とか

At the end of a sentence, とか passes on something you heard without vouching for the details: "I heard that…, or something", "apparently". It follows the plain form, and a noun or a な-adjective usually takes だ in front of it.

The だ is what keeps it apart from the listing とか, "things like": へいてん閉店とか on its own can read as "closing, or something like that".

とか or そうだ

Hearsay そうだ reports what you heard as information. とか keeps it at arm's length: you heard it in passing, or you are not sure of the details.

The sentence-final とか belongs to conversation and friendly letters. It works in polite talk as it stands, with no です after it; in a report or anything formal, use そうです.

とかで: a reason you heard

With で, the hearsay becomes the reason for what follows: "something about…, so". You give the reason as it was given to you.

The same とか also goes before きいた聞いた or いっていた言っていた to mark a loose quote.