This may be old news, but I have never seen it. The popular file sender provider WeTransfer offers an embedded payment solution (WeTransfer). The tool is commonly used to send larger files, making it perfect for designers or other creative people to send their work to clients. However, there is a common challenge in such a transaction, especially if the two parties have never met and connected over the Internet: the order for sending the artwork and payment.
Either party is taking a risk when sending the artwork or payment first, allowing the other side to delay or not do their part of the contract. WeTransfer aims to tackle this with the embedded payment product, which allows the artist to send their artwork, but the client can only download it if they pay the requested amount. To put it more straightforward, cash on delivery in the digital world.
Similar to cash on delivery, there is still a chance for the artist to send different files (e.g., putting old books into the parcel instead of the agreed iPhone) and still get paid. However, I would assume this payment product was not designed to make it harder for fraudulent artists but to get real artists paid on time. We can probably all imagine that every artist at one point had to run behind a client multiple times to “remind” them of payments.
The WeTransfer payment product is in beta in the US and Canada. However, since WeTransfer partnered with Stripe, there should be no reason to expand it to other markets after the successful test phase.
And thanks to Meaghan for highlighting this product launch to me.
