Payments & escrow

When you book a service, you pay Near-U — not the provider directly. We hold your money in escrow until the work is done.

• Provider does the job.
• You confirm it's complete on your booking page.
• We release the funds to the provider's bank account, minus our commission.

The provider can see that the booking is funded (which is why they show up confidently), but they can't touch the money until you've signed off.

Near-U takes a percentage commission on every completed booking. Your provider's plan determines the exact rate:

• Basic plan — 5% per booking.
• Pro plan — 8% per booking.

There's no charge to sign up, browse providers, or list services. We only earn when you complete a job. The commission shows up as a separate line on every booking summary so there are no surprises.

All payments are processed by Paystack, Nigeria's biggest payment processor. Near-U never sees or stores your card number — Paystack handles it end-to-end with bank-grade encryption.

We only store a transaction reference so we can refund or trace a payment if something goes wrong.

Refunds happen in three situations:

1. You cancel before the job starts. Money goes back to your original card within 3–5 business days (Paystack's standard refund window).
2. Provider cancels or doesn't show. Automatic full refund — no action needed from you.
3. You raise a dispute that we rule in your favour. Full or partial refund based on the outcome, processed the same week the dispute resolves.

Providers are paid out weekly, into the Nigerian bank account they registered. The cycle:

• Job completes → you confirm → escrow releases to Near-U's pool.
• Every week, we batch all earned-but-unpaid funds per provider.
• A bank transfer goes out, usually landing the same day or next morning.

Providers can see exactly what's owed, what's in escrow, and what's been paid on their Earnings page.