In short: Marketrade charges sellers a fixed subscription fee for access to selling tools — that's handled by Paystack, and it's the only thing Paystack is used for. Separately, buyers and sellers may choose real online payment for an individual item via TradeSafe, a dedicated escrow provider — TradeSafe holds that money, not Marketrade, and only releases it once the buyer has the item (or 24 hours after Pargo confirms delivery, whichever applies). Buyers and sellers can also skip both and simply arrange payment privately between themselves, as before.
Marketrade is a subscription platform. Sellers pay us directly for time-limited access to list items — plans currently range from R19 (48-hour Flash Sale) to R249 (1-month Power Seller plan). This is the only thing our payment integration with Paystack is used for. The fee is for the use of our software and listing visibility, not for any specific item a seller later sells. We are not a payment facilitator, payment aggregator, or marketplace payment processor with respect to Paystack: any card or EFT payment made through Marketrade's Paystack checkout goes to Marketrade, for Marketrade's own subscription service, in full.
What happens for an individual item a buyer orders is entirely up to the buyer and seller — Marketrade offers two options at checkout:
| Transaction type | Who's paid | Who processes it |
|---|---|---|
| Seller subscription (Flash Sale, Standard, etc.) | Marketrade | Paystack, for Marketrade |
| Item payment, arranged privately | The seller, directly | Nobody — settled privately between buyer and seller |
| Item payment, Secure Escrow Checkout | The seller (via Marketrade Wallet, on request) | TradeSafe, an independent licensed escrow provider |
Escrow orders may be handed over in person, or shipped to a Pargo pickup point near the buyer. Pargo is an independent courier/logistics provider — Marketrade only stores which pickup point was chosen and Pargo's own delivery status; we don't process any payment through Pargo itself.
Marketrade is a classifieds-style listing platform with paid seller subscriptions, comparable to a SaaS subscription business, plus an optional, purpose-built escrow integration for buyers and sellers who'd rather not exchange cash directly. We keep these clearly separated: Paystack is exclusively our own subscription revenue; TradeSafe is exclusively a licensed third-party escrow service for item payments that buyers opt into.
If you have questions about this — including as part of a payment provider's verification process — contact us via the "Report an issue" link in the footer.