PayfastReviews of payfast.io

We have been working with PayFast for over 1 year. Last month, they emailed us saying our account was under internal review. After that, we received around R200,000 into the account, and then our account was disabled by the admin. Since then, we have received no feedback or updates. Our customers keep contacting us asking for refunds, but we cannot process them because we have no access to the account. This has been the worst payment gateway experience we have ever had. We just want a clear update and a fair solution.

I was with payfast for over 10 years, allow me to share my bad experience with their recent staff compliment. Payfast will, for no reason, withhold your funds, it depends on the mood of risk management on the day whether you will get your money, or if they will request a document. Problem is, the support staff don't read their emails, so you will have to make several calls for them to pull your case file. They will charge you a percentage of your payouts for immediate clearance, unlike Stitch who charge a flat R10 fee. They will even withhold R30000 for "just incase" with no explanation or reason given. Long story short they treat your money like they have ownership, and there's nothing you can do because no one responds to support. I'm with Stitch now, same day on boarding, no life stories you need to hand them, they payout in hours not 2 days like payfast. Merchants do yourself a favor, do not waste your time with this company, they are never your partners, and will never act like they are - they will do everything possible to make an excuse to hold your money. I today am handing them over to my attorneys, a sad day for a company i so locally supported for over a decade.

We followed the Mukuru Cash payment terms and conditions in good faith. PayFast has not explained why it is disregarding the Mukuru Pay terms and conditions and attempting to apply card-based fraud treatment to a cash-based payment flow. Despite repeated requests, no transaction-level details, authorisation trail, or lawful basis for withholding or reversing the funds has been provided. Our goods have already been released, the stock is gone, and the business is now carrying the loss while PayFast retains the funds and continues to rely on vague allegations of fraud. At this point, the issue is not a misunderstanding that can be resolved by generic support replies; it is a failure to provide the basic evidence and explanation required before a merchant’s money is withheld. We have now escalated the matter through formal complaints to PASA and the National Financial Ombud Scheme (NFO).The NFO reference is P7PX4X3M and the Payfast ticket number is 1755972. PayFast has still not answered the core questions: what payment rail was used, who processed it, where any reversal is going, and on what legal basis a cash-based transaction is being treated as fraud. PayFast’s conduct gives the impression that once merchant funds are in play, transparency becomes optional, even though the business has complied with the payment flow in good faith.

Payfast used to be an incredible company to work wit, signup and ready to go within a day or two, awesome support. Since they were taken over by Network they have become one of the worst companies to work with.

My experience with PayFast by Network has been extremely frustrating and disruptive to our business. After successfully onboarding and integrating PayFast into our systems, we discovered that we could not access funds paid by our customers because our account was allegedly still awaiting verification. During the verification process, PayFast requested extensive information about our business. These requests seemed inconsistent with their marketing, which suggests that even new entrepreneurs with little or no revenue can use the platform. Nevertheless, I provided all the information requested. What followed was a cycle of delays and poor communication. I had to call almost daily for updates because no one followed through on promised timelines. I was repeatedly told that feedback would be provided within a few hours or that I would receive an email the next day. In many cases, 48 to 72 hours would pass without any communication. When I called again, I was often told that the email should have already been sent, only for it to be sent while I was on the call. Promises of further feedback were rarely honoured. Each time I followed up, I was told that my case was with a different department—onboarding, risk and compliance, or a merchant consultant. Meanwhile, our funds remained inaccessible and no meaningful resolution was provided. The situation became so disruptive that I was forced to remove PayFast from our accounting systems and payment processes entirely. To make matters worse, the account was ultimately suspended while funds paid through the platform remained unavailable to us. For a business that depends on reliable cash flow and payment processing, this experience created significant inconvenience and operational challenges. I regret choosing PayFast and would not recommend them based on my experience.

There is a pattern of conduct by Payfast that I believe warrants serious investigative scrutiny. As with so many others here, Payfast told me they still needed to complete their verification process. With me, they requested all my degrees and my registration certificate from my professional body emailed to them, which seemed a bit weird - ABSA, Discovery, etc never asked for anything like that and definitely not by email - so I raised the issue but they insisted and being locked into Payfast due to my client booking software which only allowed Payfast as a payment gateway, I complied. Then out of nowhere, with no notification, they froze my account. I asked why and got a form email that asserted vaguely that the nature of my business (I am professional registered with the appropriate regulatory board for my profession, paid up and in good standing) was 'risky'; any queries or requests for information or assistance were met with the same email and a warning that I was not allowed to 'appeal' the decision. The call centre claimed they could not help but someone would call me (no one did). I asked Payfast what needed to happen next, whether my account was being closed, whether I had done anything wrong, how I could get my money out, but no-one would tell me. I asked nicely, then begged them to please just let me know what was happening. No response, other than a demand for extensive proof of every transaction, which they require sent by email - there is no secure upload link. Eventually, and only after I sent a legal letter of demand, some abrasive low-level ticket-response worker called me and basically read the previous emails to me and refused to engage with any actual issues and then rang off. My personal impression having been through the experience and then read these Trustpilot posts (as at 22 May 2026) is that there is a pattern: former clients report PayFast allowing people to register and begin processing payments with minimal friction, saying this is pending 'verification'. Clients report that time passes (allowing funds to accumulate, be it by accident or design) until, typically after two to three months of trading, people report PayFast freezes their account without any prior written notice, and without any explanation beyond a message like the one I got - "your business does not align with the risk and compliance parameters set for our aggregation model". No indication of what, why, duration of hold of funds etc, is given. On the face of it this seems like a violation of the Financial Sector Regulation Act 9 of 2017, the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008, and section 18 of the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA), which requires that data subjects be informed when their information is being processed in a manner that materially affects them, but I am not a lawyer so I suggest readers consult an appropriate professional. PayFast has written their terms and conditions (not allowed to include urls in reviews but you can Google 'Payfast Terms and Conditions') to facilitate considerable power over clients' earnings, e.g. "9.6 We, in addition to our other rights under this Agreement, may delay, withhold, or retain settlement of funds and/or amounts otherwise payable to you under this Agreement and/or adjust the same against any collateral amount, and/or against Chargebacks, Fees, Refunds, Reversals, and Levies payable by you. Further, you irrevocably grant us a lien over the Sale Proceeds and authorize us at any time, upon written notice to you, to exercise such rights in relation to the above. We may exercise the rights set out in this clause 9.6 where: (i) the Agreement is terminated" - in terms of the email Payfast sent me, they do not have to give any details of the grounds on which they terminated my account beyond 'risk' and I may not 'appeal'. So they can keep our money if they terminate our accounts, and they can decide to terminate our accounts without explanation? When a=b=c, a=c. Clause 9.6 also applies where "(vi) you fail to provide any information reasonably requested by us;" and "9.8 We may retain any amounts held by us in accordance with clause 9.6 for a period of up to five hundred forty (540) days following the date of delivery of goods or performance of Services that are the subject of Payment Transactions or following the date of termination of this Agreement or until the Chargeback and/ or Refund window has ended in accordance with the Card Scheme Rules, whichever is earlier, following which any remaining funds will be transferred to the Bank Account." Draw your own conclusions about what is going on here... I would be interested to know whether anyone has taken them to court, or whether there have been any class action suits, and what the outcomes were!

I am writing this email at my absolute breaking point as a direct result of the appalling level of service your company has provided. The continuous lies, broken promises, and financial losses I have suffered due to your company's failures are completely unacceptable. I am composing this in a state of extreme frustration, and I want you to know when I have calmed down I will be sending a comprehensive, detailed account of every incident, every broken promise, and every rand lost. Furthermore, I will be taking the following steps if this matter is not resolved immediately: • Posting a full, detailed account of my experience across every social media platform your company is present on. • If necessary, I will commission a dedicated website and invest in SEO to ensure that anyone searching for your company finds out exactly how you treat entrepreneurs and small business owners. • I will engage content creators to amplify this message and make it widely known how your company kills the spirit and growth of those trying to build something meaningful. Your company has not just cost me money — you have caused me real emotional distress and have actively hindered my growth as an entrepreneur. That is something I will not let go unnoticed. I expect an urgent response and a clear plan of resolution. Kind regards CJ

1/5 stars – Absolute nightmare onboarding. Two months wasted and then rejected. Yoco did it in ONE DAY. I cannot believe I wasted two full months of my life jumping through Payfast’s archaic hoops just to get rejected at the end. They asked for endless documents, back-and-forth emails, more proofs, more explanations… it felt like I was applying for a bank loan in the 1990s, not signing up for a modern payment gateway in 2026. While Payfast dragged their feet for 60+ days with zero transparency, I applied to Yoco on a whim. Approved in under 24 hours. Live and already processing real sales within days. The contrast is embarrassing for Payfast. Their entire onboarding process is completely outdated, slow, and borderline disrespectful to business owners trying to get moving in South Africa’s tough economy. If this is how they treat new merchants, they’re going to bleed customers to every single competitor (Yoco, Ozow, Peach Payments, etc.). Save yourself the headache and the lost revenue. Payfast might have been decent years ago, but right now they’re a dinosaur that’s about to go extinct. Steer clear.