French ‘try-before-you-buy’ startup Elyn has raised €2.5 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Headline and Sequoia Arc.
Elyn focuses on enhancing the online shopping experience by offering consumers a try-before-you-buy option at checkout. Users input their card details but are only charged five days after the item is delivered. If the product does not meet their expectations, users can block the transaction, and Elyn manages the returns and refunds on behalf of the retailer.
“With try-before-you-buy, you only pay for what you decide to keep,” said Elyn co-founder and CEO El Mehdi Hachad in an interview with TechCrunch. “We are also helping retailers manage their returns, turning them into exchanges directly through the return interface we provide.”
The company has partnered with Shopify to extend its service to small merchants. Elyn utilizes pre-authorization requests to confirm the validity of Visa, Mastercard, and CB cards, charging transaction fees based on successful sales after returns.