Help & Support

Open the ad and use "Message seller" to send a message through Tradeza. You can also make an offer, or — if they've added a WhatsApp number — tap the WhatsApp button. We recommend starting on Tradeza: every conversation is logged so if anything goes wrong, you have a record.

For in-person trades, cash on collection is still king — you see the item before the money leaves your hand. For higher-value items, EFT the funds while standing with the seller and wait for the "Immediate Payment" confirmation to clear in their app before handing over. Never pay upfront for delivery, shipping, or "holding deposits" to strangers.

Pick a busy, well-lit public spot: a mall parking lot, a petrol station forecourt, outside a police station, or a Pick n Pay during trading hours. Bring someone with you. For big items (furniture, appliances), meeting at the seller's home is sometimes unavoidable — in that case, tell someone where you're going and share your live location.

The classics: price is unrealistically low, seller refuses to meet in person, seller "is out of the country" and needs you to pay a shipping company, or seller insists on PayPal/Western Union/gift cards. If a deal pushes you to move fast or pay up-front, slow down. Real sellers are fine with questions and face-to-face meetings.

Yes, but go in eyes-open. For valuable items (cars, electronics), the safest route is still to travel or send a trusted person to inspect in-person. If you must do a long-distance deal, use a proper courier with tracking, pay on delivery (COD) where possible, or use an escrow service. Never pay the full amount before the item has been verified.

Meet during the seller's load-shedding "on" slot. Bring your own charger, SIM card, and earphones. For a phone: boot it fully, check IMEI against the back of the device (dial *#06#), confirm it's not iCloud- or Google-locked, test the camera, speaker, mic, and all buttons. For a laptop: boot to login, run on battery for 5 minutes to check battery health, check ports with a USB stick and your earphones.

First, give it 24–48 hours — people get busy. If still no response, open a report from the ad page and email support with your transaction proof and the conversation link. If the seller is verified or a dealer, we can act quickly. For disputes involving payments, you'll also want to open a case with your bank (they can sometimes reverse a recent EFT).

Click "Report this ad" at the bottom of the ad page and choose a reason (scam, misleading, prohibited item, etc.). To report a user directly, use the flag on their profile. Our team reviews reports within 24 hours, faster for flagged safety issues.

Tradeza is a classifieds marketplace — we don't handle payments between buyers and sellers, so there's no automatic refund system like on eBay. What we do offer: a review system for holding sellers accountable, a reporting system that feeds into our moderation team, and in verified scam cases we remove the seller and notify other buyers who messaged them.

Click "Post Ad" in the navigation, pick a category, upload photos (at least 3 — ads with one photo or none get about half the views), set a clear title and honest description, confirm your location, and publish. Your ad is live immediately and runs for 30 days.

Yes — posting is free and unlimited. There's no limit on how many ads you can have, and no charge to post or renew them. You can also boost an ad to the top of search for free using boost points, which you earn by referring friends (3 points each for you and them). Paid promotion options are planned for the future, but everything is free today.

Yes. Go to "My Ads" from your profile dropdown, find the ad, and click "Edit". Changes go live instantly — there's no re-approval for most edits. If you change the title drastically or switch categories, your ad may get re-indexed for search, which is normal.

Ads stay active for 30 days. We'll email you a warning around day 25 with a one-click renewal. If you let it expire, the ad moves to "expired" status in your My Ads — you can repost it from there in a single click without retyping everything.

A boost pushes your ad to the top of its category and search results for a set period (3, 7, or 14 days). Boosted ads show a "Boosted" label. Pricing depends on duration — check the boost page on any of your ads. Boost works best within the first 48 hours of posting, when organic interest is already highest.

Boost lifts you to the top of the normal category feed. Featured places your ad in a premium slot on the homepage or category top. Sponsored places you at the top of search results for chosen keywords. If you want everything at once, the All-In bundle gives you 20% off the combined price.

The ad switches to a "Sold" badge (still visible so buyers know it's gone), you get a prompt to leave a review for the buyer, and the ad is removed from active search. You can also share a "sold" card to WhatsApp or Facebook — a small social flex that also helps build trust in your profile.

Common reasons: prohibited item (firearms without a licence, counterfeit goods, endangered species items), duplicate listing, misleading title or price (R1 cars, "message for price"), or our scam detector picked up a risk pattern. You'll get an email explaining why. If you think it was wrong, reply to that email or open a support ticket here.

No firearms or ammunition without a current SAPS licence (and only in specific approved categories), no counterfeit goods, no recalled products, no endangered wildlife products (including ivory), no explicit adult material, no stolen items, and no medications or supplements that require a prescription. Our full list lives on the Prohibited Items page.

It's a 0–100 score based on things buyers care about: number of good photos, description length, whether your price is set, whether location is complete, and how unique your title is. Ads above 70 get roughly 3x more views. You'll see specific tips on each ad about what to improve.

No — Tradeza is completely free right now. Posting ads is free and unlimited, there's no commission, no transaction fee, and no shipping markup, so you keep 100% of what the buyer pays. You can boost an ad to the top of search for free using boost points earned by inviting friends. Paid promotion options (Boost top-ups, Feature, Sponsor, dealer plans) are planned for the future — we'll announce them before anything becomes paid.

Go to Dealers → "Register as a Dealer", fill in your business details (name, registration number if you have one, contact info, province), and you're live. Dealer accounts are free right now, and your dealer storefront goes up immediately with its own URL you can share.

Not at the moment — dealer accounts are free, with unlimited ad posting and CSV bulk import included. Paid dealer tiers with extra promotion allowances are planned for a future update, and we'll let existing dealers know well before anything changes.

Yes. On your dealer dashboard, click "Import CSV". Download the template, fill in your rows (title, price, description, category, condition, image URLs), and upload. We validate each row and show you any errors before committing. Images can be hosted anywhere public (Dropbox share links, your website, etc.).

Open any active ad you own and click "Boost". Boosting is free — it costs one boost point, which puts your ad at the top of search with a Featured badge for 7 days. Earn boost points by inviting friends: when someone signs up with your referral link and posts their first ad, you both get 3 points.

A dedicated page at /dealers/your-business-name showing all your active listings, your logo, location, reviews, and — on Premium and up — your brand colour applied to the header. Share the URL in your WhatsApp bio, on business cards, or in SMS campaigns. It's your Tradeza "shop window".

Yes. Once you're on a paid plan, submit your business registration documents and we'll review within 3 business days. Verified dealers get a blue badge on every ad and in the dealer directory — our data shows verified listings convert about 2x better than unverified.

On the login page, click "Forgot password?" and enter your email. We'll send a reset link that's valid for 60 minutes. If it doesn't arrive, check spam (look for tradeza.co.za), and make sure you're using the email you actually signed up with.

Profile → Phone Verification. We send you an SMS with a 6-digit code. Enter it within 10 minutes. Verified phone numbers get a small badge on your ads, which matters a lot on higher-value items — buyers trust it more.

Profile → Settings → scroll to the bottom → "Delete Account". Your profile is deactivated immediately and your ads come down. We keep your data for 30 days in case you come back, then it's permanently deleted. If you want all your data exported first (POPIA request), hit "Export my data" on the same page.

Not directly from your profile right now — email is your login and we lock it for security. If you need to change it, open a support ticket from this page with both your current and new email addresses. We'll verify you and switch it over.

Verified Sellers have confirmed their identity with us (ID document + phone + a bit of activity history). It's a green tick on your ads and profile that says "this person is who they say they are". Not a guarantee the deal will go perfectly, but it rules out fake profiles and bot accounts.

We follow POPIA. We collect what we need to run the service (email, optionally phone, your ads, your messages), nothing more. We don't sell your data. We don't share with advertisers. Full detail is in our Privacy Policy, and you can export or delete everything from your profile at any time.