Terms of Service

Welcome to Marketrade. By creating an account or using this site, you agree to these terms. Please read them.

1. What this platform is

Marketrade is a listing platform that connects people who want to buy and sell items or services with each other. We provide the space for listings, orders, and communication — we are not a party to any sale, and we do not handle payment, delivery, or guarantee the condition, legality, or quality of any item listed.

2. Who can use it

This platform is open to everyone. You must provide accurate information when creating an account, including a working WhatsApp number so buyers/sellers can reach you.

3. Buying and selling

• All payment and delivery arrangements happen directly between buyer and seller, outside this platform. Marketrade does not process, hold, or facilitate payment for any item listed — see How Payments Work for details.
• Sellers are responsible for accurately describing their items, including condition, and for honouring the price and terms stated in a listing.
• Buyers are responsible for verifying an item before paying and for communicating clearly with sellers.
• We are not responsible for disputes, non-payment, non-delivery, or the quality of items exchanged between users.

4. Prohibited items and conduct

You may not list or offer: weapons, illegal drugs or substances, alcohol/tobacco sales to minors, stolen goods, counterfeit items, academic dishonesty services (e.g. paying someone to write your assignments or write exams for you), or anything illegal under South African law. We may remove listings or suspend accounts that violate this without notice.

5. Seller subscriptions

Selling on this platform requires an active paid subscription. There is no free trial. Current plans range from R19 (48-hour Flash Sale) to R249 (1-month Power Seller plan), paid via Paystack — see the seller dashboard for the full list. Sellers without an active subscription may have their listings hidden and cannot post new listings until payment is confirmed.

6. Refunds and cancellations

Seller subscription payments are for immediate access to selling tools (listing slots, visibility, badges) for the plan's stated duration, and are non-refundable once the subscription is active, except where required by law or at our discretion (for example, a duplicate or clearly mistaken payment, or a platform outage that prevented you from using the plan you paid for). To request a refund, contact us with your payment reference within 7 days of payment — see Contact below. Approved refunds are processed back to the original payment method via Paystack and may take up to 10 business days to reflect. Marketrade is a platform connecting independent buyers and sellers; we are not a party to the sale of any listed item, so refunds for goods purchased from a seller are between the buyer and that seller — see the Buying and selling section above.

7. Reviews and reporting

Buyers and sellers may rate each other after a completed order. Reviews must be honest and based on real transactions. Misleading listings, scams, or abusive behaviour can be reported — we may investigate and suspend accounts as a result.

8. Account suspension

We may suspend or block any account that violates these terms, engages in fraud, harasses other users, or otherwise misuses the platform.

9. Limitation of liability

This platform is provided "as is". We do not guarantee uninterrupted availability and are not liable for losses arising from transactions between users, including non-delivery, non-payment, or disputes over item condition.

10. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. Continued use of the platform after changes means you accept the updated terms.

11. Contact

Questions about these terms? Reach out via the "Report an issue" link in the footer.