Secure Payment

How Secure Payment works

Three parties and one rule: you fund, Savanna Trade holds, the supplier ships, and the money is released when you confirm the goods arrived.

YouFundsHeld by Savanna TradeFundsSupplier
The money never reaches the supplier before you have the goods, and never stays with Savanna Trade after you confirm them.

You pay the order value and nothing else

The Secure Payment fee is paid by the supplier, out of their proceeds, at the moment the funds are released. It is never added to what you are quoted, and there is no fee line at the payment gate.

What happens, in order

Six steps, and the order is the point: money cannot be released before it is held, and cannot be held before it is funded.

  1. You send a request

    You

    Quantity, incoterm, destination port and the date you need it by. A request goes to one supplier from their listing, or to several at once if you would rather compare.

    Costs nothing and commits you to nothing.

  2. The supplier quotes in writing

    Supplier

    Unit price, freight, the total, the ship-by date and how long the quote stands. Nothing is agreed by chat: the quote is the document, and a revision supersedes it rather than editing it.

    A price you can hold them to, and compare side by side.

  3. You accept and fund

    You

    Accepting fixes the price and the currency. You pay the order value into Secure Payment — the order value exactly, with no fee added — by card, bank transfer or mobile money.

    The price cannot move after this point.

  4. Savanna Trade holds the money

    Savanna Trade

    The full amount is held by Savanna Trade, not by the supplier. The supplier can see it is funded, which is what lets them start production, and their contact details are released to you at the same moment.

    They are paid only once you have what you paid for.

  5. The supplier ships

    Supplier

    Bill of lading, packing list, certificate of origin and the phytosanitary certificate go on the order as they are issued, so you are tracking documents rather than chasing them.

    Every document lands in one place, on the record.

  6. You confirm, and the funds release

    You

    Confirm that the goods arrived as specified and the money is released to the supplier the same day. If something is wrong, you open a dispute instead of confirming, and nothing releases while it is open.

    The last word on whether it was right is yours.

Where the money goes

The same order, from both sides. You are charged the order value; the supplier receives it less the Secure Payment fee and the bank's own charge on the payout, which is passed on at cost.

What you pay

Order value$13,150.00
You pay$13,150.00

The Secure Payment fee is paid by the supplier. You are charged the order value and nothing else.

What the supplier receives

Order value$13,150.00
Secure Payment fee-$394.50
Bank charge on payout-$12.00
You receive$12,743.50

Deducted when the buyer confirms and the funds are released — not when the order is paid.

A worked example on an order of 25,000 kg, CIF Rotterdam, Netherlands. The supplier's rate is 2.50% to 3.25% depending on their plan — see the plans.

If you never confirm

Savanna Trade cannot hold money indefinitely, so a delivered order releases on its own 7 days after delivery if you have neither confirmed nor disputed it. Confirming releases the same day; opening a dispute stops the clock entirely.

Automatic release
7 days

After delivery, only if you have not confirmed or disputed

Evidence window
3 working days

To file photographs, surveys and documents on a dispute

Decision
7 working days

Appealable for 5 working days

Why contact details wait

A supplier's phone number, email and address are released to you when an order is funded. Until then everything — quantity, price, packing, documents, dates — is agreed in the request and the quote, where it stays on the record. That is what makes a dispute decidable later, and it is why a message containing a phone number is held for review rather than delivered.

Find a supplier, send a request, and compare the quotes that come back.

Browse listings