This article sets out the key steps if you’re looking to buy an investment on the marketplace, and some useful things to be aware of. If you’re looking to sell an investment, you can find a quick guide to selling here.
Remember, as with any investment, there are risks when investing on Abundance. Your capital is at risk and you could lose all the money you invest. The return on your investment depends on the ability of the company or council you have invested in to pay your returns.
Browsing available investments
On the Marketplace you'll find a list of the investments listed for sale. You can select one of these investments to find all the information relating to the investment, including the Key Terms, a view of the current sale listings for that investment, and a history of previous trades.
Choosing an investment listing
Once you've selected an investment you are interested in, browse the different sale listings that are available. A listing is a specific amount of the investment that an investor has put up for sale. For each listing you can see the Amount of the investment listed for sale, the Price the seller has set it at and also the 'Price per £'. The Price per £ is the ratio of the price to the amount being sold, and allows you to compare the relative price of the different listings.
If you select the Sale History tab you can see how the current listings compare to previous sales.
Buying an investment
If you’ve found a listing you’d like to buy, you can select Invest now and follow the steps to buy the investment from the seller.
You’ll need to deposit money to your Abundance account first, unless you already have cash in your portfolio, to pay for the investment. This amount will be reserved in your Abundance account and the investment will be removed from the marketplace while you agree a sale with the seller.
We will send an email copying in both you and the seller, inviting you both to agree a sale. If you are happy to proceed, both of you will need to ‘reply all’ to the email with your agreement. This email step is required before we can complete the trade - you can find out more about why this is required here.
Once we’ve received notice of your agreement, Abundance will administer the trade for you, transferring the investment into your Abundance account and the money to the seller’s account.
If we do not receive notice of an agreement within 7 full working days, the money reserved for your purchase will be released back to you, and the seller will be able to put the investment back up for sale. This is to ensure your money is not tied up if an agreement is not reached with the seller for whatever reason.
You can find a quick guide on how to sell an investment on the marketplace here.
As with any investment, there are risks when investing on Abundance. Your invested capital is at risk and you could get back less than you invest. You should look to hold your investment for the long term. Any expected returns or projections shown are not guaranteed and past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. The value of your investment can go down as well as up. In the case of our debentures and loans, they are illiquid and you may not be able to sell them if you need your money back earlier. Specific risks will apply to each type of investment on Abundance and you should carefully read the information provided on each investment. Tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances and may be subject to change in the future. Abundance’s service in relation to loans (council investments) is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).