Two ways to buy
There are exactly two ways something gets bought on Chowpool. Both end in the same place: your money sits with Paystack until you confirm you got your goods.
Seller has the goods
A verified seller posts what they have (goat meat, catfish, ofada rice) with a price, pickup date, and minimum number of buyers. You browse and pay. If enough buyers join, the pool confirms and you get a 4-digit PIN.
You source it together
You (or someone you trust) wants 50 bags of rice. Start a pool. Members join for free. The organiser sources the goods, uploads proof. Admin verifies. Only then do members pay.
How escrow works
When you pay, the money goes into a Chowpool escrow account — not the seller's bank. Chowpool holds it in escrow until you confirm pickup.
The seller can see the money has arrived (so they know to deliver) but they can't touch it until you confirm pickup with your PIN. After that, the funds release automatically to the seller, minus a 3.5% platform fee. Buyers pay no fee.
If anything goes wrong (seller no-shows, goods don't match, weight is off) Chowpool refunds you. The seller never had your money.
The pickup PIN
Once a pool confirms, every buyer gets a 4-digit code by SMS and email. Show it to the seller at pickup. They enter it on their end. That's the receipt for “I got what I paid for.”
Lost the SMS? Your PIN lives in your dashboard. Different phone? Sign in on any device; the PIN follows your account.
Refunds & disputes
Three things trigger automatic refunds:
- The pool didn't hit the minimum buyer count by the deadline.
- The seller didn't show up within 24 hours of the pickup window.
- You raised a dispute and a Chowpool admin resolved it in your favour.
Paystack refunds take 5 to 10 business days to clear back to your bank. Sorry, that's the bank's timeline, not ours.
For sellers
If you've got bulk groceries and you're tired of bargaining with one buyer at a time, Chowpool aggregates the buyers for you. You set a price, pickup date, and minimum count. We coordinate the rest. You get paid via Paystack the moment buyers collect.
To list, you need to be ID-verified. NIN, Voter's Card, Passport, or Driver's License works. We don't share your documents publicly. They're for our verification only.
Fees
Buyers pay no fee. You see the listed price; that's what you pay.
Sellers pay 3.5% deducted from item subtotal on each completed transaction. Delivery fees pass through in full, no fee on those.
Refunded orders carry no fee. We only make money when everyone gets what they paid for.