Peer-to-peer purchasing startup Backpack offers a novel approach to helping customers buy products from retailers in other countries: It links up the customers with travelers to those countries, who will then buy and return with the goods, according to TechCrunch profile.
Customers pay an additional fee for the products they order, which presumably will still be less expensive when bought locally than purchased through an importer. Backpack allows customers to pay through PayPal, check, wire transfer and localized mobile payment methods; the payment is kept in escrow by Backpack.
Travelers earn money based on the product’s size and dimensions, and can make up to $250 per trip by delivering multiple items.
The company launched in February and is backed by Y Combinator. Many of its early shoppers are from Bangladesh, but the customer base is slowly moving into China. Within the first week of going live, the website received 70,000 hits from 86 countries, and has a 15 percent growth per week.
On the Backpack site, shoppers find products and request a “Backpack” and indicate the country from which they want the product. Once a request is entered, a traveler must review and confirm the request. So far, more that two-thirds of requests are fulfilled, said CEO Fahim Aziz, and more requests will be fulfilled as more travelers sign up.
