Just our two cents re: Parafin, as I've seen some horror stories on here and wanted to offer our own personal rebuttal. We are currently on our 3rd cash advance with Parafin, and so far everything has been smooth sailing. Nothing is really hidden, and if you read what you are getting into, it's all right there. As an example, let's say you get an offer for a 10K cash advance. These usually come with the caveat that you pay an additional $1K (ballpark figure, could be $1.5K) as a service fee, so once you accept, you will get $10K deposited into your bank account quickly (but will have to pay back $11.5K eventually). So, this additional $1.5K seems like a lot, but how else is Parafin supposed to just advance you so much money without some kind of fee/interest? It's all spelled out in the contract you agree to.
How fast you pay back the $11.5K is entirely predicated on your sales. Parafin takes 15% of gross sales each disbursement, until you have paid back the $11.5K in full. If you sell a ton one cycle, you could pay it back quickly and then get offered a new cash advance...if you have several cycles of little to no sales, it will obviously take a longer time. But Parafin isn't taking anything in addition to the $1.5K fee, from my example. They do take 15% of gross sales, not net, so if you're gross sales are $2K one cycle, but your net sales are just $1300, Parafin would take $300 from your bank account that disbursement (15% of 2K)...so, your actual take home that cycle would be $1300-$300= $1K. That may seem like a big chunk, but it's why you got the cash advance to begin with, and the faster you pay it off, the faster you are done owing Parafin anything. Besides, the $700 difference between gross and net sales can be written off when it comes to taxes.
Again, everything is spelled out, so I get it when I see sellers upset with Parafin, but they really aren't taking anything more than what they say they are going to take. I have noticed they will take 15% of gross sales each week (even though my Amazon disbursement schedule is every 2 weeks), but this really doesn't change what they are taking...it just means you need to be aware of what you have in your checking account to make sure you can cover the charge from Parafin each week.
All in all, if you receive a Parafin offer and really need some upfront cash to buy more inventory, etc., I truly believe Parafin is a good way to do it. Some people would argue that the APR is high when considering you are still paying the $1.5K fee even if you pay off the loan in a few months...I get that, but if you are paying off the loan that quickly, that also means your business is going good in my opinion (so we are willing to deal with the higher APR). The APR would be 15% if I took a year to pay off my loan, but then that would mean my sales were likely very low, so that wouldn't be great either. I would rather have a higher APR and pay back the loan fast, because that means my business is thriving.
