Terms of Use

Last updated 24 October 2026 · OMRI Investments Pty Ltd, Gaborone, Botswana · [email protected]

Draft for pre-launch. Reviewed by OMRI management; to be confirmed by legal counsel before public launch.

Vendors Harven (“we”, “the platform”) is an online marketplace operated by OMRI Investments Pty Ltd in Botswana. It lets verified sellers list items and buyers bid on or buy them. By creating an account or using the platform you agree to these terms. The step-by-step guides inside the app (Purchases, Seller Hub) explain how each part works; if a guide and these terms ever differ, these terms apply.

1. Accounts

• You must be 18 or older and give accurate information. Keep your password and two-step verification codes private; you are responsible for activity on your account.
• Sellers and staff must use two-step verification. We recommend it for everyone.
• We may suspend or close accounts that break these terms or the law, or that put other users at risk, and may block access from networks used for abuse.

2. Buying

• Auctions. A bid is a binding offer to buy. You set the most you will pay and we bid for you in steps, only as high as needed. Bids can’t be withdrawn by the bidder; we may retract a bid in cases such as an obvious mistake or shill bidding. A bid placed in the last two minutes extends the auction by two minutes, up to 20 times, so no one is outbid at the last second. If you win, you must pay within the time shown (48 hours by default).
• Buy It Now reserves the item while you pay. The order is released again if it isn’t paid within the time shown at checkout (2 hours by default).
• Offers. On items that accept offers you may offer from 30% of the price up to just below it. The seller has 48 hours to accept, counter or decline. If an offer is accepted, you must pay within 48 hours.
• Unpaid items. A won auction or an accepted offer that you don’t pay for counts as an unpaid-item strike for 12 months. Sellers may choose not to sell to buyers with several strikes, and we may restrict accounts that repeatedly don’t pay.
• Fees at checkout. Buyers pay a Buyer Protection fee, shown before payment, which funds the Money-Back Guarantee. Some payment methods may add a processing fee, shown next to the method. Prices and all fees are in Botswana pula.
• Harven credit. If you hold credit from the referral programme (section 9), it is applied automatically against the Buyer Protection fee at checkout and shown as a separate line.

3. Payments and escrow

Payments go to Vendors Harven, not directly to the seller. You can pay by bank transfer, or by card or mobile money through our licensed payment providers; the methods offered are shown at checkout. We never see or store your full card number. For bank transfers, use the order number as the reference: the order is marked paid when we confirm the money has arrived.

We hold the money until you confirm that you received the item, or until the check period (3 days by default) after delivery ends without a problem being reported, and then release it to the seller minus our fees. Delivery is shown by courier scans, by the six-digit handover code that you give the courier or seller at handover, or by you confirming. If an item is dispatched without tracking and nothing is reported, we treat it as delivered after 14 days. Only give your handover code when the item is in your hands: once you have given it, delivery is confirmed and you can no longer report the item as not received (you can still report a problem with the item).

4. Cancelling, returns and the Money-Back Guarantee

Business days are Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays in Botswana. The 5-day guarantee period starts on the day the item is delivered.

• Cancelling. Before the seller dispatches a paid order you may ask the seller to cancel it. The seller has 3 business days to agree. If they agree, or don’t answer and the item hasn’t been dispatched, you are refunded in full. Once an item is dispatched it can no longer be cancelled; use a return instead.
• Item not received. Once the seller’s dispatch date has passed you can open a request. The payment stays on hold while the seller answers (3 business days by default).
• Not as described, damaged, wrong item or not working. You can open a request or a return up to 5 days after delivery, even after the seller has been paid. We review evidence from both sides and refund you if the seller is at fault. Refunds after release come out of the seller’s balance. The seller pays return postage for these problems: use the prepaid label if the seller adds one, or enter what you paid (and the receipt number) when you send the item back, and it is repaid to you, up to a limit shown on the order, when the seller confirms the item is back.
• Change of mind. The guarantee does not cover this. You can return an item only if the listing accepts returns, within the days it states. You pay the return postage unless the listing says the seller does. If the item comes back used or damaged the seller may keep up to half of the item price, with a reason.
• How decisions work. A seller who doesn’t answer in time, or a buyer who disagrees with the answer, can ask us to decide. Our decision is based on the evidence you add (photos, tracking, messages). Refunds go back to the way you paid; see “How a refund works” below for the steps, the timings and exactly what you get back.
• Chargebacks. If you dispute a card payment with your bank, we treat it as a request on the order and respond with the evidence we hold. Please use the refund steps below first: they are faster, and a chargeback and a refund for the same payment cannot both be paid.

How a refund works, step by step

What you get back

• A full refund returns everything you paid on the order: the item, the delivery (including delivery by a GoFleet driver), the Buyer Protection fee and any payment processing fee. If you used Harven credit on the order, it is returned to you as credit.
• A partial refund is the amount the seller offered or we decided. It is paid to you in full: nothing is taken off it.
• A change-of-mind return that comes back used or damaged: the seller may keep up to half of the item price, and must give you a reason. The rest is refunded to you. If you think that is unfair, write to [email protected] and we will look at the evidence.
• Return postage. For a problem with the item, the seller pays: either with a prepaid label, or by repaying what you paid (up to the limit shown on your order, with your receipt number) once the seller confirms the item is back. This is a separate payment from the refund and can reach you by bank transfer or Orange Money even if you paid by card. For a change of mind you pay the postage unless the listing offers free returns.
• Not refunded: a change of mind on an item whose listing does not accept returns, a change of mind after the days the listing states, and a problem reported after the 5-day guarantee period.

How the money comes back to you

• Paid by card or mobile money: the refund goes back to the same card or mobile-money account through DPO Pay. You don’t need to do anything.
• Paid by bank transfer or Orange Money: there is no card to return it to, so we ask you for the bank account or Orange Money number to pay it into (in an email and on your order page). The refund cannot be sent until you give it. We store these details encrypted, only our finance team sees them when sending your refund, and they are erased once it has been sent.
• Who bears the cost. You are refunded in full whenever you are entitled to a refund. Whether the seller or Vendors Harven carries the cost never delays your refund.

5. Messages, reviews and staying on the platform

• Use the platform’s messages for questions and orders. Phone numbers, email addresses and links in messages and reviews may be masked, because off-platform deals are not protected by the Money-Back Guarantee.
• Only buyers who completed an order can review the item and rate the seller. Reviews and feedback must be honest and are moderated; we may remove content that breaks these terms or contains banned words.

6. Prohibited items and conduct

• No illegal, stolen, counterfeit, hazardous or restricted items; no weapons, drugs, or wildlife products without permits.
• No shill bidding, fee avoidance (taking payment outside the platform), harassment, fake feedback or fake reviews, or abusing offers, referrals or credit.
• Listings may be reviewed, edited for policy reasons or removed.

7. Fees

Seller fees are listed on the fees page. We give at least 30 days’ notice of fee increases.

8. Notifications and marketing

We send service messages about your orders, offers, returns, cases, payouts and security by email, in the app and by push notification, and by SMS for urgent items if you verified a phone number. You can change push and SMS choices in your account. Saved-search and price alerts are sent because you asked for them. We send the newsletter only if you subscribe, with one-tap unsubscribe in every issue.

9. Referral programme and Harven credit

• When the referral programme is switched on, you can invite friends with your personal link. When a friend who joined through it completes their first order of at least the minimum amount (as buyer or seller), you and your friend each earn the reward shown in Invite & earn.
• A reward is earned only when the order is complete, meaning it was paid, delivered and released from escrow. Orders refunded before then earn nothing, and nor do orders between you and the person who invited you. If an order is refunded in full after the reward was earned, the reward is taken back: cash is removed from your balance (which can go negative) and unspent credit is cancelled. Credit you already spent is not taken back.
• Approved sellers receive rewards as cash in their Seller Hub balance, paid out with their next payout. Other members hold the reward as Harven credit, which can only be used against the Buyer Protection fee at checkout. It has no cash value, can’t be transferred, and expires if your account is closed. Unspent credit is paid into your seller balance if you are later approved as a seller. Credit used on an order that is refunded in full is returned to you.
• Rewards are limited per member and by a monthly budget, so a reward can be delayed to the next month. We may cancel invites that look abused (for example accounts created to reward each other), change the amounts or limits for future invites, or end the programme at any time. Rewards already earned are kept.

10. Liability

Sellers, not Vendors Harven, are responsible for their items and descriptions. To the extent the law allows, our liability is limited to the fees we earned on the transaction concerned, except where we were negligent or the Consumer Protection Act provides otherwise.

11. Law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of Botswana. Contact [email protected] first; unresolved disputes go to the courts of Botswana.

See also the Seller Agreement and Privacy Policy.