Beta version, last updated 2026-05-06. Legal review pending — material changes may be made before public launch.

Fold Terms of Service

Last updated: 6 May 2026  ·  Effective date: 6 May 2026

1. Introduction

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of Fold, a loyalty card wallet for South African independent businesses. They sit alongside our Privacy Policy, which explains what data we hold and why. Read both. They are short on purpose.

By installing the Fold app, signing up as a vendor, or otherwise using Fold, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use Fold.

These Terms are governed by South African law. Any dispute will be heard in the courts of the Republic of South Africa.

2. Who provides Fold

Fold is operated by Isaac Anthony, sole proprietor (South Africa), trading as Fold.

• Email: hello@getfold.co.za
• Privacy contact: privacy@getfold.co.za
• Postal address: Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa (full postal address available on written request)

Throughout these Terms, "Fold", "we", "us" and "our" refer to that legal entity. "You" and "your" refer to the person or business using the service.

3. Two kinds of users

These Terms apply to two distinct user types:

• Customers — people who download the Fold app and add loyalty cards to their wallet.
• Vendors — businesses that sign up to the Fold dashboard to run a loyalty programme for their customers.

Some clauses apply to both. Some apply only to customers or only to vendors. We make this clear in each section.

4. The customer agreement

4.1 What you are getting

The Fold app is free for customers. Always. We will never charge you to use Fold, to add a card, to claim stamps, or to redeem a reward.

You are getting:

• A digital wallet to hold loyalty cards from vendors that have joined Fold.
• Auto-present, which surfaces the right card when you arrive at a vendor's location.
• A pseudonymous identifier (FOLD-XXXXXX) that vendors use to credit your stamps.

You are not getting:

• An account with us in the traditional sense. There is no email, no password, no profile.
• A guarantee that any specific vendor will be on Fold, or that any specific reward will continue.
• A right to use the Fold name, logo, or any vendor's logo for your own purposes.

4.2 Your responsibilities as a customer

You agree to:

• Use the app for its intended purpose — collecting and presenting loyalty cards at vendors that participate in Fold.
• Not attempt to forge stamps, claim rewards you have not earned, scrape vendor data, or interfere with the app's security mechanisms.
• Not use Fold to harass vendors, vendor staff, or other Fold users.
• Comply with each vendor's own loyalty programme rules, which they set themselves.

4.3 Stamps, rewards, and the vendor relationship

A stamp on your card represents a transaction or interaction between you and a vendor. The reward itself is provided by the vendor, not by Fold. Fold provides the wallet; the vendor provides the coffee, the discount, the haircut, the meal.

This means:

• Disputes about whether a stamp was earned, whether a reward was given, or whether the reward met expectations are between you and the vendor.
• We will help mediate where it is reasonable to do so, but we are not a party to your transaction with the vendor.
• If a vendor leaves Fold, your stamps with that vendor stop being honoured. Your existing stamp records remain available in the app, but redemption depends on the vendor.

4.4 Account deletion (customer)

You can delete your data at any time through the app's Settings → Delete All Data flow. This wipes your FOLD-XXXXXX identifier, your cards, and your stamp progress from your device and from our servers. The deletion is irreversible. We do not keep a recovery copy.

5. The vendor agreement

5.1 What you are getting

When you sign up to the Fold vendor dashboard, you are getting:

• A free single-location loyalty programme for your business, with no monthly fee.
• The ability to scan and stamp customer cards from any device with a browser.
• A simple analytics view of stamps issued and rewards redeemed at your business.
• Visibility on the Fold customer-facing app for any customer who chooses to add your card.

Paid tiers may exist now or in future for multi-location, chain, or integrated vendors. The current pricing is stated on the dashboard at signup. We reserve the right to change pricing for paid tiers with at least 30 days written notice to the email on your vendor account. Any change will not retroactively apply to a billing period already paid for.

The free single-location tier is intended to remain free. We do not currently plan to charge single-location indie vendors. If that ever changes, we will notify you with at least 90 days written notice and you may close your account before any charge applies.

5.2 Your responsibilities as a vendor

You agree to:

• Keep your account credentials secure. You are responsible for actions taken from your account. Set strong passwords, do not share them, and rotate them when staff leave.
• Honour the loyalty programme you advertise on Fold. If your card says "buy 10 coffees, get one free", customers expect that. Misleading or fraudulent reward terms can result in account suspension.
• Only stamp legitimate transactions. Stamping cards for transactions that did not occur, or in exchange for off-platform value, is a violation of these Terms and may also constitute fraud under South African law.
• Provide accurate business information. Your displayed name, logo, category, and address must reflect your actual business. We may ask for verification.
• Comply with consumer protection law. The Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 and POPIA continue to apply to your business independently of Fold.
• Use staff accounts appropriately. Each staff member should have their own account. The audit log we provide is only useful if accounts are not shared.

5.3 The independent-business clause (Fold's network shape)

Fold is built for independent South African businesses. By signing up as a vendor, you confirm that your business is one of:

• An independent owner-operated shop, cafe, restaurant, salon, or service business
• A small chain of up to 5 locations under the same ownership
• A franchisee operating one or more independently-owned locations

Fold reserves the right to decline or remove vendor accounts representing national mall chains, supermarket retailers, fuel station chains, or franchises of multinationals. This is not a moral judgement on those businesses. It is the shape of our network. The product promise to customers is "supports indie", and a chain on the platform breaks that promise.

If you are unsure whether your business qualifies, write to hello@getfold.co.za before signing up.

5.4 Payment terms (paid tiers only)

If you subscribe to a paid Fold tier (currently Pro, R299/month, or Business, R899/month — pricing as stated on the dashboard at the time of signup):

• We will bill via Paystack. Paystack's terms apply to the payment transaction itself.
• Subscriptions are month-to-month. You can cancel any time. Cancellation is effective at the end of the current paid period — we do not pro-rate refunds for the current month.
• If a payment fails, we will retry for 7 days. If it still fails, your account is downgraded to the free tier (if eligible) or suspended. Suspended accounts retain their data for 30 days, after which they are deleted.
• We will not unilaterally change pricing for an active subscription mid-cycle. Any pricing change requires the 30-day notice in section 5.1.

5.5 Vendor account closure

You may close your vendor account at any time through the dashboard or by emailing hello@getfold.co.za. On closure:

• Customers who hold your card will see their stamp progress freeze. Their card will display a "this vendor is no longer on Fold" notice within 7 days.
• Your business profile, staff accounts, and active messages are deleted from our servers within 30 days.
• The audit log entry of the closure itself is retained for 90 days as part of standard audit retention.

We may also close or suspend a vendor account if:

• We have evidence of fraudulent stamping, abuse of the platform, or breach of these Terms.
• Your business does not meet the independent-business clause in section 5.3 and was admitted in error.
• Required by a valid South African court order.

We will notify you in writing before any closure we initiate, except where the closure is required to prevent imminent harm or where notice is legally prohibited.

6. Acceptable use (both customer and vendor)

You may not, whether using Fold as a customer or a vendor:

• Reverse-engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract the source code of the Fold app, dashboard, or backend.
• Use Fold to send spam, phishing content, or any unlawful communication.
• Attempt to access another user's data, account, or stamp progress.
• Probe, scan, or test the security of Fold's systems without prior written permission.
• Use automated tools (bots, scrapers, headless browsers) to interact with Fold beyond the documented API surface.
• Use Fold to harass, defame, or threaten any person.
• Misrepresent your identity, your business, or any transaction.

If we detect any of the above, we may suspend your access immediately and pursue any remedies available under South African law.

6.1 Anti-scraping and data extraction

You may not use automated means — including but not limited to bots, crawlers, scrapers, headless browsers, or any programmatic access method — to extract, collect, harvest, or copy merchant data, customer data, location data, brand assets, or any other data from Fold's app, dashboard, API, or website. This prohibition applies regardless of the purpose, including competitive analysis, data aggregation, machine learning training, or commercial resale.

This clause is enforceable under South African law and is modelled on established precedent regarding unauthorised automated access to digital platforms. Fold actively monitors for and blocks automated extraction attempts. Violations may result in immediate account termination, IP blocking, and legal action including claims for damages.

6.2 Beta status

Fold is currently in closed beta. The service may contain bugs, incomplete features, or experience downtime. By using Fold during the beta period, you acknowledge and accept these limitations. We make no guarantees about uptime, data persistence, or feature availability during beta. We will notify users before the beta period ends and the service transitions to general availability.

7. Intellectual property

7.1 Our IP

The Fold name, logo, app design, dashboard design, and all software are owned by us. You get a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use them solely for the purpose of using Fold. Nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of our IP to you.

7.2 Vendor IP

Vendors retain ownership of their business name, logo, and any other IP they upload to Fold. By uploading, you grant Fold a limited licence to display that IP on the customer-facing app and dashboard for as long as your vendor account is active. We do not use vendor IP for marketing or branding purposes outside the app and dashboard without prior permission.

7.3 Customer-generated content

Customers do not currently generate content on Fold (no reviews, photos, or messages to vendors). If we add such features in future, we will publish updated Terms before that feature is enabled.

8. The auto-present feature

Fold's auto-present feature surfaces the right loyalty card when you arrive at a vendor's location. It uses your device's location services with your permission.

You should know:

• We do collect anonymous scan-event data (vendor ID, approximate location, accuracy, time) when a stamp or redeem occurs, to operate and improve Fold's location-based features. This data has no link to your FOLD-XXXXXX identifier or any other personal identifier. See the Privacy Policy section on scan events for full detail.
• Auto-present may not always fire correctly due to common limitations of mobile location services. When it doesn't, tap any card to present it manually.
• We do not promise auto-present will always fire correctly. We will keep improving it, but it is a convenience, not a guarantee.

9. Service availability

We aim for Fold to work whenever you need it. We do not guarantee uninterrupted service. We may:

• Take Fold down for maintenance with reasonable notice where practical.
• Be affected by upstream outages (Vercel, Supabase, Apple App Store, Google Play, mobile networks) that are outside our control.
• Roll out updates that change features. We will not remove core functionality (free wallet for customers, free single-location tier for indie vendors) without the notice periods set out elsewhere in these Terms.

We do not currently offer paid SLAs. We do our best.

10. Disclaimers and limitation of liability

10.1 No warranty beyond what the law requires

To the maximum extent permitted by South African law (including the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 where it applies):

• Fold is provided "as is". We do not warrant that it will be uninterrupted, error-free, fit for any specific purpose beyond its general purpose, or compatible with every device.
• We do not warrant the accuracy of vendor information, stamp counts, or auto-present behaviour. We work hard to make all of these correct; we cannot be liable for occasional errors.

10.2 Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by South African law:

• We are not liable for indirect, consequential, or incidental damages arising from your use of Fold.
• Our total aggregate liability to a customer is limited to ZAR 0 because the customer service is free. The customer's primary remedy is to delete the app.
• Our total aggregate liability to a vendor is limited to the fees paid by that vendor in the 12 months preceding the claim, or ZAR 0 for free-tier vendors.

These limitations do not apply where South African law does not permit such limitation, including in cases of gross negligence, wilful misconduct, or fraud on our part.

10.3 Vendor indemnity

Vendors agree to indemnify and hold Fold harmless against claims arising from:

• The vendor's breach of these Terms or applicable law.
• Disputes between the vendor and their customers about rewards, products, or services provided by the vendor.
• The accuracy of business information the vendor uploads.

Customers do not provide an indemnity. The most we can ask of a customer is that they stop using Fold.

11. Privacy and data protection

Privacy is governed by our Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms by reference. The Privacy Policy is also our POPIA compliance statement.

In short, and as restated for these Terms:

• We do not sell customer data. Ever.
• We collect the minimum we need (a pseudonymous identifier for customers, business and account data for vendors).
• Customers can delete all their data through the app at any time.
• Vendors can close their account and have their data deleted at any time.

If anything in the Privacy Policy ever conflicts with these Terms, the Privacy Policy wins on data-handling questions.

12. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do:

• The "Last updated" date at the top of this document changes.
• For changes that materially affect customer or vendor rights (pricing, account closure rules, data sharing), we will give at least 30 days notice by email (vendors) or in-app notice (customers) before the change takes effect.
• For minor changes (clarifications, typos, non-material updates), we will simply update the date.

Continued use of Fold after a change takes effect constitutes acceptance of the new Terms. If you do not accept a change, your remedy is to close your account before the change takes effect.

13. Termination

These Terms apply for as long as you use Fold.

You can end the relationship at any time by:

• Customers: uninstalling the app and using the in-app delete-data flow.
• Vendors: closing your account through the dashboard or by writing to hello@getfold.co.za.

We can end the relationship as set out in sections 5.5 and 6 (acceptable use breaches).

The clauses that should survive termination — privacy obligations, IP ownership, limitation of liability, governing law — survive termination.

14. Governing law and dispute resolution

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa.

Before initiating legal proceedings, both parties agree to make a reasonable, good-faith attempt to resolve a dispute by:

1. Writing to the other party (hello@getfold.co.za for Fold) describing the dispute and the desired resolution.
2. Allowing 30 days for a response and an attempt at resolution.
3. Considering mediation through a mutually agreed mediator.

If the dispute is not resolved within 60 days, either party may approach the courts of the Republic of South Africa, which have exclusive jurisdiction.

Nothing in this clause prevents either party from seeking urgent interim relief from a court where the circumstances require it.

15. Severability and entire agreement

If any clause of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, the rest remain in effect. The unenforceable clause is to be read in the narrowest way that is both legal and consistent with the intent of the original.

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any pricing details displayed at the time of signup, are the entire agreement between you and Fold. They replace any prior agreements or understandings.

16. Contact

For any question about these Terms, write to hello@getfold.co.za.

For privacy-specific requests, write to privacy@getfold.co.za.

We respond within 30 days. We are based in Cape Town and work in South African Standard Time.