Why we built Piazam, and how it works

Piazam is our shopping app. It's a pre-order store for Ghana: you pick a product and pay for it, then we order it from the manufacturer in China and ship it to you. It's live at piazam.com, with fashion, electronics, home goods, beauty and more.

This post covers why we built it and what happens after you pay.

Why we built it

Piazam buys from manufacturers in China on your behalf. That cuts out the importers and middlemen between you and the factory, so you pay closer to the factory price. It's how prices on Piazam come in up to 60% below local retail.

The trade-off is time. You aren't buying something already sitting in a warehouse in Ghana. You're pre-ordering from China, and delivery takes 7 to 60 days depending on how you ship.

We don't take client work at Hexerize. Everything we build is ours to run, so we built Piazam the way we'd want to use it. The aim, in the words of Piazam's About page, is to make quality products accessible to everyone in Ghana.

How ordering works

• Create a free account. You need one to order. It's where you track orders and save addresses.
• Fill your cart. Every order needs at least GH₵200 of goods, counted before shipping. You can mix different products to get there, and the cart tells you how much more to add if you're short.
• Choose how it ships. Sea or air, explained below.
• Pay. Mobile Money or card. Payment is taken when you place the order.
• Get your confirmation. We confirm your payment within 24 hours and send your order confirmation by SMS.

One thing to know before you pay: orders can't be cancelled. As soon as your payment clears, we send the funds to our supplier in China and the order is in motion. So check the product, size, colour and delivery address first. If anything is unclear, ask us before you order.

After that, our supplier in China prepares your order, which takes 2 to 5 business days. A quality inspector in China checks every unit before it's packed: it powers on, has no visible defects, and every accessory is in the box. Every shipment is packaged and insured against loss or damage in transit.

Sea or air

Sea takes 30 to 60 days and is free. There's no shipping charge.

Air takes 7 to 21 days. Where a product offers it, the cost is calculated per product and shown at checkout. Choose it when you need something sooner.

Some items have two extra options:

• Express Air. Select items ship by express air and arrive in 1 to 5 days, free. Look for the Express Air label on the product page.
• Pay on Arrival. Select items let you pay a discounted product price at checkout, then pay the shipping fee once your order lands in Ghana. We text you the exact fee, and you pay it from your orders page.

We handle customs duties and import taxes ourselves (customs clearance takes 3 to 5 business days), so there are no surprise import charges. All delivery times are estimates. Customs, public holidays and carrier delays can add time.

Delivery to your door

We deliver to all 16 regions of Ghana. When your package lands at our hub, we let you know, and our courier brings it to you.

Last-mile delivery isn't charged when you order. It's normally GH₵30 to GH₵100. Once your items arrive in Ghana, we set the actual fee based on your destination and parcel size, notify you, and you pay it online from My Orders before the courier sets off.

You can follow your order in My Orders at any time. We also send SMS updates at each major step, from confirmation and shipping to arrival in Ghana and delivery.

Please stay reachable on the phone number you gave us. If our courier can't reach you or complete delivery within 14 days of your arrival notice, the order is treated as forfeited.

If something goes wrong

Because products come from China, we don't accept returns, and we don't refund a change of mind. We do refund when something genuinely goes wrong:

• Shipping damage. Tell us within 24 hours of delivery, with an unboxing video.
• Wrong item. Tell us within 48 hours, with a photo of the item and its packaging.
• Manufacturing defect. If the product doesn't work out of the box, tell us within 48 hours, with an unboxing video showing the problem.

If your package is lost in transit or we can't fulfil your order, you get a full refund. If we can't get your order to you, you don't pay for it. Refunds go back to your original payment method, and Mobile Money is the fastest.

Piazam is live now. See what's available at piazam.com, or have a look at our other apps.