These Terms & Conditions set out the rules that govern your use of Elmatajer, whether you are a merchant running a store on the platform or a customer buying from one of the stores it hosts. By using the platform or any of its services you agree to these Terms, and to the Usage Policy and Privacy Policy, which form part of them.
Definitions
- The platform — the Elmatajer service, which lets merchants create, host and run online stores.
- Merchant — the account holder who creates and operates a store on the platform.
- Store — the storefront a merchant creates, on a platform subdomain or on a domain the merchant owns.
- Customer — a person who buys from a store hosted on the platform.
- Team — the additional accounts a merchant grants access to their store's dashboard.
Eligibility and account registration
Creating an account requires accurate details, including an email address and a phone number, either of which the platform may ask you to confirm. You are responsible for the accuracy of your details, for keeping your password confidential, and for all activity carried out through your account.
To protect the account, sign-in may be temporarily restricted after a number of consecutive failed attempts.
Merchant accounts and stores
Every store is given an address on a platform subdomain when it is created, and the merchant may later connect a domain they own. The store, its content and its customer data belong to the merchant; the platform hosts and runs it and provides the tools to manage it.
The number of team accounts available is determined by the subscribed plan.
Customer accounts
When you buy from a store hosted on the platform, your contractual relationship is with the merchant who owns that store, not with the platform. The merchant is responsible for the products, their descriptions, prices and availability, and for fulfilling the order and communicating with you about it.
Platform services
The platform lets a merchant create a store and manage products, orders and customers, choose a storefront theme, connect payment and shipping providers, and use the additional tools included in their plan.
Plans and subscription
Every new store starts on the free plan, which is active and has no expiry date. A merchant may move to a paid plan at any time. Available plans and their prices are shown on the pricing page, and prices are stated in Egyptian pounds.
A first paid subscription may include a fourteen-day trial period. If it ends without a paid subscription being activated, the subscription moves to an expired state.
Billing, renewal and expiry
Subscriptions are billed on a monthly or annual cycle, as selected. Where automatic renewal is enabled, the renewal amount may be taken from your platform wallet balance when it falls due.
If a renewal is not paid when due, the subscription enters a three-day grace period during which the store keeps working. If the grace period passes without payment, the subscription expires and access is locked: the dashboard, the storefront as seen by visitors, and the completion of new orders. Store data is not deleted merely because a subscription has expired.
If a subscription is cancelled, the store continues to work until the end of the period already paid for.
Upgrading to a higher plan takes effect immediately, and the value of the days remaining on the current plan is credited against the cost of the upgrade. Downgrading to a lower plan takes effect at the start of the next cycle, and cannot be applied if the number of team accounts in use exceeds what the lower plan allows.
Refunds are addressed in the Refund Policy.
Payment methods and payment processing
Subscription payments to the platform are collected through the platform's own payment channels.
Payments for orders placed in stores, by contrast, pass through the payment gateway account that the merchant connects in their own name, and reach the merchant's account with that payment provider directly; the platform does not hold or handle those funds. Each merchant decides which payment methods their store offers, which may include card payments through a payment provider, cash on delivery, or a manual transfer by a method the merchant specifies, such as a bank transfer or a mobile wallet.
Orders paid by manual transfer are created in a pending state and are not treated as paid until the merchant has reviewed and confirmed the proof of transfer.
Orders and transactions
An order in a store moves through states that the merchant updates: under review, being prepared, shipped, delivered, cancelled or returned, and returned. The platform provides the tools; the merchant manages the order and decides its state.
Shipping and delivery
Each merchant sets the shipping policies, delivery areas, charges and timeframes for their own store. The platform makes it possible to connect shipping providers, but choosing a provider, contracting with it and carrying out delivery remain the merchant's responsibility.
Store content
The merchant is responsible for everything they add to their store — products, images, text and pages — for holding the rights to use it, and for its compliance with applicable law and the Usage Policy.
Intellectual property
The platform, its software, its themes and its trade marks belong to it. A subscription grants you the right to use them to run your store for as long as the subscription is in force, and does not transfer ownership to you. Some themes are paid, and what is purchased is the right to use them for the store.
Content added by a merchant remains the merchant's own.
Prohibited use
Use of the platform is governed by the Usage Policy, which forms an integral part of these Terms. Breaching it may lead to the account being restricted or suspended.
Suspension and termination
The platform may restrict or suspend an account, or take a store offline, where these Terms or the Usage Policy are breached, or where activity harms customers, other merchants or the platform. A merchant may stop their subscription at any time.
Service availability
We work to keep the platform available. The service, or particular features of it, may be interrupted for maintenance or updates, or for reasons outside our control. Features may also be added, changed or withdrawn as the platform develops.
Third-party services and integrations
Some features rely on services provided by third parties, such as payment providers, shipping providers and domain registrars. Use of those services is subject to the terms of their providers, and we do not control their availability or their decisions.
Privacy
The Privacy Policy explains what data we collect, how we use it and how we protect it, and forms part of these Terms.
Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms as the services develop or legal requirements change. Continuing to use the platform after an update means accepting the version then in force.
Contact
For any question about these Terms, please get in touch through our contact page.