The rules behind Protected Review.

Pakstoor is a marketplace and transaction-facilitation platform. Pakstoor coordinates protected payment, escrow holding, courier tracking, evidence capture, formal transaction review, return authorization where appropriate, and courier escalation where appropriate.

Pakstoor is not the seller, the buyer, the courier, the insurer, the physical inspector of goods, or a free-return retailer.

Pakstoor facilitates protected private-sale transactions between buyers and sellers. Funds are held by the escrow partner during delivery and the inspection window, courier tracking is recorded, and evidence is reviewed when a serious transaction issue is raised. Pakstoor itself does not hold customer funds. Pakstoor does not provide change-of-mind returns, and Pakstoor's protection applies only to transactions that stay inside the platform: offers, payment, chat, courier booking, delivery confirmation, and review must all happen on Pakstoor. Off-platform deals are not covered by escrow or Formal Protected Review.

Protected private-sale transactions are intended to be final once:

• the item is delivered,
• the inspection window expires,
• the buyer accepts the item, and
• no valid Formal Protected Review is opened.

Pakstoor only authorises returns for serious transaction integrity issues. Pakstoor is not an easy-return retail platform.

After courier delivery is confirmed, the buyer enters an inspection window. The buyer must either accept the item or open a Formal Protected Review before the timer expires. If the window expires with no valid Formal Protected Review, seller payout may be released.

Every courier deal has a 72 hour inspection window that starts when the courier confirms delivery. Pakstoor may change the default for future transactions and will always show the window on your deal page. In-person handovers have no inspection window: the buyer checks the item before confirming, and the money is released only when buyer and seller both confirm.

Formal Protected Review is reserved for the following categories of serious issue. Pakstoor may request supporting evidence before any of these are accepted into the admin queue.

Where a Formal Protected Review is opened on an invalid reason, it is closed without entering the admin queue.

Some Formal Protected Reviews may require a refundable review deposit. If the claim is upheld, the deposit is refunded. If the claim is denied, the deposit may, where the law permits, be retained as a review fee; a deposit never limits a non-excludable consumer right. This helps keep protected review available for serious transaction issues and discourages frivolous claims.

The deposit is not active at the current launch stage. During this period the deposit amount is set to zero. The mechanism is documented here so that the rules remain stable when the deposit is later enabled.

Opening a Formal Protected Review is a request for structured evidence review. Release is paused while Pakstoor reviews the case. It is not refund approval and not an instruction to release funds.

The four states below are distinct decisions that must never be merged:

Formal Protected Review is Pakstoor's internal evidence-led process. It does not replace any non-excludable consumer remedy available under applicable law.

If Pakstoor authorises a return, this permits the item to be returned to the seller for inspection. It is not a refund decision.

If the seller accepts the returned item, the refund is approved. Once a return is delivered, the refund is released when the seller confirms receipt, or automatically 72 hours after courier-confirmed return delivery if the seller does not respond. This does not apply to change-of-mind (buyer remorse) returns, admin-forced returns, or returns under fraud or evidence review, which require a Pakstoor Refund Approval. If a seller declines a return, the buyer may open a Formal Protected Review where the reason is a genuine problem (wrong item, materially not as described, damaged, or missing parts); a declined change-of-mind return stays declined. That review moves no money by itself and the funds stay protected. If the seller reports a serial mismatch, missing item, or other return-side issue, the case moves to admin arbitration or fraud escalation as appropriate.

Return courier responsibility depends on the case outcome and the payment process available for that transaction. Where escrow-provider capabilities support allocation, approved costs may be handled through the final resolution. Where not supported, a separate payment or settlement path may be required. The standard scenarios are:

• Seller fault. Wrong item, not as described, damaged or missing parts, or a return Pakstoor authorises after finding seller fault: the seller pays the return courier. The return waybill is generated after payment.
• Return authorised for inspection without a seller-fault finding. Pakstoor decides who pays the return courier up front, shows it to both parties and records the reason.
• Change of mind, preference or fit. The seller may decline the return. If the seller agrees, the buyer pays the return courier and the refund needs a Pakstoor Refund Approval.
• Courier damage suspected. The case routes to Courier & Insurance Review. There is no promise of immediate refund.
• Invalid dispute. No return authorisation. No return waybill generated.

Pakstoor does not automatically absorb reverse-logistics costs. Where return courier is paid through Pakstoor, the payment is recorded against the case and treated as part of the final allocation.

Both parties may be asked for evidence during Formal Protected Review. Evidence is collected through Pakstoor (not by email) so that it is timestamped, immutable, and part of the audit record.

For serialised categories (currently phones and laptops) serial or IMEI evidence may be required from both parties. Pakstoor may deny or limit a claim where serial evidence is missing or inconsistent.

Evidence quality matters. Blurry photos, missing labels, or missing serials may delay or weaken a case.

Where the case involves courier damage, parcel loss, parcel compromise, or transit-side incident, Pakstoor may route the case into the Courier & Insurance Review lane. In that lane, Pakstoor collects the evidence pack (parcel photos, waybill, scans, weights, item photos, and written statements) and engages the courier under its own claim process.

If the parcel arrived damaged, open a Formal Protected Review within the inspection window. If it has not arrived, the buyer taps “I have not received it” on the deal page. It becomes available 12 days after the parcel was handed to the courier, or straight away if the courier reports a failed delivery or a return to the sender. Funds remain protected while the case is open, Pakstoor is alerted if a parcel is still in transit after 15 working days, and nothing is refunded or released automatically.

Courier claim outcomes operate on their own timelines and on their own evidence standards, which can be stricter than Pakstoor's. Pakstoor mediates but does not guarantee a courier outcome. A courier review does not guarantee a payout.

Pakstoor does not currently provide shipping insurance. Deliveries are subject to The Courier Guy's standard terms and liability limitations. TradeSafe escrow protects payments according to Pakstoor's transaction and dispute rules, but does not insure goods against physical loss or damage. The seller is responsible for insuring the item until The Courier Guy confirms delivery.

Some cases cannot be cleanly resolved from evidence alone: a courier claim does not apply, courier damage is not the clear cause, both parties disagree, and the case is not clearly fraud. In that situation Pakstoor may move the case into Direct Party Resolution.

While Direct Party Resolution is active:

• funds remain frozen,
• both parties communicate inside the deal thread; Pakstoor does not expose phone numbers, email addresses, or messaging-app handles,
• both parties may make structured settlement proposals (return with refund, refund-on-return, a seller's offer of a full refund without the item being returned, which the buyer accepts in Pakstoor and an admin then executes through the escrow provider, withdraw the Formal Protected Review, or request an admin decision; partial settlements such as buyer keeps the item with a partial refund depend on the escrow provider's allocation capability for that transaction and may require coordinated admin action), and
• every offer, response, timestamp, and message is recorded as part of the evidence record.

Direct Party Resolution is time-limited: 48 hours by default. An admin may extend it once. If no agreement is reached, the case returns to Pakstoor for a final decision based on the available evidence.

Direct Party Resolution is not Pakstoor abandoning the case. It is a controlled negotiation window inside Pakstoor. Pakstoor remains the evidence holder, escrow coordinator, and transaction-state controller throughout.

Some patterns move a case out of the normal buyer-seller Formal Protected Review into Fraud Escalation. These include:

• serial mismatch between outbound and return,
• empty return parcel,
• wrong item returned,
• altered, edited, or fabricated evidence,
• repeated dispute abuse on a single account,
• suspicious buyer or seller patterns, and
• suspected collusion between parties.

When a case enters Fraud Escalation, Pakstoor may freeze the transaction, restrict the involved accounts, request additional identity verification, and preserve the evidence bundle. Pakstoor is not the police: Pakstoor preserves evidence and enforces platform controls, and may advise the affected party to open a SAPS case where appropriate. Pakstoor cooperates with lawful process.

Nothing in these rules removes or limits any non-excludable consumer right available under South African law, including rights that may apply under the Consumer Protection Act, 68 of 2008.

Pakstoor protected private-sale transactions are not designed for preference-based, fitment-based, buyer's remorse, or change-of-mind returns. However, where a serious issue may involve defective goods, unsafe goods, material misrepresentation, counterfeit goods, courier damage, or another legally recognised consumer issue, Pakstoor may route the case through Formal Protected Review, Courier & Insurance Review, Fraud Escalation, or another appropriate resolution path.

Pakstoor's role is to facilitate the protected transaction process, preserve evidence, hold or release funds according to transaction state and available evidence, and direct parties toward the appropriate review or escalation route. Pakstoor is not the seller, courier, insurer, or physical inspector of goods.

Pakstoor's internal review process is intended to organise evidence and platform action first; it does not remove external remedies available under law.

If a consumer remains dissatisfied after Pakstoor's internal review, they may still use any applicable ombud, regulator, tribunal, or court process available under South African law.

Money does not move automatically when a Formal Protected Review is opened. It moves only on the conditions below.

The Pakstoor Buyer Protection Fee pays for the protection from the moment the deal is paid. If a paid deal is cancelled before dispatch, the buyer sees exactly what is refunded before confirming. When a Formal Protected Review or a return ends in a refund, it is refunded with the item price; the courier cost and TradeSafe's own fee follow the rules above.

Pakstoor coordinates these outcomes; the actual movement of money is executed by the escrow provider (currently TradeSafe). Where supported by the provider, approved amounts may be allocated between buyer and seller after Formal Protected Review. Where not supported, alternative resolution paths are used. Money does not move until the qualifying release condition is met and the provider executes the instruction.

Pakstoor expects buyers and sellers to use the in-platform Formal Protected Review process first so that evidence, courier tracking, escrow state, and communications remain in one protected record.

If a consumer remains dissatisfied after Pakstoor's internal review, they may still use any external process available under South African law, including an applicable ombud, regulator, tribunal, or court process.

Where relevant, this may include the Consumer Goods and Services Ombud, the National Consumer Commission, a provincial consumer protector, an alternative dispute resolution agent, another competent body or a court. Formal Protected Review does not oust the jurisdiction of the courts.