These Terms and Conditions ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Help a Neighbour mobile web application, website and related services (together, the "Service"). In these Terms, "Help a Neighbour", "we", "us" and "our" refer to the Service and to the owners, shareholders, directors, employees, contractors and agents who operate it. "You" means any person who uses the Service, whether as a Helper, a Neighbour, a business or a visitor. By creating an account, logging in, paying or using the Service in any way, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, you must not use the Service.
1. What Help a Neighbour is
Help a Neighbour is a commercial service run for profit. It is not a charity, a non-profit organisation, a public benefit organisation, a collection scheme or a financial service provider, and nothing on the Service should be understood otherwise. The Service lets a person in need ("Neighbour") list everyday expenses, and lets another person or business ("Helper") buy prepaid products that meet those expenses.
Prepaid products are store vouchers, restaurant vouchers, pharmacy vouchers, prepaid electricity tokens, airtime and mobile data (together, "Prepaid Products"). Only Prepaid Products are supplied through the Service.
2. Definitions
- Helper: a person or business who pays for Prepaid Products through the Service.
- Neighbour: a person who asks for Prepaid Products through the Service and receives them.
- Help request: a Neighbour's listing of needs, split into parts that are bought and sent one at a time.
- Order: one checkout by a Helper, which may cover parts of several help requests. Each Order has an order number.
- Help Amount: the value of Prepaid Products a Helper chooses to buy in an Order.
- Service Fee: our fee for arranging the purchase and delivery, set out in section 6.
- Tip: an optional extra amount a Helper may add for Help a Neighbour.
- Transparency Score: a score out of 5 that shows how often a Neighbour proved a purchase.
3. We act as the Helper's agent
When a Helper pays, the Helper appoints us as their agent to buy the chosen Prepaid Products from our suppliers in the Helper's name and on the Helper's behalf, and to deliver them as a gift to the named Neighbour. The Helper is the buyer. The Neighbour is the recipient of a gift from the Helper. We are not the seller of the underlying goods and services; those are supplied by the relevant retailer, restaurant, pharmacy, municipality, electricity supplier or mobile network, under their own terms.
We do not hold money for Neighbours, and we never transfer cash, credit or bank payments to a Neighbour or any other person on a Helper's behalf. A Helper's payment is used only to buy Prepaid Products and to pay the Service Fee, VAT and any Tip.
4. No cash to Neighbours
No cash, bank transfer, e-wallet transfer or cash-equivalent is ever paid to a Neighbour. Prepaid Products cannot be exchanged for cash through the Service. A Neighbour must not sell, swap or exchange a Prepaid Product for cash, alcohol, tobacco, vapes, codeine products, lotto, betting or any other item that is not allowed. Doing so is misuse under section 14.
5. Accounts and sign-in
You sign in with a South African cell number and a one-time code sent by SMS. You must be at least 18 years old. You are responsible for keeping your phone and codes safe and for everything done on your account. You must give true information. One person may have only one account. Visitors may browse help requests without an account; an account is needed to pay or to ask for help.
6. Prices, Service Fee, VAT and Tips
Before you pay, checkout shows each line of your Order: the Help Amount, the Service Fee of ten percent (10%) of the Help Amount, value-added tax ("VAT") at fifteen percent (15%) of the Service Fee, any Tip, and the total. The Service Fee plus VAT therefore equals 11.5% of the Help Amount. A Tip is optional, is a percentage of the Help Amount that you choose (0%, 5% or 10%), and is inclusive of VAT.
The Service Fee and any Tip are Help a Neighbour's income. They are not passed on to Neighbours and they are not a gift to any person. The Help Amount is used to buy Prepaid Products. We may change the Service Fee or the Tip options for future Orders; the amounts shown at checkout are the amounts that apply to that Order.
7. Payments
Payments are processed by independent payment providers such as PayFast and Ozow under their own terms. We do not see or store your full card number. To protect your privacy and the privacy of Neighbours, the payment provider receives only a short description of your Order (for example, "Order #100123 · 3 items · service fee incl. VAT · tip"). The full detail of each Order is kept in our own records and linked to the order number.
If you choose to save your card, the payment provider stores it and gives us a token so you can pay again in one tap. We show the saved card only as "Card" with its last four digits where the provider shares them. You may ask us to remove a saved card at any time.
An Order is confirmed only when the payment provider tells us that payment succeeded. A payment that the browser reports as paid is not enough.
8. Delivery
A help request is split into parts. A part is bought and sent as soon as it is fully paid, which may need more than one Helper. Until a part is fully paid, the Help Amount for that part is held toward that part only. Prepaid Products are delivered to the Neighbour's phone by SMS or in the app. Delivery times depend on our suppliers and networks. We will retry failed deliveries and, where a Prepaid Product cannot be supplied, we may substitute a Prepaid Product of the same value for the same need, or apply the Help Amount to another part of the same help request.
9. Receipts
Every Helper receives an in-app receipt for each Order. It shows who was helped (first name only), what was bought, the voucher reference, when it was delivered and, later, the result of any till-slip check and whether a thank-you was sent. Receipts are your proof of what your money bought and are our record if a payment is ever disputed.
10. No refunds once delivered
Prepaid Products are delivered electronically and can be used immediately. Once a Prepaid Product has been delivered, the Order cannot be cancelled and no refund is due, including for any cooling-off period, to the extent the law allows. Section 44 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act does not apply to the extent that the goods are delivered immediately or are vouchers and prepaid products. If a part cannot be bought at all, we will apply your Help Amount under section 8 or, if that is not possible, refund the Help Amount for that part. The Service Fee and Tip on delivered parts are not refundable.
11. Fair use and fraud protection
- A Helper cannot pay for their own help request, or for a help request linked to their phone, device or ID number.
- New Helpers may spend up to R1,000 in Help Amount in their first 7 days.
- We may pause checkout if we see many cards used from one device, one card trying many amounts, or other unusual activity, while we check it.
- We may decline, hold or reverse any Order we reasonably believe is fraudulent or unlawful.
12. What Neighbours may ask for
Neighbours may ask for fixed amounts of groceries, prepaid electricity, baby items, medicine, a family treat, airtime and data, within the monthly limits shown in the app. Limits reset on the first day of each month. A Neighbour may have only one open help request at a time. We may change amounts, stores and limits for new help requests. Asking does not guarantee that anyone will help.
13. Neighbour consent to display, and proof
Before a help request goes live, the Neighbour agrees that their photo (including a portrait we create from it with AI), first name, suburb, story and shopping list will be shown to Helpers. Where the photo shows other people, the Neighbour confirms that everyone in the photo agrees. Stories must not contain contact details of any kind.
After a grocery, baby, medicine or family-treat voucher is delivered, the Neighbour must upload the till slip. Three separate AI models each check whether the Neighbour mostly bought what they listed and nothing that is banned; two out of three decide. A pass is shown as "Bought as listed". Until proof is uploaded, the Neighbour cannot ask for that same need again. Electricity, airtime and data need no proof. The Transparency Score is the share of proven help requests out of all help requests that needed proof, shown out of 5.
14. Misuse, pause and household ban
Misuse includes: buying banned items (alcohol, cigarettes or tobacco, vapes, codeine products, lotto or betting) with a Prepaid Product; selling or swapping a Prepaid Product; false information; more than one account; fake photos or stories; and any contact between a Helper and a Neighbour outside the Service.
If we suspect misuse, we may pause the account at once while we review it. If misuse is confirmed, we may close the account and ban the household, including every account, phone number, device, ID number and electricity meter linked to it. A banned household cannot take part again. Prepaid Products already delivered are not reversed.
15. Contact between Helpers and Neighbours
All contact happens only through the Service, and only as thank-yous from a Neighbour to their Helpers. We never share phone numbers, addresses or other contact details. You must not try to find, contact or meet another user outside the Service. Accounts that do so are closed.
16. Businesses
Businesses may help through the Service on the same terms. Help a Neighbour does not issue tax certificates of any kind, because Helpers are buying Prepaid Products, not making a gift to an approved organisation. A business may ask for a tax invoice for the Service Fee and VAT. We never show a business's name publicly.
17. Your content
You keep ownership of the photos, stories, slips and thank-yous you upload. You give us a licence to store, check, edit (including AI portraits) and display them as needed to run the Service. We may remove any content that breaks these Terms.
18. Availability and changes
We try to keep the Service running but do not promise it will always be available or free of errors. We may change, suspend or stop any part of the Service. We may update these Terms; the date at the top shows the latest version. Continuing to use the Service means you accept the updated Terms.
19. Limitation of liability
To the extent the law allows, the owners, shareholders, directors, employees, contractors and agents of Help a Neighbour are not liable for any indirect or consequential loss, or for the acts of suppliers, payment providers, networks or other users. Our total liability for any Order is limited to the amount you paid for that Order. Nothing in these Terms limits rights you have under the Consumer Protection Act that cannot be limited.
20. Indemnity
You agree to indemnify the owners, shareholders, directors, employees, contractors and agents of Help a Neighbour against claims arising from your breach of these Terms or your misuse of the Service.
21. Law and disputes
These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa. Please raise any complaint through the Service first so we can try to fix it. If it is not resolved, either party may approach a South African court with jurisdiction.
22. General
If any part of these Terms is found invalid, the rest stays in force. Our failure to enforce a right is not a waiver of it. You may not transfer your account or these Terms. These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between you and Help a Neighbour about the Service.