Startup Wants To Take The Awkward Meeting Out Of Craigslist Buying

Michael Terrett had stuff to sell. But he didn’t want strangers showing up at his house and he didn’t want to meet someone he didn’t know for an exchange.

The e-commerce space veteran soon surmised that he could use mobile technology to take the face-to-face meeting out of peer-to-peer commerce.

Terrett and San Francisco-based business partner Eric Romanik eventually created Rezella, a mobile app that allows buyers and sellers to move items without meeting or offering up their address or social media profile.

“There is a large market of people who have stuff they want to sell but aren’t willing to do it because they aren’t willing to go meet a stranger on a corner and they don’t want to give up their privacy like a home address or social profile,” Terrett said.

The app works like this: The seller takes a picture of an item and uploads it to the marketplace along with a description. Based on a buyer’s location, the app dynamically adjusts pricing to include shipping costs.

Upon a purchase, a credit card is charged and the money then goes into escrow. The seller receives a prepaid shipping label from Rezella and drop the package at FedEx.

The app tracks the package and lets the buyer know when it’s being delivered. After delivery, the buyer has 48 hours to decide to return it and get the money back. Once that time passes, the money is released to the seller.

The anonymity for the app pertains to the public marketplace, Terrett said. Users must provide email and home addresses. Sellers need to provide bank accounts so they can accept payments.

“If (an item is) drugs or inappropriate we can reject it,” he said. “Once we approve it, if it’s fraudulent or if law enforcement contacts us, we state clearly that we will work with them.”

The startup generates revenue by taking a slice of each transaction. There are so far thousands of items posted and about 200 registered users.

While the team is marketing Rezella in the Portland area, the app can be used anywhere.

The startup employs four full-time workers based in the co-working space CENTRL Office. A group of 100 Portlanders beta-tested the app before it was released widely a few weeks ago.

A handful of the beta users invested in a small angel round. Terrett intends to use that funding — he declined to say how much was raised — to get the word out.

Terrett is also trying to determine the app’s potential market size.

The eight-year resident chose to develop Rezella here as opposed to the Bay Area.

“I had no intention not to build here but (our partners) encouraged us to build in Oregon,” he said, citing the access to high quality, affordable talent.

Source: Portland Business Journal, Malia Spencer
Photo: The Rezella app allows buyers and sellers to exchange goods without exchanging personal information. Rezella