Why we hold your money until the buyer says yes

When you pay for something on Sokomoja, the money does not go to the seller. It comes to us, and it sits there while your order is packed, sent and delivered. The seller is paid after it reaches you and the return window has closed.

Sellers ask why. Buyers ask what happens if something goes wrong. Both deserve a straight answer.

The problem it solves

Buying online in Kenya has one hard problem: you are sending money to someone you have never met, in a town you may never have visited, for an item you cannot touch. Every other feature is decoration if that problem is not solved.

Holding the money solves it. If your order never arrives, you get your money back. If it arrives and is not what was described, you get your money back. The seller carries that risk, not you.

What it does for the seller

The hold looks like a cost to sellers and is actually the product. It is the reason a buyer in Kisumu will order from a shop in Nairobi they have never heard of. Without it, that buyer either buys nothing or buys from someone they already know, which for most new sellers means nobody.

You are not waiting for your money because we doubt you. You are waiting because that wait is what makes a stranger willing to buy from you at all.

What happens before any of this

Nobody sells on Sokomoja until we have confirmed who they are: national ID, KRA PIN, business registration where they have it, and a licence where the category requires one. Their payout number has to be in their own name.

That last requirement matters more than it sounds. It means there is a real, identified person attached to every shop, and money cannot quietly be routed to someone else.

The badges

Verified means checked before their first sale. Trusted means a solid record over real volume. Premium means an extended record at that standard. They are earned, never bought, and they can be taken away.

Your window to check

You have seven days from delivery to tell us if something is damaged, faulty, missing, counterfeit or not as described. Ninety days if the order never arrived at all. Twenty four hours for fresh food, because it cannot be assessed after that.

Inspect the parcel before you accept it. If the packaging has been opened or crushed, say so at that moment rather than later.

The one thing that breaks it

All of this only works inside the platform. A payment sent directly to a personal mobile money number sits outside this policy and outside buyer protection entirely. There is no hold, no window and nothing for us to refund.

The full terms are in the Terms and Conditions and the Returns and Refund Policy.