Veriff and TPC: ensuring a safe, fraud-free way to buy and sell premium bikes

About TPC

TPC is the world’s largest and most trusted brand for buying and selling certified pre-owned bikes. The company equips cyclists with premium bikes, components, gear, and inspiration to enjoy the ride of their life.

Founded in 2006 by Professional Mountain Biker Nick Martin, TPC set out to change the way people buy bikes. The brand operated initially as an eBay store before Nick and his team created the brand’s own digital platform, complete with a submission process enabling individuals to sell their pre-loved bikes.

Prior to sale, TPC’s mechanics rigorously check and authenticate every bike at an individual component level to guarantee total peace of mind. Customers also enjoy a risk-free 30-day returns policy and a CPO-guaranteed buy-back program.

What business problems did Veriff solve for TPC?

With pre-loved bikes regularly selling for more than $9,000 on its platform, TPC and its customers need to know that each and every transaction – regardless of sticker price –  is bone fide and fraud-free. Achieving maximum levels of trust and confidence doesn’t just make great commercial sense, US law also obliges TPC to collect and verify sellers’ personally identifiable information (PII) to help detect and deter criminal activity.

Rapid growth, however, meant the company soon outgrew its in-house anti-fraud processes, which were 100% manual, slow, prone to human error, and increasingly unfit for purpose. One of the company’s single biggest challenges, for example, was verifying the authenticity of customer ID documents. 

Rather than being on the front foot and adopting a proactive anti-fraud posture that would instil confidence throughout its operations, TPC’s analog processes were threatening to undermine growth. Instead of simply relying on sellers to upload identity documents, the company desperately needed to generate a stream of high-quality, verified customer data enabling it to pinpoint which sellers it should investigate and which posed a significant fraud risk and should be avoided altogether.

What made the difference to TPC when choosing Veriff?

Veriff’s partnership approach made it stand out from other vendors in the verification space, according to the TPC team, which benefited from a dedicated account manager and open communications channels to ensure TPC was constantly supported during the adoption phase and beyond. 

Solution integration was another factor that differentiated Veriff’s offering, with the team working tirelessly to ensure its IDV software dovetailed seamlessly with TPC’s seller submission platform, presenting customers with one frictionless digital experience. As Gregory Boucher, Senior Fullstack Engineer at TPC, explained: “Working with Veriff proved to be a winning partnership right from the start, they ensured their verification product fit seamlessly into our sales submission platform, delivering a friction-free digital experience for our customers.” 

And Veriff also took full responsibility for handling and managing sellers’ data, which meant TPC was not exposed to data compliance risk.

The biggest difference, however, was the way Veriff's platform effectively reduced identity fraud. The platform not only ensures ID documents submitted by sellers are authentic, but it also automates the process and uses biometric authentication to ensure users are who they say are on return visits. This means the TPC team can now concentrate on what they enjoyed most – building their business.

Veriff’s platform asks sellers to take a quick selfie and a photo of their government-issued ID using their smartphone or tablet. An AI algorithm checks the selfie for liveness and realness in real-time by comparing it to live video taken from the customer’s device with their express permission. The selfie is then compared to photographs from the customer’s government-issued identity documents, which are also automatically checked and authenticated using AI.

What was the immediate impact of implementing Veriff?

The biggest immediate impact is the reduced burden placed on TPC employees to verify customers and detect fraud risk. The team can now concentrate on its primary role instead, carefully assessing the 1500 to 2000 bike, frame, and wheel submissions it receives every week. 

“We’re in the bike industry, not the security industry, so being able to partner with Veriff means we can focus on our core business, safe in the knowledge that identity verification and data compliance is being taken care of,” said David Cogdill, Director of Reactive Purchasing at TPC.

Veriff has not only prevented fraudulent transactions it has also biometrically blocked those sellers from using TPC’s platform. Fraudulent transactions can cost hundreds of employee hours as the company interacts with law enforcement in an effort to resolve the case. This all equates to wasted time and resources as well as lost revenue. Meanwhile, automation has streamlined the number of prospective sellers able to pass through TPC’s verification workflow unlocking team resources. 

As Cogdill explains: “We’ve progressed from asking sellers to upload ID documents multiple times, to executing the verification process right the first time, every time, thanks to Veriff. As soon as a seller has gone through the IDV process once and become a verified customer they can transact at a much faster speed than before.”

About Veriff

Veriff is the preferred identity verification partner for the world’s biggest and best digital companies, including pioneers in fintech, crypto, gaming, and the mobility sectors. We provide advanced technology, deep insights, and expertise from our foundation in digital-first Estonia and honed in leading the digital identity revolution. The partner of choice for businesses who need to rapidly and effortlessly verify online users from anywhere in the world, Veriff delivers the widest possible identity document coverage.

By supporting government-issued IDs from more than 230 issuing countries and territories and with our intelligent decision engine which analyzes thousands of technological and behavioral variables Veriff enables trust from the first hello. With more than 550 people from 60 different nationalities and offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, and Estonia, we are dedicated to helping businesses and individuals build a safer and more secure online world.