When do I pay the fee?
Only when a customer actually pays. On Cards, fees are deducted from the payment before it lands in your bank. On Pay by Bank, the full payment lands in your account and we sweep the WaPay fee weekly via Debit Order. Either way, if a payment never clears you pay nothing.
How does the Pay-by-Bank fee work?
The rate starts at 1% per payment and slides down as your monthly volume grows: 0.9% after R200k, 0.8% after R400k, 0.7% after R600k, 0.6% after R800k. Every payment has a R10 floor (covers the bank rail) and a R200 cap — so a R100,000 payment costs R200 in fees, not R1,000. The % component is capped at R5,000/month above the floor — beyond that, only the R10-per-payment floor continues. No card processing fee on top; fees are collected weekly via Debit Order.
How does the Cards fee work?
1% WaPay platform fee per payment, capped at R200 — so a R200,000 invoice still only costs you R200 in WaPay fees. On top, Stripe charges its standard processing fee: 2.9% + R2 for local South African cards, ~3.5% + R2 for Amex and international. Both fees come out of the payment automatically before it lands in your bank. On a R200,000 invoice you'd pay R5,802 in Stripe fees + R200 in WaPay fees — R6,002 total.
Are there any setup or monthly fees?
No. Sign-up is free, the dashboard is free, the WhatsApp messages are free, the VAT exports are free. WaPay only earns a fee when a payment clears — whether via Pay by Bank (sliding rate) or Cards (1% capped at R200 + Stripe's processing fee).
What about refunds or chargebacks?
Cards: if you refund a customer, Stripe returns its processing fee (2.9% + R2). The WaPay 1% is also refunded on full refunds. Chargebacks (disputes via the card network) are handled by Stripe — the standard chargeback fee is around R300 if you lose the dispute; we don't add anything on top.
Pay by Bank: refunds are pushed from your account back to the customer's bank. The WaPay fee attached to that payment is credited on the next weekly sweep. Because Pay by Bank is a customer-authorised push, chargebacks don't apply in the card-network sense — disputes are extremely rare.
What currencies are supported?
ZAR is the primary settlement currency for South African businesses. For cross-border card payments, Stripe handles the conversion to ZAR at its standard FX rate (~1% above mid-market). The currency on the invoice is set per-customer — so a South African business can invoice an international customer in their local currency.
When do I get the money?
Pay by Bank: seconds. It runs on PayShap (via Stitch), so the money lands in your account before the customer has closed WhatsApp.
Cards: T+2 to T+7 depending on your bank — that's Stripe's standard payout schedule for new accounts. After your first month it usually settles at T+2 for South African banks. You'll see "Payout pending" in your dashboard the moment the customer pays.
What if my customer disputes a payment?
For
Cards, Stripe handles disputes via the card network. You'll get an email and a dashboard notification. We strongly recommend attaching work photos to the invoice (the
photo feature) — it's the single biggest factor in winning a dispute.
Pay by Bank payments are customer-authorised at their own bank, so disputes are extremely rare. If one does arise we help you resolve it directly with the customer.
Do I need a separate Stripe account?
For Cards, we onboard you directly to Stripe Connect during sign-up — takes about 5 minutes. You'll get your own Stripe dashboard if you want it; most businesses never need to look at it because everything important is in your WaPay dashboard.
For Pay by Bank, you set up a one-time Debit Order mandate against your business bank so we can sweep the weekly fee — under a minute. You can offer either method, or both.
Can I get my data out if I leave?
Yes. Export invoices, payments, customers, and VAT reports as CSV at any time from the dashboard. We don't lock data in. We also delete it on request — covered in the
Privacy Policy.
What if a customer doesn't have WhatsApp?
Less common than you'd think — WhatsApp's at 95%+ adoption in South Africa. But yes, you can also share the payment link via SMS, email, or just paste it anywhere. The link itself is a standard URL.
Is the early-adopter offer still on?
Yes — the first 50 businesses to sign up pay zero WaPay platform fee, locked in for life. That's zero on both Pay by Bank and Cards. Stripe's card-processing fee still applies (we don't control that). Spots remaining are shown on the homepage.