eBay and Asto are opening the first version of their new Seller Finance product, eBay Business Capital provided by Asto, for a limited number of applications this December, to be followed by a full launch in the first quarter of 2020.
Asto, which only recently launched last year, is essentially a bookkeeping app which then added invoice financing. Backed by Santander, the idea is to offer cash flow loans to assist the 200,000 businesses trading on eBay to grow their operations and ensure that access to finance isn’t the reason that they fail.
The product features an online application, quick decision in minutes and a Finance ‘Pot’ to draw down on sellers terms. Money can get to the seller’s account in minutes. We’re still waiting to see the the repayment terms and what the costs are.
eBay Business Capital is the latest in a long line of seller finance, the first of which was iwoca but now there are a ton of options to choose from including both PayPal and Amazon. When you’re deciding which finance product to go for, consider whether you’d like to pay the finance off quicker (in which case a monthly interest fee might be appropriate) or if you’d like to have a fixed fee regardless of how long the loan takes to pay off (but if you pay it off early you still pay the full fee). Also, some loans will have a fixed repayment plan whilst others will take into account your earnings each month and take a fixed variable repayment so picking the loan that works for you is essential.
eBay Business Capital will only be offered to Limited Companies at this time – eBay are looking to expand to sole traders in the New Year.
“eBay is passionate about helping small businesses succeed. We help power over 200,000 British SMEs, helping them grow through access to 180 million consumers in 190 markets across the globe.
Our partnership with Asto is designed to help our business sellers efficiently access cash loans to help them expand and manage cashflow – our latest step in helping small businesses in the UK to thrive.”
– Paolo Levoni, Chief Operating Officer, eBay
4 Responses
I saw this offer yesterday. It’s simply a money lending operation at a reasonably high interest rate for those unable to borrow elsewhere.
Prudence is not just a girl’s name.
in principle (note spelling) it makes a lot of sense – trading on eBay for a few years does give the lender some indication of one’s reliability.
one way or another that lender will be wanting to offer invoice finance on the rest of one’s business – that’s where it really could benefit both parties.
Took a look at this and went through the process required:
my limit is £10,000.00
If i was to use it, it would cost me £947.70 in interest for 6 months
I could use Amazon lending of course, they would charge me £365.00 for the same amount and 6 months.
A little work to be done on fees i think!!
PS, this sort of credit is readily and easily available, i could also use paypal & Payoneer (my FX company)
eBay Business Capital is the latest in a long line of seller finance, the first of which was iwoca but now there are a ton of options to choose from including both PayPal and Amazon.