If you are from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Malawi or Zambia then you should consider opening a PesaPal account. PesaPal is an online payment processor or an e-currency that allow it users to receive payments, pay bills, pay school fees, buy airtime and shop online.
How to Get Started With PesaPal
There are two different kinds of account; Personal and Business. Personal account allow you to;
- Pay your bill
- Pay School Fees
- Buy Airtime
- Buy Event Tickets
- Find places to shop
While business account allow you to;
- Accept Online Payments
- Online invoicing
- Simpleselling
- Sell event tickets
Setting up a personal account is very easy since there is no verification needed and you only need to fill up a registration form. However, to set up a business account, you will need to go through a verification process and forward some personal documents for approval.
Here are some of the documents that you will need to submit during application – A copy of your ID or passport, a voided/cancelled cheque in the name of sole proprietor, a copy of business registration and a copy of KRA pin number/tax compliance certificate. These documents are required for identification purposes and as way of minimizing fraud.
Once you have submitted the required documents, you can now integrate Pesapal to your website and start receiving payment through it.
How Pesapal Works
A buyer purchases a good or service in any of the PesaPal integrated merchants website using Mpesa, Credit Card or PesaPal wallet. The payment is then reflected into merchants account. The money is not immediately released to the merchant but instead, it is held in a trust bank account. A notification is then sent to both the buyer and seller with the summary of the transaction.
Both the buyer and merchant can track all transactions and payment status by logging in to their account. PesaPal offers up to standard accuracy when processing payments and any unmatched amount is available to the user in their PesaPal credit balance.
The seller delivers the goods to the buyer and buyer confirms once the goods are delivered. The merchant then issues a withdrawal request by logging into their PesaPal account. PesaPal issues a settlement request to the bank and the money is deposited into the merchant’s bank account.
In case of a dispute, PesaPal provides a dispute resolution mechanisms and supports payment reversal, whenever is required.
What are the Pesapal Fees/Charges?
No charges for buyers. PesaPal merchants sales charges range in between 3.5% t0 5% per transaction. In addition, they also do offer volume discounts for those merchants selling in large volume.
Conclusion
PesaPal offers an easy way to receive payments, to pay bills or to shop online. This save you a lot of time that you could have wasted lining up in the bank. They also do offer escrow service, which is a great way to protect their buyers.
One downside with PesaPal is that, they only accept registered companies as their merchants and not individuals like other online merchants website like eBay, hence limiting their ability to get more merchants and buyers.
