Denis Opudo
In anything that takes there is always a positive and negative side. That is not different with global technology revolution. Technology has made buying and selling of goods easier by offering online marketing. But, the online markets have also led to loos of much money to many people. Whoever has taken their time to make online buying is familiar with online frauds. This takes place in many countries across the world not forgetting South Africa behind.
However, TradeSafe offers a solution to that. TradeSafe is a financial company that secures buyers funds in escrow until delivery happens as agreed. The company releases the money once the buyer is happy with the product. The idea to start the company came after the CEO and co-founder got conned after trying to buy car parts from online advertisement. The company acts as a trustee between the buyer and seller.
The buyer has to deposit the funds with TradeSafe. This is the first step in carrying out the transaction. The platform offers a transparent system and payments. Payments are also visible and can be tracked by anyone. The money ranges from hundreds to million Rads. But, the main challenge was that many people did not understand the term escrow. It, therefore, forced the company to educate them on what it meant. Escrow operates in such a way that buyers funds are held in trust. In case of insufficient funds by the buyer, the transaction does not take place. Furthermore, the seller is only paid after delivery of what the buyer wanted.
TradeSafe was not quick to market itself in 2015. But rather it marketed its Application Program Interface (API). The API is the first one in South Africa. It offers all type of businesses or individuals chance to log into TradeSafe’s escrow service. TradeSafe finished its API two months before escrow brought its API in the market. TradeSafe works under the authority of the Payment Association of South Africa (PASA). It also carries out transactions between South Africa and other countries across Africa.
The company carries out international transactions. Furthermore, the company has plans to offer international third-party payments in Africa. This will make it the first fintech startup to offer such services in Africa. The step will happen once negotiation with the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is done. The company will partner with Gapex as their foreign exchange partner. Gapex will allow the company to offer transactions in 24 different currencies.
The company charges a fee from 1.5% but it reduces with an increase in the amount of transaction. But the company’s least fee is R100 and the API charges flat fee of 1.5% in every transaction. The company has also dispute resolution ways. However so far there are only 0.8% cases of dispute and it was solved. The company is a strong member of AlphaCode.
