Terms and conditions

These terms are the contract between you and Steadi Pay Ltd, a company registered in Malawi ("we", "us"). They are governed by the laws of the Republic of Malawi, including the Electronic Transactions and Cyber Security Act, 2016, the Consumer Protection Act, and, where a licensed payment partner is involved, the Payment Systems Act, 2016.

By creating a Steadi Pay account, using the merchant portal, the admin console, the hosted checkout, or our API, you agree to these terms. If you use Steadi Pay for a business, you confirm you are authorised to bind that business.

1. What Steadi Pay is

Steadi Pay is software. It is built to let a customer choose how to pay (Airtel Money, TNM Mpamba, bank transfer or card), route that payment to a licensed partner, record the result, and reconcile it.

Steadi Pay is not yet live. Until then, Steadi Pay does not provide live payment services, and accounts are limited to sandbox testing.

Money never lands in a Steadi Pay account. Each merchant has their own settlement account and their own credentials at the licensed partner. We never pool merchant funds. We never deduct a fee from a merchant balance or payout. We do not store card data.

2. Who may use it

You must be 18 or older and able to enter a contract under Malawian law. Merchant accounts are for businesses operating in Malawi, in Malawi kwacha only. You must give true details: legal name, trading name, contact, phone, and, where we ask for it, TPIN and settlement bank details.

Accounts are limited to sandbox testing while Steadi Pay is not live. When live mode opens, live payments need the sandbox tests we require and our approval of your account. Using live mode without that approval is a breach of these terms.

3. Accounts, keys and access

You are responsible for passwords, authenticator codes, passkeys, API keys and webhook secrets. Merchant accounts must confirm the email address before the portal opens. Staff accounts use a one-time authenticator code. Keep secrets off shared machines. If you think an account or key is compromised, tell us at support@steadipay.ltd and revoke the key in the portal.

Super admins may view a merchant portal for support, with a recorded reason. They cannot read stored provider secrets. Credentials are write-only after you save them.

4. Payments

A payment is marked successful only after the licensed partner confirms it. Pending, processing or unknown states are not paid. We do not take card numbers, CVVs or PINs. Cards go through the partner's hosted page only.

Refunds, reversals and payouts follow the partner's rules and Malawian payment-system practice. A refund returns the order amount to the customer. Whether Steadi Pay's own fee is returned with it follows the terms agreed for your account. A payment provider's fee is returned only if that provider returns it. A payout is the merchant's instruction to the partner. We never take our fee out of that payout.

You must not use Steadi Pay for unlawful sales, fraud, or activity that would breach anti-money-laundering law in Malawi, including the Money Laundering, Proceeds of Serious Crime and Terrorist Financing Act.

5. Fees

One fee model applies to every merchant. There are two separate fees, each a percentage of the sale. Steadi Pay takes 1% of each successful sale, as the platform. Your payment operator or licensed gateway charges its own fee, which differs from one operator to the next and is variable. It is set in your agreement with that operator. You can see both on the Fees page of your portal. Steadi Pay Ltd is not registered for VAT and does not charge VAT.

Who pays the fees

For mobile money and bank payments, the terms agreed for your account say whether your customer or you cover the fees. For card payments, you cover the fees, and customers are not charged extra for paying by card. If your customer covers the fees, the customer sees one handling fee, which is your provider's fee and Steadi Pay's fee added together, added to the sale. The whole amount lands in your own account at your provider, and your provider takes its own fee under your agreement with it. If you cover the fees, the customer pays the sale only, and Steadi Pay invoices its fee to you monthly.

How we collect the fee

• Steadi Pay's fee is either paid by your customer at checkout, as part of one handling fee, or invoiced to you monthly. You receive the full order amount from your provider.
• Fees are never taken from a merchant payout. Money is held by licensed payment providers, never by Steadi Pay.

Optional invoice debit

You may authorise a recurring debit from your own Airtel Money, TNM Mpamba or bank account to pay Steadi Pay invoices. That mandate pays invoices only. It is never a claim on money sitting in your collection account at a partner. Revoking it returns you to manual payment terms.

Outstanding fee limit

Accounts whose fees are invoiced have an outstanding fee limit. The limit is measured on accrued unbilled fees plus unpaid invoices, not on sales.

• A new account can owe up to MWK 25,000.
• After 2 invoices paid on or before the due date, the limit is MWK 100,000.
• After 6 on-time invoices, the limit is MWK 400,000.
• An active debit mandate doubles the limit.
• If your customers pay Steadi Pay's fee at checkout on every method, you are not capped.

We warn you at 80 percent. At 100 percent, new live checkout sessions are blocked until you pay. In-flight payments complete. Sandbox is unaffected.

Invoices and late charges

We invoice when the unbilled balance is at least MWK 5,000. Smaller balances roll forward. If an invoice is unpaid, we first show the late charge that will apply:

• a one-time MWK 5,000 administrative charge
• plus 2.5 percent simple interest per month on the overdue amount, never compounded
• never more than 25 percent of the original invoice

Those amounts are added as new lines on the next invoice. Existing ledger rows are not edited.

If an invoice stays unpaid

At the end of the grace period, live API keys and live checkout pause until the invoice is paid. Sandbox keeps working. Paying the invoice restores live access.

6. Your apps and webhooks

If you create checkouts from your own app or integration, you must keep API keys secret, verify webhook signatures, and treat customer data under our privacy policy and data protection notice. You must not store card data.

7. Availability and records

We aim for a working service. We do not promise uninterrupted uptime. Scheduled work and provider outages can delay a confirmation. Payment, ledger and ticket records are kept for at least seven years, as section 41 of the Payment Systems Act 2016 requires. Ledger rows are not edited or deleted.

8. Closing an account

You may close a merchant account from Settings. Closure stops new payments. It does not erase money history, tickets or audit logs. We keep those for at least seven years. We may suspend or close an account if these terms, the law, or a partner's rules are broken.

9. Liability

We are responsible for running the software with reasonable care. We are not responsible for a licensed partner's failure to collect, settle or reverse a payment, for money that never left a customer's wallet, or for loss caused by a key or password you did not protect. Nothing in these terms limits liability for fraud, death or personal injury, or any liability that Malawian law does not allow us to limit.

Our liability for a proven software failure is limited to the Steadi Pay fees you paid in the three months before the claim.

10. Changes and contact

We may update these terms. Material changes will be posted on this page with a new date. Continued use after that date is acceptance. Disputes are subject to the courts of Malawi. You can also use the consumer-protection routes available under the Consumer Protection Act.

Steadi Pay Ltd, Lilongwe, Malawi. Email support@steadipay.ltd. Tickets can be opened from the merchant portal.