Flipkart is set to launch its own platform to sell refurbished, unboxed goods after the e-commerce giant closed down the operations of eBay.in last week.

The new platform will be based on Flipkart’s learnings from eBay.in; which was one of the first e-commerce companies to offer refurbished products way back in 2015. ‘eBay Choices’ started with over 1,000 live listings of refurbished mobile phones, laptops and tablets in partnership with over eight organised refurbished product sellers such as GreenDust, Value Cart and i2cworld, to offer buyers a choice of refurbished products at high value price points.

Refurbished products also come with a 6-month to 1-year warranty.

eBay Inc and Flipkart had agreed to jointly pursue e-commerce opportunities in the Indian market in April last year. In exchange for an equity stake in Flipkart, eBay made a $500-million cash investment in Flipkart and sold its India operations to Flipkart. When the merger with eBay was completed in August 2017, Flipkart acquired 50,000 domestic sellers and 25,000 cross-border sellers of eBay.in.

In May this year, after Walmart announced its 77-per cent stake buy in Flipkart, eBay announced that it plans to sell its stake in Flipkart for about $1.1 billion and that it will re-launch eBay India focusing initially on cross-border trade opportunity. This includes ending its commercial agreement with Flipkart and terminating Flipkart’s license to use the eBay.in brand.

“One of the major reasons for Flipkart acquiring eBay.in last year was to learn the ropes of selling refurbished goods. There was a big focus on selling refurbished goods on eBay since we launched it three years ago. In fact, in order to educate consumers about refurbished products sold on our platform and to show them that they are as good as new, we launched a digital campaign called #DontJudgeReboxed, last year,” a former eBay.in executive told BusinessLine .

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