Commission, Payments & Settlement Policy

This page explains the money side of selling on SEFA: what we charge, what you receive, when you receive it, and what can be taken off.

Commission

• Every store has a commission rate, agreed when the store is approved and shown in the seller app.
• Commission is worked out on the selling price of the items in a delivered order — not on delivery charges, and not on taxes collected on our behalf.
• A store may be given a commission-free period when it joins; the date it ends is shown in the app.
• We tell you before a rate changes, and a change applies only to orders placed after it.

The price the buyer sees

The price shown in the buyer app may be higher than the price the store listed: SEFA adds a platform margin to cover the running of the marketplace and the delivery network. The store's earnings are always worked out on its own listed price, so the margin neither raises nor lowers what the store is paid.

Platform fees

Besides commission, an order may carry a payment gateway charge where the buyer paid online, and a delivery charge where one was collected. These are shown against the order in the seller app so the arithmetic is always visible.

What you are paid

For a delivered order, the store earns its listed item value less the commission on it, and less anything held back under this policy. The amount appears in the store wallet in the seller app.

The payment cycle

• Earnings are settled to the bank account saved in the seller app. Add it under Profile; we verify it before the first payout.
• An order becomes payable once it is delivered and its return window has closed, so a returned order is not paid out twice.
• Payouts run to the cycle shown in the app. A withdrawal request is paid in that cycle once the amount is available.
• A payout can be held where the bank details do not match the store, where an order is under investigation, or where documents we have asked for have not come in.

Cash on delivery

Where a buyer pays cash, the delivery partner collects it and it is accounted against the store's earnings. The store does not keep cash collected on a SEFA order.

Deductions and refund adjustments

• Commission on the order.
• A refund for a returned, cancelled, wrong or damaged item, set against the next settlement — including the delivery charge where the fault was the store's.
• A charge for a parcel that was not ready, not packed as described, or cancelled repeatedly after being accepted.
• A chargeback raised by a buyer's bank on an order from the store.
• Any amount we are required by law to withhold.

Where a deduction is larger than the balance available, it carries over to the following settlements until it is cleared.

Taxes

Prices shown to a buyer are inclusive of the taxes the store is required to charge. The store is responsible for its own GST registration, returns and invoices, and for any tax collected or deducted at source on its sales. We provide the order and bill records a store needs for its filings.

Bills

A bill is generated for every order the store accepts and is available in the seller app and the admin panel. It carries the order, the items, the amounts and the store and buyer names.

Settlement disputes

• Check a payout against the orders listed in the seller app first — most questions are answered there.
• If something still does not look right, write to support with the order number, the amount and what you expected, within 30 days of it appearing.
• We respond within 7 working days and correct anything that is wrong in the next settlement.
• If you do not agree with the outcome, the escalation route in the Seller Privacy & Grievance Policy applies.