Seller Terms

1. Who may sell

You must be 18 years or older and hold a valid South African ID or passport. If you register on behalf of a company or close corporation, you must be duly authorised to bind that entity. You are an independent contractor and not an employee, agent or partner of Sailor.

2. Seller type and verification

When you register a business you choose a seller type, and Sailor verifies you accordingly:

• Original brand owner: you may be asked for a CIPC registration certificate and, for a registered trademark, the trademark certificate.
• Authorised reseller: you may be asked for a brand authorisation letter, a CIPC certificate or a SARS document.
• Independent reseller: you may be asked for proof of stock ownership, and you confirm that you are solely responsible for the authenticity, warranty and returns of the products you list.

Food sellers must additionally provide identity, kitchen and, if applicable, food-handling documentation. A Certificate of Acceptability is optional and is used only to award a verification badge. Sailor may request further verification at any time, and may decline or withdraw a verification badge.

3. Commission

We charge a 10% commission on every sale, on every plan, including the Free plan. The remaining 90% of the item price (excluding the delivery fee and any discount funded by the platform) is your payout. Commission is calculated on the item subtotal, never on the delivery fee.

4. Subscription plans

Selling is free to start. Paid plans only raise your listing limit and promotional features — they do not change the 10% commission.

• Free: 10 listings · 10% commission
• Starter: 25 listings · R50 per month or R540 per year
• Pro: 100 listings · R499 per month or R5 390 per year
• Special Listing: a monthly pack of listings at R5 per listing per month, from a minimum of 12 listings (R60 per month). Special Listing replaces the 10 free listings, is billed monthly, and the pack size you buy is your listing allowance for that month.

Plan fees are billed in advance through Paystack and are payable whether or not you make sales. If a payment fails you keep a 7-day grace period, after which your plan reverts. Prices may change on reasonable notice. Current pricing is always shown in the app.

A Special Listing pack runs for one month from the date it is paid. It is not renewed automatically: if you do not buy a new pack before it expires, your plan reverts to Free, your listing allowance drops to the Free limit, and listings beyond that limit are hidden from buyers until you renew or enlarge your pack. Buying a pack while one is still active extends your allowance from that payment date. Plan fees are not refundable for a part-used month, but we do refund a charge where the platform could not provide the plan you paid for — see our Refund Policy.

5. Payments and escrow

Buyers pay in the app through Paystack in South African Rand. Funds are held in escrow (in Paystack's balance, not in Sailor's trading account) until the buyer confirms delivery, or until 7 days after delivery pass without a dispute. Food orders are different: the restaurant's 90% payout is transferred automatically once the driver confirms delivery.

6. Payouts and bank details

You must keep accurate bank or eWallet payout details on your business profile. Payouts can be delayed or withheld where KYC verification is incomplete, where a dispute or return is open, or where a transaction is flagged for review. Sailor may recover amounts paid out in error, or refunded to a buyer, from your next payout.

7. No off-platform deals

You may not ask a buyer to communicate, transact or pay outside Sailor, and you may not advertise off-platform contact details to avoid commission. Orders and payments must stay in the app so that buyer protection, escrow and dispute resolution keep working. Circumventing the platform may lead to suspension and withheld payouts.

8. Your obligations

• List only goods you lawfully own or are authorised to sell, and only items permitted by our Prohibited Items list and South African law.
• Describe items accurately and honestly, including condition, size, materials and any defects. No counterfeit, stolen or misleadingly branded goods.
• Keep stock counts up to date, and sell at the price listed.
• Fulfil paid orders promptly, pack goods properly, and dispatch or hand over as agreed with the buyer or the Sailor driver.
• Honour consumer rights: defective goods may be returned within 6 months for repair, replacement or refund, and online buyers have a 7-business-day cooling-off right (some exceptions apply).
• Respond to buyer messages, disputes and return requests within 48 hours.

9. Warnings, fines and bans

Where buyers report a listing or order and the report is upheld — for example fake products, scams, wrong pricing descriptions, prohibited items or non-delivery — Sailor may issue a warning and, depending on severity and repeat conduct, suspend or ban the account temporarily or permanently. Where an account is banned, a fine of 20% of the payout value of orders still held in escrow may be applied and retained by Sailor as commission. Bans may be lifted automatically where the ban period has run, or on review.

10. Food sellers

Food business sellers must display accurate preparation times, stock and availability, keep their kitchen details current, and may not accept food orders for cash on delivery — food is paid in the app before preparation begins. Food sellers must comply with applicable food-safety legislation and municipal health requirements.

11. Data and identity documents

Documents you upload (ID, CIPC certificate, kitchen photos, licences) are stored privately and are used only for verification, fraud prevention and to meet our obligations under POPIA, the Consumer Protection Act and FICA. You consent to this processing when you submit them. See our Privacy Policy for your rights.

12. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate a seller account for failing verification, selling illegal or counterfeit goods, repeated valid disputes, abusive conduct, or any breach of these terms. You may close your seller account at any time; orders already accepted must still be fulfilled. Payouts are released once open disputes and verification issues are settled.

13. Your store link, QR code and marketing

Your business gets a public storefront link and a QR code that points to it. You may share both anywhere, and we encourage you to — on your packaging, at your counter, in your WhatsApp status, in your social bios. You may only share your own store and may not present a Sailor QR code or link as an official Sailor advertisement or use our name and logo in a way that suggests we endorse your products.

Sailor sends sellers a weekly email reminding you to add listings, renew or enlarge a listing pack and grow your store, and may send occasional platform updates. Every marketing email carries a one-click unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing stops marketing email only — receipts, order and payout notices, verification messages and legal notices still reach you. See the marketing section of our Terms of Service and our Privacy Policy.

Video promotion: Sailor may feature up to three videos per seller, each 90 seconds or less, where the video mentions that you sell on Sailor. You keep ownership of your video and grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to repost, crop and caption it while it is featured. Send only video of your own products, without other people's personal information or music you do not have rights to. We may decline or remove any video, and being featured is not a guarantee of sales or reach.