For merchants · Payment protection
Know the payment state before you fulfill
ArosaPay gives merchants a transaction record showing whether payment has been safeguarded, what release condition applies, and what must happen before settlement can be released. This is payment-state certainty — not insurance, and not a guarantee.
Selling online creates a payment-trust problem.
Most merchant losses in Kenyan online commerce do not come from complicated fraud. They come from ambiguity about whether money has actually arrived.
The buyer says the money is on the way. Nothing in your own records shows it, and the buyer is waiting on you to dispatch.
An M-Pesa confirmation image is easy to edit and impossible to verify from the picture alone.
You carry the cost of dispatch, the rider, and the return if the buyer changes their mind.
A phone, a laptop or a deposit means one bad dispatch can wipe out a week of margin.
Without one authoritative record, your team decides case by case — and eventually decides wrong.
Once the goods are gone and the money never landed, you are negotiating from the weakest position.
ArosaPay replaces that judgement call with an authoritative transaction state. You act on the record, not on a screenshot or a promise.
Settlement follows the agreed condition.
Conditional settlement simply means the money moves when the agreed thing happens — not when the buyer pays, and not when you say so.
- 01Payment safeguarded
The buyer's payment is captured and recorded against the transaction before you are asked to do anything.
- 02You fulfil
You dispatch or deliver against a state you can verify, following your normal fulfillment process.
- 03The release condition is met
Typically the buyer confirms the order arrived as agreed. Other conditions are available where the product supports them, such as a documented handover or an approved milestone.
- 04Release pending
The condition has been satisfied and the transaction is on its way to settlement. Settlement is not final yet.
- 05Settlement released
Funds settle to your payout account in line with your merchant agreement, with a settlement reference you can reconcile against.
Release conditions are agreed as part of your merchant setup. They are not arbitrary legal terms a merchant can author unilaterally.
Make the release condition clear before fulfillment.
Both sides should be able to read the same condition, from the same record, at any point in the transaction.
- Order
- ORD-20481
- Amount
- KES 42,500
- Release condition
- Buyer confirmation after agreed delivery
- Current status
- Payment safeguarded
- Next action
- Merchant fulfillment
When the normal flow stops
Five situations account for almost every merchant support question. Each has one correct operational response.
Nothing has been safeguarded yet. Do not fulfil, and do not treat a buyer message as evidence of payment.
Fulfil using your agreed process, and record dispatch or delivery evidence as you go.
The transaction moves to under review and release is blocked. Submit your evidence rather than negotiating off-record.
The release condition has been met but settlement is not final. Do not post it to your books as received funds yet.
The settled amount does not match the expected amount. This needs operational review — reconcile before adjusting anything.
Merchant troubleshooting questions
How do I know when it is safe to fulfill?
Fulfil when the ArosaPay transaction shows payment safeguarded. That state is derived from the payment record, so it does not depend on what the buyer tells you.
What if a buyer sends me an M-Pesa screenshot?
Treat a screenshot as unverified. Check the ArosaPay transaction state instead: if it is still pending, the payment has not been safeguarded and there is nothing to fulfil against yet.
What does “Payment safeguarded” mean for a merchant?
It means the payment has been captured and recorded against the transaction, and is not held in the merchant's own operating account. The transaction now has a release condition that must be met before settlement is released.
What happens if the buyer does not confirm immediately?
The transaction stays awaiting buyer confirmation and the release condition remains visible to both sides. The transaction record — not a private conversation — remains the reference for what has and has not happened.
What happens if the buyer reports a problem?
The transaction moves to under review and release is blocked while the issue is examined. Evidence may be requested, and the outcome may be release, refund, or partial resolution.
What does “Release pending” mean?
The release condition has been met and the transaction is on its way to settlement, but settlement is not final yet. Do not treat release pending as money already received.
How do I reconcile a completed transaction?
Match your own order to the transaction on merchant_reference, then compare the expected net after fees against the settlement record. The reconciliation reference explains the identifiers, the workflow, and how to classify a difference.
Keep reading
- Protected checkout — what the buyer and the merchant each see in one transaction.
- Payment reconciliation — matching a settled transaction back to your own order.
- Pricing and fees — what a completed transaction costs.
Get set up
Sell with a payment state you can act on.
Merchant setup records your business, your payout destination and the release conditions that apply to your transactions.
Start seller setup