The short version.
If you only read one section, read this one. It is the spirit of the rest of the document.
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01
You can use TopDuka to run your duka.
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02
You keep ownership of your products, orders, and customer data.
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You are the seller of record for your storefront: products, orders, delivery, refunds, taxes, and customer support are your responsibility.
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04
We don't sell your data. We don't run ads on your storefronts.
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You can leave at any time and take your data with you.
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06
We try to be online all the time, but the cloud is a wild place.
Acceptance of terms.
By creating an account or using TopDuka, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you are signing up on behalf of a business, you confirm that you have authority to bind that business.
What TopDuka is.
TopDuka is a commerce workspace for retailers. It gives you a hosted online storefront, product and inventory tools, an order inbox, a customer database, payments, reports, and a small set of AI helpers. You can also use the storefront, order, and product APIs to build your own integrations.
TopDuka is a software platform. It is not the seller of your goods, a payment processor, an escrow provider, an SMS provider, a delivery company, or a tax adviser. When you turn on third-party features, separate provider terms may also apply.
You are the merchant
Your storefront belongs to your business. Customers buy from you, not from TopDuka. You are responsible for product accuracy, stock availability, delivery promises, refunds, warranties, taxes, and customer service.
Payments are processed by providers
TopDuka helps you connect services such as Paystack, M-Pesa, cards, or bank transfer. Those providers move money under their own terms. TopDuka is not a bank, escrow service, card network, or payment processor.
Customers should contact the store owner first
If a buyer has a problem with an order, product, delivery, charge, refund, or return, the store owner is the first responsible party. We may help investigate platform misuse, but we do not take over merchant obligations.
Accounts and sign-in.
You can start a TopDuka account in either of two ways. Both end up in the same place — a workspace you own.
Sign in by email
Use a verified email and a password you set. You are responsible for keeping that password safe.
Sign in with Google
You can also create or access a TopDuka account through Google Sign-In. We use Google to confirm it is you — we never see your Google password.
Account security
You are responsible for activity on your account. Tell us quickly if you see something you did not do, and we will help lock it down.
Google Sign-In, in detail.
You can sign in to TopDuka with your Google account. This section is the full description of what that means, in case you want to know before you click. We take this seriously — Google has audited our use of their sign-in service.
When you choose Continue with Google, Google confirms it is really you and tells us a small set of profile facts. We never see your Google password, and we do not get access to your Gmail, Drive, Contacts, or anything else in your Google account.
— Scopes we request
- openid
- profile
— Scopes we do NOT request
- Gmail read or send
- Google Drive / Files
- Contacts / Calendar
- Location history
We never see your Google password
Google handles authentication directly. We only receive a short-lived token and a few profile fields you choose to share with us.
Limited scopes, by default
TopDuka requests only the scopes needed to create and protect your account: openid, email, and profile. We do not ask for Gmail, Drive, Calendar, or Contacts access.
What we receive
Your Google user ID, name, email address, profile photo URL, and whether your email is verified. That is it.
What we never receive
Your Google password, your Gmail messages, your contacts, your files on Drive, your location history, or any data from other Google services you have not shared with us.
How we use it
Only to create your TopDuka account, sign you in, recover access, and display your name and photo inside the dashboard. We do not use Google data for advertising.
You can unlink anytime
You can revoke TopDuka from your Google account at myaccount.google.com/permissions. You can also set a password and continue with email only.
— How the flow works
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You click "Continue with Google" on the TopDuka sign-in page.
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A secure Google window opens on google.com. You confirm with Google.
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Google sends TopDuka a short-lived token. We exchange it for your basic profile.
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We create or sign you into your TopDuka workspace. Done — you are in.
Acceptable use.
TopDuka is for legitimate commerce. The list below is not exhaustive, but if you do any of these things we will probably have to talk.
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Anything illegal in your country, or in the country of your customer.
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Products or services you do not have the right, licence, stock, or legal permission to sell.
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Misleading prices, fake availability, fake reviews, unsafe products, or policies that hide important customer costs.
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Malware, phishing pages, crypto miners, or scripts that try to break out of our sandbox.
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Spam, unsolicited marketing, or bulk messages sent through TopDuka channels.
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Storing or processing content that infringes someone else's copyright or trademark.
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Attempting to access another tenant's data, or to probe, scan, or load-test our infrastructure.
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Reselling raw TopDuka infrastructure as if it were your own cloud platform.
Privacy and data protection.
Your privacy is important to us. The Privacy Policy explains what we collect, why we collect it, and what we never do with it. It is part of these Terms.
Service availability and SLA.
We work hard to keep TopDuka online. We publicly share our uptime at status.topduka.com. We do not promise 100% uptime — the cloud is a wild place — but we credit Pro and Scale customers for unexpected downtime under our standard SLA, attached to your plan.
Plans, fees, and payment.
8.1 Fee structure
TopDuka offers Launch, Starter, Pro, and Scale plans with different features and resource limits. Plan prices, currency, and billing cycle are on the Pricing page. Fees are charged in advance for the period you choose.
8.2 Payment
You agree to provide accurate payment information and authorise us (or our payment processor) to charge the listed platform fees. For payments made by your storefront customers, the connected payment provider processes the payment and the merchant remains responsible for the sale, refund handling, chargeback evidence, customer support, and compliance with provider rules.
8.3 Refunds and changes
Fees are non-refundable except where required by law or where we explicitly offer a money-back window. If we change pricing for an existing plan, we give 30 days' notice and you can move to a free tier or export your data.
8.4 Taxes
Prices are exclusive of VAT, sales tax, withholding tax, customs duty, and any other transaction tax unless stated. You are responsible for configuring tax settings correctly, issuing customer invoices where required, and paying taxes connected to your business and storefront sales.
Intellectual property.
9.1 Your content stays yours
You own your products, photos, descriptions, customer lists, and orders. You give us a limited licence to host, process, and display that content so we can run the service for you. This licence ends when you delete the content or close your account.
9.2 Our product stays ours
The TopDuka software, brand, design system, and documentation belong to us. You may not copy, resell, or rebrand the platform itself.
9.3 Feedback
If you send us ideas or feedback, we may use them to improve TopDuka without owing you anything for it.
Limitation of liability.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, TopDuka is not liable for indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages — including lost profit, lost data, business interruption, failed deliveries, customer disputes, chargebacks, refunds, product defects, unsafe products, taxes, or claims caused by a merchant's storefront content or business conduct. Our total liability for any claim will not exceed the fees you paid us in the three months before the claim. Some jurisdictions do not allow these limits, in which case the minimum required by your local law applies.
Termination.
| Who | What happens |
|---|---|
| You | You can close your duka and delete your account from Settings → Account at any time. |
| Us | We may suspend or close an account that breaks these terms, breaks the law, or risks other customers. |
| Data | After deletion we keep your data for 30 days in case you change your mind, then we wipe it. Invoices and tax records are kept as long as the law requires. |
Governing law.
These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of Kenya. Any dispute will be resolved in the courts of Nairobi, unless a mandatory consumer protection law in your country says otherwise.
Changes to these terms.
We may update these Terms. For material changes, we will email account owners and show an in-app notice at least 14 days before the new terms take effect. The version number and "Last updated" date at the top will always tell you which version you are reading.
v Changelog
- v2.1 · 2026-06-02Added the dedicated Google Sign-In section with full scope list and revoke instructions.
- v2.0 · 2025-11-14Rewrote for the TopDuka rebrand. Combined the older ScaleNodes Terms and the TopDuka Terms.
- v1.3 · 2024-08-20Added a clear data-export promise and clearer refund language.
Contact us about these terms.
The fastest way is email. The slowest is paper mail. Both work.
01 · Email
legal@topduka.com
Same-day reply
02 · Web form
topduka.com/contact
Routes to the right human
03 · Post
TopDuka Legal
Westlands, Nairobi · Kenya
By using TopDuka, you acknowledge that you have read and agreed to these Terms.
If you do not agree, please do not use the service — we will happily help you close any account you may have started.