Vendora, the largest Greek classifieds platform for used and new items, is the first company in Greece to introduce the ‘Buy Now‘ service for its classified ads. As part of this innovative service, sellers of second-hand and new items can now accept electronic payments for their sales.At the same time, buyers have the ability to buy easily and directly used items over the Internet, with absolute security and full protection from possible malicious actions.
Fake eshops and scammers drive online scams in Greece
One of the big positives of the Covid-19 pandemic in Greece was the acceleration of digitalization and the rapid increase of online transactions. Now, 6 out of 10 Greeks shop online, an increase of 20% in one year.
However, this positive trend has some unpleasant side effects as well, since the potential victims of malicious users are more than ever. This is also shown by the data of the European Banking Authority survey, according to which online fraud in Greece exceeds 22 million euros every year.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the situation is not very different. According to an NBC News report, the Facebook Marketplace is now America’s favorite medium for online scams. The lack of customer service department and the lack of quality control of the classifieds make it one of the easiest channels for deception.
Vendora protects the Greek consumer
Vendora protects buyers and sellers from such actions, since the platform acts as a trusted intermediary that collects, holds and fulfills the payment only when both the buyer and the seller are satisfied.
The service abroad is known as the “escrow service“. When the buyer makes a purchase, he pays the certified intermediary (as the Vendora.gr in this case), which then informs the seller that the payment has been completed and guides him during the shipment of the package. After the buyer receives and approves the package, the intermediary releases the payment to the seller.
Vendora’s decision to proceed with the implementation of this service, follows an international trend in online platforms that aims to facilitate and normalize the payment and parcel shipping processes. Both platforms intended for consumer transactions (e.g. Vendora), as well as those intended for business-to-consumer transactions (e.g. Skroutz), constantly invest in the reliability and security of their transactions.Abroad, platforms with classifieds of second-hand items such as Leboncoin in France, already offer these solutions to individual sellers. On Vendora’s website and application, secure and simple transactions are now available to all its users.There has not been a single incident of deception through the hundreds of transactions that have already been completed through this new service.