NEW REPORT: Can Digital Escrow Drive Big-Ticket eCommerce?

It’s easy for consumers to buy just about anything online these days. But big-ticket items – such as used vehicles, agricultural equipment and valuable artwork – require more than a point and a click to add an item to a digital shopping cart. It requires confidence that both buyers and sellers will deliver what they promised — something that is often in short supply when expensive purchases are involved.

The key to building confidence in more expensive eCommerce transactions may lie in digital escrow tools that only disburse funds after both parties agree to a sale. The June Disbursements Tracker highlights how disbursement solutions are making an impact across different verticals, from workers in the gig economy to insurance providers to marketplaces selling expensive products.

Around the Disbursements World

The balance of power appears to be shifting in the growing gig economy. Recent research indicates that employers risk losing workers if they fail to pay them by their preferred payment method.

This finding was reported in a recent survey from human resources management solutions provider ADP, and indicates how younger workers could impact payment trends in the coming years. ADP’s survey found that 47 percent of Generation Z and 31 percent of millennials are willing to turn down a job if they are unable to choose how they get paid for their services.

Whether for work-related payments or insurance claims, one of the least popular forms of payment is the paper check. Sensing this low interest in using paper checks to receive payments, Ingo Money and Prelude Software recently teamed up to #KillTheCheck in insurance payments by integrating Ingo’s push payment solutions with Prelude’s roster of insurance carriers to more quickly pay policyholders following a disaster or an accident.

And in Canada, financial services giant Visa announced plans to expand its Visa Direct solution in the nation’s healthcare market. Visa will work with Peoples Payment Solutions and TELUS Health Solutions to enable real-time push payments that deliver funds directly to patients’ Visa debit cards when they submit a benefit claim.

Deep Dive: Freight Payments

In addition to helping gig workers, insurance policy holders and patients more quickly access their funds, disbursement tools are also being used to pay freight drivers for their hard-earned time on the road. In this highly mobile profession, drivers are rarely home to receive a check in the mail, making it a highly inconvenient form of payment. This month’s Tracker includes a Deep Dive examining how new payment tools are putting freight drivers in the payments fast lane by removing some common speed bumps along the path to accessing their earnings.

Digital Escrow Tools to Build Big-Ticket eCommerce Confidence

Buying and selling used and commercial vehicles and other expensive items is another area where speed bumps are encountered. This is largely because buyers and sellers who have never met are likely hesitant to exchange goods and money until they are satisfied that they are getting what they expected out of their transaction. That’s where digital escrow tools come into play, acting as an intermediary between the two parties. These tools can be used to hold funds separately until both buyers and sellers are ready to make a deal. In the June feature story, Accruit CEO Brent Abrahm discusses how his company’s digital escrow tool is helping to instill confidence in buying expensive items, from cars to works of art, online.

About the Tracker

The Disbursements Tracker, powered by Ingo Money, is your go-to resource for staying up to date on a month-by-month basis on the trends and changes in the digital disbursement space.