Terms of Service

Welcome to Virdap. These Terms of Service ("Terms" or "Agreement") constitute a legally binding commercial contract between you ("User," "Reader," "Author," "Affiliate," or "Operations Staff") and Virdap Smart Solutions ("Virdap," "we," "us," or "our").

By creating an account, publishing content, sharing referral links, applying for staff positions, or purchasing ebooks via virdap.co.ke, APIs, or our mobile applications, you agree to be bound by these Terms across all 54 African jurisdictions and internationally.

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1. Eligibility and User Roles

• Age Requirement: You must be at least 18 years of age or the age of legal majority in your jurisdiction to publish or conduct financial transactions.
• Account Tiers:
  • Reader: Unlocks personalized browsing, multi-currency checkout, and access to the protected e-reader across all devices.
  • Author: The highest publishing tier. Authors possess full publishing tools, manuscript studio access, catalog management, and royalty withdrawal portals, while retaining full reader and affiliate privileges.
  • Affiliate: Every registered user automatically receives an affiliate referral code to recommend books and earn commissions.
  • Operations Staff: Hired contractors who assist Virdap with KYC verification, manuscript quality assurance, and customer support in exchange for per-action compensation.

2. Purchases, Currency & Reader Licensing

• Supported Payment Methods: Virdap exclusively processes payments through two secure channels:
  • M-Pesa STK Push for Kenyan buyers (via the Safaricom Daraja API)
  • PayPal Checkout for international buyers and non-M-Pesa customers (converted to USD at current exchange rates)
• Local Currency Pricing: Ebook prices are displayed in local African currencies (KES, NGN, GHS, ZAR, UGX, TZS, EGP, etc.) and converted at checkout. Applicable statutory taxes (such as VAT) and payment processing fees are itemized based on the buyer's country.
• Digital License Only: Ebook purchases grant a non-transferable, revocable, perpetual license for personal reading via the Virdap DRM Web Reader or authorized mobile apps. Raw file downloads (EPUB/PDF extraction) are strictly prohibited.
• No-Refund Policy: Due to the immediate digital delivery and decryption of content, all ebook purchases are final and non-refundable upon successful transaction confirmation.

3. Author Publishing, Royalties & Withdrawals

• 70% Royalty Baseline: Authors earn a baseline 70% royalty on direct ebook sales. Virdap retains 30% to cover cloud hosting, security, payment processing, and platform maintenance.
• 60% Royalty on Affiliate Sales: If a book is sold through an affiliate's referral link, the author receives 60%, the referring affiliate earns 10%, and Virdap retains 30%.
• 7-Day Security Hold: To protect against chargebacks, card fraud, and unauthorized reversals, all sale earnings are held in escrow for seven (7) days before clearing to the author's available balance.
• Author Payout Options: Authors withdraw royalties exclusively via:
  • M-Pesa Mobile Money (direct STK B2C disbursement to Kenyan Safaricom numbers)
  • PayPal (automated B2C API disbursement to verified PayPal email addresses, converted to USD at the current exchange rate)
• Mandatory KYC Verification: In compliance with international Anti-Money Laundering (AML) standards, all authors, affiliates, and staff must complete identity verification (National ID/Passport + live selfie) before any withdrawals are enabled.
• Payout Security Lock: Following any user's first successful withdrawal, the destination payment account (M-Pesa number or PayPal email) is permanently locked. Updating payout details requires email-based OTP verification.
• Manuscript Studio & Irrevocable Locking: Authors format, proofread, and preview their work in the Virdap Manuscript Studio prior to release. Upon submitting and publishing a book, the manuscript text is permanently compiled into the DRM catalog and locked against post-publication alteration to safeguard reader purchases and preserve editorial integrity.
• Automated Copyright Scanning: Every submitted manuscript is automatically scanned using text fingerprinting (SHA-256) and perceptual cover art hashing (pHash algorithm) to detect duplicates and potential copyright violations before manual QA review.

5. Affiliate Program Rules

• Commission Structure: Affiliates earn an instant 10% commission on the gross sale price of books purchased through their unique link.
• Attribution Window: Referral tracking operates on a 24-hour cookie window or expires immediately upon the user's first completed transaction (whichever comes first).
• Anti-Self-Referral Enforcement: Authors cannot earn affiliate commissions on their own authored books. If an author refers their own book, the system blocks the affiliate commission and credits the author their standard 70% direct royalty.
• Affiliate Payouts: Affiliate commissions are withdrawn through the same M-Pesa or PayPal channels as author royalties, after KYC verification is completed.
• Prohibited Marketing: Spamming WhatsApp groups, deceptive advertising, impersonating authors, or bidding on Virdap trademark keywords in search ads will result in permanent affiliate forfeiture and account termination.

6. Operations Staff Agreement

• Hiring & Compensation Model: Virdap hires contractors (not employees) across three operational desks:
  • KYC Reviewers: KES 10.00 per verified KYC application
  • Customer Support Agents: KES 15.00 per resolved support ticket
  • Manuscript QA Reviewers: KES 25.00 per reviewed book submission
• Refundable Commitment Fee: New staff pay a one-time refundable KES 200.00 onboarding commitment fee, which is automatically added to their first withdrawal payout as a bonus.
• Minimum Withdrawal Threshold: Staff must accumulate at least KES 20,000.00 in verified compensation before requesting a withdrawal.
• First-Come-First-Served Task Assignment: All operational queues (KYC, support, manuscript QA) operate on a strict first-come-first-served basis. Once a staff member claims a task, it is locked to prevent collision with other agents.
• Audited Action Logs: Every staff action is permanently logged with timestamp, target reference, and compensation amount. False approvals, data manipulation, or breach of confidentiality results in immediate termination and forfeiture of pending compensation.
• Confidentiality Obligation: Staff accessing identity documents, financial records, or customer data under the Virdap Operations Portal are strictly prohibited from downloading, screenshotting, or sharing such data. Violations are prosecutable under the Kenya Data Protection Act (2019) with fines up to KES 5,000,000.

7. Customer Support Communication Channel

• Secure Portal-Only Replies: All customer support communications occur exclusively through the Virdap Secure Support Portal (virdap.co.ke/contact/). Replies sent directly to support@virdap.co.ke are not actively monitored for ticket responses.
• Ticket Lifecycle: Once a support ticket is marked as resolved by a Virdap staff member, the conversation thread is permanently archived in read-only mode. Customers requiring further assistance must open a new ticket.
• Response Time: Virdap aims to respond to all support inquiries within 2–4 business hours during active operational hours.

8. DMCA Takedown & Notice-and-Takedown Portal

• Copyright owners and authorized representatives may submit formal takedown notices via our online portal at virdap.co.ke/dmca/ or via email to dmca@virdap.co.ke.
• Valid notices are reviewed and acted upon within 24 to 48 hours in accordance with statutory safe harbor procedures.
• Authors who believe their content was removed by mistake may file a formal counter-notice with legal verification.

9. Prohibited Activities

Users agree not to:

• Circumvent, decompile, or tamper with Virdap's DRM reader, encryption keys, or API tokens.
• Scrape catalog metadata, text, or book assets using automated bots, crawlers, or AI training scrapers.
• Submit fraudulent payment credentials, initiate malicious chargebacks, or manipulate ranking algorithms.
• Create deceptive multiple accounts to bypass self-referral blocks or artificially inflate book reviews.

10. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted under applicable law, Virdap Smart Solutions shall not be liable for indirect, punitive, incidental, or consequential damages resulting from platform downtime, payment gateway interruptions, third-party telecommunication failures, or author-uploaded content.

11. Governing Law & Dispute Resolution

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Kenya. Any commercial dispute arising out of or in connection with this Agreement shall be referred to and finally resolved by arbitration under the Rules of the Nairobi Centre for International Arbitration (NCIA), with proceedings conducted in English.

12. Contact & Legal Notices