Buyer protection: what exists today, and what's planned
AfricaMart doesn't hold your payment or insure your order yet. Payments, shipping and logistics are arranged directly between you and the supplier. Here is what helps you trade safely today, and what we plan to add.
What AfricaMart does now
- Documents reviewed: Suppliers with the Documents reviewed badge have sent their trade license, business registration and tax documents, and our team has reviewed them. It is a document check, not a guarantee of any order.
- Phone numbers checked before they show: A supplier's phone number appears on AfricaMart only after it has been verified, through Telegram or by our team.
- Stores reviewed before they go live: Our team reviews every new storefront before buyers can see it, and can take a store offline.
- Ratings and reviews: Supplier profiles show the ratings and reviews buyers have left on AfricaMart.
- Quotes in writing: Post an RFQ and suppliers reply with price, MOQ, lead time and terms in writing: a record both sides can point to.
- Help when something looks wrong: Report a suspicious listing, message or supplier to our Trust & Safety team and we'll look into it. We can't reverse or refund payments, because we don't handle them.
Planned, not available yet
- PLANNED: Protected payments. Paying through AfricaMart, with the money held until you confirm delivery. This needs a licensed payment partner and isn't available.
- PLANNED: A dispute process. A way to open a dispute on an order, with a published policy for how it's resolved.
- PLANNED: Registry-checked businesses. Checking suppliers against official business registries, not only the documents they send.
We don't have dates for these yet. This page will say when one is ready.
Until then
Agree on payment and delivery terms in writing before you commit, start with a sample or a small first order, and consider a trusted third-party payment or inspection service for higher-value orders.