The Warby Parker Of Gadgets? YBUY Gets $1M From Schmidt?s Tomorrow Ventures To Open Its 50k-Strong Waitlist For Test-Driving iPads, Jawbones And More

The retail world of consumer electronics is a tough game, with a lot of the traditional bricks-and-mortar trade continually pushing online to compete against the likes of Amazon and eBay for consumers that prefer to get a wider selection for cheaper prices to seeing the products in action before purchasing. A startup called YBUY is trying to turn that ecommerce model on its head, by offering a kind of extended lease service to online buyers, giving them the chance to try out gadgets at home before closing the deal. With daily new sign-ups registering around 2,000 at the moment, today YBUY is announcing it?s picked up $1 million in Series A funding from Google Chairman Eric Schmidt?s investment firm Tomorrow Ventures. YBUY says that the money will be used mainly to help it continue growing its business, which has had a strong response since launching at the end of 2011. Currently it has a waiting list of nearly 50,000 people to use the service -- so most immediately it is gradually opening up the service to them. The concept behind YBUY is fairly straightforward: for a flat fee of $24.95 per month, it offers a selection of consumer electronics and kitchen gadgets -- both new and refurbished -- giving users the option of getting them for 30-day testing periods before actually agreeing to buy them. YBUY pays for all the postage and packaging to send you the product and get it back if you don?t want to keep it.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/1oCmLnq6grg/

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