What happened: eBay Germany announced a partnership with British Embedded Lending provider YouLend (Press release via email). The partnership enables eBay’s German merchants to apply for and receive funding directly within its online services. The two companies have been partners in the UK since 2021 and are extending this partnership to Germany.
My comment: eBay is one of the few non-financial brands that offers Embedded Finance products in different jurisdictions around the globe. This includes eBay’s home market in the US, the UK, and now Germany (or maybe even more?). It is surprising that eBay took four years to take the lending product from the UK to Germany, especially considering that Germany is an eBay core market. But I guess better late than never. (Edit: eBay Germany has already offered an embedded lending product since 2022, but in partnership with Iwoca; eBay Germany)
What I found most interesting about the partnership is that merchants do not have to apply for the financing in the first place. Instead, merchants are automatically checked based on their eBay transaction history. When a merchant is eligible for financing, the funding offer is visible within the eBay seller dashboard, and the seller only needs to accept it. Most applications for embedded lending products are already much shorter than lending applications via traditional banks. So you can argue that the benefit of this feature is somewhat limited. However, it is likely not so much about saving a step in the application process for merchants who wanted to apply anyway, but rather showing those merchants who didn’t consider using it that they could receive external financing.
