Pesapal Reviews 16

I have been in the process of integrating pesapal with my website to help me on collections but am really disappointed by the reviews.
it is so scary to see such worst experience reviews on a platform that would serve African innovations safely but it chooses to do otherwise without even improving...... please pesapal kindly improve for the sake of African brotherhood and patriotism. the commission you charge is so enough for the bussiness, greed is not good. please kindly take small that belongs to you, GOD will bless it. what I have observed you have a problem with payouts for your merchants or users. please improve otherwise very soon you will land into what will really punish yu on behalf of all the fraud made just incase their is any.

Avoid AT ALL COSTS
Unprofessional and Frustrating for Legitimate Businesses
I’ve run a fully registered consultancy business for years, and I’ve never experienced anything as stressful, chaotic, and unprofessional as PesaPal.
My funds were held for a full week with no clear explanation or timeline, while processing fees were deducted. Communication was conflicting and inconsistent — one team member confirms an action, another contradicts it. There was no accountability; no single person could answer my questions definitively.
Worse, they interfered directly with my clients, despite my full cooperation as a merchant, causing unnecessary strain on professional relationships.Asking my client for their card details and bank statements was emotionally draining. At every stage, new requirements were introduced, even after I had already submitted and verified documents.
This level of friction is unacceptable for businesses handling legitimate, high-value transactions. I will never use PesaPal again. Any service-based business considering this platform should think twice before trusting them with their money or clients. They will be quick to take their 3.5% cut then pretend to 'verify' your profit. Typical corporate greed.
I also requested my account be closed and all personal and client data deleted — to date, no response. Such disregard for merchants is alarming, and I believe regulatory authorities should investigate.
Pros: None.
Cons: Poor communication, unaccountable staff, funds held without explanation, interference with clients, and unresponsive to account closure requests.
If you're a business in Kenya and you're thinking pesa pal will be better for you because it's a Kenyan based company look elsewhere. It might make your business look fancy but you'll pay with your peace of mind, you might lose clients and your revenue will be held, choking your business operations.

I run a Tour Company business and used Pesapal to receive payments from my clients in the USA and Tanzania. It worked okay for incoming payments – clients paid easily via cards from the US and mobile money locally. But the real problem started when I tried to withdraw my funds to my Tanzanian bank account.
They took the money out of my Pesapal balance and said I needed to complete some 'confirmation' or additional verification process before they could release it. I immediately submitted everything they requested – ID documents, proof of business, explanations of transactions, you name it. Then... nothing. Weeks turned into months with no updates, no money transferred, and support just giving generic replies or going silent.
This is unacceptable. My hard-earned money from legitimate clients (including international ones) is stuck in their system, and they seem to have no intention of releasing it. It feels like they're holding funds hostage with endless excuses about 'pending confirmation.' I've lost a significant amount that I can't access, and it's affecting my business badly.
Pesapal is a scam when it comes to payouts – easy to take money in, impossible to get it out. If you're in Tanzania or receiving payments from abroad (like USA clients), avoid this platform completely. Use something else that actually pays out. 0/10 – total disappointment and warning to others!

They never release funds eventho their dashboard says money out to my bank accoubt, broad daylight theft.stay away from them

I used Pesapal multiple times on my trip to Tanzania. Especially to pay for the Safari trip. I have been billed exactly what I intended to pay, and no recurring transactions have occurred. All-in-all, I trust Pesapal. Do make sure to check that you're using pesapal.com. If the website has a different address, it's probably a scam.

This level of incompetence is unacceptable. As a founder myself, I’m shocked by the sheer disregard for customer satisfaction. It’s businesses like yours that give Africa’s innovation scene a bad name. With such a poor track record, it’s a mystery how you even secure investor funding. Frankly, you should consider shutting down if this is the best you can offer

These people are all scammers, they keep withdrawing money from my account every time. please don't use PESAPAL you will cry.

Worst service ever. They don't respond to emails and i can't add Banking Details it keeps saying system error. Tried contacting support but they don't respond

Do not use pesapal they will scam you. They partner with corrupt travel agencies to steal your money.
I booked a holiday in Kenya and paid via pesapal. Later found out the holiday was a scam so contacted pesapal to try get the money back and it became obvious that pespal are in om the scams.

They ignire questions and only respond saying "sorry we are workimg with the vendor"

Had over 1000USD stolen by pesapal.

Listen and Listen carefully. Use PesaPal services at your own risk. It will bite you.

The worst customer service. The machine been giving problems for few months, finally they replaced it with old one that it is not working. I talked to the stuff, I send emails and still no response literally no one bothered.
Am so frustrated with this situation and decided to use my bank instead of this rubbish service.

If you register as a merchant for them to collect money for you, getting that money becomes a problem. Can't recommend them at all :(

TOTAL SCAM! I tried to pay for a safari in Africa and Pesapal never gave the money to the service provider nor reimbursed it to me so I just lost 1400€.

Pesapal are a terrible service, don't use them. And I'm not sure why companies even go through them when it is so easy to set up your own mpesa account. They don't answer their phones and I paid for a flight, only for the company to call and say they couldn't process my payment. Then they refused to refund my payment. Buyer beware pesapal is a scam

Reported 3 fraudulent charges on my credit card and customer service refused to reverse the charges or helpfully assist. After 5 days of back and forth I gave up. They know their platform is used for fraud. At one point they even acknowledged that once airtime purchases go through the funds are not refundable even if it's fraud. It's not surprising scammers choose this platform to process airtime purchases with stolen credit card details. Perhaps even some inside jobs as is so common in Kenya. Stay far away from PesaPal!

New e-payment provider for Africa

Just paid a deposit to confirm a restaurant reservation in Zanzibar, seems like Pesapal works for a few African countries at the moment (as of Feb 2020: Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe) and directs you to a different page depending on the country (e.g. pesapal/tz/ ).

I used a UK credit card to pay in USD and it all worked fine, only minor thing is that they automatically create an account for you with the email address that you use on the payment page so no option to 'checkout as a guest' that I could see. The website's nice and clean and professional looking. Looks like they take AMEX although I didn't use one.

Pesapal has been fine so far, will update the review if anything changes!

Update Aug 2020: unfortunately I didn't get to go on this trip or use that restaurant reservation because of coronavirus and the travel restrictions. The restaurant was very understanding and gave us a full refund which came through quickly and accurately from Pesapal. Definitely worth 5 stars for service.