Marketplace Acceptable Use Policy

This policy explains what merchants may sell and how they may use Eleo Marketplace, Eleo-powered storefronts, custom domains and related commerce features. It applies to every merchant, seller, listing, order and payment method used through those services.

Eleo provides marketplace and commerce software. Merchants remain responsible for the goods and services they offer and for their dealings with customers. Independent payment providers process supported payment methods. Unless we expressly agree otherwise for a particular service, Eleo is not the merchant's fulfilment centre, payment service provider, bank, wallet issuer or merchant of record.

1. Basic merchant requirements

Merchants must:

comply with all laws and regulatory requirements that apply to the merchant, customer, product, advertisement, sale, delivery and destination;
provide accurate business, product, pricing, delivery, returns and contact information and keep it up to date;
hold every registration, licence, permit, approval and insurance required for their activity; and
cooperate with reasonable compliance, fraud, customer-protection and payment-provider enquiries.

Every standard marketplace seller must complete mandatory identity verification for the business owner or other responsible controller. We may ask for updated or additional evidence when account, product, payment or risk information changes.

2. Prohibited activities

Merchants must not use Eleo to offer, promote, arrange, receive payment for or otherwise facilitate:

illegal goods, services or conduct, or any activity that encourages another person to break the law;
fraud, deception, impersonation, sham transactions, predatory practices or materially misleading claims;
counterfeit or stolen goods, or goods or content that infringe intellectual-property, privacy or publicity rights;
illegal drugs, banned narcotics or drug paraphernalia, or controlled medicines, prescription products, medical services or other regulated healthcare activity without every required licence and approval;
firearms, ammunition, weapons, weapon parts, explosives, destructive devices or other items whose sale is prohibited or presents an unacceptable risk of serious harm;
cryptocurrency or other virtual-asset trading, exchange, brokerage, custody, issuance or payment-conversion services;
gambling, betting, lotteries, paid-entry sweepstakes or games with an entry fee and a prize;
unlicensed financial services, securities or investment products, lending, credit repair, money transmission or currency exchange;
pornography, sexually explicit content or services, sexual services, or any sexual content involving exploitation, non-consent or minors;
hate speech, unlawful discrimination, harassment, threats, exploitation, or content or services that promote violence or other unlawful harm;
government identity documents, unlawfully obtained personal or financial data, doxxing, or mailing lists sold without a lawful basis;
pyramid or Ponzi schemes, deceptive multi-level marketing, or other “get rich quick” schemes;
recalled, unlawfully imported, materially unsafe or falsely labelled products; or
any transaction or activity that breaches applicable payment provider or card-network rules, or creates an excessive and unmanaged risk of fraud, chargebacks, penalties or harm.

Payment abuse and circumvention

Merchants must not disguise their business category, process payments for another seller, submit false transaction descriptions, use Eleo for cash-out or card testing, split or route transactions to evade a restriction, or accept payment for goods or services different from those shown to the customer and the payment provider. A merchant may not switch payment methods or accounts to bypass an Eleo or provider decision.

3. Restricted and approval-required categories

Some lawful categories need prior review and may be approved with conditions. They are not automatically prohibited. These include:

A merchant must not list or sell in one of these categories until Eleo confirms the applicable approval and conditions in writing.

Alcohol. Licensed sale and delivery of alcoholic beverages may be allowed where lawful.
Adult-wellness and adult-toy retail. Lawful sale of physical adult-wellness and adult-toy products may be allowed. This does not include pornography, sexually explicit services or sexual services.
Other regulated or age-restricted goods and services. Eleo may require approval for healthcare, supplements, cosmetics, nicotine or tobacco products, chemicals and any other category subject to special licensing, product-safety, advertising, delivery or age rules.

Approval depends on the product, merchant, customer location, destination and available payment method. A merchant must satisfy all applicable licensing, product-source, labelling, safety, age-gating, age-verification, advertising, delivery and jurisdictional requirements. Age-restricted products must not be marketed to minors and must use legally adequate age checks at browsing, purchase and delivery stages where required.

Eleo may approve, limit or decline a category or require a particular catalogue, territory, delivery method or payment method. Approval may be withdrawn if the law, provider rules or risk profile changes.

4. Payment-provider availability

Eleo software availability does not guarantee that Paystack or any other payment provider will process every merchant or category. Each provider applies its own onboarding, acceptable-use and card-network requirements and may approve, restrict, suspend or decline payment services independently. An Eleo listing, storefront or category approval is not payment-provider approval.

A merchant must use only payment methods approved for its actual business activity. If a provider does not support a merchant or category, Eleo may disable that provider or payment method even where the underlying goods remain lawful.

5. Custom-domain storefronts

Custom-domain storefronts are discretionary and reviewed case-by-case. Before or after activation, Eleo may require enhanced verification, including evidence of business registration, ownership or control, trading address, licences, product source or supplier invoices, and ownership or control of the settlement account.

Eleo may decline, delay, restrict or withdraw custom-domain access when verification is incomplete, information cannot be confirmed, the domain or catalogue creates material risk, or the merchant no longer meets this policy. Custom-domain activation does not reduce the identity-verification requirements that apply to marketplace sellers.

6. Monitoring and enforcement

We assess the nature, seriousness, frequency and risk of a suspected violation. Where reasonably necessary and permitted by contract and law, Eleo may:

request information, records, licences, invoices, ownership, address, product-source or settlement-account evidence;
reject, remove, hide or restrict a listing, advertisement, category, territory, store or custom domain;
restrict a payment method or ask a payment provider to review or restrict processing;
place or request a settlement hold where contractually and lawfully available, including through the relevant payment provider;
suspend or terminate access to some or all Eleo services;
cancel affected orders and cooperate with refunds, disputes, reversals and chargebacks; and
preserve or disclose information and report activity to a payment provider, card network, regulator or law-enforcement authority where required or permitted by law.

We may act without advance notice when delay could harm a customer, Eleo, a provider or another person, or compromise an investigation. Where appropriate, we may instead give the merchant an opportunity to provide information or correct a remediable issue.

7. Related policies and provider requirements

This policy forms part of the rules governing Eleo Marketplace and should be read with Eleo's Terms, Privacy & Cookie Policy, Seller Terms and Orders, Returns and Disputes Policy. Merchants using a payment provider must also comply with that provider's current terms and acceptable-use rules, including the Paystack Merchant Services Agreement and Acceptable Use Policy where Paystack is selected.

Provider and card-network requirements may change. If a law, provider rule or another applicable Eleo policy is stricter for a particular activity, the stricter requirement applies.

8. Changes and contact

We may update this policy to reflect changes in law, our services, payment-provider rules or risk. The “Last updated” date above shows the current version. We will provide additional notice of material changes where reasonably required.

Questions, approval requests and reports of suspected violations may be sent to [email protected]. Include the store name, relevant listing or order and enough information for us to review the request.