Protected Payment Terms

1. Availability

Protected Payment is not currently enabled. These terms describe how the workflow is intended to operate and will not apply until the feature is launched and these terms are confirmed.

2. Purpose

Protected Payment is designed to reduce the risk of non-delivery, premature seller access to funds and platform exposure.

A buyer may choose Protected Payment where the feature is available.

3. Funding

When a Protected Payment is successfully processed, the transaction may be processed and settled by the underlying payment provider according to that provider’s normal payment and settlement processes.

SW Global Pay separately records the seller’s entitlement internally. Until release, the seller does not have a Pending or Available entitlement to the protected amount.

4. Important clarification

Protected Payment is not an escrow account. No payment provider, including Flutterwave, holds Protected Payment funds in escrow for buyers or sellers.

The protected status is an SW Global Pay contractual workflow and an entry in SW Global Pay’s internal ledger. SW Global Pay does not describe Protected Payment as a trust, custody or escrow service.

5. Delivery

The seller must submit delivery through SW Global Pay and may provide files, URLs, messages and other evidence. The buyer is notified that delivery has been submitted.

6. Buyer options

Following delivery, the buyer may, depending on the transaction status:

• Release Payment
• Request Changes
• Open a Dispute

A seller cannot unilaterally release their own Protected Payment.

7. Release

When the buyer validly releases payment and SW Global Pay completes the required release checks, the protected amount may become attributable to the seller’s Pending balance.

Release does not automatically make funds Available for withdrawal.

8. Dispute

Opening a dispute freezes release through the Protected Payment workflow. SW Global Pay may review evidence submitted by both parties.

Pending resolution, neither party is entitled to bypass the dispute state through the platform.

9. Resolution

A dispute may result in release to the seller or refund to the buyer. SW Global Pay may request further evidence before making a determination.

10. Refund

Where a full refund is approved and successfully processed, the seller receives no entitlement to the refunded amount.

A failed refund remains an unresolved platform obligation until successfully resolved.

11. Chargebacks

Protected Payment does not remove cardholder chargeback rights. A chargeback may arise before or after release.

SW Global Pay may freeze affected merchant balances, create reserves, restrict payouts, reverse internal credits or offset future proceeds where appropriate and permitted.

12. No automatic release

Unless separately disclosed in an approved policy, SW Global Pay does not automatically release Protected Payments merely because time has passed.

13. Internal ledger

SW Global Pay’s internal ledger records amounts linked to active Protected Payments separately from amounts credited to sellers’ Pending or Available balances.

This is an accounting record. It does not mean the money is kept in a separate bank account, trust or escrow account, or that it is legally ring-fenced.