Dukkan ("we", "us") is a software platform that lets neighborhood grocery stores in the United Arab Emirates accept orders from their customers over WhatsApp. We provide ordering infrastructure only — we do not sell goods, we do not employ delivery drivers, and we do not handle the money a Customer pays a Store.

Dukkan is operated by Verstack For Marketing and PR L.L.C S.O.C, a single-owner limited liability company licensed by the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism (License No. 1516468) and registered for VAT with the UAE Federal Tax Authority (TRN 105139750100003). Registered address: Office 101, Zalfa Building, Al Garhoud, Dubai, UAE.

By using the Dukkan website, dashboard, or webview catalog you agree to these Terms of Service. If you do not agree, do not use the service.

WhatsApp is a trademark of WhatsApp LLC. Dukkan is not affiliated with or endorsed by WhatsApp or Meta.

• Store — a business that has signed up at /d/signup to list its catalog on Dukkan and fulfill orders placed through it.
• Customer — a person who scans a Store's QR sticker, opens the Dukkan catalog inside WhatsApp, and places an order.
• Platform — the Dukkan WhatsApp business number, a Store's own WhatsApp number while the Store has it connected (section 3), the webview at this domain, and the data infrastructure behind them.

When you create a Store account you are responsible for keeping your sign-in credentials confidential. You must provide accurate information about your business, including a working contact phone number and a physical address.

Logins. Every plan includes 1 dashboard login, for the account owner. You may add logins for your staff at AED 50 per month each, VAT included, billed with your subscription. A login added or removed part-way through a billing period is prorated on the next invoice. The free trial includes the owner's login only. Every action taken on your account, by you or your staff, is your responsibility.

Your own WhatsApp number. Where we have switched it on for a Store, the Store can connect its own WhatsApp Business number (dashboard, Settings, WhatsApp), so its Customers order on that number instead of Dukkan's. The Store's owner does this with their own Facebook login, in Meta's sign-up window. By connecting it, the Store allows Dukkan to act on its WhatsApp Business account through Meta, as follows:

• If you keep using the WhatsApp Business app on that number (Meta calls this Coexistence), we send and receive messages on it for Dukkan conversations only: people who start an order with your Store (from your QR sticker or ordering link), tap one of the bot's buttons, already have a chat with the bot on that number, or have an order with you that is not finished. Your other chats are left to you, and we do not store them. On a number used only with Dukkan, without the app, the bot answers everyone who writes to it, and those conversations are kept as the Privacy Policy describes.
• With Coexistence, we also read the replies you send those Customers from the WhatsApp Business app and keep them with the conversation. When you reply to a Customer yourself, or the Customer taps Talk to the shop, the bot stops chatting with that Customer for 2 hours after your latest reply or their tap. Order updates still go out, and the bot still answers that Customer's button taps and commands.
• We keep the access token Meta issues to us for your number encrypted, with the number and Meta's ids for it, as the Privacy Policy describes.
• We do not send messages on your number that Meta charges for. Any charge Meta makes for messages you send yourself is between you and Meta.
• You accept Meta's WhatsApp Business terms and policies when you connect, and you are responsible for following them on your number, including in the messages you send yourself. Meta may limit or disconnect a number under its own rules; if it disconnects yours, the dashboard says so.
• With Coexistence, open the WhatsApp Business app on the shop phone at least once every 13 days: Meta disconnects the number from Dukkan after about 14 days without it. We email you reminders.
• You can disconnect the number at any time in Settings, WhatsApp. We then delete the token; the messages already exchanged stay with the conversation.

You agree to:

• Keep your catalog accurate — names, descriptions, prices, and availability should reflect what you actually carry and what you actually charge.
• Honor orders placed through Dukkan at the price shown to the Customer at the time the order was placed.
• Deliver orders within a reasonable time during the operating hours you set on your dashboard, or notify the Customer if you cannot.
• Provide your own delivery driver, vehicles, and any required permits or licenses to operate as a grocery store in the UAE.
• Collect payment from the Customer in the method they selected — cash or card on delivery, or a payment link the Store sends. Dukkan never touches Customer payments.
• Handle returns, refunds (in cash, on the spot, at your discretion), and any customer service issues that arise from your fulfillment.

Blocking and order limits. A Store's owner can block a Customer from ordering at that Store, from the dashboard. To protect Stores from spam, Dukkan also limits how many orders one Customer can have waiting at one Store for the Store to accept them.

If you are a Customer placing an order through Dukkan, you agree to:

• Provide an accurate delivery address and contact details.
• Be available to receive the order at the address you provided, within the Store's operating hours.
• Pay the Store the amount shown to you at checkout, in the method you selected, upon delivery.

All transactions between Customers and Stores happen directly between them. Dukkan does not collect, hold, route, or refund payments in any form.

How a Customer pays. Each Store chooses which it accepts: cash at the door, a card on the Store's own machine, or a payment link the Store sends in the chat. A payment link is the Store's own link, using the Store's own payment provider — Dukkan is not a party to it, does not see the card details, and does not receive the money at any point. Any question about a payment made through such a link is between the Customer and the Store.

Delivery charges. Delivery is charged by the Store, not by Dukkan. A Store may charge nothing, one flat fee, or a fee that depends on distance. Where the fee depends on distance it is calculated in a straight line from the Store's location to the delivery address, which is shorter than the road distance — so it is an estimate, shown as such, and the Store may correct it before the order leaves the shop. Any change is shown to the Customer. While the Store has not yet accepted the order, the Customer can cancel it in the app; once the Store has accepted it, the Customer can ask the Store to cancel it (Contact store, in the WhatsApp chat). Once an order is out for delivery its total does not change.

Stores pay Dukkan a flat monthly subscription fee for use of the platform. Dukkan takes no commission or percentage of any order, at any time. Each plan includes 1 login; extra logins are AED 50 per month each (section 3). The current fee and plan are shown in the Store dashboard under Billing.

Free trial. New Stores get a 14-day free trial, starting on signup. No payment details are required to begin it. When the trial ends, your Store stops accepting new orders and dashboard access pauses until a plan is chosen. Your catalog, orders, and settings are retained. Choosing a plan during the trial ends the trial: the first monthly fee is charged that day, and the remaining free days do not carry over.

VAT. All subscription prices are quoted in UAE Dirhams and are inclusive of 5% UAE Value Added Tax. The price shown is the total amount charged — for example, a fee of AED 149.00 comprises AED 141.90 plus AED 7.10 VAT. Dukkan issues a valid tax invoice (TRN 105139750100003) for each billing cycle.

Renewal and cancellation. Subscriptions renew automatically each month until cancelled. A Store may cancel at any time from the Store dashboard. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the billing period already paid for: access continues until that date and no further charge is made.

Refunds. Subscription fees are charged in advance and are non-refundable for the current billing period, save where a refund is required under UAE law. Because cancellation always runs to the end of the paid period, no part-month is forfeited. If you believe you have been charged in error, contact us at info@dukkan.market and we will investigate.

Failed payments. If a payment fails, Stripe tries it again over the following days and we tell the Store by email. Your Store keeps taking orders for up to 7 days after the end of the billing period that payment was for, or for less if Stripe ends the subscription or marks it unpaid when its attempts run out. After that your Store stops accepting new orders and the dashboard locks, apart from Billing, until the payment goes through or a plan is chosen. Store data is retained.

Price changes. Dukkan may change subscription prices with at least 30 days' written notice by email. A Store that does not accept a new price may cancel before it takes effect.

Card payments are processed by Stripe. Dukkan does not receive or store Store card details.

You agree not to:

• List items that are illegal to sell in the UAE.
• List goods that WhatsApp does not allow to be sold through it, even where UAE law allows their sale, such as tobacco and nicotine products (including vapes and shisha), alcohol, prescription and over-the-counter medicines and other medical products, weapons, and adult products. The full list is in WhatsApp's Business Messaging Policy.
• Use the platform to send spam, abuse, or unsolicited advertising.
• Attempt to circumvent security, scrape data at scale, or probe the platform for vulnerabilities without our written permission.
• Impersonate another store, customer, or person.

Items held for review. Dukkan checks item names and descriptions for tobacco and nicotine products, alcohol and medicines. An item that looks like one of them is saved hidden, with a note citing WhatsApp's rules, until a Dukkan admin reviews it. An admin can allow an item the check matched by mistake. The check does not catch everything: the Store stays responsible for what it lists.

Dukkan provides software and messaging infrastructure to connect Stores with Customers. We do not select, inspect, weigh, store, or warrant the goods sold through the platform. Stores are solely responsible for the quality, safety, and lawfulness of what they sell and deliver.

We are not a party to the sale. Each order placed through Dukkan is a direct contract between the Store and the Customer. Dukkan is neither buyer nor seller, does not take title to any goods, does not handle payment, and is not a party to any dispute over price, quality, quantity, or delivery. We will, however, use reasonable best efforts to help both sides reach an amicable resolution where we can.

The platform is provided "as is" and "as available," without any express or implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, non-infringement, or uninterrupted availability. We do our best to keep it running smoothly but make no guarantee that it will be free from bugs, outages, or message-delivery failures.

To the maximum extent permitted by UAE law, Dukkan is not liable for: lost or spoiled goods, missed or late deliveries, incorrect orders, disputes over price or quantity, food safety incidents, lost profits, lost revenue, lost data, business interruption, reputational harm, or any indirect, special, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the platform — whether based on contract, tort, negligence, strict liability, or any other theory, and whether or not we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

Cap on liability. In any event, the total aggregate liability of Dukkan to any Store or Customer arising out of or in connection with these Terms, the platform, or any order shall not exceed the total subscription fees actually paid by that Store to Dukkan in the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim. For Customers (who do not pay Dukkandirectly), this cap is fifty UAE Dirhams (AED 50).

Nothing in this section limits liability for fraud, willful misconduct, or anything else that cannot lawfully be excluded under UAE consumer-protection statutes.

You may stop using Dukkan at any time. A Store can close its account by emailing info@dukkan.market; the Privacy Policy says what is then deleted. A Customer can delete their data in Settings: open the Dukkan link from your WhatsApp chat, then Settings.

We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms, or that we believe pose a safety risk to other users. Separately from the stop for failed payments in section 6, we may terminate a Store's account when its subscription invoices stay unpaid for more than 30 days.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the United Arab Emirates. Any dispute that cannot be resolved by direct contact will be submitted to the competent UAE courts.

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we change the version and the date at the top of this page and notify stores by email or a dashboard notice. The updated Terms apply from that date; continued use of the platform after it means you accept them.

Questions about these Terms can be sent to info@dukkan.market. Postal mail can be addressed to Verstack For Marketing and PR L.L.C S.O.C, Office 101, Zalfa Building, Al Garhoud, Dubai, UAE.

Product names, details, nutrition facts and many product photos in shop catalogs come from Open Food Facts, a free database built by its contributors and available under the Open Database License. Photos from Open Food Facts are under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. Dukkan is not affiliated with Open Food Facts.