PesaPal Payments
Sokobuni supports PesaPal as a payment gateway, primarily for Kenya-market stores. PesaPal supports M-Pesa, Visa, Mastercard, Airtel Money, and bank transfers — giving customers multiple ways to pay.
PesaPal is available on stores configured for the Kenyan market. If your store targets a different region, your payment gateway will differ. Check your store's checkout to confirm which payment methods are active.
Supported payment methods
| Method | Processing time |
|---|---|
| M-Pesa (STK Push) | Instant |
| Visa / Mastercard | Instant |
| Airtel Money | Instant |
| Bank transfer | 1–3 business days |
The checkout flow
M-Pesa STK Push
When a customer selects M-Pesa:
- They enter their Safaricom phone number
- They click Pay
- A pop-up appears on their phone: "Authorize payment of KSh X to [your store name]?"
- They enter their M-Pesa PIN to authorize
- PesaPal confirms and the order completes
The whole process takes about 20 seconds.
Handling failed payments
Customer-side failures:
- Insufficient M-Pesa balance → customer sees an error and can try another method
- Card declined → they can try a different card
- STK Push timeout (didn't approve within 60s) → they can retry
Failed payments stay as "Pending" status in the Orders list. The customer can retry from their account.
Refunds via PesaPal
Refunds are initiated from the admin panel (Orders → Refund). PesaPal processes refunds back to the original payment method:
- M-Pesa refunds: 1–2 business days
- Card refunds: 3–7 business days
PesaPal account setup
Your store's PesaPal credentials (Consumer Key and Secret) are configured during store setup. If PesaPal stops working (e.g. credentials expire or your PesaPal account is suspended), contact your platform administrator to update the credentials.
Never share your PesaPal Consumer Secret. It's stored in your server environment and should never appear in frontend code or public repositories.