Paribus

Paribus is an American company and creator of the price tracking app of the same name, which syncs with a user's email account to scan for receipts and negotiates with online companies to refund the difference if there is a price drop shortly after a purchase.

This article is about the American software company. For the Latin phrase, see Ceteris paribus.
Paribus
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryTechnology
Software
Founded2014
FounderEric Glyman (CEO)
Karim Atiyeh (CTO)
HeadquartersBrooklyn, NY
Area served
Worldwide
ParentCapital One
Websitewww.paribus.co

History

Paribus was founded in 2014 by Eric Glyman and Karim Atiyeh.[1] The company is based in Brooklyn, New York.[1] The name is derived from the Latin phrase ceteris paribus, meaning "all others things being equal."[2]

Glyman built Paribus to simplify the process of receiving a refund following a price drop, which can be complicated to track and often go unclaimed. He and fellow Harvard University alumnus Atiyeh conceived of the idea and started working on the concept in the summer of 2013.[3][4] After launching in beta in September 2014,[3] the app launched publicly at TechCrunch Disrupt New York on May 5, 2015.[1][5] Paribus released its iOS app on August 6, 2015,[6] and its Android app on April 28, 2016.[7]

In October 2015, Paribus announced that it had raised $2.1 million in seed funding, following its participation in the Y Combinator summer program and Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt NY. The funding round was led by General Catalyst Partners, and also included Greylock Partners, Foundation Capital, Soma Capital and Mick Johnson, Facebook's former director of product.[8]

In October 2016, it was announced that Paribus had been acquired by Capital One.[9][10] Since then, Paribus has continued to launch new products to help save users time and money and has reportedly found more than $20,000,000 in savings for their over 3,000,000 users.

Software

Paribus connects to a user's email account to scan messages for receipts from e-commerce retailers.[11][12] The app tracks the user's purchases and, if an item goes on sale shortly after the purchase, Paribus contacts customer service departments in the user's name to file a price adjustment claim and request a refund of the difference.[13][14][15] It is also able to detect coupons or promo codes that could have been applied to a purchase, and have the coupon redeemed retroactively.[16][17] The app is free.[18] After the acquisition closed with Capital One, Paribus users now keep 100% of the difference. It is available on the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and on Android smartphones and tablets.[19]

At its launch, the service worked with 18 major retailers, including Amazon.com, Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Macy's and Newegg.[8][20] This list had grown to 29 retailers in the United States by December 2017. The company states that the average user saves between $60 and $100 per year.[11] As of October 2016, it had over 700,000 users.[9]

See also

References
  1. Sarah Perez, "Paribus Can Save You Money When Online Prices Drop," TechCrunch, May 5, 2015.
  2. J. Money, "Paribus: The App That Gets Your Money Back," budgetsaresexy.com, May 13, 2015.
  3. Jillian D'Onfro, "These 20-somethjings will help you get the rebates that online stores owe you," Business Insider, July 17, 2015.
  4. Rebecca Strong, "Harvard Grads' App Gets Your Money Back When Something You Bought Goes on Sale," BostInno, May 21, 2015.
  5. Rafe Needleman, "Free Money, of a Sort: Paribus Gets You Refunds You Didn’t Know You Had Coming," Yahoo! Tech, May 5, 2015.
  6. Casey Newton, "Paribus launches an app to fight against hidden price discrimination," The Verge, August 6, 2015.
  7. Nick Gray, "Paribus for Android pays you when something you bought gets a price drop," Phandroid, April 28, 2016.
  8. Sarah Perez, "Paribus Raises $2.1 Million For Its Service That Saves Online Shoppers Money When Prices Drop," TechCrunch, October 7, 2015.
  9. Sarah Perez, "Capital One acquires online price tracker Paribus," TechCrunch, October 6, 2016.
  10. Antony Peyton, "Capital One buys online price tracker Paribus," Banking Technology, October 10, 2016.
  11. Lauren Zumbach, "Apps track emails, receipts to spot potential price-match refunds," Chicago Tribune, May 24, 2016.
  12. Janet Berry-Johnson, "Want To Save Money Shopping Online? There's An App For That," Forbes, March 21, 2016.
  13. Stefano Marra, "This Money-Saving App Bugs Retailers and Gets You Refunds," Wired, August 18, 2016.
  14. Rick Broida, "How to get price-drop refunds without even trying," CNet, May 25, 2016.
  15. Erin Barry, "Paribus looks into your email, but only to help save you cash," CNBC, February 28, 2016.
  16. "Paribus: The app that gets you price-drop refunds," WUSA, September 7, 2016.
  17. Erin Barry, "Start-up finds cash for online shoppers," CNBC, October 7, 2015.
  18. Doug Aamoth, "Free App Friday: Never, Ever Pay Full Price For Anything," Fast Company, December 4, 2015.
  19. Kristin Wong, "Paribus, the App that Automatically Refunds Price Drops, Comes to iPhone and Android," Lifehacker, April 27, 2016.
  20. Zach Epstein, "New free service automatically gets you money back when items you've already bought go on sale," Boy Genius Report, May 22, 2015.
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