When former TechCrunch editor-in-chief Matthew Panzarino Join a startupWe knew it would interest us. Panzarino, well known among TC employees as an avid collector of everything from shoes to new cooking appliances to iPhones, has become the newest addition to top edgea new startup from the founder of Postmites Bastian Lehmann. The app, which includes instant cash offers and cash receipts, is an easier way to sell your items.
Such “stuff” is something Panzarino is familiar with, having once joked to employees that “shoes are my retirement fund.” But today TipTop focuses largely on the consumer electronics category, not collector’s items, and offers instant payouts for things like smartphones, iPads, computers, gaming systems, cameras, and more.
Lehman tells TechCrunch that the idea originally came about out of a desire to clean out a cluttered garage, but he then narrowed on the idea of consumer electronics, as prices were predictable for them to decline over time. More than a year and a half ago, the TipTop team began tracking 50,000 consumer products — mostly electronics — and then used that data to predict the value of the items 6, 12, 18, and 24 months later.
“We’ve gotten really good at this,” Lehman says, adding that they’ve also come to understand that there are two values attached to an item — the price at which someone is willing to sell and the price at which someone else is willing to buy. .
Image credits: top edge
This led to TipTop’s first product, TipTop Cash, which makes it easy to sell items you own. The system works similarly to the delivery tracking feature in the Shopify app, where you can also connect your Gmail account (or soon, other emails) and optionally your Amazon account. This is done through TipTop’s mobile application, Currently available on iOS only. This process allows TipTop to access your purchase data via digital receipts. From there, it creates an in-app catalog of items you’re known to have purchased and the cash offer you can get by selling them through TipTop.
When you’re ready to sell, you can either drop the item off at a UPS store or use Uber to pick it up. The latter is built on Postlines’ delivery API, which is now Uber’s API — something Apple still uses to power deliveries in the US (Uber completed its $2.65 billion acquisition of Postlines in 2020). .
“TipTop Cash works like reverse Postmates,” Lehman explains. “Postmates has made it so easy to bring the best of the city into your home. And TipTop Cash makes it so easy to get the stuff you own out of your home.
![](https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/tiptop-iphone.jpg)
Image credits: top edge
While the founder admits that sellers could get more for their items if they handled the sales themselves, he believes the convenience of the instant cash offer will appeal to consumers who don’t have the time or inclination to do so.
In an afternoon, you can unload old phones, tablets, laptops, cameras or gaming systems, and make a little change with little to no hassle. Compare this to the more complicated selling process on a marketplace like eBay or Facebook – where people will often spam you with low-level offers or don’t show up when you pick up. There are safety concerns about interacting with strangers online too, which is why many local buying and selling marketplaces suggest meeting people in public places, rather than at home, which is less convenient.
Since launching the app in September, TipTop Cash has sorted $50 million in gross receipts among its users, Lehman says.
Next week, TipTop will add push notifications to proactively encourage users to sell when the price is right. Later, it will also add a camera feature that will allow you to point the app at items you own or scan paper receipts for cash offers as well. (However, due to the high risk of fraud, these offers may not be instant cash.)
![](https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/tiptop-pay.jpg)
Image credits: top edge
Helping consumers sell their stuff is just one part of TipTop’s larger roadmap. The other side of selling, of course, is buying. This will come in the form of tip top bay, It will likely be a separate app and payment gateway where consumers can purchase and pay for items on a monthly basis. This part will include partnerships that Lehman says he cannot discuss yet.
“You only pay for the value minus the residual value,” he tells us. For example, if a 128GB iPhone 15 sells for $800, and the residual value after a year is $400, TipTop will give you $400 for the phone. But if the buyer wants to use the phone for a year, the amount will be only $400 divided into 12 payments. When they no longer need the phone, they can unload it with TipTop Cash and buy their new phone.
“Think of it like an iPhone upgrade program for whatever we own or our business partners offer,” Lehman suggests.
Thanks to Lehmann’s successful exit with Postmakers, raising money for his next project wasn’t a challenge. The startup has been exciting so far $23 million in Series A funding Investors include Andreessen Horowitz (Marc Andreessen is on the board), as well as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, AngelList co-founder Naval Ravikant, Pinterest, Coinbase and DoorDash board member Gokul Rajaram. Other investors include Scott Bannister, Cian Bannister, Nabil Hayat, Dan Romero, Judd Jumila, Sean Bliss, Andy McLoughlin, Jeff Claver and Vivek Patel.
Co-founded by Postmates veterans Mustafa (Moose) Rahman And Gregory CarlsonSan Francisco-based TipTop is currently a 16-person team that includes several founding members who are former Postmates engineers.