Australian “Buy now, Pay later” payments provider Afterpay has teamed up with New Zealand’s Trade Me. This partnership will enable Trade Me sellers to offer interest-free deferred payments to buyers via Afterpay. This is Afterpay’s first step towards making its mark internationally.
Trade Me is an online marketplace and classifieds site which is said to have the largest online retail market share in New Zealand. Its buy-and-sell platform claims to have over 4.1 million members, and the country has a population of 4.6 million. The figures are quite impressive and hence makes it clear why Afterpay chose to collaborate with the company.
Trade Me’s Head of Marketplace Stuart McLean, in an official statement, stated they are excited to offer a much easier and flexible payment option to both – its buyers and sellers. Afterpay allows buyers to purchase and receive the product in-hand and pay the price in four fortnightly installments. It will be available on Trade Me later in 2017. McLean gives an example saying,
For example, if you buy something on Trade Me for $100 using Afterpay, instead of stumping up the full amount immediately you’ll pay it via four $25 fortnightly payments. Sellers receive their money straight away from Afterpay and can ship the goods straight away – the buyer then makes their payments to Afterpay.
McLean is affirmative these more payment options on Trade Me will help sellers, and increase the purchasing power of buyers. He added,
Afterpay is all about giving our buyers more flexibility to buy what they want. It’s perfect if they want to spread out their shopping to minimize the pain on their wallet. It’s free for buyers to use: just click ‘buy with Afterpay’, enter a few details and you’re good to go.
He further stated that for now, they will be working with the sellers to let them understand how Afterpay works and getting it up and running on their listings. To know more, sellers can simply register with the company. McLean commented,
We’re also making sure Afterpay and Trade Me are integrated to ensure there’s a seamless user experience. This all takes a little bit of time but we can’t wait to get started.
