Laybuy suffers service outage

Buy now pay later provider Laybuy suspends services and payments; not a security issue, founder says

Technology / news

Buy now pay later provider Laybuy suspends services and payments; not a security issue, founder says

[updated]

14th Jun 24, 2:43pm by Juha Saarinen

Laybuy email to merchants

Laybuy is experiencing a service outage, with merchants being told payments options are suspended. No details as to what's causing the outage have been released, but Laybuy's website is running a banner saying the platform is "undergoing maintenance."

The outage appears to have started just before 10 am New Zealand time

Interest.co.nz has contacted Laybuy for comment, and will update the story when more is known about the outage.

Update Laybuy posted a note at an unknown time Thursday about Friday's maintenance upgrade, ~~saying it is being done for security purposes~~ The suspension of services is not due to a security issue, Laybuy said. Please see update from Laybuy managing director Gary Rohloff below.

Update June 15 2024 Laybuy founder and managing director Gary Rohloff said the suspension of services and payments is not due to a security issue.

"This is not an accurate representation of the situation as there are no security implications for our customers or merchants. That wording should not have been included in our customer comms and has been removed," Rohloff said.

"We have updated our communication to customers that is found here: https://intercom.help/laybuy-help/en/articles/8226376-why-is-laybuy-currently-suspended" he added.

Rohloff declined to comment further on the reason for the suspension of services and payments.

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4 Comments

by dumbthoughts | 14th Jun 24, 2:58pm 1718333929

Over on Reddit (Personal Finance NZ) there are a few vendors commenting on the news thread about this, saying the vendor-facing messaging is different - implying $$$ issues at Laybuy's end - and there have been problems with slow merchant payouts etc where as the public facing messaging is implying much more that it's a simple tech issue e.g. site down.

Guessing maybe funding has been pulled or slow to come through their end?

by OldSkoolEconomics | 14th Jun 24, 3:01pm 1718334076

must be a tough business to be in. at the moment, new customers are spending less and existing customers struggling to pay their payments on time.

by dumbthoughts | 14th Jun 24, 3:14pm 1718334842

Also I'd imagine the average BNPL user is more likely to be in the cohort "feeling the pinch" right now. Although, based on anecdotal observation of groups such as 'Afterpay Obsession' on Facebook, a lot of BNPL's core demographic seems to bring it on themselves with truly wanton spending (e.g. "how do I put lotto tickets on Afterpay" or "my credit limit is $250, how can I buy my 2 year old $2000 worth of toys and party favours")

And at the end of the day, if you have to pick between food/rent/power and paying back your BNPL shopping haul, it's a no-brainer which bill doesn't get paid.

by Anon_82 | 14th Jun 24, 3:11pm 1718334691

Yeh the messaging to merchants is less "tech issue", the chat from a few people I know with a more inside line is they're going under, which isn't hard to believe when you look at their stock price and the state of the BNPL industry in general.