Seller Policy

Seller Policy

Our policies are designed to help create a fair and safe trading experience for all Africaemart users. As a seller, you're responsible for regularly reviewing and complying with Africaemart's selling policies, and for meeting your obligations as set out in our User Agreement.

We recommend that you learn about Africaemart's selling policies before you list an item. This helps you avoid accidentally breaking any rules. If you fail to follow the rules, to protect the integrity of our marketplace, we may take certain actions, such as removing your listings or products and limiting your buying and selling privileges. For more details, please see the individual policy guidelines below.

Selling practices policy

By keeping some basic selling practices in mind, you’ll be able to create a great experience for your buyers.

Our full selling practice guidelines below provide a range of tips for helping ensure you keep your buyers happy. They cover areas such as the item description, your terms and conditions, shipping and handling charges, delivery times, communication, returns, and photos.

• Frequently Asked Questions

 Why do I need to specify the location of the item in my listing?

Buyers like to know where the item is being shipped from as it helps to give them an idea of how much shipping will cost and how long it might take for the item to arrive. Having an inaccurate item location can cause confusion and lead to a poor experience for your buyer.

What should I include in my terms and conditions?

Be very clear and thorough about the terms of the transaction and include information about the forms of payment you accept, any taxes or other applicable fees, shipping and handling, and your return policy. Being upfront and honest about these terms helps build trust and provides a positive buying experience for your customers.

Do I have to accept returns?

You don't have to accept returns, but we highly recommend you do – it might help you attract more buyers. If you do accept returns, make sure you specify the time period in which you accept returns, who pays for the return postage, and how the refund is issued.

Seller protections

When you deliver on your service promises to create good buying experiences, we will protect you from abusive buying behavior and from events outside your control.

• Frequently Asked Questions
  

How am I protected from abusive buyers?

If Africaemart finds a buyer's behavior is abusive, we will take action on the buyer and remove negative and neutral feedback and defects, including opened cases in service metrics.

What if something happens that is outside of my control?

We will protect you by removing negative and neutral feedback and defects when things happen that are outside your control, such as weather or carrier delays, or when the item arrives late but tracking shows you shipped on time.

Shill bidding policy

Shill bidding is when someone bids on an item to artificially increase its price, desirability, or search standing.

Shill bidding can happen regardless of whether the bidder knows the seller. However, when someone bidding on an item knows the seller, they might have information about the seller's item that other shoppers aren't aware of. This could create an unfair advantage, or cause another bidder to pay more than they should. We want to maintain a fair marketplace for all our users, and as such, shill bidding is prohibited on Africaemart. For more details on what constitutes shill bidding, please see our full policy guidelines below.

• Frequently Asked Questions
  

 Can I use Buy It Now to buy items from people I know?

Yes, you can use Buy It Now to purchase an item from a seller you know.

Can my employees bid on my listings?

No, your employees can’t bid on your items, and you’re not allowed to bid on theirs. Sellers with employees should make sure their workers are also aware of this policy.

How do I report shill bidding?

If you think that another member is shill bidding, you don't need to report it to us. Africaemart has a number of systems in place to detect and monitor bidding patterns and practices. If we identify any malicious behavior, we'll take steps to prevent it.

Africaemart fee avoidance policy

Avoiding Africaemart fees is not allowed, whether intentional or not. Sellers attempting to avoid Africaemart fees create risk for themselves, and a poor experience for buyers.

Examples of avoiding fees includes making offers to buy or sell outside of Africaemart, requiring the buyer to make additional purchases, or charging excessive shipping fees.

What is the policy?

Sellers are prohibited from activities that avoid Africaemart fees, intentionally or not. This includes:

Making offers to buy or sell outside of Africaemart

Linking or promoting sites, items, or catalogs that can be used to order items outside of Africaemart

Requiring a buyer to make additional purchases or to agree to terms outside of the listing

Canceling bids or ending a listing early because the desired price has not been met

Charging excessive shipping and additional fees not already included in the price of the item, or passing seller fees on to the buyer

Changing a listing duration more than 2 hours after submitting the listing

Misusing the reserve price feature in a listing

Listing items outside of the correct category

Falsely canceling orders using Buyer hasn't paid as a reason, or refusing payment at the end of a successful transaction

Changing the information in a listing to sell a different item instead of listing a new item

Selling completely different brands, models, or types of items as choice listings, such as:

Selling different brands or models (for example, listing an iPhone 6 and iPhone 7 in the same listing)

Selling items with different conditions such as "new" and "used"

Sellers are responsible for paying fees for all sales made using some or all Africaemart services, even if the sale terms are finalized, or payment is made outside of Africaemart.

Sellers are also responsible for Final Value Fees if they offer or reference their contact information, or ask for a buyer's contact information, in the context of buying for selling outside of Africaemart, even if the item does not sell on Africaemart.

Activity that doesn't follow Africaemart policy could result in a range of actions including for example: administratively ending or canceling listings, hiding or demoting all listings from search results, lowering seller rating, buying or selling restrictions, and account suspension. All fees paid or payable in relation to listings or accounts on which we take any action will not be refunded or otherwise credited to your account.

Seller performance policy

We always want to ensure buyers have a great experience on Africaemart. To help ensure this, we’ve put in place minimum performance standards for areas within a seller’s control, such as handling time and prompt problem resolution.

You can keep track of your performance against these standards through your Seller Standards Dashboard, and our full policy guidelines below provide additional details about how your performance is calculated.

• Frequently Asked Questions
  

 What's Africaemart's performance evaluation period?

We evaluate your performance every month. The length of time we look at in each evaluation depends on how many recent transactions you've had. If you've had 400 or more transactions in the last three months, you're evaluated over that three-month period. If you've had fewer than 400 transactions in the last three months, you're evaluated on the past 12 months. These timelines help us make sure we're evaluating you as fairly as possible.

What happens if I don't meet minimum standards?

If you're not meeting our minimum performance standards, we may place restrictions on your account. Read our full policy below for more information about the possible consequences of falling Below Standard.

We want you to be a high performing seller so please view your Seller Dashboard for tips on how you can make sure you're providing the best service possible to your customers.

Tax policy

Sellers must follow all tax regulations that apply to Africaemart sales.

Our policy helps provide guidance on tax. As Africaemart can't give tax advice, sellers should contact the appropriate tax authority for more information about their tax obligations.

What is the policy?

Sellers are responsible for paying taxes associated with using Africaemart, in accordance with all applicable laws.

• Income tax

Sellers are required by law to declare and pay taxes on income earned from their Africaemart sales.

• Tax on items bought and sold on Africaemart

Please note that Africaemart will share your information with government authorities if required to do so by law.

Activity that doesn't follow Africaemart policy could result in a range of actions including for example: administratively ending or canceling listings, hiding or demoting all listings from search results, lowering seller rating, buying or selling restrictions, and account suspension. All fees paid or payable in relation to listings or accounts on which we take any action will not be refunded or otherwise credited to your account.

Why does Africaemart have this policy?

This policy helps ensure that government regulations are followed.

Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) policy

Listings or products that infringe on the intellectual property rights of others are not allowed on Africaemart.

We created the Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) Program so that intellectual property owners could report listings or products that infringe on their intellectual property rights. It is Africaemart's interest to ensure that infringing items are removed from the site, as they are illegal, and erode the trust of our buyers and sellers.

What is the policy?

• Intellectual property rights owners

Only intellectual property rights owners can report Africaemart listings that infringe on their copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property rights. Members who are not the rights owner can still help by getting in touch with the owner and encouraging them to contact us. 

• If a seller's listing or product was removed
  

Sellers who believe their listing or product was removed in error can email us at vero@africaemart.com

Activity that doesn't follow Africaemart policy could result in a range of actions including for example: administratively ending or canceling listings, hiding or demoting all listings from search results, lowering seller rating, buying or selling restrictions, and account suspension. All fees paid or payable in relation to listings or accounts on which we take any action will not be refunded or otherwise credited to your account.