Merchant Agreement

1. About this agreement

This Merchant Agreement is entered into between Fortpesa ("we", "us") and the merchant account holder ("you") when you register and your merchant account is approved. It governs your use of the Fortpesa merchant services and should be read together with our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Capitalised terms have the meanings given in them or in this agreement.

2. The merchant services

We provide you with a dashboard, collection channels, STK Push collection requests, shareable payment links, transaction records and receipts, a prepaid platform-fee wallet, balance and low-balance monitoring, webhooks and APIs. Customer payments are collected by the mobile money and payment networks you connect to your channels and are paid directly to the M-Pesa account configured for that channel or link.

3. Onboarding and approval

• You must register an account, provide accurate business and contact details and complete the verification (KYC) information we request.
• Collection channels — including paybill, till number and bank deposit channels — are requested by you, reviewed by us and provisioned with our payment partners. Shortcode and account details are permanent for a channel once created.
• We may approve, reject, suspend or re-check your application or any channel at any time, including where we need more information or where a channel is flagged as in use by the payment network.
• You must keep your business details, phone numbers and payout (channel) accounts up to date.

4. Your responsibilities

• Use the service only for lawful business purposes and in line with these terms, the acceptable-use rules and applicable Kenyan law.
• Keep your account credentials and API keys secure; all activity under your credentials or keys is treated as your activity.
• Ensure that the payment references, descriptions and payment pages you create do not mislead your customers.
• Maintain sufficient prepaid wallet balance for platform fees on the transactions you initiate (see section 6).
• Respond to reasonable requests for information needed for verification, compliance or dispute handling.

5. Collections and settlement

• When a customer completes an STK Push or pays through a payment link, the funds settle directly to your M-Pesa account (the account bound to the channel used). Fortpesa never holds your collection funds.
• A payment only completes when the mobile money network confirms it; pending payments can fail (for example if the customer cancels, times out, or the transaction is reversed), and only confirmed payments are recorded as successful.
• Your dashboard and transaction history are the authoritative record of collections made through Fortpesa. Report discrepancies promptly so we can investigate with the payment network.
• Reversals, refunds and network errors are handled according to the rules of the relevant mobile money network and payment partner.

6. Platform fees

• Platform fees are charged per successful collection at the rates published on our Pricing page and shown on each transaction and receipt.
• Fees are paid from your prepaid Fortpesa wallet. You top the wallet up before collecting; the wallet balance is displayed in your dashboard and you receive alerts when it falls below your threshold.
• If the wallet cannot cover the fee for a new collection, that collection is rejected until you top up.
• We may update the fee schedule; the schedule in force when a collection completes applies to that collection.

7. Payment links

Payment links you create can be fixed-amount or open-amount, optionally tied to a specific collection channel, customer phone, name or reference, and can be disabled by you at any time. Anyone with the link can initiate a payment from it, so only share links for genuine collection purposes. Links are disabled automatically if you remove the merchant or the underlying channel.

8. Data protection

Both parties will comply with the Data Protection Act, 2019. For personal data of customers (payers) processed through the service, you act as the data controller and instruct us to process that data solely to provide the collection service; we act as your processor for that data. For your account and business data we are the data controller. See our Data Protection page for details.

9. Compliance with law

You must comply with all laws applicable to your business and to payments in Kenya, including consumer protection, anti-money-laundering and tax obligations that fall on you as a business. We may suspend processing where required to comply with a court order, regulator request or our legal obligations.

10. Availability and support

We work to keep the service available and secure, but maintenance, network outages and events beyond our control may cause downtime. Support is available by email at [email protected]. Platform fees for completed collections are not refunded because the service was unavailable for part of a period, except where we are required by law.

11. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate your merchant account for breach of this agreement, suspicious or unlawful activity, non-compliance with verification requests, prolonged inactivity or where required by law. Where reasonably practicable we will notify you and, for curable breaches, give you a chance to fix them. On termination your API keys and payment links are deactivated; fees already earned on completed collections remain payable, and any remaining wallet balance is handled in line with applicable law after reconciliation.

12. Disclaimers and liability

The service is provided "as is" and "as available" as described in the Terms of Use, which disclaim warranties and limit our liability. Nothing in this agreement limits liability that cannot be limited under applicable law.

13. Changes to this agreement

We may amend this agreement with notice through the dashboard or by email. Continued use of the merchant services after the effective date of a change constitutes acceptance of it.

14. Governing law and contact

This agreement is governed by the laws of Kenya and the courts of Kenya have jurisdiction over disputes. Questions: [email protected].