Introduction
What began in 2015 in Sydney, Australia is slowly starting to take a surge. The easy 4-part payment of products that you can buy now and pay later is gaining popularity. It started with clothing installments and is now available for Gel Blaster automatic pistols, rifles, and much more.
Is this buy-now-pay-later concept worth it? Is Afterpay really a good alternative to making purchases? Because of its trial run in the past 5 years and because of recent expansion, we take a look at the pros and cons of Afterpay Australia.
What is Afterpay?
If you browsed for different payment methods when buying a cosmetic or a clothing garment online from an Australian website, you may have come across Afterpay. The new payment method is not exactly new but it began to gather some pace in 2020 following “stay home” mandates and safety advisory from governments.
Afterpay is a payment service that allows buyers to buy the products they desire and pay later for the same. The service will break the payment down into 4 equal installments of 25% of the purchase. The users must pay it back in six weeks post the purchase. Because of this nature of payments, Afterpay became a novelty back in 2015. Some similar concepts are recently growing popular in countries like India with Lazypay and so on.
What Happens if Someone doesn’t Pay Back at All?
First, of all, they will add a penalty of a small amount i.e., $10 in Australia as a late fee. If it still doesn’t work, because of overdue they will keep adding $7 for each day for the next 7 days. If all that does not work either, then the Afterpay Account is blocked. Also, one must note that if you do not pay the amount within a deadline, Afterpay won’t be available to you. If you don’t pay even after the penalties and overdue period, your account will be blocked.
That is, their actions go only so far as to block the account. That does not mean you can buy something worth hundreds of dollars with the same and just vanish. There is a limit to your account and it depends on your credit history. Initially, it is very low so as not to affect their operations even if someone simply vanished.
Afterpay in Australia 2018
After some 3 years post its release, the company and its services came to the limelight even more. This was because of a 2018 ASIC review that found that a majority of its buy-now-pay-later users admitted to spending more than they would otherwise afford or even consider. This is of course the human psychology that such services try to cash on. But, the results of the reviews were insightful because of the revelation of this psychology inside the buyer, the lazy or the greedy buyer.
- Every 1 in 6 users found a negative experience of this nature of buying and paying later services. Because delaying bill payments often would lead to overpaying either by penalties or otherwise.
- Delaying payments meant for some users to borrow money from friends and families as well, in certain dire situations. This would lead to loans that were unnecessary.
- Commonwealth Bank made an announcement that they will be investing in Klarna, one of Afterpay’s biggest rivals in the US. Making this big news for the service provider for both in their home country as well as in the US where it just began growing, $149 million wasn’t small.
By the end of those 3 years, Afterpay Australia was resonating a big triumph but facing an uphill battle as well. Because of this, the market was firing up. That is, customers and buyers now became aware of this amazing service even more. Should they start using it? Should those who are on it consider parting away?
Afterpay 2021: Pros & Cons
So, what is the review and the status of this amazing company today, is what we are talking about here. With the best foot forward companies like Tactoys offer these incredible Gel Blaster Afterpay alternative payments. The payment method has thus grown from luxury products like cosmetics, clothing to toy guns for the best backyard fun. Gel Blasters Afterpay options are available across websites in Australia with fortnight payment options.
Pros
- Seamless integration with the online store makes it super-easy to keep the transactions and records neatly. Making a purchase through Afterpay is automatic and instant. No need for any numbers, OTP, etc, so a failure in order placement.
- If you are a first-time user you will automatically have to pay 25% of the purchase when you register for Afterpay for the first time. But, if you are a responsible user, you don’t have to pay anything for the next two weeks or so.
- Fast and easy approval process, no paperwork or anything makes it super easy for everyone. Just register with the company using a simple signup form. No need for an employment record, salary information, or anything.
- The best thing is perhaps that the payment of 4 installments is interest-free. It is actually a buy-now-pay-later without any hidden costs. Except that late fees and penalties will come if you don’t pay by the due dates.
Conclusion
Afterpay Australia is the best alternative to Credit Cards for small payments because it is a very good option if you want to avoid hefty interests. But the downsides may include addiction, overpayments, and making over-purchases. In short, it is a blessing for the responsible Australians.