What a shop sees when you show your card
At the till, a shop sees your first name and a yes. Here's what that means for your deals, your credit and your money.
You've got a deal on your Voscard. You walk up to the counter and hold out your card. What does the person behind the till actually see? Less than you might think, and that's on purpose.
A first name and a yes
When you show your card at the till, the shop sees your first name and whether the deal, stamp card or membership applies. That's it. Say your name is Kofi and you've got a lunch deal: the till shows "Kofi" and a yes.
Nothing else on your card shows at the till. Not your record, not your jobs or degrees, not your other deals. The shop sees only what it needs to give you the offer.
It works the other way too. A shop never gets a list of who qualifies for its offers. It can't browse its customers. It finds out about you only when you choose to show your card. A business can see who came back, but never a list of who you are, and it can only send you messages if you asked to hear from it.
Any phone can be a till. So a small shop doesn't need special equipment, and a busy one can open a till for each branch. If you don't have a smartphone, a printed Voscard works on its own at the till.
You pay the shop, as usual
The till checks your offer. It doesn't take payments. You pay the shop the way you always do, and the money goes to them.
Vaurse never takes your money or holds it, and never holds a business's money either. We don't take a cut of a shop's sales. Vaurse is there to answer one question at the counter: does this offer apply to this person?
Stamps, cashback and shop credit
Some offers build up over time. A stamp card might give you a free meal after ten visits, and each stamp lives on your card instead of in your purse.
Some shops also offer cashback and shop credit. That credit is held by the shop and spent at the shop's own counter. It isn't money held by Vaurse. The shop keeps a report of the credit it owes, so what you've built up is written down.
Some shops also let you rate the service you got by tapping a staff member's card. That goes to the business, so they hear about it the same day.
Membership money goes to the business too. If you ever need a refund on a membership, it comes from them, under their own rules.
Staff perks
Some shops choose to give a discount to the staff of particular companies. If you're verified staff at one of those companies, the till can show that you qualify.
The shop learns only that you qualify. It doesn't learn your role, your salary or anything else from your record. And the shop chooses which companies it offers perks to, so not every shop will have one for you.
Shopping online
Plenty of shops in Ghana sell on Instagram, WhatsApp or their own website. For those, you use a personal code from your Voscard at checkout instead of tapping your card.
Each code is one per person and for your own use. Please don't sell it or share it. The code tells the shop you have the offer; it doesn't hand over your details.
If a shop on Voscentral won't honour a deal it posted, tell us and we'll take it up with them. Every business on Voscentral has been checked by us first.
Voscentral deals are being built now. You can follow where they stand on our roadmap, and read more about what we promise on our trust and safety page.
