Afterpay is a buy now, pay later scheme. It's literally a loan shark service. 25% of their revenue comes from late fees.
"The Australian Securities and Investments Commission found one in five buy now, pay later users is missing payments, half of users aged between 18 to 29 cut back on essential items to make repayments, and more than 1.1 million transactions in 2019 incurred multiple missed payment fees.
It also warned 15 per cent of users, and half under 29, had taken out an additional loan to pay for the services, while 55 per cent of consumers paying late had used at least two different buy now, pay later providers in the past six months."
How is a zero-interest payment plan loan shark-esque? Total late fees appear to be capped at the lesser of 25% or $68, which also seems less predatory than any credit card.
Because it is integrated POS, and is even more frictionless than credit. You don't need a credit check, you can sign up to many BNPL providers at once, and you are presented with options in store and online to buy with 'x' right now and not pay a cent. It drives impulsive spending behaviours. It is all bad.
I think he’s saying that these big entrenched players immediately buy up any competition or threats.
Meaning this isn’t really any sort of free market, if you are so large you can absorb or destroy smaller entities ensuring that you will always be the leader in your market. And because governments have no teeth when it comes to monopolies or anti-competition this skates by world wide.
