Ask African makers why they are not selling online and the answers are rarely about their work. They are about the plumbing: payment systems that cannot pay a bank in Lagos or Nairobi, listing fees set for sellers in London and Los Angeles, and checkouts that treat Africa as an afterthought. Sokofa was built to take those answers away, so that the only question left is whether the work is good. This is what selling on Sokofa actually looks like, in plain terms.
It costs nothing to start
Signing up and listing products is free. There are no monthly or subscription fees and no listing fees. Sokofa takes a flat 10% commission on each completed sale, and only on completed sales, so a product that does not sell costs you nothing.
List from wherever you work
You can list from the seller dashboard on sokofa.com, from the Sokofa Seller app on iPhone or Android, or simply by sending photos of a product to the Sokofa WhatsApp number and answering a few questions. Every listing is reviewed before it goes live, and the review often tightens the title and description so buyers searching in English find it more easily.
Your story sits next to your work
Every seller has their own storefront, with space to say who you are, where you work and what your craft means. Buyers can see who made a piece before they buy it, which is the whole point of buying handmade. Your products are not lost in a grid of factory lookalikes.
Buyers around the world, prices in pounds
Sokofa sells to buyers in the UK and worldwide, with prices shown in pounds and secure card checkout. Fashion sellers can offer made to measure: buyers choose between ready to wear and made to measure, and send their measurements with the order. Sellers can also set their own bulk discounts for buyers who want more than one piece.
How shipping works
For sellers in Nigeria, Sokofa handles international shipping. You get the order to Sokofa in Nigeria, and from there it is shipped to the buyer, insured from the moment it reaches us. Most sellers outside Nigeria ship orders themselves, using their own delivery rates, which the buyer pays at checkout, with a tracking number added to the order. Either way, the delivery cost is shown to the buyer before they pay.
How you get paid
Each sale is credited to your seller balance, and you request a withdrawal from your dashboard. Every seller is verified before they are paid: an identity document must be on file before your first payout. Payouts are due 24 hours after an order is delivered. Sellers with a Nigerian bank account are paid by bank transfer in naira, and sellers in other countries are paid by bank transfer to the account they register.
Who is already selling
Sokofa already lists work from makers across the continent: oil and acrylic painters in Nigeria and Ghana, carvers and bead workers in Ghana, Maasai bead artists in Kenya, basket weavers in Ethiopia, and fashion designers working in Ankara, Adire and handwoven Akwete. You can browse their storefronts on the sellers page to see the kind of work buyers find here.
What we ask of sellers
Honest listings, real photos of the actual piece, accurate weights and sizes so delivery is priced correctly, and orders dispatched within the time you promise. Handmade work varies, and buyers accept that; what they need is to receive what they saw.
If you make something worth owning and the big platforms have never quite worked for you, Sokofa is built for exactly that. Opening a shop is free, and your first listing can be live as soon as it has been reviewed.
Ready to start? Visit sokofa.com/vendor to open your shop.