An Introduction To Paysfer eMart

By Megan Reddy

Co-Founder

Paysfer online marketplace is a New York city based e-commerce startup that provides third party sales for all the categories of goods. It has recently launched operations with a team of several  NYU alums and current students. Paysfer was created with the goal of supporting local small  businesses that were struggling during COVID related lockdowns. The e-commerce business  had begun to grow rapidly as more businesses started to sell their products online out of  necessity, and many local vendors were looking for an opportunity to move online. We gave  over 300 struggling small businesses and 14 companies in COVID related bankruptcy the opportunity to sell their products on our site  with zero fees. As Paysfer grows, we plan to hire more NYU and other college students and  expand throughout the US, and eventually, worldwide. Following in the footsteps of several  major tech companies that began as startups based out of college campuses, Paysfer plans to  grow after starting from NYU. 

Paysfer has supported small businesses from its conception. After our initial no-fee period, we offered vendors a low 6% flat fee that would allow small businesses to sell their products on our site. Additionally, Paysfers’ first vendors were some of the local small business vendors seen at  popular farmers markets in New York city. The COVID-19 pandemic made many of these  markets unsafe, so Paysfer has strived to provide a platform for these small, local vendors to  continue bringing their products to the community. Through Channel Advisor integration,  Paysfer is in the process of registering thousands of  vendors and products will be available on our website.  

Large e-commerce platforms that sell all the goods have come to dominate the e-commerce  market because people enjoy the convenience of being able to find a product for every need in  one place. Over the time, public perception of these large e-commerce platforms has changed, as they have attempted to monopolize the e-commerce space by engulfing and causing shutting down small businesses owned and operated by families for decades.

Unlike some larger e-commerce platforms which have high and variable vendor fees  which can prevent smaller businesses from selling on their sites, Paysfer has a 6% flat rate for  vendors and we urged vendors to pass on those savings, so in turn more competitive prices for customers. One of the reasons why Paysfer is able to provide a lower vendor fee is the elimination of costly warehouses. Paysfer vendors ship directly to customers. The elimination of warehouses also has the positive side effect of reducing the pollution and waste that some larger e-commerce platforms have seen from warehouse use, as well as reducing their contribution to highway traffic from large shipping vehicles. 


Eliminating warehouses would eliminate one leg of truck traffic and the pollution cost associated with that leg. You might have noticed recently that our highways are flooded with thousands of trucks making the driving conditions dangerous for other drivers. It would also eliminate the environmental impact of building, maintaining warehouses. If customers would be willing to wait additional 1 to 3 days, as opposed to the prime model of same day delivery, they could be helping the environment.

Paysfer is a small startup that seeks to support other small businesses by creating a space  for all vendors. Paysfer aims to further integrate with the NYU community by hiring more NYU  students and garnering support from the community. Paysfer also hopes to work with other  NYC college students, whether in Columbia, Baruch, or others. Paysfer plans on continuing to  work with NYC-based influencers and brand ambassadors in order to build awareness and is  currently looking to work with Instagram and twitter influencers. Paysfer will work with major  media brands and gain significant exposure in the coming weeks. 

Our model would also plan to create part time jobs for college students at campuses around the country, as we expand the operations. This would provide a safe, learning environment for college students with steady income to support their college tuition, other expenses.

With more competitive pricing than most other ecommerce websites for vendors, hence 5 to 10 % lower prices on the goods sold and providing jobs at college campuses, Paysfer aspires to grow at an exponential rate and become a viable competitor to giant conglomerates.