Pickup Mtaani is a delivery service built for people who sell on Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp and their own online shops. Instead of paying a rider to cross Nairobi for every order, you send the parcel to a small shop near your customer — the "mtaani agent" — and the customer collects it there.
This guide covers how it works, what it costs on 1 October 2026, where the agents are, and how pay on delivery works.
How it works
Pickup Mtaani offers four services:
| Service | What happens |
|---|---|
| Mtaani (agent pick-up) | Your parcel goes to an agent shop near the customer, who collects it there |
| Doorstep | A rider takes the parcel to the customer's address |
| Errands | Pickup Mtaani drops the parcel at the customer's chosen SACCO or courier for onward travel |
| Rent a shelf | You store stock at Pickup Mtaani's CBD office and they send orders out from there |
The agents are ordinary shops — a cyber café, a phone accessories stall, a thrift shop — that act as drop-off and collection points, much like M-Pesa agents.
A typical order looks like this:
- Create the package in the Pickup Mtaani app or on its web delivery form: the customer's name and phone number, a description of the parcel, the agent you will drop it at, and the agent or doorstep area it is going to.
- Pay the delivery fee by M-Pesa.
- Drop the parcel at your chosen agent or at a Pickup Mtaani office.
- Track it in the app until the customer collects it or the rider delivers.
Delivery prices (checked 1 October 2026)
Pickup Mtaani does not publish a price list on its website. The fee is worked out for each route — the agent you drop at and where the parcel is going. We pulled the prices below from Pickup Mtaani's own delivery form on 1 October 2026. They include 16% VAT, as the form shows them.
Agent to agent
| From | To | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Nairobi CBD office (Gogo Mall) | Any Nairobi estate agent we tried | KSh 139.20 |
| Nairobi estate agent | Nairobi CBD office | KSh 139.20 |
| Nairobi estate agent | Another Nairobi estate agent | KSh 243.60 |
| Mombasa CBD office | Mombasa estate agent | KSh 116 |
| Mombasa estate agent | Another Mombasa estate agent | KSh 243.60 |
| Nairobi CBD office | Nakuru CBD agent | KSh 232 |
| Nairobi CBD office | Mombasa CBD office | KSh 255.20 |
| Nairobi CBD office | Mombasa estate agent | KSh 301.60 |
| Nairobi estate agent | Nakuru CBD agent | KSh 290 |
| Nairobi estate agent | Mombasa estate agent | KSh 336.40 |
The lesson: dropping parcels in town is cheaper. If you are near the CBD, dropping at the CBD office costs about KSh 104 less per parcel than sending from one estate agent to another.
Doorstep
From the Nairobi CBD office, we checked all 135 doorstep areas Pickup Mtaani lists for Nairobi:
- KSh 116 to the CBD itself and KSh 174 to Kamukunji
- KSh 232–272 for close-in areas such as Ngara, Kariokor, Kilimani and Ngumo/Mbagathi Way
- KSh 313–377 for areas such as Kangemi, Githurai 45 and Kenyatta University
- KSh 406–417 for the furthest, such as Dagoretti Corner, Mlolongo and Ndenderu
Sending doorstep from an estate agent instead of the CBD costs more. From one estate agent we tried, most areas were KSh 336 to KSh 475.
In Mombasa, doorstep from the Mombasa CBD office ran from KSh 116 (Ganjoni, Majengo) to KSh 423, with one outlier — the SGR station at KSh 812.
Prices change, so check the app for your exact route before you set your delivery charge. Then put the number into the profit margin calculator to see what each order really leaves you.
Where the agents are
Pickup Mtaani says it has 150+ collection points. Its public agent list on 1 October 2026 had 182 agents:
| Area | Agents |
|---|---|
| Nairobi estates | 154 |
| Nairobi CBD | 3 |
| Moi Avenue, Nairobi (listed separately) | 1 |
| Mombasa estates | 22 |
| Mombasa CBD | 1 |
| Nakuru CBD | 1 |
So the network is overwhelmingly Nairobi and Mombasa. For customers elsewhere, the errand service hands the parcel to a SACCO or courier, or you use a different courier.
Agent pick-up or doorstep?
| Agent pick-up | Doorstep | |
|---|---|---|
| Price in Nairobi | About KSh 139–244 | About KSh 116–475 |
| Customer effort | Walks to a nearby shop | Waits at home or work |
| Good for | Price-sensitive buyers, small items, estates with an agent close by | Bulky items, busy or premium customers, areas without an agent |
Many sellers offer both at checkout and let the customer pick — the cheaper option wins most orders.
Pay on delivery
Pickup Mtaani lets your customer pay when they collect or receive the parcel. The agent or rider collects the money, and it goes into your Pickup Mtaani wallet ("pochi"), which Pickup Mtaani says you can withdraw from instantly.
Pay on delivery wins orders from buyers who do not trust paying a stranger online first. The trade-off is that you carry the risk: if the customer never collects, you have paid delivery for nothing and need the parcel back.
Two things to plan for:
- The delivery fee is billed to you. On Pickup Mtaani's business API, delivery is billed to the seller; the amount the buyer pays at collection is set separately. Add delivery to the price you collect.
- Check withdrawal charges in the app. We could not confirm any fee for withdrawing from the Pickup Mtaani wallet.
What sellers complain about
Pickup Mtaani's iPhone app had a 2.7 out of 5 rating from 80 reviews when we checked, with complaints about delays and rider behaviour, and praise for pay on delivery. Use agent pick-up where you can, tell customers to expect a call or SMS, and keep the package number to follow up.
For shops with their own website
Pickup Mtaani has a business API that lets an online shop create deliveries automatically. Access is by request to Pickup Mtaani support, from a business already registered with them; it also offers to do the integration for non-technical sellers at a flat KSh 20,000.
On duka.bio, your shop can offer Pickup Mtaani agent or doorstep delivery at checkout, alongside M-Pesa and card payment. See how to start an online store in Kenya, and if you sell mainly on WhatsApp, WhatsApp Business for sellers.