Terms of Service

Welcome to Student Marketplace. By creating an account or using this site, you agree to these terms. Please read them. See our Privacy Policy for how we handle your personal information under South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

1. What this platform is

Student Marketplace is a listing platform that connects students who want to buy and sell items or services with each other. We provide the space for listings, orders, communication, and — for item purchases — secure payment via our escrow partner TradeSafe and delivery via Pargo, described in section 5a below. We are not a party to any sale and do not guarantee the condition, legality, or quality of any item listed.

2. Who can use it

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

3. Buying and selling

• Payment for an order is made through TradeSafe at checkout and held in escrow — see section 5a for how and when it's released to the seller.
• Delivery/collection is arranged either as an in-person handover between buyer and seller, or via Pargo's nationwide pickup-point network, as chosen at checkout.
• 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 confirming collection and for communicating clearly with sellers.
• We are not responsible for the quality of items exchanged between users, beyond the escrow and dispute process described in section 5a.

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 is currently free — see the seller dashboard for details. If we introduce paid seller plans in future, sellers without an active subscription may have their listings hidden and be unable to post new listings until payment is confirmed. This is separate from the per-order escrow payments described below.

5a. How payment for orders works — TradeSafe escrow and Pargo delivery

When a buyer orders an item, payment (by card, Ozow, SnapScan, or RCS) is processed and held in escrow by TradeSafe, a licensed third-party escrow and payment provider — Student Marketplace does not itself hold or have access to that money while it's in escrow. Delivery is handled either in person or through Pargo's nationwide pickup-point network, depending on what the buyer chose at checkout.

Funds are released from escrow to the seller's in-app wallet in one of two ways:

• In-person handover: the buyer receives a one-time Collection PIN, which they give to the seller once they have the item in hand. Entering it releases the payment.
• Pargo delivery: payment releases automatically 24 hours after Pargo confirms the item was delivered to the pickup point, unless the buyer has opened a dispute before then.

Sellers withdraw released funds from their wallet to their own bank account at any time. Buyers and sellers should still see our Safety Guidelines for tips on safely meeting up or describing items.

5b. Refunds and cancellations

Order payments (buyer to seller, via TradeSafe): an order can be cancelled for a full refund only before it has been paid — once payment clears, cancellation is no longer available and any problem should instead be raised as a dispute from the order in My Orders, which pauses the automatic release of funds while we look into it. Depending on the outcome, funds are either released to the seller or refunded to the buyer; refunds are returned to your original payment method and may take a few business days to reflect, depending on your bank and TradeSafe's processing times.

Seller subscriptions: should we introduce paid seller plans in future, those payments would be processed securely by our chosen payment provider. Because a subscription would grant immediate access to post listings, such payments would be non-refundable once a plan has activated, except where required by South African consumer protection law or in the following cases:

• A duplicate or accidental double-charge for the same plan.
• A technical failure on our end that resulted in payment being taken without the corresponding plan being activated.
• The platform being taken down permanently before your active plan period ends, in which case the unused portion may be refunded on a pro-rata basis.

If you believe you're entitled to a refund under either of the above, contact us at studentmarketplacehelp@gmail.com with your order or payment reference. We aim to respond within 5 business days. Subscriptions would not auto-renew — each plan would be a once-off payment for a fixed period, so there would be nothing to "cancel"; simply don't purchase a new plan when your current one expires.

6. 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.

7. Account suspension

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

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. Contact

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