It looks like Amazon may be planning to go toe-to-toe with one of its biggest rivals, eBay – well in India at least. The online retailer has started a pilot program in Bangalore, India called “Sell as Individual”, that allows people to sell their old products via their website.
The program not only allows people to sell their used products on Amazon, but the retailer will even package and pick up the items after they are sold. Of course, they will also deliver those goods to the people that have bought those products.
Amazon is naturally going to get a cut of those sales. The pilot program will charge Rs 10 (15 cents) for every item they sell below Rs 1,000 ($15). It will take Rs 50 (75 cents) for every item sold between 1,000 to Rs 5,000 ($75). Finally, it will take Rs 100 ($1.5) if each item cost over Rs 5,000.
It looks like Amazon is going to start very slowly with this new program, but if it is successful, it’s likely that the retailer could expand it to more markets. If that happens, eBay could be in trouble, especially with the retailer’s offer of taking out the burden of packaging and sending out the items. If the “Sell as Individual” program expands, would you use it instead of eBay?
