Terms of Service

Bantu Plaza (“we”, “us”, “the Platform”) is an online marketplace that connects students with independent language tutors. We do not employ tutors – they are independent providers who use the Platform to find students and accept bookings.

By creating an account or booking a lesson you confirm you have read and accept these Terms of Service. These terms form a legally binding contract between you and Bantu Plaza under the laws of Botswana, including the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2014 and the Consumer Protection Act, 2018.

Account holders on Bantu Plaza must be 18 or over. Tutors must be 18 or over; tutors who teach learners under 18 (“Kids welcome” tutors) must be 21 or over and must opt in explicitly to teaching minors.

Learners aged 8–17 may take lessons on Bantu Plaza only through a parent or legal guardian’s account. The parent or legal guardian must:

• register on Bantu Plaza using their own email address;
• indicate at sign-up that the account is for a child in their care;
• provide the child’s first name and date of birth, and confirm consent on the child’s behalf at the time of registration;
• remain the account holder and the contact point for everything to do with the child’s lessons (bookings, refunds, communication with the tutor, payment).

The parent / guardian is the data controller for the child’s information; Bantu Plaza processes that information on the parent / guardian’s instruction in order to deliver the booked lessons. Lessons for a minor learner can be booked only with tutors who carry the “Kids welcome” badge.

We do not record lessons. Bantu Plaza does not make a video or audio recording of lessons, for either children or adults. Lessons for a learner aged 8–17 are booked only through a parent or guardian account, only with a tutor who carries the “Kids welcome” badge, and must be run through Bantu Plaza’s lesson page so our safeguarding controls apply. A parent or guardian is always the account holder and point of contact, and may report any concern to info@bantuplaza.com.

To protect learners, every tutor application must include a clear copy of a government-issued photo ID – a national ID card, driver’s licence or passport. Applicants may also upload teaching qualifications and a short intro video. By submitting these you confirm the documents are genuine and belong to you, and you consent to Bantu Plaza using them to verify your identity, age and eligibility to teach.

How we store and use them. Identity and qualification documents are stored in a private area that is blocked from public web access; they are never shown on your public profile and never shared with students. Only authorised Bantu Plaza review staff can open them, through an authenticated, access-controlled link. We use them solely to verify identity and credentials – we do not sell them, use them for advertising, or use them to train AI models.

Retention. We keep verification documents only as long as needed to review your application and meet our safeguarding and legal obligations, after which they are deleted. You may ask us to delete your ID once verification is complete by writing to info@bantuplaza.com; deleting your application record also removes the stored files. Intro videos, where provided, are public and appear on your tutor profile.

Booking a lesson creates a binding agreement between you (the student) and the tutor. Bantu Plaza facilitates payment, matching, and dispute resolution but is not a party to the lesson itself. Prices are set by the tutor and displayed on the Platform in the store currency shown at checkout (currently US dollars); your card may be charged in your local currency at your card issuer’s prevailing rate, and any foreign-exchange or interchange fees are between you and your card issuer.

No booking fee. The price you see is the price you pay. Bantu Plaza does not add a booking fee, service fee or card surcharge on top of your purchase. We fund the platform through the commission tutors pay on completed lessons (see 4a below).

If you offer lessons as a tutor on the Platform, Bantu Plaza retains a commission on each completed lesson to operate the service; the rest is your take-home. Bantu Plaza retains a single, flat commission on every completed lesson – the same for every tutor, every lesson type, with no tiers or tenure-based changes:

• Flat commission – 40%. Bantu Plaza retains 40% of each completed lesson; you keep 60%. Tutors set their own price above a platform minimum of $15 per hour for lessons and $5 for a 30-minute trial. The same flat rate applies to every tutor and every lesson type, including trials and group-class seats – no tiers, tracks, or tenure-based changes.

Certified Tutor. Tutors can also earn a Certified Tutor badge – either by completing our short heritage-language teaching training, or automatically on a strong teaching record (50 paid hours, 20 published reviews, and a 4.5+ star average). The badge boosts ranking in search and unlocks hosting group classes. Before any new tutor profile goes live, the tutor must complete their profile, pass identity verification, set a payout method and set their weekly availability.

Only completed, paid lessons delivered on the Platform count towards these hours; cancelled, refunded or off-platform lessons do not.

First lesson with a new student (trial). Each student’s first lesson with you is a 30-minute trial. The student pays the full trial price, and that trial lesson is charged the same flat 40% commission as every lesson (you keep 60%). From that student’s second lesson onward you earn at your normal commission rate for your track. At the end of the trial the student simply decides whether to carry on with you. Trial lessons are paid in full and are non-refundable. Recurring class blocks and group classes are not treated as trials.

Prepaid bundles. Students may prepay a pack of lesson credits with you at a discount that grows with the pack size (currently 8% off a 5-lesson Starter pack, or 15% off a 10-lesson Fluency pack). You are paid per lesson as each one completes, at your applicable commission rate.

Rates may be revised; any change applies only to future bookings, and we will notify active tutors by email at least 7 days before a rate change takes effect. Payouts are released after the lesson is marked complete, subject to the clearance hold in our Refund Policy.

Payout cadence, method & currency. Tutor payouts run on a bi-weekly cycle: every payout cycle closes on the 14th and on the last day of each calendar month, and the corresponding payouts are released on or shortly after the 15th and the 1st respectively. Payouts are paid via PayPal, bank transfer, or mobile money, depending on what is available in your country. You must save your chosen payout method on the Payouts tab of your tutor dashboard before your first payout cycle. Earnings become eligible after a 5-day hold following each completed lesson, and a 5% rolling reserve is held for 120 days against chargebacks before being released to you. Payments are processed manually by Bantu Plaza’s finance team and sent off-platform via PayPal; the platform tracks each payout’s status (queued / paid / failed) and surfaces the PayPal transaction reference on your dashboard once the transfer is sent. Payouts are denominated in the store currency (US dollars); PayPal applies its own published conversion rate and per-transaction fees when converting USD to your local currency, and those costs are deducted from your payout. Bantu Plaza does not subsidise PayPal’s FX spread or fees – please choose a PayPal account whose costs you understand.

See our Refund & Rescheduling Policy. In summary: lessons (single and bundle) are booked for set times; you can reschedule more than 12 hours before, subject to your tutor’s availability; within 12 hours a change needs your tutor’s agreement, otherwise the session is forfeited; missed lessons are not refunded except, at our discretion, in a genuine emergency such as bereavement or hospitalisation. When a student cancels, the tutor may receive a share of the fee as compensation for the time reserved. A lesson your tutor cancels or does not attend (attendance in the lesson room is recorded) is made right at no cost to you – by default as Bantu Plaza account credit, redeemable with any tutor and valid for 12 months, with a cash refund available on request. Completed trial lessons are paid in full and are non-refundable.

You agree to use the Platform lawfully and in accordance with our Code of Conduct. Conduct that may amount to an offence under the Cybercrime and Computer Related Crimes Act, 2018 – including unauthorised access, harassment, or distribution of harmful content – will result in account termination and may be reported to the Botswana Police Service.

Lesson materials remain the property of the tutor or licensor. Participants must not make their own recording of a lesson, or redistribute any recording, without the express consent of all participants. Bantu Plaza does not record lessons. For every lesson we keep a lightweight attendance log – who joined, for how long, and any reconnections – to help with support and dispute resolution. See our Privacy Policy for how we handle your data and your rights.

To the maximum extent permitted by Botswana law, Bantu Plaza is not liable for indirect or consequential losses arising from your use of the Platform. Nothing in these terms excludes liability that cannot be excluded under the Consumer Protection Act, 2018.

Either party may close an account at any time. We may suspend or terminate accounts that breach these terms or the Code of Conduct, with notice where reasonable.

These terms are governed by the laws of Botswana. Disputes that cannot be resolved through our support channels may be referred to the Consumer Protection Office of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, or to the courts of Botswana, which shall have exclusive jurisdiction.

We may update these terms. Material changes will be notified by email at least 7 days before they take effect.