“Indian e-commerce stands at a value of USD 3.9 billion; however, the market size of refurbish edor open box products alone stands at USD 17 billion, and is largely unorganised,” says Latif Nathani, VP & Managing Director of ebay India, which is all set to unearth this lucrative market with the launch of its new feature, ‘eBay Choices’.
With the launch of this feature, ebay India has moved a step ahead from some of major e-commerce players like Amazon India, Shopclues, Foxconn, who are currently piloting a refurnished section on their platforms.
Refurbished products are typically devices returned to the manufacturer because of a fault, repaired and put back on sale at discounted prices with a warranty of six months or more. Unboxed items have been opened but are otherwise unused.
The world’s biggest online retailer Amazon is reportedly piloting a ‘refurbished’ section on its Indian site. Amazon has tied up with Surpluss.in, which sells refurbished smartphones of Samsung and Xiaomi on the site, for its pilot. The marketplace is looking to add more such vendors. “We are witnessing a lot of interest from sellers keen to offer refurbished mobile phones with six months or more warranty from brands to customers through our marketplace,” Noor Patel, director, category management (consumer electronics and media), Amazon India was quoted as saying. “More sellers are expected to launch on our site ssoon in this category.”
Just like Amazon, Snapdeal too plans to sell refurbished products through its e-commerce platform.
Until now, the second hand goods market was mostly unorganised. Olx.in and Quikr.com are some popular platforms for consumers to sell used goods, including smartphones, home appliances and even cars. While these would fall under second-hand goods, refurbished products are basically the products that are repaired by the company or third party vendors (if need be) and go through proper quality check before being sold.
Refurbished goods also come with some sort of warranty (varying from six months to one year) either from the selling party or the company directly. Greendust, Gobol and Overcart are a few names who have been selling refurbished goods in India.
Some of the established players in this space include Overcart, Green-Dust, Reboot and Gobol.
eBay will presently offer refurbished items only in electronic category that will soon expand to home appliances and the CDIT category. The retailer has partnered with seven companies to retail and manage logistics for refurbish category, including Greendust, Valuecart.in, My-return, Baobab, 12cWorld, budli.in, moswap.in, Srram Eco- Raksha Computer Services Pvt. Ltd.
Nathani declines to comment on expected margin increases from this new venture. “Settlement of return goods is not easy in the present scenario; as the e-commerce market grows, the number of returned goods will also increase. We want to become the market leader with this launch,” he however adds.
All the refurbished goods sold on eBay will come with seller’s warranty. And eBay will earn commission after the product is sold by the seller.
With the large e-commerce players also considering the segment seriously, Nathani forsees huge potential and growth in coming years. “There is a growing market of refurbished goods. And, with our initiative we wish to become the intersection point between inspiration and budget,” Nathani concludes.
Must Read
