eBay acquires BillSAFE


22 Dec 2011

E-commerce giant eBay has acquired BillSAFE, a provider of purchase-on-invoice technology in Germany. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

The deal follows eBay Inc.’s minority stake investment in the company in October 2010 and eBay now owns 100pc of the outstanding shares of BillSAFE.

The acquisition combines BillSAFE with eBay’s online payments system PayPal, with the aim of providing a comprehensive payment service for merchants and consumers.

BillSAFE enables customers to receive an invoice for payment after they receive their items.

“One of PayPal’s greatest assets is the security of our system, and we’re glad that we can now offer customers even more peace of mind with a payment method that they already know and prefer and that drives more sales for the merchants,” said Arnulf Keese, managing director of PayPal Germany, where purchase on invoice is reportedly a popular form of payment.

“Together with BillSAFE, we can offer even more choices to our customers – whether they prefer to pay with their bank accounts, their credit cards or now through purchase on invoice,” Keese added.

Alexander Ey, managing director of BillSAFE, said security-conscious shoppers can receive and inspect the merchandise they bought online before paying for their purchases.

“And merchants can sell to customers who were previously sceptical of buying online. It’s an ideal match,” Ey said.