Terms & Conditions

VoteInsta ("we", "the platform") is a digital voting and contest management service. These terms govern everyone who uses it, in three roles:

Organizers create and manage contests. They are responsible for the legality, fairness and content of every contest they publish, for the contestants they admit, and for paying all applicable fees.

Contestants appear in a contest and collect votes. By submitting a nomination or being added to a contest, a contestant accepts these terms and the organizer's contest rules.

Voters support contestants. Voters do not need an account; each vote they record is a transaction on the platform subject to these terms.

A person may act in more than one role. Whatever role you act in at the time, the rules for that role apply.

Organizers must provide accurate registration details, including their legal or trading name and working contact information. Organizer, community-partner and administrator accounts are personal to the person or organization they were created for and must not be transferred or sold.

You are responsible for keeping your sign-in credentials secure and for all activity carried out through your account. Tell us immediately if you believe your account has been compromised.

We may refuse to register, or remove, any account that breaches these terms or that we reasonably believe is being used for a prohibited purpose.

Before a contest can be published, an organizer must supply a cover image and at least two contestants, each with a photo. Categories, contest descriptions and contestant profiles must accurately describe what supporters are voting for.

Voting open and close dates are mandatory. Organizers set them before publishing, and they cannot be edited once voting has started. A contest closes automatically when its end date is reached, and an organizer cannot reopen voting after a contest has ended or been manually closed.

Draft contests are visible only to their organizer. Nomination collection is optional; where an organizer enables nominations and sets an entry fee, candidates must pay that fee through Paystack before their nomination is submitted, and nominations close automatically when the contest goes live.

Organizers must not run contests that are illegal under Nigerian law, that promise returns or winnings from chance, that impersonate another brand or event without the right to do so, or that solicit votes under false pretences (for example, claiming a vote is a donation or an entry into a different prize draw).

Paid voting: for paid contests, the organizer sets the price per vote, and each vote is charged at that price. A voter may buy multiple votes in one transaction; each unit counts as one vote once payment is confirmed.

Free voting: free contests are free for voters, but carry a one-time platform fee payable by the organizer before the contest can be published. The current fee is displayed on the contest setup screen.

Invite-only contests: organizers pre-register their eligible voters and pay a one-time setup fee before publishing. Invited voters vote free of charge, and can only vote where their email address matches a pre-registered voter and a valid one-time access code is supplied.

All payments are processed by Paystack. VoteInsta does not collect or store card numbers, and votes are recorded only after Paystack confirms the payment.

Platform fee: VoteInsta charges a commission (currently 10%, adjustable by the platform) on contest revenue. The commission is deducted from contest earnings before the remainder is credited to the organizer's wallet.

After a contest ends, its revenue is settled: the platform commission is deducted and the balance is credited to the organizer's wallet. While a contest is open, its revenue is shown for information but is not withdrawable.

An organizer may request a withdrawal to a Nigerian bank account they have added in their settings. Withdrawal requests are reviewed and verified by VoteInsta administrators before payment, and we may request additional verification of identity or bank ownership to prevent fraud.

Withdrawals are paid only to accounts in the organizer's own name or their registered business name. If a payment is reversed by the bank or a chargeback succeeds against the underlying votes, the corresponding amount may be debited from the wallet or recovered from the organizer.

Wallet balances are not interest-bearing and are not a deposit or e-money product. They represent entitlement to settlement of contest revenue only.

Every vote must be a genuine expression of support from a real person. We operate anti-fraud and anti-bot safeguards, including payment verification, duplicate-vote checks (email, phone number and browser session for free contests), invite-only access-code checks, and rate and pattern monitoring.

Votes cast through stolen cards, automated scripts, SIM-farmed numbers, self-dealing payment flows or any coordinated manipulation are invalid. We may discount them, adjust results, or disqualify a contestant or an entire contest where manipulation is established.

Paid votes are final and non-refundable once they are recorded. A recorded vote is a completed transaction: successful payments cannot be reversed simply because a contestant's standing changed, a contest ended, or the voter changed their mind. Unsuccessful or pending payments that never confirm do not produce votes.

Voters can confirm the votes recorded against their email or phone number at any time using the vote status page. We deliberately do not show who a voter supported, and vote tallies are certified by the platform's audit trail.

Organizers and contestants warrant that they have the right to upload every photo, logo and piece of text they submit, including the consent of any identifiable person appearing in a photo. By uploading media to VoteInsta, the uploader grants VoteInsta a worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce and display that media solely for operating, promoting and displaying the relevant contest.

Campaign cards, share links and QR codes generated on the platform may be freely shared by organizers and contestants while their contest runs.

The VoteInsta name, logo and interface are our intellectual property and may not be copied or used to brand a competing service. Event names and logos uploaded to the platform remain the property of their owners.

If you believe content on VoteInsta infringes your rights, contact us with details and we will investigate and remove content where justified.

You must not: interfere with the platform's voting or payment systems; use bots, emulators or scripted voting; upload malicious code or scrape the platform abusively; impersonate VoteInsta staff; harass contestants, voters or organizers; upload unlawful, defamatory, obscene or infringing content; misrepresent a contest's purpose, prize or endorsement; or attempt to access data that is not yours.

Organizers must not collude with contestants to fake vote volume, run contests whose sole purpose is to harvest payments, or use the platform to launder money.

We may suspend a contest, disqualify a contestant, freeze a wallet, or suspend or terminate an account where we reasonably believe these terms have been breached, fraud has occurred, or the law requires it. Where a contest is suspended for integrity reasons, affected organizers will be told what we can share while an investigation is open.

No refund of platform fees, setup fees or commission is due where a contest is cancelled for a breach by the organizer or contestant. Where a suspension is our error, we will work to restore the contest and any wrongly withheld balance promptly.

Most problems — a missing vote, a delayed withdrawal, a disputed result — are resolved fastest through support. Contact us first with the contest name and the email or phone number used, and we will investigate against the platform's transaction and audit records.

Voter payment issues: where Paystack records a successful payment but the vote did not record through our error, we will correct the record or, where the contest is still open, arrange a remedy with the organizer. Where the payment itself failed, there is nothing to reverse on the platform.

Contest disputes between organizers and contestants (prizes, judging, eligibility) are the organizer's responsibility; VoteInsta supplies the voting infrastructure and the certified tally, and does not award prizes.

Any dispute not resolved through support shall be resolved under Nigerian law, and the courts of Nigeria have exclusive jurisdiction.

These terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, including the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 where personal data is processed.

We may update these terms as the platform evolves. Material changes will be announced on the platform, and the updated terms take effect when posted. Continuing to use VoteInsta after an update means you accept the updated terms.

Questions about these terms? Use the contact page and choose the topic that fits, or write to us at support@voteinsta.com.