Frequently asked questions

BuyChat (buychat.ng) is a Nigerian marketplace where every payment is protected by escrow. Instead of paying a stranger’s bank account and hoping for the best, your money is held safely and only released to the seller after you confirm your order arrived. You can shop by chatting with Aisha, our AI assistant — tell her what you need in plain words and she finds products, compares prices and places the order. BuyChat also covers food, dispatch delivery, rides, home services and bill payments.

When you pay on BuyChat, your money does not go to the seller. It is held in escrow (payments are processed by Paystack, a licensed Nigerian payment processor) until you confirm the order was delivered and is what you ordered. Only then is the seller paid. If the order never arrives or is wrong, you can open a dispute and the funds stay frozen until it is resolved — which can mean a full refund to you.

Yes. BuyChat is a product of X Word Wide Limited, a company registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) of Nigeria, based in Lagos. Payments are processed by Paystack, money is held in escrow rather than sent directly to sellers, deliveries are verified with QR codes at handover, and there is a dispute process if anything goes wrong.

A payment link is an escrow checkout link a seller shares with you — usually from WhatsApp, Instagram or TikTok, where they already sell. Instead of transferring money to their personal account, you open the link on buychat.ng, see exactly what you are paying for and the price, and pay into escrow. The seller only receives the money after you confirm delivery. It removes the "pay before delivery" risk for buyers and the "deliver before payment" risk for sellers.

Check three things: the link opens on buychat.ng (our only website), the item description matches what you agreed with the seller, and the amount is exactly the price you agreed. You pay exactly the amount shown on the link — nothing is added on top. Pay only through the BuyChat payment page, never by direct bank transfer to a personal account, otherwise escrow cannot protect you.

Escrow protection itself is free — buyers do not pay anything extra to have their money protected, and paying a payment link costs exactly the amount on the link. Order totals can include a small service fee, which is always shown at checkout before you pay. Sellers pay a percentage commission on each completed sale, which varies by category. Withdrawing money from your BuyChat wallet to a Nigerian bank account currently carries a flat ₦100 fee.

When a buyer confirms delivery, the escrowed money (minus the category commission) is credited to the seller’s BuyChat wallet. If the buyer receives the order but forgets to confirm, escrow is released automatically after a protection window. Sellers withdraw from their wallet to any Nigerian bank account — withdrawals carry a flat ₦100 fee and are paid out via Paystack transfers.

Open a dispute from the order. The escrowed funds are frozen immediately — the seller cannot be paid while the dispute is open. Our team (with help from Aisha) reviews the evidence from both sides and resolves it: a refund to you, a payout to the seller, or a split, depending on what happened. Because you confirm delivery before money moves, most problems never reach a dispute.

Sellers can deliver themselves or use BuyChat’s dispatch network of verified riders. Handover is QR-verified — the dispatcher and buyer scan codes so the platform knows the right package reached the right person — and you can track the delivery live. Cash on delivery is also supported: you pay the dispatcher in cash and the platform settles the seller digitally.

BuyChat is available across Nigeria — anyone can sign up, shop and sell from any state. Product and service discovery is location-aware: you see sellers in your own state first, then the nearest ones. Delivery coverage depends on sellers and dispatch riders in your area, and is strongest in major cities like Lagos.

Sign up at buychat.ng, switch to vendor mode and set up your store — it is free to list. You can add products in minutes (Aisha can write your descriptions), or import an existing catalogue from Shopify, WooCommerce or Jumia. You get order management, a shareable storefront, escrow-protected payments and payment links for the places you already sell, like WhatsApp and Instagram.

Dispatchers (delivery riders) accept pickup and delivery jobs and earn a fee per trip, credited to their BuyChat wallet. Partners earn by bringing vendors and riders onto the platform — they receive a share of the platform’s earnings on orders from the people they referred. Both can withdraw to any Nigerian bank account.

No — the full marketplace works in your browser at buychat.ng, including chatting with Aisha, escrow payments and order tracking. There is also a native Android app on Google Play (search "BuyChat") with the same account.