Almost one-fifth of Australians fall victim to scams, frauds, assaults, or robberies when buying second-hand goods online according to the Australian Second-Hand Goods Consumer Study 2021. Key findings are as follows.

19% of people who bought or sold second-hand goods online had fallen victim to scams, frauds, assaults, or robberies. 60% believe an escrow payment system is a better way to buy and sell second-hand goods. 20% prefer to meet at a safe public location to pick up or drop off their second-hand goods.

Warrp commissioned the independent study in August 2021, comprising 500 Australians between the ages of 18 to 81 with medium to high online shopping frequency.

Warrp Co-Founder and CEO, Matthew Ng, said many of the findings supported the need for greater consumer safety features on digital classifieds and marketplace platforms.

“Ecommerce is a booming industry and although people are generally fine dealing with strangers when buying or selling online, almost one-third believe scams, frauds, assaults, or robberies still occur very often,” said Mr Ng.

“To this point, sixty percent of respondents believe an escrow payment system would be a better way to buy and sell second-hand goods, which makes sense given it creates a security barrier to minimise fraudulent activity.”

The company’s escrowed payment system and PayID-only transactions ensure money changes hands securely once both parties are satisfied, while its Safe Meetup & Pickup delivery option provides users safe and trusted businesses to finalise their transactions.

Warrp Co-Founder and CTO, Roman Granovskyi, said the consumer study helped paint an eye-opening picture of Australia’s online second-hand goods market.

“One of the more unexpected finds was that forty-eight percent of respondents had bought or sold second-hand goods on a web platform such as a desktop computer, which eclipsed mobile platform use by four percent,” said Mr Granovskyi.

“When you think about it, more people are at home in a COVID-induced reality, so it seems logical that they have greater access to a desktop computer when they would otherwise be mobile.

The Australian Second Hand Goods Consumer Study 2021 is free to download.

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Matthew Ng
Warrp
https://warrp.it/
matt@warrp.it
0403 143 003