What is OnBuy? OnBuy Review, Features

OnBuy is an online retail marketplace that officially launched in November 2016 and is headquartered in Poole, Dorset.

About OnBuy

OnBuy calls itself a "direct alternative to Amazon". Cas Paton was dissatisfied with Amazon's fee system and established the e-commerce platform OnBuy.com. The latest retailer to enter OnBuy.com is Vivo Technologies, which is the seventh largest seller on Amazon.

82.3% of OnBuy’s traffic comes from the UK. OnBuy is popular in the Netherlands, which contributes 13.8% of its traffic.

OnBuy is an intermediary platform without a self-operated model, so it does not pose competition to platform sellers.

The platform was launched in 2016 and covers multiple categories, including automobiles, clothing, health and beauty, technology, toys, etc.

Settlement Fees

Monthly rent: Standard sellers pay £19 per month, Partner sellers pay £89 per month;

Commission rate: 5%-9%.

Product listing creation and payment collection

Sellers need to use product identifiers when listing products on OnBuy. Currently, it is integrated with tools such as Linnworks and ChannelAdvisor, and will soon be integrated with StoreFeeder and VOLO.

Payments on OnBuy are currently processed by Stripe, and sellers need to have an account to sell. Stripe will charge an additional payment processing fee of about 1.4% + 20p. However, the platform has recently partnered with PayPal as well.

Recent major events

1. Cooperate with PayPal to protect buyers and sellers

In October 2018, OnBuy.com announced a partnership with PayPal to protect the interests of sellers. Currently, more than 20 million merchants around the world use PayPal's services, and each transaction is encrypted and monitored to prevent fraud, email phishing and identity theft.

The platform will not withhold the seller's payment. After the product is shipped, PayPal will conduct a security check, and if it passes, PayPal will directly pay the seller.

2. Sales Guarantee policy to support sellers with relatively low sales

The platform has also launched a Sales Guarantee policy, which gives standard seller account holders the opportunity to waive the next month's monthly rent if sales fall below £500 in a month.

Achievements

Year-to-date in 2017, total transaction volume on the platform has increased by 608%, and traffic continues to grow exponentially, increasing by 1,178% from October 2017 to 2018.

There are currently over 8 million products on the platform, with new sellers constantly registering. Products are added daily and the best deals are highlighted through the OnBuy.com Deals platform.

Competitive pricing is a key factor in the rapid growth of the platform. By offering sellers the lowest commission rates, sellers can pass on the savings to buyers. The platform expects to expand to more than 50 countries in 2019.