Request an M-Pesa Paybill or Buy Goods Till + Power It With an API

How to request an M-Pesa Paybill or Buy Goods Till: the quick answer

To request an M-Pesa Buy Goods (Till) number in Kenya in 2026: go to Safaricom's M-Pesa for Business self-onboarding portal at m-pesaforbusiness.co.ke, click Apply Now, choose M-Pesa Business Till (Buy Goods), pick your business type (Individual, Sole-Proprietorship or LLC), upload the required documents, and Safaricom will SMS you a till number and store number on the nominated line. Then dial *234# on the registered SIM, choose M-Pesa Business Till, enter the store number, accept terms, and you are live.

To request an M-Pesa Paybill, head to Safaricom's Lipa Na M-Pesa portal, download the Paybill application form and terms, fill them out, sign and stamp, attach the required documents, and drop the package at your nearest Safaricom shop or upload via the portal. Approval typically takes 5–10 working days.

Difference between Paybill and Buy Goods

An M-Pesa Paybill vs Buy Goods is simple: a Paybill is built for recurring collections (rent, school fees, loans, subscriptions, utilities) and supports an account/reference number, while a Buy Goods Till is built for point-of-sale retail and supports a single till number per outlet. Most multi-outlet SMBs end up with one Paybill plus a till per location.

Requirements to get a Buy Goods Till

Individual: national ID copy (front and back), KRA PIN copy, a cancelled cheque or bank letter confirming bank details.

Sole-Proprietorship: national ID copy, business permit, KRA PIN, cancelled cheque or bank letter.

LLC: directors' IDs/passports, company and Kenyan director KRA certificates, valid CR12 (under 90 days), certificate of incorporation, recent annual-returns receipt, cancelled cheque or company bank letter, and a stamped board resolution signed by directors.

How to activate your M-Pesa till

Dial *234# on your Safaricom phone, choose option 2 (M-Pesa Business Till), enter the store number from the SMS, accept terms and submit. You will receive an M-Pesa message with the operator ID and start-key PIN. Follow the prompts to change the PIN and you can start receiving payments immediately.

How to get access to your M-Pesa business portal

If you were not auto-provisioned a portal admin, prepare a letter on company letterhead to Safaricom with: organisation name, organisation short code, admin first/middle/last name, ID type and number, nationality, DOB, phone number, preferred admin username and email. Attach the admin's ID. Email to support@helloduty.com and we can help route the request and integrate the portal with your back office.

You have the Paybill. Now what?

Here is where most Kenyan SMBs leave money on the table. A Paybill or Buy Goods number is just a collection rail. The customer-experience layer around it — the SMS receipt, the WhatsApp confirmation, the missed-payment reminder, the customer-care call, the reconciliation back into your accounting system — is what turns one-off transactions into repeat customers. That is the buyer profile we are talking to next: the school, the SACCO, the gym, the salon chain, the e-commerce brand, the property manager, the delivery startup, the clinic, the MFI — anyone who collects on M-Pesa and wants the rest of the journey to be modern.

The Kenyan SMB collections market

Safaricom reports more than 800,000 active Lipa Na M-Pesa merchants and KES 38 trillion+ in annual M-Pesa transactions across person-to-business and business flows. That is the largest digital collection footprint in Africa, and almost all of it is happening on Paybills and Tills. The opportunity for SMBs and software vendors building on top of M-Pesa is no longer how do we get a Paybill — it is how do we make every Paybill payment trigger the right customer journey. The CBK's National Payments Strategy 2022–2025 and ongoing interoperability work mean that opening hours, fee transparency and customer protection rules around these flows continue to evolve, so the modern SMB stack has to be flexible.

What an end-to-end M-Pesa stack looks like

A modern SMB on M-Pesa typically wires up four layers:

• Collection: Paybill or Till plus M-Pesa STK Push (Daraja) for in-app payments.
• Confirmation: instant bulk SMS receipt and a richer WhatsApp Business API message with order details, branding and a re-order CTA.
• Customer care: a cloud PBX or AI receptionist for incoming queries, plus a CRM-linked agent desktop so every M-Pesa reference resolves to a customer profile.
• Recovery: a predictive or sequential dialer for missed payments, with SMS/WhatsApp reminders ahead of any call.

How HelloDuty plugs into your M-Pesa Paybill or Till

HelloDuty is the CPaaS Kenyan SMBs use to turn a Paybill into a complete customer-engagement loop. We integrate with M-Pesa Daraja for STK Push and C2B confirmations, push instant SMS receipts branded with your Sender ID, send richer WhatsApp Business API confirmations, route incoming customer support through cloud PBX or an AI receptionist, and feed everything into your CRM. For broader context on what we power, see our customer-engagement platform overview and the why your SME needs a business telephony system piece.

FAQ: M-Pesa Paybill, Till and the business stack around them

How long does it take to get a Paybill in Kenya?

Buy Goods Tills are usually live within 24–72 hours via the self-onboarding portal. Paybills typically take 5–10 working days because of the additional KYC and business-use case review.

How much does an M-Pesa Paybill or Till cost?

Safaricom does not charge an upfront fee for most categories — you pay per-transaction tariffs that Safaricom publishes, which differ for Buy Goods and Paybill. Talk to Safaricom for your category's current rate card.

Can I integrate my Paybill with my website or app?

Yes. Use Safaricom's Daraja API for STK Push (customer-initiated), C2B confirmations and B2C disbursements. HelloDuty manages the Daraja integration and the customer-messaging layer (SMS, WhatsApp, voice) on top for you.

What about SMS receipts and WhatsApp confirmations?

Safaricom's M-Pesa SMS is generic. Branded SMS receipts and WhatsApp confirmations require a CPaaS — HelloDuty's SMS API sends sender-ID-branded receipts in seconds, and our WhatsApp API lets you send order details, delivery updates and re-order links right after the M-Pesa receipt.

I lost access to my M-Pesa portal. What now?

Prepare a stamped letter with the organisation, short code, admin details and ID copy, addressed to Safaricom. HelloDuty support can help draft and route the request — email support@helloduty.com.

Don't just collect. Build the full M-Pesa stack.

A Paybill or Till by itself is plumbing. The competitive moat is the SMS, WhatsApp, voice and recovery loop you wire around it. See HelloDuty for M-Pesa SMBs or create an account at app.helloduty.com to start.