Moving from your home country in search of a new adventure is exciting! It’s something more and more people are doing. Whether it be students studying abroad for 3 years or professionals who move indefinitely, there is one thing that connects them all. That is that we all miss specific things from home. This is what inspired Daria Rebenok with the idea for Grabr.
Grabr is a peer to peer shopping and delivery marketplace. They make it possible for travelers to make money by shopping for and delivering products to people all around the world. Grabr uses these travelers to bridge the gap in the global shopping market. This way shoppers can have access to goods that are either unavailable or overpriced in their country. Travelers use the extra room in their suitcase to bring the products from point A to point B.
So who is this service for? There are two answers. The first is the shopper. Shoppers are people around the world who want or need to shop internationally. The second would be the travelers. These are people who are traveling, for whatever reason, and want to make some easy extra money.
To put it simply, someone wants something they can’t find locally. They post their plea for someone to bring it to them for a price that the two decide on (usually between $5-$20). Grabr takes a 7% cut of these fees. So you’re in L.A. but want macarons from your favorite cafe in Paris? Easy! Just post your request and connect with someone who is making the trip from Paris to L.A., agree on a price, and you’ll be enjoying those macarons in no time!
It can be argued that a service like this facilitates the sale of illegal goods. Grabr does impose restrictions as to what can be bought through their site. In their terms of service there is a list of prohibited items that includes illegal drugs, human remains, counterfeit currency, and live animals. Items imported without a customs declaration are also banned. Stolen property or anything the U.S. government deems hazardous are also prohibited. But the question still remains as to how users will be monitored. However, companies designed as peer to peer, such as Airbnb, say they’re only facilitating the person to person connection via technology. This therefore lets the people and not the company take care of the arrangements, which in turn makes the company not liable for any illegal transactions.
Regardless of the things that can go wrong, I know that I will definitely be using this to get all of my favorite foods from the U.S. delivered here to Warsaw!
Sources: http://www.inc.com/christine-lagorio/grabr-launches-anything-delivery-peer-network.html
I like that business, as I am travelling a lot i think i could use it one day. I mean i couldnt imagine sitting somewhere in the world not having Uszka or Barszcz for christmas hehe 🙂
I hope this start up will do well!