Pakstoor is new. We don't have a wall of certifications yet. What we do have is a small set of design choices that close the gaps every South African marketplace has left open. Here's what's live today, what's in progress, and what we openly don't have yet.
Trust DossierProtected MarketplaceCape Town · ZAOperationalPakstoor (Pty) Ltd
The Trust Ladder 5 tiers
Trust comes from history, not promises.
Every account on Pakstoor has a public Trust Level from 1 to 5. Pakstoor works it out automatically from your security setup, payout checks, completed deals and the outcome of any reviews. It is not a price plan and cannot be bought.
A higher level means stronger account signals and more history on Pakstoor. It does not guarantee that a specific item is authentic, free of defects, or exactly as described. Pakstoor's protected transaction process applies at every level.
Start hereYou are here
1Level 1 · Green
Member
Every new account starts here
Confirm your email to list items and make offers
In person handovers: not available yet
You are here
2Level 2 · Blue
Secured
Phone number confirmed
Passkey or authenticator app turned on
Profile photo added
In person handovers for items up to R3 000
You are here
3Level 3 · Purple
Payout Ready
Bank account added
Payout details set up
Ready for seller payouts
In person handovers for items up to R7 500
You are here
4Level 4 · Platinum
Established Trader
5 or more completed deals
Buying and selling both count
Trust score of 45 or more
Dispute rate under 10%
No recent serious policy breach
In person handovers for items up to R20 000
You are here
5Level 5 · Gold
Gold Trusted
15 or more completed deals
Trust score of 75 or more
Account at least 90 days old
Dispute rate under 10%
Gold badge on your profile and listings
In person handovers for items up to R50 000
Planned · optional
Identity Verified (planned)
Optional check with an identity partner
Pakstoor receives the outcome only
No face, ID document or biometric data stored by Pakstoor
Additional account review
Coming soon
Good to know
How your level can change
Your level is worked out again after every completed deal and every review outcome.
Opening a Formal Protected Review does not cost you points. A review decided against you does.
A high dispute rate holds your level back. Above 20% your level drops by one.
Pakstoor can pause level upgrades while an account is being reviewed.
In person handover limits follow the lower level of the two people meeting, and both accounts must be at least 7 days old. Pakstoor may change these limits.
What Pakstoor stops
Common marketplace scams, and how Pakstoor stops them
The scam
How Pakstoor stops it
01The scam
The buyer pays and the seller disappears.
How Pakstoor stops it
Your payment goes into TradeSafe escrow, not to the seller.The seller is paid only after delivery is confirmed and the Inspection Window ends, or after you both confirm an in-person handover. If the seller never sends the item, you can cancel and get your money back.
02The scam
A fake proof of payment.
How Pakstoor stops it
Sellers never rely on a screenshot.The deal page shows “Payment secured” only once TradeSafe confirms the money is in escrow. Until then there is nothing to ship or hand over.
03The scam
A fake courier, or “my driver will collect it”.
How Pakstoor stops it
Pakstoor books The Courier Guy for every courier deal.The waybill and tracking come straight from the courier, and the Inspection Window only starts when the courier confirms delivery.
04The scam
“I never got it” or “I did hand it over” after a meeting.
How Pakstoor stops it
Both people confirm the handover in their own Pakstoor accounts, using the meeting code on the seller’s phone.The money is released only after both have confirmed.
05The scam
The wrong item, or a damaged one, arrives.
How Pakstoor stops it
You get a 72-hour Inspection Window after the courier confirms delivery.Open a Formal Protected Review with photos, and the funds remain protected while the evidence is reviewed.
06The scam
The seller asks you to pay them directly.
How Pakstoor stops it
Every payment on Pakstoor goes through the secure checkout into TradeSafe escrow.Pakstoor will never ask you to pay a seller directly. A request to pay outside the checkout is a warning sign: report it.
01
Article 01 Money
Money protection
How your funds move, and why neither party can run.
TradeSafe escrow payment
Live
Every purchase payment is held by the escrow partner, TradeSafe. Pakstoor never touches your money. On a courier deal, Pakstoor may instruct the escrow partner to release funds to the seller when the buyer confirms the parcel arrived intact, or after a courier-confirmed delivery plus the 72 hour inspection window shown on the deal page expires without a Protected Review being opened. At an in-person handover, funds are released only when buyer and seller both confirm in their own accounts and TradeSafe confirms the release.
Formal Review freezes the funds
Live
Either party can open a Formal Protected Transaction Review from the deal’s conversation in Messages. Once opened, the funds held by the escrow partner stay frozen 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 (a claim against the courier under its standard terms), and fraud escalation are four separate decisions made on the evidence. See the Protected Dispute Review rules.
Pakstoor fees: transparent, shown before you pay
Live
Selling is free: Pakstoor currently charges sellers no commission (0%). Buyers pay the Pakstoor Buyer Protection Fee, a percentage of the item price (never of the courier) that pays for the buyer-protection process, transaction management, evidence-led Formal Protected Review and secure handover workflows. It is not insurance and does not guarantee a refund or outcome. If a paid deal is cancelled before dispatch, the buyer sees exactly what is refunded before confirming; it is refunded with the item price if a return or a Formal Protected Review ends in a refund. Buyers also pay TradeSafe's fee for the payment method they choose and, on a courier deal, the courier delivery. Every line is shown before they pay.
Payout readiness
Live
Before a seller can withdraw, TradeSafe, our escrow partner, must accept the bank details the seller entered. Payout readiness is a payment step, not a guarantee about the seller or the item. Sellers without payout setup cannot receive funds: a seller cannot accept an offer until payout details are saved, and cannot withdraw funds until payout details are saved and TradeSafe has accepted them.
02
Article 02 Delivery
Courier or protected handover
Tracked courier by default, or an in-person handover paid through escrow. Never cash.
Courier by default. In-person only with a joint release
Live
Every courier sale goes through The Courier Guy / Shiplogic with a tracked waybill booked through Pakstoor when the seller arranges delivery; sellers cannot type a tracking number themselves. The only exception is In-person handover (Sell direct to someone, or in-person collection when the seller allows it and the buyer chooses it): the payment still goes into TradeSafe escrow and is released only when buyer and seller both confirm in their own accounts. Pakstoor cannot protect the item itself in an in-person handover: there is no courier tracking or item-condition review.
No shipping insurance
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. If a parcel arrives damaged, open a Formal Protected Review within the inspection window. If it has not arrived, tap “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. Either way, funds remain protected while Pakstoor reviews the courier record and the evidence. This is not a guarantee of a payout. The Pakstoor Buyer Protection Fee is not insurance.
Live courier tracking
Live
Courier scan events stream into your deal page. We surface every transition (collected, at hub, out for delivery, delivered) and keep the courier's scan record with the deal so a review can rely on it.
Signed delivery receipts
Live
The moment you click “Confirm receipt”, Pakstoor signs a tamper-evident HMAC-SHA256 timestamp over the deal id, your buyer id, allocation id, signed time, signer, and IP, then pushes it to TradeSafe’s ledger via allocationPreviewAcceptbefore funds release. The same record is created when the inspection window expires cleanly and payout release is triggered. A later “I never got it” claim can be re-verified from the row + the signing key; any post-hoc edit invalidates the digest.
Protected Transaction Flow 8 stages
From buyer payment to seller payout, the protected path.
Funds remain protected
Pay
Buyer pays securely
Hold
TradeSafe holds funds
Collect
Courier picks up parcel
Track
Scan events stream live
Deliver
Parcel delivered, signed
Inspect
Inspection window open
Accept · Review
Accept or open review
Release
Funds released to seller
Money moves only on a qualifying release condition: buyer accepts, the inspection window expires cleanly, a Protected Review is denied, a return is received and accepted, or admin approves payout/refund. Opening a Protected Review pauses the flow at the Inspect stage; it is a request for evidence review, not an instruction to release funds. This is the courier path: an in-person handover has no courier or inspection window, and the money is released only when buyer and seller both confirm.
03
Article 03 Credibility
Seller credibility
Trust signals, what they mean, and the moderation we run in the background.
Listing tier and Trust Level are not the same
Live
A listing tier (Basic, Premium, or Pro) controls how prominently a listing is shown across Pakstoor. It is a visibility setting on the listing.
A Trust Level is a credibility signal on the seller. A high-trust seller can list on Basic; a brand-new seller can list on Pro. Look at both: the listing tier tells you how visible the item is, the Trust Level tells you how much completed transaction history sits behind the person selling it.
Listing & message moderation
Live
Listings are moderated for prohibited goods, mis-categorisation, and obvious risk patterns. Listing photos and avatars run through an automated OCR pass that detects phone numbers, email addresses, and external links printed inside images. Questions on listings and, where available, order messages after payment are checked against the same off-platform contact patterns and abuse signals. Messages that break these rules are blocked or held for review before the other person sees them, and listings flagged by these checks may be blocked, edited, or queued for admin review. Pakstoor does not use message content for advertising.
Identity Verified: planned and optional
Coming soon
Pakstoor is building a progressive trust system where users can earn stronger trust signals over time.
In a future release, members may choose an optional identity check with a specialist identity partner. Pakstoor will receive only the outcome and will not store your face, your ID document or any biometric data. It will never be needed to create a basic account.
TradeSafe, our escrow partner, must accept a seller's bank details before any withdrawal.
Trust signals reduce risk; they do not remove it. Read the listing, check the photos, ask questions before paying, and use the protected payment flow. If anything feels wrong, raise it inside Pakstoor: on a courier deal before the inspection window closes, and at an in-person handover before you confirm.
04
Article 04 Data
Data & account safety
What we collect, how we store it, and what you can ask for.
Audit log
Live
High-risk actions (payouts, listings boosts, dispute outcomes, admin overrides) are append-only audit-logged with the actor, timestamp, IP, and metadata. Used internally for fraud forensics and dispute review.
Encrypted in transit
HTTPS site-wide, HSTS enforced, modern TLS 1.2+ only. No mixed content.
Argon2id passwords
OWASP-2024 parameters plus an HMAC pepper held outside the database. Plain-text never stored.
Bot defence on every entry point
Sign-up, sign-in, forgot-password and reset gated by Cloudflare Turnstile. Verified server-side.
Cross-site request protection
Every POST / PATCH / DELETE validates Origin/Referer against an allowlist. SameSite=Lax, httpOnly cookies in depth.
Sign in with Google
Optional. We receive only email, name, profile picture; no Drive, Gmail, contacts, or calendar. Revoke anytime at myaccount.google.com/permissions.
Two-factor authentication
TOTP-based 2FA, 8 single-use recovery codes. Admin accounts have 2FA on by default. ID minimised per POPIA.
POPIA rights honored
Live
Access, correction, and deletion requests are answered within 30 days. Email privacy@pakstoor.co.za. See our POPIA page for the full process and your rights as a data subject. Under POPIA Section 22, if we reasonably believe personal information has been accessed by an unauthorised party, we notify affected users and the Information Regulator of South Africa as soon as reasonably possible after discovery.
05
Article 05 Open gaps
What Pakstoor does not claim yet
A trust center that hides the gaps isn't a trust center. Here are ours.
Independent penetration test
Not yet
An external security firm has not yet tested Pakstoor end-to-end. Once we cross meaningful transaction volume, this is the first audit on the list. In the meantime: we run modern dependency scanning, a strict CSP, hardened cookie flags, and rate-limited / replay-protected webhooks.
SOC 2 / ISO 27001
Not yet
We are too early-stage for these to be honest claims. Adopting the controls is on the multi-year roadmap once Pakstoor reaches a scale where the audit cost is justifiable. We won't pretend otherwise.
Bug bounty programme
Not yet
No paid bounty yet. We do have a security-disclosure address and we will publicly thank researchers who report responsibly. Email security@pakstoor.co.za.
§
Reach the right inbox
One address per concern.
We monitor all of them.
Security
Suspected vulnerability, exploit, or misconfiguration. Encrypted disclosure preferred.
Found something we missed? Pakstoor is built and reviewed by a small team. If you see a security gap, a privacy concern, or a copy claim that overstates what we actually do, we want to hear from you. Email security@pakstoor.co.za. We aim to respond as quickly as possible.
Operational status (including TradeSafe payment availability) is mirrored on TradeSafe's own status page at status.tradesafe.co.za. Pakstoor's own platform status appears in the system bar at the top of every page.
Pakstoor protects transaction integrity. Courier deals have an inspection window and evidence review; in-person handovers are released only when both parties confirm. Funds remain protected until a qualifying release condition is met.
IssuedCape Town · ZA14 · 05 · 2026Pakstoor (Pty) Ltd
Pakstoor is South Africa’s protected marketplace for private sales.Funds move only once a qualifying release condition is met, protecting both sides and not just one. That’s transaction integrity, built into every deal.
