For retailers, brands and reverse-logistics providers
Recover more from the stock you already hold.
trialcove.com is a marketplace where customers pay to live with an item before deciding whether to keep it.
Your returned stock goes out on trial, comes back to a buyer who has already decided they want it, and sells for more than it would through any other channel.
You keep ownership until the moment a customer buys. We never take your stock and we never buy it.
Stage one
Paid by you
Setting up.
A one-off setup and integration fee.
Feed connection, account configuration, and a store or brand page built to your branding.
Scoped to your catalogue and how much customisation you want.
Contact us to discuss your requirementsStage two
Paid by the customer
The customer pays to trial.
They pay 6 to 8% of the retail value to trial the item, set by product type and value.
Charged to the customer upfront and credited against the price if they buy.
It exists to drive the right behaviour: a customer with money committed uses the item properly and makes a genuine decision.
If the item is returned, that fee covers the return handling, inspection, regrading and any work needed to put it back where it was.
You keep
We retain
75%
25%
Of that fee you receive 75% and we retain 25%. There is no minimum on either side.
Stage three
Paid by you
The customer purchases.
A single one-off transaction fee on the purchase price.
- 8%
- where you referred the customer — an embedded link, an out-of-stock page, an abandoned basket, a post-return offer.
- 12%
- where we generated the customer.
Nothing is taken from the trial fee.
Subject to a £5 minimum, which applies only where a percentage of the purchase price would come to less than that.
Where the value goes.
Recovery depends heavily on which channel a returned item goes to.
A customer who has used the item for a fortnight is buying something they have already decided they want, priced against retail — not a bulk buyer pricing on risk. That puts a paid home trial in the recommerce band, before clearance.
- Inspection, refurbishment and recommerce40%–60%where a paid home trial sits
- Liquidation, like-new consumer electronics40%the best case for a clearance route
- Liquidation, seasonal apparel10%the same route on stock that has dated
A paid home trial sits in the recommerce band, before clearance — the item is inspected, graded and sold to somebody who has already decided they want it, rather than priced by a bulk buyer on risk.
We are measuring the additional recovery a home trial delivers against each partner’s own recovery data. That figure will be published once it is evidenced.
And the deposit
Paid by the customer
The deposit.
A refundable deposit of 10% of the retail price, taken from the customer at the same time as the trial fee and released when the item is scanned back in or the purchase completes. It is never revenue, to us or to you.
Your stock only ever goes to someone we have verified.
Biometric identity verification
A live facial check against a government-issued document. Not a name and an address. A verified human being.
Advanced fraud screening
Device, behavioural and identity signals checked before the order is released.
Payment screening
The payment method is screened before the order is released.
A deposit taken and held
Released only when the item is scanned back in.
Four checks, every customer, every trial. Nothing ships until all four have passed.
Speak to us about bespoke pricing.
Partners listing at volume across multiple categories work to terms built around their catalogue, their channels and their grading mix.
What we do not charge.
- No listing fees
- No monthly or recurring platform fee
- No minimum volume
- No separate charge for identity verification or fraud screening
Insurance and finance.
Offered to the customer at checkout by third-party providers. Commission sits with trialcove and does not affect your economics.
Contact us to discuss your requirements.
We look at your catalogue and your volumes, and scope the integration against them.
Then we agree terms and get you live.