A report on a real-life experience: Selling things just by taking a picture!　Trying out the new service “AI Instant Cash App

Tried the “AI Instant Cash App

There is an app that allows users to get instant cash just by taking a picture of something in front of them with their smartphone.

This is the case with “Chalyn,” which was launched in September last year. When you take a picture of the item you want to sell, the AI assesses it and displays the amount instantly. If the price is acceptable, the item is shipped, and the cash is transferred after it arrives at the center.

The categories of items for sale have been added since the launch of the service, ranging from PCs, cell phones, game consoles, general fashion, toys, and sporting goods, with foreign currency and gift certificates added in April.

Compared to the old days, selling items on flea market apps has become much easier. However, it takes time and effort to check market prices, set prices, and communicate with buyers.

It is stressful to deal with people who are disappointed with the item because it is “dirty,” even though you have stated that it is a used item, or to deal with people who are not satisfied unless you reduce the price. It is also common for items to remain unsold for years. It would be great if you could really make cash just by taking a picture and sending the item.

I downloaded “Chalyn” right away. First, I decided to try it out on my iPhone 13 pro, which I had left unused.

From the app, I opened the camera and took a photo. Enter “category” and “model” from the choices and the amount is instantly displayed. …… Eh, isn’t $5,616 cheap?

But it appears that this is not the end of the story yet. It seems that more detailed information about the condition of the item needs to be entered. After checking a few items, the screen changes to “This item is priced as shown above! and the price went up to 16,062 yen. I felt that I could get a better price with a flea market app or a buy-back, but if I wanted to sell it at a higher price, I only needed to take the time and effort to do so. Above all, it feels good to get a price right away.

Hint: the service was a hot topic in ’17.

Next, a Louis Vuitton “Alma” handbag. This one was also worth 32,200 yen when the photo was taken, but after typing in the condition of the item, the price went up to 64,239 yen.

Shipping is free as long as the appraised value is 5,000 yen or more. A courier comes to pick up the items with packing materials. The exact price is determined after the goods arrive at the center and are inspected. Copies are rejected here, and the appraisal value may be minus or plus depending on the condition of the actual item checked. In the end, the iPhone was assessed at 10,000 yen (minus), while the Alma was assessed at 90,000 yen (plus).

Also, my father’s jackets, pants, and suits were appraised at 300 yen for seven items. I would have been happy just to get the price, as these are things that would likely never sell on a flea market app. Still, it’s good to know that someone else can use it again.

According to Yoshio Aihara, president of IVA Corporation, which operates “Chalyn,” one of the hints came from a high-impact service that was launched in 2005.

The service offered instant cash transfers simply by taking a picture of an item, but at the time it was difficult to keep it going as a business. However, he thought that now that technology has advanced, he could make the service viable by taking advantage of IVA’s strengths in authentication technology and its distribution and sales network, which had been involved in the “FAKEBUSTERS” service for authenticity appraisals.

Chalyn” is based on the concept of “anything can become money,” but in order to achieve this concept, the service itself cannot be profitable unless it can handle high-unit-price items well. In this sense, it is essential to have the ability to recognize fakes. In fact, fakes arrive quite frequently, and in many cases, the users themselves are unaware that they are being sent. In some cases, genuine products and fakes arrive mixed together. That is why we believe it is important for a business like ours that can perform appraisals to do so.

In the past, one of the major issues with our service was the high level of fraud. With a system in which payment is received before the product is sent, it was easy for false declarations and unshipped items to occur, leading to operational difficulties. Now we have taken that into account and have made the system fraud-proof.”

Combining the “best of” a flea market app and a reuse store

The most difficult part of creating the “Chalyn” system was deciding at what stage to pay. Taking a picture at the stage of taking a picture has a strong impact, but it is too much. Should it be at the stage when the “Chalyn” button is pressed? No, even so, it would be too risky,” said one of the staff members.

When you want to improve the user experience, you have to be bold in your design,” he said. If you make it fast, users will be happy, but the risk of fraud will go up. On the other hand, if you make it slower, it is safer, but less attractive. This balance is very difficult, and we are still searching for it.

Currently, we are using the most conservative form, which is to assess and pay after the goods arrive. However, we would like to eventually take it a little further,” he said.

The accuracy of the automatic assessment is another point that the company hopes to improve in the future.

Currently, after receiving the product, we assess it again and present an appropriate price, but we would like to make this part of the process more challenging. Even now, you can enter your own desired amount. If you enter that, we’re trying our best to see if we can get you that amount of money when it arrives. This is something I’m really working hard on.”

In fact, up until now, “Chalyn” has increased its users without relying on advertising. Despite this, the number of users interested in the service has been steadily increasing. Representative Aihara says , “That is why we are now prioritizing improvement rather than expansion. If we expand the service in a halfway state, it will be perceived as disappointing, and people will stop using it after that,” he says. By the end of the year, the service will be in a satisfactory state and they will be conducting full-scale promotional activities, but what are they aiming for?

We have developed the service with the aim of combining the “troublesome parts” of both a flea market app and a reuse store. We have already achieved a service that reduces the hassle of exchanging and listing items, and makes it easy to do so by simply taking a picture of the item.

Automatically quoting a fair price is a difficult task, but we are determined to see how far we can go in this area. First of all, we want to improve the accuracy of the prices, and in six months’ time, we would like to be able to recommend the service to others with confidence, and make it easily available to anyone, regardless of user preference.

If realized, the impact on the reuse market is likely to be significant.