Building trust for social commerce in South Africa
Verify who you're buying from before you pay.
Trust Passport is building a verified seller profile and verifiable trust badge for sellers and small businesses that trade through Instagram, TikTok, Facebook Marketplace and WhatsApp. Buyers will be able to check key trust signals before transacting, while legitimate sellers will be able to prove their credibility wherever they trade online.
Currently in research and pilot-design phase
Sellers
Transactions
Communities
The problem
Social commerce is growing. Trust has not caught up.
South Africans discover products on social media and complete purchases through DMs and WhatsApp every day. But before money changes hands, buyers often cannot reliably verify the seller, while legitimate sellers struggle to prove that they can be trusted.
Buyers pay without enough proof
A social profile, product photo or WhatsApp number is not enough to know whether a seller is real, reliable or likely to deliver.
Legitimate sellers struggle to prove credibility
Honest sellers may have years of happy customers, but every new buyer still has to take their word for it.
Reputation does not travel
A seller's trading history and customer trust are often trapped inside chats, pages or individual platforms.
Fraud makes trade harder for everyone
Fake proof of payment, fake profiles, disappearing sellers and unresolved disputes make social commerce slower and riskier.
Our proposal
A portable trust profile for social media sellers and small businesses.
Trust Passport is designed to give legitimate sellers a verified digital trust identity that they can share wherever they sell online. Buyers could use it to check key trust signals before making payment, while sellers could turn hard-earned credibility into a visible and portable business asset.
Verified identity
Confirmation that a real person or registered business is behind the seller profile.
Linked selling channels
Proof that the Instagram, TikTok, Facebook or WhatsApp account is linked to the verified seller.
Verifiable trust badge
A badge buyers could tap to confirm the seller's current verification status instead of relying on a screenshot alone.
Portable trading reputation
Trust signals and trading history that can move with the seller across platforms.
Safer transaction tools
Future payment and support features being explored to reduce risk for buyers and sellers.
Trust Passport is currently in research and pilot-design phase. The features shown represent the product vision being tested with buyers and sellers.
The badge
One mark. Three ways a buyer would see it.
An early visual exploration of how the Trust Passport badge could look in the wild — as a standalone mark, embedded on a seller's social profile, and as a tappable verification card. Nothing here is live yet; these are design mockups shaped during research.
The standalone seal
A single recognisable mark sellers could display anywhere — in product photos, stories, or printed receipts.
Embedded on a seller bio
Pinned to the seller's Instagram, TikTok or WhatsApp profile — a buyer sees it before the DM even starts.
The live verification card
Opening the badge shows the live trust signals — never just a static screenshot a fraudster could copy.
Visual mockups for research. Final badge design, naming and verification layers are still being shaped with founding sellers and buyers.
How it would work
A simpler way to check trust before transacting.
Seller would create a Trust Passport
A seller would verify their identity and link the social channels through which they trade.
Seller would share their trust profile
The seller could display a Trust Passport badge or link on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook or WhatsApp.
Buyer would check before paying
The buyer could open the live profile to review verified trust signals before deciding to transact.
In future pilots, we will also explore safer transaction and dispute-support tools.
How verification would work
Rigorous enough to mean something. Simple enough that real sellers complete it.
A trust badge is only worth something if the verification behind it is credible. We are designing a layered model — each layer adds a specific trust signal that buyers can see on the profile, instead of one generic green tick. Nothing below is live yet; this is the approach being shaped through research and the founding seller pilot.
Identity
South African ID checked against Home Affairs, plus a live face match against the ID photo. The biometric step is what makes stolen IDs hard to reuse. RICA'd phone number completes the layer.
Platform ownership
Seller proves they actually control each linked Instagram, TikTok, Facebook or WhatsApp account — typically by posting a one-time verification code to their bio or messaging from the registered number.
Reputation, displayed
Completed sales, buyer-confirmed deliveries, ratings, written reviews and dispute history. Shown on the profile rather than gated, so new sellers can start trading and have their reputation visibly grow.
Human review
Every founding seller has a short conversation with us before a badge is issued. A real check that automated steps can't replace — and the layer that lets the pilot run without heavy infrastructure.
What Trust Passport would not guarantee
Verification would confirm that a real person is behind the account, that they control the channels they claim, and over time, that they have a trading history. It would not guarantee every transaction goes smoothly or that a product matches its description. Trust Passport is designed to reduce information asymmetry — it is not transaction insurance.
A badge that can be taken away
A verified status that cannot be revoked is meaningless. The model we are designing includes a public revocation policy: any buyer can report a dispute, unresolved complaints trigger a review, and confirmed fraud means the profile is publicly marked Verification Suspended. The seller is notified and given a chance to respond.
The verification model on this page is in research and pilot design. It will evolve as we learn from founding sellers and buyers.
Reviews & references
Real reviewers. Reachable references.
A trust layer is only as strong as the people behind it. We are designing reviews on a seller's Trust Passport profile to come exclusively from verified buyer accounts — and a subset of those reviewers can opt in to be contacted directly as references for the seller. Nothing below is live yet; this is the model being shaped through the founding seller pilot.
Verified reviewers only
Every review would be tied to a Trust Passport buyer account whose identity has been verified. No anonymous one-line reviews, no recycled screenshots, no review-farming.
Tied to a real transaction
Reviews would only be unlocked after a buyer-confirmed delivery on a real order. The transaction reference travels with the review, so what you see actually happened.
Opt-in references
Reviewers can consent to being contacted as a reference. When a buyer wants extra assurance on a higher-value purchase, we'd reach out on their behalf — no contact details ever exposed publicly.
How a reference check would work
- 1. Buyer leaves a verified review after a confirmed delivery, and ticks “I'm happy to be contacted as a reference for this seller.”
- 2. A future buyer requests a reference from the seller's Trust Passport profile — typically before a higher-value purchase.
- 3. Trust Passport reaches out to one or two consenting reviewers on the buyer's behalf and shares back what they say. The reviewer's contact details stay private throughout.
Consent can be withdrawn at any time. Reviewers control whether they remain reachable as a reference, and for which sellers.
Our vision
Trust that travels with the seller.
Trust Passport began with a simple idea: genuine sellers should not have to rebuild trust from scratch every time they meet a new buyer or sell on a new platform.
We are building towards a portable verified profile that helps legitimate sellers prove their credibility and helps buyers make safer decisions before paying.
The features we describe are the vision being shaped through research and pilot design — not services available today.
Trust Passport is exploring ways to help trustworthy sellers prove their credibility wherever they trade online.
Our roadmap
Where we are in the journey.
Currently in research and pilot-design phase — shaping the first Trust Passport pilot.
“What if trust could travel with you?”
I've sold on Facebook Marketplace since 2016, shipping nationwide by courier. Every deal started with the same question: can I trust you?
A decade later, social commerce is everywhere — but that trust gap remains unresolved. That experience is why I am building Trust Passport: a portable way for legitimate sellers to prove their credibility and for buyers to check who they are dealing with before they pay.
Research now open
Help us shape the first Trust Passport pilot.
We have a clear vision: a verified trust profile for social commerce. Now we are speaking to South African buyers, sellers and small businesses to understand which trust signals, verification features and safer transaction tools matter most in real life.
Tell us what you need to see before you feel comfortable paying an online seller.
Share how you currently prove your credibility and manage buyer trust.
Help us understand which verification and reputation tools would strengthen your online sales.
Your input will help shape the first Trust Passport pilot.
Questions you might have
Before you sign up.
Help us build this right
Share your experience.
A short survey about how you currently buy and sell online. Takes less than 2 minutes and shapes what we build next.
Share my experienceQuestions? research@trustpassport.co.za
Founding sellers
Interested in becoming a founding seller?
We're building a waitlist of early sellers who want to help shape the first Trust Passport pilot in South Africa. Be among the first South African sellers and buyers helping us shape this.
- Receive updates on our progress
- Participate in early testing
- Access pilot programs before public launch
- Help influence product development