Frequently Asked Questions

tondomarket is a Ghanaian online marketplace where buyers and sellers meet to trade everything from phones and electronics to cars, fashion, and home goods. Prices are in Ghana Cedis (GH₵). We do not handle payments between buyer and seller directly — you arrange that part yourselves, ideally meeting in a safe public place.

No. You can browse, search, and view product details without signing in. You only need an account to contact sellers, save favourites, post your own listings, or follow shops.

Sign in (or create an account) and tap Post a Listing. You'll need:

• A clear photo of the item (or several — the first one is the cover)
• A short title, category, and price
• Your location and WhatsApp number

Your listing goes into a quick review queue. Most are approved within a few hours.

Posting a regular listing is free. You only pay if you choose to promote a listing with an Ad Campaign or Sales Gem, or if you subscribe to Premium /Featured Shop.

tondomarket charges sellers for add-on services (Ad Campaigns, Sales Gem credits, Premium subscription, Featured Shop, Verification). These payments go through Paystack, which accepts mobile money, Visa, Mastercard, and bank transfers.

tondomarket does not hold buyer-to-seller payment. When you buy something, you settle directly with the seller — usually mobile money at the point of meeting.

Every paid service generates a receipt you can view at My Payments (buyers) or under Payments in the seller dashboard. We also email a copy to your registered address.

Refund rules depend on the service:

• Sales Gem credits — unused credits on a cancelled campaign are refunded automatically to your balance (prorated by unused displays).
• Ad Campaigns — non-refundable once the campaign goes live, because the impressions and ranking boost begin immediately.
• Premium / Featured Shop — non-refundable once activated.

If you believe a charge is incorrect, contact us via Support with your payment reference and we'll investigate.

• Standard — appears in search results, browse pages, and the buyer feed.
• Gold — everything Standard does, plus rotation on the homepage.
• Diamond — everything Gold does, plus inclusion on the Hot Picks list.
• VIP — everything Diamond does, plus top-of-rank priority across every page.

Pick from 1, 3, 7, 14, or 30 days. Longer durations have lower per-day rates. The campaign goes live as soon as payment clears and runs until midnight on the end date.

Pricing is set by admin and shown in full on the new campaign form. As a rough guide: Standard starts around GH₵5/day, while VIP can be GH₵40+ per day with the discount baked into the longer durations.

From My Listings, tap ⚡ Boost on any listing. You'll land on the Ad Campaign form with that listing already selected. Alternatively, go straight to My Ad Campaigns and start fresh.

You can pause and resume any time from My Ad Campaigns. Cancellation removes the campaign from rotation but is non-refundable for ad campaigns (see the Payments section above).

Sales Gem is exclusive to Premium sellers. Subscribe at tondomarket.com/premium to unlock it (along with the AI Copywriter and other premium-only tools).

You buy credits and spend them on banner displays. There are fixed credit packs:

• 100 credits — GH₵10
• 200 credits — GH₵20
• 350 credits — GH₵30
• 650 credits — GH₵50
• 1,500 credits — GH₵100

Or pay any custom amount at GH₵0.10 per credit. Custom purchases of 1,000+ credits get a +50% bonus.

Each banner display costs 1 credit. A campaign on multiple pages, or with multiple views per visitor, multiplies the cost.

The default is 10 minutes per page visit. Admin can adjust this platform-wide; sellers cannot override it. The banner pauses its dismiss timer while the buyer's cursor is on it, so it doesn't disappear while they're reading.

Yes. When creating a Sales Gem you choose from four templates (Classic, Vibrant, Minimal, Festive), an entrance animation (fly-up / fade / slide-in), an exit animation (fly-down / fade / slide-out), and a looping diamond animation (pulse / rotate / bounce / up-down / shake / sway / heartbeat / sparkle, or static).

They land on your product page with the discount price already applied, plus a small notice and a countdown showing how long the discount stays locked. The discount is per-buyer and tied to a cookie — it expires after the teaser timer you set (default 30 minutes).

Any unused credits are automatically refunded to your balance, prorated by the share of displays that weren't served yet. You'll see the refund in your transaction history.

• Daily upload boost: 10 listings/day instead of the standard 1
• Algorithm bonus for all your listings
• Comment replies on your own products
• Follower-priority notifications
• Access to Sales Gem banners
• Access to the AI Listing Copywriter
• Access to the Buyer CRM

Pricing is shown on the Premium page and varies by duration. You pay once and get the full bundle for the period you chose.

No. Premium is a one-time purchase per period. You'll see a reminder when it's about to expire so you can renew if you want to keep the features active.

Featured Shops appear in a dedicated carousel on the homepage and in a sidebar slot on category pages. It's a way to put your whole shop in front of buyers, not just individual listings.

From your seller dashboard, open Featured Shop and pick a duration. Featured Shop status is paid and runs for the period you choose. The slot is curated — admin reviews each application before activation.

A verified seller has confirmed their identity to tondomarket with a Ghana Card (or equivalent ID). Verified sellers get a blue ✓ badge on their listings, profile, and shop page — buyers trust them more.

From the seller dashboard, open Verification, fill in your real name and ID number, and upload a clear photo of your Ghana Card. Most applications are approved within 24–48 hours. Fast-track verification is available for sellers who need it sooner — check the verification page for current pricing.

Yes. We only use your ID for verification and to boost your trust score. It is never shown publicly and is stored encrypted. We never share it with other sellers or buyers.

Buyer Wants is a reverse-marketplace board where buyers post what they're looking for ("Want to buy: 2018 Toyota Corolla, ≤ GH₵80,000") and sellers respond with matching listings or quotes.

Open the Wants board and tap Post a want. Describe what you need, set a budget, and pick a category. Sellers who match get notified and can pitch you directly.

WhatsApp Studio is a seller tool that auto-generates a clean, ready-to-share WhatsApp message for any of your listings — with product image, price, key specs, and a link back to the full listing. Use it to share to status, broadcast lists, or individual chats.

No. WhatsApp Studio composes the message for you, then hands off to WhatsApp on your phone with the message pre-filled. You decide who to send it to. We never message anyone on your behalf.

A lightweight CRM that tracks every buyer interaction with your listings: who viewed, who messaged, who made an offer, who clicked a Sales Gem banner. You can tag interactions, add notes, and follow up — all without leaving tondomarket.

No. The CRM is private to you (the seller). Buyers see exactly what they always saw — the listing, the chat, and your profile.

Get a unique affiliate link from your Affiliate dashboard. When someone signs up through your link and becomes an active user, you earn a referral bonus. Track clicks, signups, and earnings on the same page.

Earnings accumulate in your affiliate wallet. Once you hit the minimum payout threshold, request a payout to mobile money. Payouts are processed in batches at the end of each month.

Yes. We detect same-IP signups, rapid-fire registrations from one source, and other unusual patterns. Suspicious activity may suspend the affiliate account; legitimate referrers will never have an issue.

• Always meet in safe, public places to inspect goods.
• Don't pay before seeing the item in person.
• If someone asks you to send money to a personal account "to confirm", walk away.
• Use mobile money with traceable references — never plain cash to strangers.
• Report any seller who asks for full payment up-front.

The full guide is at Safety Tips.

Open Report a Scam and fill in the form with the listing URL and what happened. We take reports seriously and investigate every one. Repeat offenders are banned and their listings removed.

Counterfeit, stolen, and other prohibited items are not allowed and will be removed during review. If you see a listing that looks suspicious, use the Report link on the listing page itself — admin reviews these within hours.