Frequently Asked Questions about Safaricom’s Lipa na M-PESA

lipa na m-pesa

Lipa na M-PESA is a mobile money service by Safaricom that allows you to pay for goods and services easily through your phone. The service is available to ALL M-PESA customers, and for use by all enterprises that accept payments for goods and services by their customers through M-PESA. These include small and medium enterprises like salons, bars, restaurants, butcheries, spare part shops, and kiosks.

To access Lipa Na M-PESA, go to the M-PESA Menu, select Lipa Na M-PESA and select Buy Goods and services, then enter the Till Number of the merchants, and follow subsequent prompts to complete the transactions.

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Both you and the merchant will then get confirmation messages from M-PESA.

How to Sign up for an account

Contact Safaricom authorized dealers, M-PESA agents, Safaricom Retail Shop, call Safaricom Customer Care or Kopo Kopo Inc Safaricom by dialing 100 for prepay customers, 234 for M-PESA and 200 for post pay customers, or via email.

You will be required to fill a LIPA NA M-PESA application forms available from any Safaricom authorized dealers, M-PESA agents, Safaricom Retail Shop or Kopo Kopo and attach copies of Business Registration documents from Company Registrar or County Government business permits, PIN number, ID number of the Business Owner, M-PESA and M-Shwari Registered Mobile number.

Payments are received via a Till

This is a special SIM card created for the purpose of receiving payments from M-PESA. The card has a unique number known as the till number attached to the store name, as given by the Merchant. It has the ability to hold up to Ksh 50,000,000 and is linked to the merchants M-PESA number which is used to access funds collected in the merchant till. The merchant can then withdraw the cash at any M-PESA Agent, transfer to his M-Shwari account via M-PESA or use the value to purchase more supplies.

You can pay for goods both offline and Online

To pay for goods offline, go to the M-PESA Menu, then Go to Lipa Na M-PESA and Select Buy Goods and Services. Enter the Till Number of the outlet/or salesperson you wish to pay to Enter the amount you wish to pay, Enter your M-PESA PIN number. Confirm that all details are correct and then press OK.

When shopping online, select Lipa Na M-PESA as the payment method at checkout. Upon selecting Lipa Na M-PESA, you will be asked to input a Safaricom number you want to check out with. You will then be directed to the Lipa Na M-PESA Iframe. All you have to do now is input your M-PESA PIN on a pop-up that will show up on your phone which is used to authenticate payments.

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Transactions are Real-time and instant

Lipa NA M-PESA payments are real-time and both consumer and the merchant will receive an SMS notification confirming the transaction. Upon receipt of every transaction, a SMS notification will be received on the till indicating the following: M-PESA transaction, ID Date and time, Amount paid in, Senders details, and Total balance after payments received.

You can withdraw funds at any time 

Dial *234*7# to request balance or withdraw funds which will be sent via M-PESA. A merchant can Link his M-PESA personal account to more than one till. Charges apply when making an inquiry or withdraw.

Funds collected in the Till can be accessed any time of day or night as long as the till Balance is above KSHs 51. The maximum you can request for every withdrawal request is KSHs 70,000 with a withdraw maximum of KSHs.140,000 per day.

Your Personal M-PESA account can hold up to a maximum balance of KSHs.100,000, so you can move the excess fund to your M-Shwari account to enable you to withdraw more up to a maximum of KSHs.140,000 per day.

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