Terms of service

Who we are

Hoolam is run by HOOLAM DIGITAL PLATFORM LTD, a private company limited by shares, registered in Nigeria with the Corporate Affairs Commission under RC number 9919417. Our registered office is at 8, Delta Bakery Road, Woji, Rivers State, Nigeria. You can reach us at hello@hoolam.com or on WhatsApp on +234 703 679 9976.

In these terms, “Hoolam”, “we” and “us” mean HOOLAM DIGITAL PLATFORM LTD. “You” means anyone using Hoolam, as a buyer, a seller, or both.

Agreeing to these terms

By messaging Hoolam on WhatsApp to start, join or pay for a deal, or by using a Hoolam link or page, you agree to these terms, to our Holding agreement and to our Acceptable use rules. Our Privacy policy explains how we handle your information. If you don’t agree, please don’t use Hoolam.

What Hoolam does

Hoolam helps a buyer and a seller who may not know each other complete a sale safely:

• one side starts a deal in our WhatsApp chat and both sides see the same summary of the item, price and fee;
• the buyer pays Hoolam by bank transfer, and we hold the money;
• the seller sends the item, and the buyer tells us when it arrives;
• we pay the seller, or, if something goes wrong, our team looks at it and decides who the money goes to.

We also show a short trust record for each seller and buyer, built from their past deals on Hoolam, and sellers can choose to have a public Hoolam page.

Hoolam is not a marketplace. We don’t list, sell, buy, inspect, store or deliver items, and we don’t set prices. We are not a bank, we don’t take deposits and we don’t give loans.

Who can use Hoolam

To use Hoolam you must:

• be at least 18 years old and able to enter into a binding agreement;
• be buying or selling in Nigeria, in naira;
• use a WhatsApp number that is yours;
• receive money only into a Nigerian bank account in your own name (or, for a registered business, in the business’s name); and
• not have been blocked from Hoolam before.

Your Hoolam account

Your WhatsApp number is your Hoolam account. Anyone who can use your WhatsApp can act on your deals, so keep your phone and WhatsApp secure, and turn on WhatsApp’s two-step verification. Tell us straight away if you lose your phone or think someone else has used your account.

The details you give us (your name, business name, city and bank account) must be true and up to date. When you add a bank account, we check the account name with the bank.

WhatsApp is a service of Meta. Using it is also subject to WhatsApp’s own terms and privacy policy. We can’t control WhatsApp’s availability.

Deals and money

How deals are started, paid, held, released and refunded, and how our fee works, is set out in our Holding agreement. In summary: our fee is 5% of the price, never less than ₦300 and never more than ₦5,000, and whoever starts the deal pays it. For now a single deal can be up to ₦50,000.

We may ask you for proof of identity at any time, including before larger deals, and we may decline or pause a deal until you provide it.

If you sell

• Describe the item honestly, including its condition, and only sell things you own or are allowed to sell.
• Only send the item after Hoolam tells you the buyer has paid. Don’t ask a buyer to pay you outside Hoolam for a Hoolam deal.
• Send the item on time and keep proof that you sent it. You can add proof in the chat.
• You are responsible for the item, its delivery, and any taxes or licences that apply to your business.

If you buy

• Check the deal summary before you pay. Pay only to the account number Hoolam sends you for that deal.
• Check the item when it arrives, and tap “I’m happy” only when you have it and it is as agreed. Once you confirm, the seller is paid and that can’t be undone.
• If something is wrong, tap “Problem” before confirming and tell us honestly what happened.

Trust records, ratings and seller pages

When someone checks a seller or buyer in our chat, we show a short record built from their completed deals on Hoolam, such as how many deals they’ve completed, how many buyers were happy, and how long they’ve been on Hoolam. After a deal, buyers can rate the seller. Ratings must be honest and about that deal only.

Sellers can choose to turn on a public Hoolam page, with their business name, city, record, and, if they add them, a photo and links to their social pages or website. A seller is responsible for what they add. It must be theirs, accurate and lawful. We may remove a photo or link that breaks these terms. A seller can turn their page off at any time in the chat.

A trust record shows past behaviour on Hoolam. It is not a guarantee about any future deal.

Using Hoolam fairly

You must follow our Acceptable use rules. In particular, you must not use Hoolam for anything illegal, to sell prohibited items, to move money without a real sale, to trick the other side or us, or to send messages to people who haven’t asked for them.

When we can pause or stop your use

We may pause a deal, freeze held money, limit what you can do, or block your number if we reasonably believe you have broken these terms, put someone at risk, or if the law requires it. Where we can, we tell you why. Blocking you doesn’t affect money that belongs to someone else: held money is still released or refunded under the Holding agreement.

You can stop using Hoolam at any time. Deals that have already been paid must still be completed or refunded. To ask us to delete your details, see Delete your data.

Keeping the service running

We work to keep Hoolam available, but it depends on WhatsApp, banks and other services we don’t control, and we sometimes need to pause it for maintenance. We don’t promise that it will always be available or free of errors. If something goes wrong with Hoolam while money is held, the money stays held and safe until we can complete the deal properly.

Our name and content

The Hoolam name, logo, website, messages and software belong to HOOLAM DIGITAL PLATFORM LTD. You may share Hoolam links and your own seller page, but you may not copy our brand or pretend to be Hoolam.

Responsibility and limits

Hoolam is provided to help two people trade safely. We are not responsible for:

• the item, its quality, safety, legality or delivery;
• what a buyer or seller says, does or promises;
• losses from payments made outside Hoolam, or to an account number we didn’t send you; or
• delays or failures caused by WhatsApp, banks, power, network outages or other events outside our reasonable control.

Our total responsibility to you for a deal is limited to the held money in that deal plus any fee we took for it. We are not responsible for loss of profit or indirect losses. Nothing in these terms limits our responsibility for fraud, or any right you have under Nigerian law, including the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, that can’t be limited.

If you break these terms or the law, and that causes us or someone else a loss, you are responsible for that loss.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with Hoolam, tell us on WhatsApp (“Talk to a person”) or at hello@hoolam.com. We’ll reply and try to put it right. If we can’t settle it together, you may take it to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission or to the courts of Nigeria.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms as Hoolam grows. For important changes we will give at least 7 days’ notice on this website and in WhatsApp. If you keep using Hoolam after a change takes effect, the new terms apply. Deals that have already started keep the terms they started with.

The law that applies

These terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the courts of Nigeria can hear any dispute about them. If a court finds any part of these terms can’t be enforced, the rest still applies.