Imagine buying a pair of shoes worth R1,500 online but paying only R375 (25% of the price) upfront. A day later the shoes arrive and you have six weeks to pay the balance — at no additional fee or interest.That’s the "buy now, pay later" deal offered by online payments company Payflex, which guarantees full payment to the merchant, says Derek Cikes, the commercial director.Cikes joined the Sandton-based company a month after it launched in 2019. His focus is on getting more retailers to accept the Payflex platform, which he says has about 600 partners, among them Superbalist, the first to sign up; HiFi Corp; Incredible Connection; Essops Home; and Dry Dock. It is adding about 60 stores a month, he says.Payflex now has 30,000 registered shoppers on its platform — those that have used the service in the past three months. In SA’s relatively small e-commerce market it competes with companies such as PayJustNow and Checkid and admittedly has a long way to go.The model has been going for...

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