UK small business courts eBay and Facebook

by Rebecca Burn-Callander - Monday, 9th June 2008 -

Gloucestershire-based Recipero is out to revolutionise the second-hand gadget market with its new stolen property database.

Recipero was founded back in 2000 and its flagship product, CheckMEND, has been four long years in the making. It’s just been released for public consumption, and the service will completely change the way second hand goods are bought and sold online.

Having wooed all the big players who deal with the theft of consumer electronics, including the police, mobile phone networks, and insurance companies, CheckMEND boasts an increasingly comprehensive database of all stolen gadgets in the UK.

With the technology in place, it’s now time to start raking in the loot. Recipero founder Adrian Portlock is in talks with the premier online marketplaces: eBay, Facebook, Craig’s List etc over a possible partnership.

Portlock is pitching a CheckMEND “button”. This link, featured against all gadget listings, will access the CheckMEND site so that buyers can check the history of the product they’re bidding on. For £2.99, or a reduced rate, buyers can be sure that the object of their desire has not been nicked, lost or “fallen off the back of a lorry”.

This link-up will see the £1.3m-turnover company grow exponentially. It will also transform the way gadgets are traded online. “We’re aiming to launch the service over the next six to nine months,” says Portlock. “We’re already talking to sellers about incorporating the checking process in their listing. The potential is huge!”

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