First price-free marketplace app launches in the UK

Paperclip, a localised marketplace app, has announced a new version that allows users to buy, sell, swap and freecycle items without ever seeing a price tag.

The Cardiff-based company is looking to tap into the lucrative online marketplace industry with the launch of its updated app. It sports a new design that lets users add an item in under six seconds.

As well as this, users are also able to set up Paperclip groups and create their own marketplace. This means they can trade whatever they want, with whoever they want.

Rich Woolley and Alan Small, who founded the app, are looking to challenge the traditional marketplace format by becoming the first company to remove item prices and allow users to create their own marketplace groups.

On this move, Paperclip CEO Rich said: “Our data showed that 88% of people would always lowball buyers, and 12% would pay the listed price straight away.

“What became evident is that, even though Paperclip encourages negotiation on pricing, buyers were never receiving more than their asking price.

“This is understood as pretty standard practice with buying and selling, but it occurred to us that it doesn’t need to be the case.”

After a year of development, version 2.0 is finally here, and it gives sellers the ability to set a minimum price for their items. But this isn’t shared with potential buyers.

Rich added: “To put this into practice, if you want at least £50 for your old bike, but Joe Blogs doesn’t know this and values it at £60, everybody is happy because Joe is getting the bike for what he feels is a fair price, and you’re getting more than you expected.”

The team at paperclip is hoping that by removing prices, customers will experience a host of benefits. The firm has found that most people see a £ sign and immediately place a monetary value on an item, forgetting that they might have a dozen unwanted possessions lying around the house that could be swapped.

Rich and Alan said they are encouraging users to exchange items rather than buying. This, they believe, will ultimately instil a habit of saving money in the UK – particularly with their student and parent consumers.

On designing Paperclip Groups, COO Alan said: “One of the biggest drawbacks to online trading is that we don’t often know the person at the other end of the transaction.

“The second-hand market is already a multi-billion-pound market in the UK, but still 38% of people don’t currently sell online because they don’t trust the other users. What we wanted to do was create a place where our users could buy, sell and trade in a safe community of people they trust.

“If you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can also request items from your groups to see if anybody has it available but hasn’t thought to list it. All of these features are working together to make Paperclip 2.0 a user-focused, money-saving app above all else.”