Terms of Service

Le Cointar is an online marketplace connecting individual and professional sellers with buyers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for the sale of goods, vehicles, real estate and services. Le Cointar is neither the seller, the buyer, nor the owner of the listings published: we provide the matching tool, messaging, and a tool to coordinate direct payment between you and the seller, but the sale contract is concluded directly between the seller and the buyer, and money never passes through Le Cointar.

The Service is accessible through the website and through the Android and iOS mobile applications, under the same conditions.

• You must be at least 18 years old and have the legal capacity to enter into contracts.
• You must provide a valid Congolese phone number, unique to you and verified by SMS.
• An account is personal: you may not create an account on behalf of a third party, nor use another person's account.
• Professional (shop) accounts must correspond to a genuine activity; Le Cointar may request supporting documents at any time.

Creating an account requires a phone number verified by SMS code and choosing a public, unique and permanent username. You are responsible for keeping your account access confidential and for all activity that takes place on it.

You may provide a separate WhatsApp number to be contacted on, a separate Mobile Money number to receive your sales, as well as a photo, a bio and a commune. This information is visible to other users, except for the receiving Mobile Money number, which remains confidential.

Every listing must correspond to a good or service genuinely available for sale, described honestly, priced in US dollars or Congolese francs. A listing is reviewed before going live and can be rejected or removed at any time if it breaches these Terms.

The following are notably prohibited: stolen or counterfeit goods, or goods whose sale is illegal in the DRC; unauthorized weapons, narcotics and dangerous products; fraudulent listings, duplicates, or listings in a clearly inappropriate category; any shocking or discriminatory content, or content infringing a third party's rights.

Any user can report a listing they believe breaches these rules; a moderation team reviews it and may remove it, warn, or suspend the seller's account.

Le Cointar never receives, holds or forwards the money involved in a transaction: it is neither a payment institution nor a financial intermediary. When you buy an item, an order is created on the Service to organize the exchange, but the payment itself (usually Mobile Money — M-Pesa, Airtel Money, Orange Money or Afrimoney depending on availability, or cash) happens directly between you and the seller, to the Mobile Money number the seller has provided.

Once payment has been made and the product received, the buyer confirms this on the Service: this confirmation unlocks the ability to leave a review and updates the seller's trust score, but does not constitute a payment service provided by Le Cointar.

Because the payment happens entirely outside Le Cointar's control, we cannot offer any refund guarantee or arbitrate a financial dispute between buyer and seller. We recommend checking the item before paying, ideally by meeting in person in a safe place, and never sending money before verifying the item's real condition.

Le Cointar does not charge any commission on these transactions.

When this option is available, a seller can pay to have their listing bumped or featured in search results, for a set duration shown before payment. A boost does not guarantee contact or a sale. This paid option may be temporarily unavailable; a free boost remains obtainable through referrals.

Every user has a personal referral link. When someone signs up through this link, the referrer may receive a free boost under the terms in effect at the time of the referral, which Le Cointar may change over time.

Le Cointar calculates and publicly displays a trust score for each seller, based on objective and verifiable elements: phone verification and, where applicable, identity verification; number of completed sales; disputes lost; reviews received and average rating; responsiveness to messages; account age; listings removed by moderation.

This score is calculated automatically and is neither a guarantee nor a certification of the seller's or product's quality: it is an indicator meant to help buyers, which Le Cointar may refine over time.

Only a buyer who genuinely completed and confirmed a purchase through the Service may leave a review of the corresponding seller. Reviews must remain factual and respectful; a false, defamatory review, or one unrelated to the transaction, may be removed.

Messaging between buyers and sellers is intended solely for discussing a listing. You may block another user at any time; we remind you never to share a password, confirmation code or banking details through this channel.

Any user can report content or behaviour that breaches these Terms. Abusive or repeated bad-faith reporting may itself lead to account suspension.

You may stop using the Service at any time. Le Cointar may suspend or terminate an account, with or without notice depending on the severity of the facts, in case of breach of these Terms, fraud, behaviour dangerous to other users, or at the request of a competent authority.

Suspending an account does not affect orders already in progress: they continue normally until completion.

Le Cointar does its best to keep the Service reliable, without guaranteeing continuous availability or the total absence of errors. Le Cointar acts as a technical intermediary and is not a party to the sale contract concluded between the seller and the buyer: compliance, quality and delivery of the good or service remain the seller's responsibility.

Since Le Cointar never receives or holds the money involved in a transaction, it cannot be held liable for financial losses arising from a payment made directly between buyer and seller. To the extent permitted by Congolese law, Le Cointar's liability towards a user is limited to failures of the Service itself (matching, messaging, moderation).

Le Cointar's brand, logo, interface and graphic elements are our property or that of our partners and may not be reproduced without authorization. By publishing a listing, you warrant that you own the rights to the photos and text you provide, and you grant us the right to display them on the Service.

Le Cointar may amend these Terms to reflect changes to the Service or to applicable regulations. Any substantial change will be notified to you in the app or by notification before it takes effect; continuing to use the Service after that date constitutes acceptance.

These Terms are governed by the law of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Any dispute relating to their interpretation or performance falls under the competent courts of [city — to be completed], unless otherwise required by law.

For any question about these Terms, contact us at [contact email to be created, e.g. contact@lecointar.cd].