Terms of Service

Effective date: 17 July 2026 · Version 1.0

1. Who we are

Thirdhand is a WhatsApp-based business assistant operated by HANDY LABS (PTY) LTD (Registration No. 2026/563734/07), a company registered in South Africa with its address at 19 Burwood Road, Crawford, Cape Town, Western Cape, 7780 ("Thirdhand", "we", "us"). You can contact us at raaid@westernambition.co.za.

These Terms are an agreement between us and the business that creates a Thirdhand account ("you", "your business"). By creating an account you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy.

2. What Thirdhand does

Thirdhand connects to your WhatsApp Business number and helps you run your business: it responds to customer messages using an automated assistant, captures leads, answers frequently asked questions, manages appointments and reminders, and creates and sends invoices. Some replies are sent automatically; others are prepared for your approval before sending.

3. Your account

To use Thirdhand you must be at least 18 years old, use the service for business purposes, and give us accurate information about yourself and your business. You are responsible for keeping your login credentials safe and for everything done through your account, including on any additional devices you sign in on. Tell us immediately at raaid@westernambition.co.za if you suspect unauthorised access.

4. WhatsApp and Meta

Thirdhand is built on the WhatsApp Business Platform provided by Meta. By connecting your number you also agree to Meta's WhatsApp Business terms and the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy. You understand that:

  • Connecting your number to Thirdhand may unlink other linked devices (such as WhatsApp Web) from your WhatsApp Business app.
  • Meta may change, restrict, or suspend WhatsApp Business Platform features, pricing, or your number's messaging ability, and this is outside our control.
  • Thirdhand depends on Meta's systems being available. We are not responsible for interruptions caused by Meta.

5. Automated assistant — important disclaimer

Thirdhand's responses are generated by artificial intelligence. AI-generated responses can be incorrect, incomplete, or out of date, even when they sound confident. You agree that:

  • You are responsible for the accuracy of the business information you give Thirdhand (prices, services, hours, FAQ answers), and for keeping it up to date.
  • You must review items Thirdhand queues for your approval — including quotes, bookings, and invoices — before they are sent or acted on.
  • Thirdhand is a tool that assists your business. It does not make binding commitments on your behalf, and a message sent by the assistant does not replace your own judgement.
  • You remain responsible to your customers for the goods and services you sell, including anything communicated about them through Thirdhand.

6. Fees and payment

Thirdhand is a paid subscription. Current fees and plan limits are shown at https://thirdhand.co.za/pricing and are charged in South African Rand through our payment provider, Paystack. Fees are charged monthly in advance and are non-refundable except where the Consumer Protection Act or other law requires a refund. Where a plan includes usage limits or fair-use limits, those limits form part of the plan you purchased. We may change fees with at least 30 days' written notice; if you do not accept a fee change you may cancel before it takes effect.

If payment fails, we will notify you and retry. If your account remains unpaid for 14 days we may suspend the service until payment is made.

7. Your data and your customers' data

Your account data. We process your business's information as described in our Privacy Policy.

Your customers' data. When your customers message your WhatsApp number, Thirdhand processes their personal information (names, numbers, message content, bookings, invoice details) on your behalf. Under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), you are the responsible party for your customers' personal information and we act as your operator. As your operator, we agree that we will:

  • process your customers' personal information only to provide and improve the service to you, and not for our own unrelated purposes.
  • treat it as confidential and protect it with appropriate, reasonable technical and organisational security measures.
  • notify you as soon as reasonably possible if we become aware that your customers' personal information has been accessed or acquired by an unauthorised person.
  • use sub-operators (such as hosting and AI providers, listed in our Privacy Policy) under written terms that protect the information.

In turn, you warrant that you are entitled to share your customers' information with us for these purposes, and you are responsible for complying with POPIA in your relationship with your customers — including obtaining any consents required for direct marketing under section 69 of POPIA. We provide a template privacy notice you can share with your customers.

8. Acceptable use

You may not use Thirdhand to:

  • send spam or unsolicited marketing, or message people who have opted out.
  • sell or promote goods or services that are illegal or that violate the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy or WhatsApp Commerce Policy.
  • harass, defraud, or mislead any person, or impersonate another business.
  • attempt to probe, disrupt, or gain unauthorised access to Thirdhand or its infrastructure, or to manipulate the assistant into acting outside your account's data.

Because Thirdhand operates on Meta's platform under our accounts and agreements, conduct that puts our relationship with Meta at risk harms every Thirdhand customer. We may suspend or terminate your account immediately, without notice, if we reasonably believe your use violates this section or Meta's policies.

9. Intellectual property

We own Thirdhand — the software, design, and branding. You own your content and data: your business information, your customer relationships, your messages, and your invoices. You give us a licence to process your content and data only as needed to provide the service.

10. Service availability

We work to keep Thirdhand available and reliable, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted service. Thirdhand depends on third parties — including Meta (WhatsApp), Paystack, our hosting provider, and our AI provider — whose outages or changes are outside our control. We may perform maintenance that temporarily interrupts the service, and will give advance notice where reasonably possible.

11. Limitation of liability

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, including liability arising from gross negligence, or your rights under the Consumer Protection Act where it applies. Subject to that:

  • we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, including loss of profits, loss of business, loss of customers, or loss of data caused by events outside our reasonable control.
  • we are not liable for the content of AI-generated responses that you approved, or for losses arising from inaccurate business information you provided.
  • our total liability to you arising out of the service in any 12-month period is limited to the fees you paid us in the 3 months before the event giving rise to the claim.

12. Indemnity

You indemnify us against claims by third parties (including your customers) arising from your goods and services, your breach of these Terms, your violation of the WhatsApp policies, or your failure to comply with POPIA or other laws in your relationship with your customers — except to the extent the claim is caused by our breach of these Terms.

13. Termination and your data

You may cancel at any time in the app or by written notice; cancellation takes effect at the end of your paid period. We may terminate on 30 days' notice, or immediately for material breach (including non-payment beyond the suspension period and violations of clause 8).

After termination, you have 30 days to export your data using the in-app export. We will then delete or de-identify your data within 90 days of account closure, except records we are required by law to keep (for example, invoice and tax records, which we keep for 5 years).

14. Changes to these terms

We may update these Terms. For material changes we will give you at least 30 days' notice in the app or by email, and the new version will apply from its stated effective date. If you do not accept a material change, you may cancel before it takes effect. Continuing to use Thirdhand after the effective date means you accept the updated Terms.

15. General

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa, and the South African courts have jurisdiction. If any part of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest remains in force. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, are the whole agreement between us about the service. A failure to enforce a right is not a waiver of it. You may not transfer your account without our consent.

Questions: raaid@westernambition.co.za | HANDY LABS (PTY) LTD, 19 Burwood Road, Crawford, Cape Town, Western Cape, 7780