As the country continues facing cash shortages, dealers in second-hand clothes, popularly known as mabhero in Shona, have now adapted to the situation and are now accepting electronic payments such as EcoCash and Zipit. The traders, however, usually add an extra $1 to the charge to enable them to offset the charges of buying cash needed for restocking. A trader at Avondale Flea Market told weekly publication, the Standard,
…the use of plastic money helps to alleviate the cash shortages as most of our customers are paying via Zipit, swiping and EcoCash and it has been going on for a while now.
But the challenge is that only a few of our suppliers accept plastic money, so we find ourselves paying 10% to get cash from the black market so that we restock.
More: The Standard