Spanish company Traity and Australian insurer Suncorp have created a product; Kevinsured, that provides a peace of mind for those doing business through any person-to-person selling sites. Transactions on websites such as Craigslist, eBay, Trademe and Gumtree are often full of questions and suspicion of whether or not the product will be functional or even exists. The people involved in the transaction are having to put their trust in total strangers hoping products are satisfactory.
Kevinsured is a completely online chat driven program that provides insurance on products purchased through a person-to-person website. When you buy something, you message Kevin on Facebook Messenger and give him details regarding the purchase; what it is, how old it is, etc. Kevin will then check the legitimacy of both parties involved and choose whether or not to approve the transaction.
“I will judge what bad faith is. To be 200% clear, it’s entirely up to me whether I approve a claim, for all cases,” reads the website. If Kevin decides to approve the message, it will create a guarantee and record it against the blockchain to ensure protection from fraud for everyone involved.
Kevinsured website says, “Should any skamelar scam you, I protect you with a $100 guarantee absolutely free.” Kevinsured is using a freemium insurance model; similar to the model many mobile applications use. For example, if you download a free app you can use many of its features without charge, but there is usually an option to pay a fee to upgrade or purchase things within the app. Kevinsured allows for purchases under $100 to be freely insured, “Free like the moon under the sky, and fairies dancing in the night,” says Kevin. However, there will likely be a fee for insuring any purchase more than$100, but Traity is still figuring out those details.
Other websites like Insto are providing services to make transactions through peer-to-peer websites more manageable. Insto allows people to pay for expensive items on craigslist in installments and an intermediary.
“We want to create a safer internet where we can trust one another,” said Juan Cartagena, CEO of Traity said in an interview with TheNextWeb. “We think that Kevin has the potential to power trust in the sharing economy by putting our money where our mouth is.”
Fake listings and dishonest sellers are a problem for retail websites like Amazon and peer-to-peer selling websites like eBay. Any company that allows people to post products on their website without being screened are subjecting themselves to scams and frustrated customers. Amazon encourages their customers to shop within the “A-Z Guarantee” section of their website to ensure quality products. If anything purchased within this section of their website is faulty or requires customer service, Amazon promises to work to fix the situation. eBay promises to help anyone whose product isn’t delivered within 30 days or is faulty. If the seller doesn’t accept the return or provide a refund, eBay will step in and help.
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