Terms of Service
Last updated: 16 September 2026
Welcome to PlayFair. These terms govern your use of the PlayFair app and website. By creating an account, you agree to them.
1. Who we are
PlayFair Sports (Pty) Ltd, registration number 2026/479589/07, a private company registered in South Africa, with its registered office at 20 Rue Normandie, Somerset West, Western Cape, 7130. You can contact us via our contact form.
2. What PlayFair is
PlayFair is a marketplace for buying and selling secondhand sports gear in South Africa. We connect buyers and sellers, hold payment securely in escrow until delivery is confirmed, and arrange shipping through The Courier Guy. PlayFair is a platform, not the seller — when you buy an item, you're buying it from another PlayFair user, not from us. We facilitate the transaction and provide buyer protection through escrow, but individual sellers are responsible for accurately describing and shipping their own items.
3. Who can use PlayFair
- You must be at least 16 years old to create an account. If you're between 16 and 18, you need your parent or guardian's consent to use PlayFair, and they may be asked to confirm this during signup.
- PlayFair is currently available to users in South Africa only.
- You must provide accurate information when creating your account, and keep it up to date.
- You're responsible for keeping your account secure and for anything that happens under your account.
4. How buying and selling works
Listing an item: Sellers list an item with photos, a description, a price, and parcel dimensions (used to calculate shipping). Listings must accurately describe the item's condition — misrepresenting an item is a breach of these terms and may result in a dispute being decided against you.
Buying an item: You can buy at the listed price, or message the seller to negotiate. Once you agree on a price, payment is made through TradeSafe, our escrow partner — your money is held securely and is not released to the seller until you've confirmed the item arrived as described (see Section 6).
No off-platform deals: All PlayFair transactions must go through the app's chat, payment, and shipping process. We don't support in-person meetups or cash payments — this is what allows escrow protection and delivery tracking to work in the first place. Attempting to move a transaction off-platform (for example, to avoid fees) is a breach of these terms.
5. Fees
PlayFair charges buyers a protection fee, shown at checkout before you pay, in addition to the item price and shipping cost. Sellers list and sell for free.
[NEEDS CONFIRMATION: exact protection fee percentage — currently a placeholder in the spec, not yet signed off].
6. Payment, escrow, and delivery
- When you buy an item, your payment (item price + protection fee + shipping) is held in escrow by TradeSafe — not paid directly to the seller.
- The seller has 2 working days to ship the item via The Courier Guy.
- Once the item is marked "Delivered," you have 48 hours to inspect it and either confirm you're happy (releasing funds to the seller) or raise a dispute.
- If you take no action within 48 hours, funds are automatically released to the seller.
- If you raise a dispute, funds stay frozen until it's resolved (see Section 8).
7. Late shipping
If a seller doesn't ship within 2 working days, the following applies:
[NEEDS CONFIRMATION: exact late shipping penalty percentages and auto-cancellation timeline — placeholder in the spec, not yet signed off].
8. Disputes between buyers and sellers
If you're not happy with an item you've received, you can raise a dispute within 48 hours of delivery. Here's what happens:
- Your payment stays frozen in escrow — it doesn't go anywhere until the dispute is resolved.
- Our support team reviews evidence from both sides (photos, descriptions, shipping records).
- Both parties get 48 hours to respond to any questions from our support team. If you don't respond in that time, we may decide in favour of the other party.
- We make a final decision based on the evidence: a full refund to the buyer, a partial resolution, or funds released to the seller.
- If a seller never ships an item, the buyer receives a full refund automatically.
Our support team's decision on a dispute is final within the platform. This doesn't affect your other legal rights under South African consumer law.
9. Community standards
To keep PlayFair a safe place to trade, you agree not to:
- Post false, misleading, or offensive content in listings, chat, or your profile
- Harass, threaten, or abuse another user
- Attempt to defraud another user or PlayFair
- List items you don't genuinely own or have the right to sell
- List anything outside PlayFair's approved sports categories
- Attempt to circumvent escrow, contact filtering, or other safety features
Reporting and blocking: You can report a listing, message, or user directly in the app, and block another user to stop them from contacting you. We review reports and may remove content, suspend, or permanently ban accounts that violate these terms. If you see something that concerns you, please report it — we aim to respond promptly.
10. Reviews
After a completed purchase, buyers can leave a rating and review for the seller. Reviews must reflect a genuine transaction experience. We may remove reviews that are fake, abusive, or unrelated to an actual PlayFair transaction.
11. Account suspension and termination
We may suspend or terminate your account if you breach these terms, engage in fraudulent behaviour, or put other users at risk. You can close your account at any time by contacting us — any active transactions will need to be completed or resolved first.
12. Our liability
PlayFair provides the platform connecting buyers and sellers, but we are not a party to the sale itself. We do our best to verify sellers and facilitate safe transactions through escrow, but we can't guarantee the accuracy of every listing or the conduct of every user. To the extent permitted by South African law, PlayFair's liability is limited to the value of the transaction in question.
Nothing in these terms limits any right you have under the Consumer Protection Act or other South African law that can't lawfully be excluded.
13. Changes to these terms
We may update these terms as PlayFair grows. If we make material changes, we'll notify you in-app or by email before they take effect. Continuing to use PlayFair after changes take effect means you accept the updated terms.
14. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of South Africa, and any disputes with PlayFair (as opposed to disputes between users, covered in Section 8) are subject to the jurisdiction of the South African courts.
15. Contact us
Questions about these terms: contact form