ValuLive is an online video-appraisal & buyback platform for selling brand-name goods and precious metals with just a smartphone. From photographing to appraisal and payout, everything is completed in a single app.
In response to user voices like “I want to sell without visiting a store” and “I want to consult an expert directly,” we developed a buyback experience centered on live video appraisal, built in-house from scratch in 8 months — this is the story of that new platform launch.
A reuse business handling the buyback of brand-name bags, luxury watches, precious metals and jewelry. On top of in-store and mail-in buyback, they launched a smartphone-only online video-appraisal service as a new buyback channel that needs no store visit.
The keys were the reassurance of an expert appraiser attending to you directly and the speed of agreeing on a price and closing the deal on the spot. The project aimed to achieve both through a mobile experience centered on live video calls.
Photograph the item on a smartphone and request an appraisal
Call an expert appraiser and get appraised on the spot
Agree to the offer and complete eKYC
Payout to the registered account as fast as same day
Buyback is not a mere e-commerce transaction; it involves identity verification, price negotiation and trust. The technical challenges were, at the same time, experience-design challenges of how to dispel users' anxiety.
Photo-only appraisal fails to convey condition, leaving both users and the business uneasy. A real-time means of interaction was what we needed.
Prolonged back-and-forth messaging increases drop-off. Presenting and agreeing during the call — a mechanism to carry it through was required.
Identity verification under the Secondhand Goods Business Act is mandatory. Smartphone-only eKYC had to be implemented while curbing drop-off.
If account registration and transfer after agreement are disjointed, the experience breaks. End-to-end from appraisal to payout — that seamless flow was essential.
Three surfaces — the seller app, the appraiser console and the operations admin screen — were built in-house from scratch on top of a real-time communication foundation (video, chat, notifications), integrating everything from appraisal to payout into a single flow.
EXECUTION
React NativeReact
Redux
i18next
Node.js
Socket.IO
MySQL
MongoDB
Redis
Twilio SMS
AWS S3From appraisal to payout on a single smartphone — securing a third buyback channel alongside in-store and mail-in.
A foundation that delivers trust unattainable with photo-only appraisal, through live calls with expert appraisers.
Presenting offers and reaching agreement during the call reduces drop-off mid-negotiation.
Integrating eKYC, bank-account registration and transfer to enable safe, speedy transactions.