M-PESA fees confuse a lot of sellers, and confusion costs money. Here's the plain version of who pays what.
Buy Goods (Till) — the customer pays nothing
When a customer pays your Till, they're not charged. Safaricom charges you, the merchant, a small Lipa na M-PESA fee — and another fee when you withdraw or move money out of the Till. This is why the Till is the friendliest option for customers.
PayBill — both sides pay
On PayBill the customer pays a send fee (roughly KSh 10–100 depending on amount) and you pay the business tariff. PayBill's advantage is the account/reference number — on Shops you tell customers to use the order number as the reference, then approve their payment proof in one tap.
STK push at checkout
With Daraja connected (Starter plan), the customer gets a PIN prompt — same fee structure as a Till/PayBill payment, but instant and auto-confirmed. No screenshot verification, no manual reconciliation.
Don't have your own Till yet?
Shops in Kenya has a platform till option: payments go through our M-PESA till, your wallet is credited 95% instantly, and you withdraw to your own M-PESA whenever your balance is above KSh 1,000 — no extra withdrawal fee (payouts are reviewed, usually same day). The 5% covers both collection and payout fees — cheaper than most gateways' 2–3.5% per side.
Protecting your margin
- Price delivery separately — never absorb a KSh 300 courier fee into a KSh 500 item.
- Prefer Till/STK over PayBill when possible — customers abandon when they're charged to pay you.
- Factor the withdrawal fee into pricing — it's small but real.
