BizSugar.com › Finance › The Smartest Financing Opportunity You've Never Heard of

It works like this: The Receivables Exchange (TRE) is an online marketplace that auctions invoices to institutional investors, who buy them at a slight discount, providing the seller with an immediate source of cash. On average, companies receive funding the day after auctions close. As the companies collect the receivables, they pass them directly to the winning bidder, and that settles up the debt.

TRE describes itself as an eBay for invoices and the cost structure isn’t far off. Most of the site’s 1,000 sellers get between 98 and 99 cents on the dollar, and pay a per-auction fee of 30 to 70 basis points (0.3-0.7%), depending on volume and their TRE track record. Reini says he now simply figures his TRE cost into the price he charges for each new project he takes on. The result: more control over cash flow and more growth.