New online shopping platform allows shoppers to get others to pay for their items

New fintech startup YouPay offers a unique online shopping option where you pick what items you want from over 250 retailers and get someone else to pay.

The new solution from YouPay, a Brisbane fintech company that separates the payer from the recipient at the shopping checkout, seeks to address lost revenue from abandoned carts through the new eCommerce solution.

The solution allows online shoppers to fill their cart and send it to another person to purchase on their behalf instantly. It has just launched on online street fashion behemoth and eCommerce success story, Culture Kings, and in the coming months is set to be integrated onto the eCommerce platforms of some 250 other brands who have registered their intent.

According to Experian, on average, millennials with a mortgage, credit card or personal loan are $428,000 in debt, owing $146,000 more to credit providers than the average GenX and Baby Boomer.

YouPay's collaborative approach to online shopping solves a problem countless shoppers encounter every day; how do you quickly shop for the products you want or need when you're not the one who needs to pay for them?

According to research from The Australia Institute, 30% of Australians expect to receive a Christmas gift they will never use, meaning that wasted presents total around $980 million every year, often ending up in the landfill.

And a Gumtree survey found that millions of Australians may be waking up with more than Christmas leftovers, as over 19.3 million unwanted gifts were received last year. The survey found that 53% of Australian adults, the equivalent of 8.5 million people, received at least one unwanted Christmas gift. Clothes and accessories topped the list for unwanted gifts (20%), followed by beauty products (15%).

YouPay, which recently closed an initial $4 million seed round with Sprint, a Brisbane based venture capital firm, aims to increase eCommerce conversion rates by providing an alternative payment mechanism to enable purchases by third parties.

"YouPay makes it easy for one person to shop online and another person to pay for it, quickly and securely," said YouPay CEO and founder, Matt Holme.

"Shoppers simply fill their cart, as usual, create a YouPay link, and then send that link to the person they would like to make the purchase."

Culture Kings founder and CEO, Simon Beard, who was one of the early adopters of Buy Now Pay Later, says YouPay provided a solution to a common frustration for merchants and the consumers.

"With more than $1 million of goods left in abandoned carts each day, we were looking for a simple yet effective solution that would not only reduce this but make it easier for our customers to be able to share their cart as opposed to sending a link to someone and hoping they select the right size and colour," he says.

"YouPay solves a common problem with a simple solution – it's easy for customers to use and for purchasers to make a payment in one easy click. People can now share carts with parents, partners and friends, which is a great way to purchase and get what you want."

Beard says the YouPay solution also has a wide range of use cases for consumers, businesses, and charities. He believes it will appeal to many organisations across these different areas.  

Holme adds that the aim was to allow shoppers to get the products they wanted while eliminating the heavy lifting a payer usually has to do, resulting in abandoned carts or incorrect purchases.

"We're very conscious of the need for people to spend responsibly, and while there are many options out there, we believe our shared system will help reduce the risk of debt among consumers," he says.

"Given our wide-ranging applications and implementation potential across all eCommerce platforms, we are ready to carve our own path in the online shopping space."