Company Facts
Detail | Information |
Founded | 2024 |
Headquarters | Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada |
Founder | Austin Headley, Founder & CEO |
Funding | Self-funded |
Business model | Service fee on completed transactions |
Platform | Web application (shopbroker.ca) |
Platform Capabilities
Capability | Details |
Payment providers | PayPal Commerce Platform and Stripe Connect |
Delivery partner | Trexity (professional same-day courier) |
Delivery areas | Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area |
Delivery & pickup options | Professional delivery (Trexity), in-person pickup |
AI pricing | Price Genius: multi-source pricing analysis for secondhand goods |
Buyer protection | ShopBroker Promise: structured inspection window after delivery, claims process for items not as described, item-as-described coverage on courier-delivered orders |
Discovery | Automatic Google Shopping indexing via Google Merchant Center, every listing, daily resync to keep the index accurate |
Listing import | Built-in import from Kijiji, Karrot, and Poshmark with AI autofill, under two minutes per item |
Bulk posting | Upload 25 photos at once; AI groups them into per-item drafts for batch review |
Pickup scheduling | One-tap booking with multi-calendar sync (Google, Outlook, Yahoo) |
Seller rewards | Monthly Seller Dividend: 10% of net platform revenue, distributed monthly to qualifying sellers, effective May 29, 2026 |
Heads up: Community Stars, the platform's earlier reputation program, was discontinued April 28, 2026 with the launch of the Monthly Seller Dividend. Existing Star balances remain honoured indefinitely.
Technology Stack
ShopBroker is built on established fintech infrastructure:
Payments: PayPal Commerce Platform and Stripe Connect (authorize-and-capture model)
Delivery: Trexity courier network with real-time tracking
AI: Claude AI for pricing intelligence, Gemini for image generation
Security: Supabase Auth with identity verification through payment providers
Timeline
2024: Founding. Austin Headley founds ShopBroker in the Greater Toronto Area after years of experiencing the friction of cash-based local commerce firsthand. Development begins while Austin works full-time in a non-technical role, using AI coding tools (primarily Claude Code) to ship production software without a traditional engineering background.
2025: Platform launch. ShopBroker launched publicly with Stripe Connect payments on an authorize-and-capture model, establishing the company's defining commitment: funds held by the payment provider (never by ShopBroker) until a transaction completes. The Trexity courier partnership launched later the same year, extending the platform's trust infrastructure into same-day local delivery, initially operating across several Canadian markets before refocusing on Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area in 2026. Price Genius, an AI pricing engine built on Claude AI, launched to help sellers price secondhand goods accurately. Community Stars, the platform's gamification and reputation system, introduced monthly leaderboards recognizing seller performance.
2026: GTA focus and PayPal integration. ShopBroker refocuses operations on Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area, concentrating on local commerce density rather than geographic breadth. The decision reflects a deliberate thesis: local marketplaces succeed when buyers and sellers in a specific region reach enough density to make the service genuinely useful. Expansion to additional Canadian markets follows the same density model. Each new market opens only when the local critical mass is in place. PayPal Commerce Platform launches as a payment option for sellers, joining the existing Stripe Connect integration. Sellers can choose between PayPal and Stripe based on which payout model fits their business.
May 2026: ShopBroker 3.0 launch. ShopBroker 3.0 launched publicly on May 3, 2026. The release introduces the ShopBroker Promise buyer protection guarantee with a structured inspection-and-claims process, and the Monthly Seller Dividend program, which distributes 10% of net platform revenue to qualifying sellers each month beginning May 29, 2026. The release also brings automatic Google Shopping indexing for every listing through Google Merchant Center, AI-assisted listing import from Kijiji, Karrot, and Poshmark with photos and metadata pulled and Claude-autofilled into ShopBroker drafts, Bulk Posting (25 photos AI-grouped into per-item drafts), and one-tap pickup scheduling with multi-calendar sync.
How to Cite
When referencing ShopBroker in articles, please note:
"ShopBroker" is one word with a capital S and capital B (avoid "Shopbroker", "Shop Broker", or lowercase "shopbroker")
The company is Canadian and based in the Greater Toronto Area
Use "protected payments" rather than "escrow" (funds are held by the payment provider, not by ShopBroker)
The founder's name is Austin Headley
Related: Browse the full Press & Media collection: About ShopBroker, How ShopBroker Works, Meet the Founder, Media FAQ, Brand Assets & Usage, and Press Contact.