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How it works

A safer way to buy and sell privately.

Pakstoor sits between buyer and seller for the bits that go wrong on other platforms: the money, the courier, and the “what if”. Here's the full flow, both sides, no jargon.

Every protected deal TradeSafe escrow The Courier Guy Cape Town --:-- SAST

The protected transaction flow

From payment to release

Five steps. Funds never sit with Pakstoor — the escrow partner holds them until a qualifying release condition is met.

  1. 01

    Buyer pays

    Card or instant EFT

  2. 02

    Escrow partner holds funds

    Funds are not held by Pakstoor

  3. 03

    Seller ships by courier

    Tracked from collection to door

  4. 04

    Buyer receives & inspects

    Inspection window starts at delivery

  5. 05

    Funds release

    Once a qualifying release condition is met

Five-step transaction flow: buyer pays; the escrow partner holds funds; the seller ships by courier; the buyer receives and inspects the item; funds release when a qualifying release condition is met.

Funds are held by the escrow partner, not by Pakstoor. Release follows the rules in the Terms and the Protected Dispute Review process.

1

Find what you want

Browse /explore, save anything that catches your eye, and ask the seller questions on the listing itself; their replies are public so future buyers see them too. No DMs, no “send me your number”.

2

Make an offer or buy at asking

Buy at asking commits straight to a deal at the listed price. Make an offer sends a counter the seller can accept, decline, or counter back. Either way, you'll see the full breakdown (item, courier and cover, and the TradeSafe trust fee) before you confirm.

3

Pay into TradeSafe trust

Your payment goes to TradeSafe, an independent South African trust-payment service. Pakstoor never touches the money. You can pay by Instant EFT, Ozow, SnapScan, or standard EFT. The funds are locked the moment they clear.

Money safe from this point
4

The seller arranges delivery

The seller hits “Arrange delivery” on their side. Pakstoor auto-books the parcel with The Courier Guy, including their standard paid liability cover. The seller can never type a tracking number themselves. The waybill comes from us, not them. Every Pakstoor courier booking also receives a PST code — a Pakstoor Secure Tracking reference — so the parcel can be followed inside the protected transaction flow.

5

Watch it move

Every courier scan (collected, at hub, out for delivery, delivered) streams onto your deal page. Same scans appear on TradeSafe's ledger so the evidence trail is third-party-corroborated at every step.

6

Confirm receipt

Open the parcel. Check it. Click Confirm receipt if everything is correct. After courier-confirmed delivery, the applicable inspection window is shown on the deal page. If no Protected Review is opened before that window expires, Pakstoor may instruct the escrow partner to release the funds to the seller.

7

Something wrong? Open a Formal Protected Review

One click on the deal page opens a Formal Protected Review. Funds remain held by the escrow partner and the case enters structured evidence review; release is paused while Pakstoor reviews the case. Opening a Protected Review is a request for evidence review, not an instruction to release funds: return authorization, refund approval, courier & insurance review, and fraud escalation are four separate decisions made on the evidence. Return authorization is not refund approval. Refunds are only approved after the correct qualifying release condition is met. Read the full Protected Dispute Review rules.

What it costs you as a buyer

You pay the item price, the courier, and the TradeSafe escrow fee. Every line is shown before you confirm.

1

List your item

Click Sell, snap a few photos, write a short description, and pick a parcel size. Photos resize to web-friendly sizes automatically. Setting up takes about five minutes the first time.

Pakstoor uses fixed parcel-size bands. Standard parcel sizes run from XS to XXL. Pakstoor Heavy adds HEAVY, SUPER HEAVY, ULTRA HEAVY, and TITAN for larger courier-accepted items. Large parcels only proceed where our courier partner can return a live price for the selected size. Large but light parcels may still cost more because couriers charge using size as well as weight. An item being within a supported parcel size does not mean it is allowed — prohibited, restricted, unsafe, unlawful, or courier-forbidden items remain blocked.

2

Set your price (and your floor)

You set the asking price. You can also set an auto-decline floor (anything below it is rejected before you ever see it) and an auto-accept level if you'd take a near-asking offer instantly without checking the app.

3

See funds secured

When a buyer pays, you'll see the deal flip to Awaiting shipment. The funds are sitting in TradeSafe's trust account. Ours and yours can't touch them yet, and that's the point. You know the money is real before you pack the box.

Buyer payment confirmed
4

Click “Arrange delivery”

One button. Pakstoor books the courier with The Courier Guy at the rate we showed the buyer, opts into their paid cover, and emails you a printable waybill. Stick the waybill on the box and drop it at any TCG kiosk, or wait for collection if you booked one.

5

Hand over to the courier

When the driver scans the parcel, the deal flips to In transit automatically. From here on it's TCG's job. You don't have to do anything until the buyer confirms receipt or the applicable inspection window shown on the deal expires cleanly without a Protected Review being opened.

6

Get paid out

Once the buyer confirms receipt (or the 72-hour inspection window expires without a Protected Review after courier-confirmed delivery), TradeSafe releases the item amount to your seller wallet. The Secure Transaction Fee (what pays for the escrow ledger, courier orchestration and fraud-defence stack you just used) is shown clearly before publish and on the funds-released email. Withdraw to your bank from /settings any time.

7

Formal Protected Review? Your payout is protected.

If a buyer opens a Formal Protected Review, release is paused while Pakstoor reviews the case. Funds are not refunded automatically. Your payout is protected during structured evidence review. TradeSafe has the courier's third-party scan record, the photos you took at handover (always recommended), and the deal trail. Honest sellers don't lose to bad-faith claims.

What it costs you as a seller

Pakstoor's Secure Transaction Fee (what you pay for escrow facilitation, courier control and fraud protection) is tiered by item price: small items pay a lower percentage, larger items pay a higher one (R 25 floor). The exact rate for your listing is calculated from your asking price and shown on the sell-flow review screen before you click Publish, plus on the funds-released email. You don't pay for the listing, you don't pay the courier (the buyer does), and cover is bundled into the courier line. Read what's covered.

The flow

The protected transaction flow

Pakstoor keeps private sales structured from payment to payout, so buyers and sellers are not relying on blind trust.

  1. Step 01

    Buyer pays securely

    The buyer pays through Pakstoor's protected payment flow.

  2. Step 02

    Funds stay protected

    The seller cannot access the money while the item is still in transit.

  3. Step 03

    Seller ships by courier

    The item is collected, scanned, and tracked through a courier partner.

  4. Step 04

    Buyer receives and checks

    The buyer confirms the parcel arrived and checks that the item matches the listing.

  5. Step 05

    Seller gets paid

    Funds are released to the seller when the protected process is complete.

Protected Review

If something goes wrong

If there is a problem with a transaction, Pakstoor follows a structured protected review process.

  1. Step 01

    Issue reported

    The buyer or seller opens a protected review.

  2. Step 02

    Details captured

    Pakstoor captures the issue, deal context, explanation, and supporting evidence.

  3. Step 03

    Case reviewed

    Pakstoor reviews the available information from the transaction, courier process, and submitted evidence.

  4. Step 04

    More information if needed

    Pakstoor may ask either party for more information.

  5. Step 05

    Decision summary issued

    Pakstoor issues a decision summary and routes the deal to the correct next step.

  6. Step 06

    Next route follows

    The outcome may involve refund, return, payout, courier claim, insurance review, or another policy-based action.

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