Don’t buy a lemon: UK fintech scale-up partners with US car-sales site for a fully transactional marketplace
IN A fightback against social media disruptors – and to compete for a trillion-dollar global marketplace – a UK fintech has struck up a partnership with a US-based vehicle classified-ad site.
Shieldpay has linked with AutoClassics.com to make the site fully transactional to its customers across the UK, EU and US. The company says its transparent payment solution mitigates the risk of fraud by verifying the identity of both parties, holding funds and only releasing them when both sides are in agreement.
Shieldpay hopes the payment solution will bring transparency and efficiency to the payment process by integrating services to power payments, listings, bids and offers.
Classifieds and marketplaces can leverage an Application Programming Interface (or API, a set of subroutine definitions, protocols and tools for building software) to make use of the user interface.
Consumers can avoid carrying cash or wiring money when buying a car online. They will also be able to negotiate the price of the car “on the driveway” and authorise the payment via the app to complete the sale.
Shieldpay’s Tom Clementson says the technology will allow classified sites to fight back against disruptors “like Facebook Marketplace” and compete for more of the global trillion-dollar marketplace. He says the system is the logical follow-up to PayPal.
“Classifieds and marketplaces are under-served by secure solutions for larger payments,” he said. “Classified sites have come under increasing pressure from disruptors and we believe our technology will allow them to fight back and transform their business models.”
Geoff Love, CEO of AutoClassics, said the system “has allowed us to become transactional for the first time” with increased confidence for users. As well as the vehicle market, Shieldpay’s instant digital escrow facility can be used in merger and acquisition deals and real estate transactions.
