Flipkart shuts eBay India operations; to launch new site

Bengaluru :  Leading e-tailer Flipkart on Tuesday shut its eBay India operations, three months after US retail giant Walmart bought a 77 per cent stake in it for $16 billion.

Announcing the end of its operations, the eBay India website read: “Sorry, you can no longer transact on eBay.in. But not to worry, Flipkart will introduce a brand-new shopping experience soon.”

While eBay has closed its India website for taking any new orders, it has set August 30 as the last date for buyers to raise claims for transactions done to date.

Earlier on July 26, eBay India, which allows both businesses and consumers to sell their goods through the site, had asked all its sellers to delist products which were worth less than Rs 250 and more than Rs 8,000.

Flipkart, however, did not respond to questions by IANS on the details of the new website to be launched.

The Bengaluru-based Flipkart in 2017 acquired eBay India’s operations in a $1.4 billion fund-raising deal from several investors, including eBay, which invested $500 million and received $200 million worth stocks in Flipkart.

With Walmart acquiring a majority stake (77 per cent) in Flipkart in a $16 billion (Rs 1,07,662 crore) deal in May this year, California-based eBay had announced that it would sell its stake in Flipkart back to the company for about $1.1 billion and relaunch its India business soon.

“The company plans to relaunch eBay India with a differentiated offer to focus initially on the cross-border trade opportunity,” eBay had said in a statement earlier.

Founded in 1995, eBay forayed into the Indian market in 2004.

Published on: Aug 14, 2018 at 17:21 IST

IANS