Muzaffer Dogru and his team are the driving force behind Ricardo MoneyGuard. Since July 2023, he has been leading the “Engineering, Product and Design” division for the General Marketplaces (Ricardo, anibis.ch, and tutti.ch) at SMG Swiss Marketplace Group. With many years of experience – including over five years in leadership roles in product management at FinanceScout24 – Muzaffer brings extensive expertise in developing user-centred products.
How did the idea for Ricardo MoneyGuard come about?
The idea for Ricardo MoneyGuard arose from the growing challenge of protecting our users from abuse and financial loss. Fraud cases in online trading have increased significantly in recent years. Transactions on Ricardo are private, and therefore must meet additional security requirements to minimise the risk of fraud. In their feedback, users also regularly express the desire for more safety. With MoneyGuard, we ensure that buyers either receive their ordered items as described or get their money back. This service offers the highest level of trust and protection for both buyers and sellers.
How big is the team behind Ricardo MoneyGuard, and what areas of expertise are represented?
The team behind MoneyGuard is interdisciplinary and covers a broad range of expertise. Around 20 people contribute their know-how from areas such as research, design, product management and engineering, to marketing, data, pricing, business development and customer support. The exact number varies, as we regularly draw on specific expertise as needed. Regular exchange and established processes ensure smooth collaboration across all departments, enabling us to continuously improve MoneyGuard.
To what extent did you and your team look to other markets or platforms when building MoneyGuard? Were there best practices that were adopted?
In developing MoneyGuard, we took inspiration from best practices in other markets and platforms. In some countries, a similar system—often referred to as “Paylivery”—has already been successfully implemented. Examples include Chrono24 (a marketplace for luxury watches), Willhaben (Austria’s largest classifieds platform), and Vinted (a European platform for second-hand fashion). However, some of these platforms offer transactions without an escrow service, which increases the risk for buyers, such as paying in advance without receiving goods.
To ensure that MoneyGuard delivers the best possible solution for our users, we also conducted extensive market analysis. This helped us define how the service should function and what specific user needs it should address.
What milestones have there been in the development of MoneyGuard, and what challenges did you face?
The development of MoneyGuard has involved many milestones, but also challenges that continue to keep us busy. A key aspect was creating a clear understanding among users about how the system and its sub-processes work—such as when dispatch must take place, when money is released, or when receipt needs to be confirmed.
The first version of MoneyGuard was mandatory for buyers, while sellers underwent an optional onboarding process. This included the use of our shipping labels, which are crucial for maintaining transparency and control over the shipping status via Swiss Post.
Ongoing dialogue with our users was essential to ensure that MoneyGuard meets their needs and can continue to evolve. In addition to collecting valuable (and often critical) feedback through customer support, we also conducted structured interviews with buyers and sellers. We recruit these users in various ways, including via TestingTime—a platform for recruiting participants for user research. This allowed us to gain targeted insights into different aspects of MoneyGuard. The findings led to ongoing improvements, such as allowing sellers to use their own shipping options, and introducing MoneyGuard as an optional protection for buyers.
We’ve also automated processes wherever possible—for example, by automatically releasing payments, sending relevant purchase or sales information via email and push notifications, or cancelling sales if shipping hasn’t occurred. All of these are technically complex features. At the same time, it remains a challenge to communicate these processes clearly to all users.
What role do partners like Adyen or TWINT play in the ongoing improvement of MoneyGuard?
Partners such as Adyen and TWINT play a central role in the ongoing improvement of MoneyGuard. Adyen forms the backbone of our payment processing—from authorising transactions and managing escrow accounts to the final payout. TWINT is integrated via Adyen, and other payment methods like Mastercard or Visa are also processed through their systems. Thanks to our partners’ reliable infrastructure and the highly satisfactory collaboration so far, we can guarantee secure and seamless payment processing.
MoneyGuard caused some confusion and frustration at launch. In your view, why was that, and how are you addressing such challenges?
It’s true that the launch of MoneyGuard initially caused some confusion and even frustration among certain users. During the pilot phase, the service was offered for free for around three months to familiarise users with how it works. During this time—and as mentioned, still today—we collected and evaluated feedback from various channels.
Based on that feedback, we gradually optimised the functionality and tailored it more closely to user needs. Some users were frustrated either due to general resistance to change, or because of specific individual requirements that led to misunderstandings in isolated cases.
We also recognised that communication around the changes and the specific benefits of MoneyGuard wasn’t always 100% clear. We’re addressing these challenges through ongoing improvements—although these processes often take more time than it might appear from the outside.
The upper limit will be raised to CHF 5,000 in March. Are there any other changes planned?
Yes, the upper limit for MoneyGuard will be raised to CHF 5,000 in March 2025. Even the previous limit of CHF 1,500 covered over 99% of items bought using MoneyGuard, but with the increase, we aim to secure nearly 100% of items shipped by parcel.
We also have further updates planned. For instance, we want to include letter post in the future, provided it includes tracking. Additionally, we’re working to reduce the waiting time for sellers to receive payment: those who meet certain criteria will receive the money immediately after dispatching the goods. This addresses a frequently expressed request from sellers.
Looking back at MoneyGuard’s first year: what would you and your team do differently today?
Every new product launch comes with its own challenges, and MoneyGuard was no exception. We followed the classic steps of product development and launched with a Minimum Viable Product—a basic first version—to get to market quickly. However, our users were involved from the beginning. We regularly gathered feedback and integrated it step by step into the ongoing development process.
In hindsight, of course, there are things we would do differently. For example, regarding communication: we realised that earlier and more regular communication through various channels could have helped both buyers and sellers better understand MoneyGuard’s features and benefits before the launch.
These learnings have shown us that product development only works hand in hand with users. The iterative approach—test, listen, optimise—has proven itself and will remain central to the future development of MoneyGuard.
Muzaffer Dogru
Director Product & Engineering | General Marketplaces
