Swappa originally started as a side project for Ben Edwards.
The business origin dates back to late 2010 in his basement of his house in southern Platte County. With a background in software development, Edwards started getting into mobile app development.
With iPhones and Androids controlling the market shares, he tried to get those to start working. He had issues in getting the smartphones and dealt with fraud or attempted fraud from sellers on eBay and Craigslist.
Edwards
The last straw for the St. Joseph native was a Craigslist purchase for an Android.
“I was able to handle it, inspect it and I gave him a couple hundred dollars and we drove off,” Edwards said. “We were at the same stoplight and I look over and he is looking over at me nervously. I could tell he was nervous. He slams on the gas and runs through a red light and sped onto the highway and I’m sitting with a stupid look. I realize I have been screwed over, I just didn’t know how.”
He tried to activate the phone and it was blacklisted and blocked by the network.
It became an “expensive paper weight” for Edwards.
That sparked him to create Swappa, a user-to-user market for buying and selling smartphones. It has since grown to selling other items such as video games, tablets, cameras and smart watches.
“It started as just an idea to make a safe market place where people could buy and sell in a trustworthy manner,” said Edwards, who attended St. Joseph Central before going to college at Georgia Tech. He moved to the Northland in 2003.
He quickly found other people had similar buying issues.
The company’s name grew by word of mouth and search engines.
He did all of the work on the site, from coding to software to emails to review listings to fighting fraud.
The business went from $500,000 in market place activity to more than $100 million last year.
There is now a staff of 30 people with a distribution team across the country — a handful still based in Kansas City.
The company has grown from the basement off Interstate 29 and NW 64th Street to an office in the River Market area of Kansas City.
“I’m definitely surprised by the growth and grateful for it,” Edwards said.
Swappa is similar in some ways to eBay, Craigslist, Let Go or OfferUp as far as being in the market place to connect sellers and buyers but Swappa uses a different strategy.
Items such as smartphones have to be gently used and fully functional to be sold. A staff member will review and approve all postings. The seller is also required to provide the serial number for the phone so the company can check to make sure it isn’t blacklisted or has money owed on it through a lease.
Recently, the company continues to grow and has added Swappa Local in five markets — Kansas City, Austin, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Dallas/Fort Worth and Orange (Calif.) County.
“It provides an option for a seller to hand over a product sold in the marketplace in person instead of the standard shopping method,” Swappa’s website said of the new option. “This gives sellers the ability to target local buyers in their area while eliminating shipping costs in favor of local meetups. For buyers, they get to take home an item the moment it’s been purchased, which is ideal for anyone looking to replace a broken or missing phone in a hurry. Swappa Local helps put more money in the sellers’ pockets, while providing near instant gratification for buyers. It’s a win-win across the board.”
A second round of Swappa Local locations have been added: Atlanta, Las Vegas, St. Louis and Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, N.C.