logo, designs, app and website belong to Pearnify Group Ltd. You may use the app for its normal purpose. You must not copy, sell or change it, or use our name in a way that suggests we work with you, without our written permission.

If you send us ideas to improve Pearnify, we may use them freely, without paying you.

19. Reports, pauses and suspension

In short: If you break these terms, we may warn you, limit your account, or close it. We will tell you why.

• To keep people safe while we look into a serious report, we may pause an account. During a pause, the person cannot post, accept or message anyone new. Work already started can carry on. A pause is not a punishment.
• After looking at the facts, we may do nothing, warn, limit, or suspend or close an account. We may also remove posts, listings, ratings or other content.
• We act in a way that fits what happened. For something very serious, like fraud, violence or a fake ID, we may close an account at once.
• We will tell you what we did and why, unless the law or someone's safety stops us. If you think we got it wrong, write to hello@pearnify.com and a different member of staff will look again.
• Money that is fairly yours for finished work will still be paid to you, unless it is part of a fraud or a dispute.

20. Leaving Pearnify

In short: You can close your account at any time once nothing is still open. You have 30 days to change your mind.

• You can close your account in settings.
• First, you must finish or end any work in progress, open posts, orders and disputes, and be paid any money waiting for you.
• Your account is hidden at once. If you sign in within 30 days, it comes back. After 30 days it is deleted, as our privacy policy explains.
• Some parts of these terms keep applying after you leave, such as money you owe, disputes, and sections 22 to 25.

21. Tax

In short: You are responsible for tax on what you earn or sell.

Earners and sellers are responsible for any tax on their income in Ghana, and for any registration their work needs. Pearnify does not take tax off your pay, unless the law requires us to. Your Money page shows what you have been paid, to help you. [Lawyer to confirm any reporting duty for Pearnify.]

22. Our responsibility to you

In short: We will run Pearnify with care. We are responsible for our own mistakes, but not for what other people do.

• We will provide Pearnify with reasonable care and skill. Sometimes it may be slow or stop for a while, for example for repairs. We will try to tell you before planned breaks.
• We are not responsible for the work, goods or behaviour of other people on Pearnify, because we are not part of their agreement. We do help through payment protection and disputes, as these terms explain.
• We are not responsible for losses we could not reasonably expect, or for problems outside our control (such as a network failure or a flood).
• If we are responsible for a loss, the most we will pay is the amount of the job or order the claim is about, or [amount to be confirmed by our lawyer], whichever is more.

Nothing in these terms limits our responsibility for death or injury caused by our carelessness, for fraud, or for anything else the law of Ghana does not allow us to limit. Nothing takes away your rights as a consumer.

23. Your responsibility

In short: If you break these terms or the law and it costs us money, you pay it back.

Sometimes breaking these terms or the law causes Pearnify a loss, or a claim from someone else. If you did that, you agree to cover the loss and our reasonable costs. This does not apply to anything that was our own fault.

24. Changes

In short: We will tell you before important changes. Work already agreed keeps the old rules.

• We keep improving Pearnify, so features may change. We may also change these terms.
• If a change is important, we will tell you in the app or by email at least [number of days, to be confirmed] days before it starts. Small changes, like fixing a spelling, may apply at once.
• Work and orders already agreed keep the terms that applied when they were agreed.
• If you do not agree with a change, you can close your account before it starts.

25. The law, and problems with us

In short: The law of Ghana applies. Please talk to us first if you have a problem with Pearnify.

These terms are governed by the law of Ghana. If you have a complaint about Pearnify itself, please write to hello@pearnify.com first. We will try to put it right within 30 days. If we cannot agree, either of us may ask the courts of Ghana to decide. [Lawyer to confirm whether to offer mediation first, under the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act, 2010 (Act 798).]

If any part of these terms cannot be enforced, the rest still applies. If we do not enforce a rule straight away, we can still enforce it later.

26. Contact us

In short: Email hello@pearnify.com.

Pearnify Group Ltd, Naa Leekai Road, Mataheko, Accra, Ghana.
Email: hello@pearnify.com