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.
The Trust Ladder 5 tiers
Every Pakstoor user has a public trust level. The level reflects account readiness, security setup, payout readiness, completed-deal history, dispute behaviour, and platform-trust signals, not a price plan.
A higher level means stronger account signals and more verified marketplace history. It does not guarantee that a specific item is authentic, defect-free, or exactly as described. Pakstoor's protected transaction process applies at every level.
Account trust signals
Five tiers reflect verification and platform history. They are signals on an account — not a guarantee on any specific item.
Five trust levels from Green (entry) to Gold (top), reflecting account signals and platform history.
Article 01 Money
How your funds move, and why neither party can run.
Every payment is held by the escrow partner, TradeSafe. Pakstoor never touches your money. 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 applicable inspection window shown on the deal page expires without a Protected Review being opened.
Either party can open a Formal Protected Transaction Review on the deal page. 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, and fraud escalation are four separate decisions made on the evidence. See the Protected Dispute Review rules.
Pakstoor's Secure Transaction Fee covers escrow facilitation, courier control, and fraud protection. It's tiered by item price: small items pay a lower percentage, larger items pay more. The exact rate that applies to your listing is shown on the sell-flow review screen before you publish, and again on the email you receive when funds release. R 25 floor for very small items. The fee comes off the seller's payout: buyers only pay item price + courier + cover + the TradeSafe trust fee.
TradeSafe runs an FICA-aligned identity and bank-account verification (an AVSR check) for payout readiness. Once verified, a green “Verified seller” shield appears on the public profile, listings, deal page, and inside chat threads. Sellers without payout setup cannot receive funds; the offer-accept flow blocks the deal until banking details are confirmed and verified.
Article 02 Delivery
Why we removed the riskiest step in private sales.
Pakstoor does not facilitate in-person handovers. Every parcel goes through The Courier Guy / Shiplogic with a tracked waybill. Sellers cannot type a tracking number themselves; the waybill is auto-booked by Pakstoor and the seller receives the printable label.
Every booking opts into the courier's paid liability cover where the parcel + route are eligible. The cost is included in the “Courier” line on the buyer's breakdown. TradeSafe escrow is the primary protected transaction layer: courier cover is a second layer with its own conditions and exclusions, not a guarantee. If a courier claim is denied, the case remains inside Formal Protected Review. Funds stay protected while Pakstoor reviews the evidence, escrow state, provider requirements, and available resolution paths.
Courier scan events stream into your deal page. We surface every transition (collected, at hub, out for delivery, delivered) and mirror them onto TradeSafe's ledger so the dispute record carries third-party-corroborated evidence at every step.
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 allocationPreviewAccept before 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
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.
Article 03 Credibility
Trust signals, what they mean, and the moderation we run in the background.
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 verified history sits behind the person selling it.
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. Buyer and seller chat is moderated against the same off-platform contact patterns and abuse signals. Messages and listings flagged by these checks may be blocked, edited, or queued for admin review. Pakstoor does not use message content for advertising.
Pakstoor is building a progressive trust system where users can earn stronger trust signals over time.
In a future release, higher trust levels may include identity document verification, liveness checks, selfie matching, and additional account review. This will give serious sellers and buyers a way to stand out with stronger public trust signals without forcing full identity verification during basic account creation.
Seller payouts may still be subject to verification requirements from the escrow or payment provider where applicable.
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 before the inspection window closes.
Article 04 Data
What we collect, how we store it, and what you can ask for.
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
Argon2id passwords
Bot defence on every entry point
Cross-site request protection
Sign in with Google
Two-factor authentication
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 within 72 hours of becoming aware.
Article 05 Open gaps
A trust center that hides the gaps isn't a trust center. Here are ours.
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.
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.
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
We monitor all of them.
Suspected vulnerability, exploit, or misconfiguration. Encrypted disclosure preferred.
security@pakstoor.co.zaPOPIA access, correction, deletion, or objection requests. Data breach concerns.
privacy@pakstoor.co.zaAn integrity concern about a listing, or a counterparty acting outside the rules.
trust@pakstoor.co.zaFound 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 within 72 hours.
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.
Protected Transaction Standard
Pakstoor protects transaction integrity. Inspection windows, evidence review, and provider execution rules apply on every deal. Funds remain protected until a qualifying release condition is met.
See also: POPIA Compliance · Privacy Policy · Terms of Service · Cookie Policy · Safety guides