Most large online stores in India have custom built software for their online shops, but is not feasible for many smaller merchants to invest large amounts in developing a ecommerce store. For these merchants, an online shop is an additional sales channel and ecommerce platforms are used for the online shop, which allow merchants to easily add their products to the store and manage sales. Unlike international payment platforms like Paypal, Payza (Alertpay), Skrill (Moneybookers), LibertyReserve, where a fee is charged only for when a product is sold, these ecommerce stores charge a monthly fee every month. Some of these ecommerce platforms also charge a setup fee and a transaction fee.
The popular ecommerce platforms in India are:
1.Martjack – starts from Rs 2650 /month, payment gateway not included, number of products included depends on plan chosen
2.Buildabazaar.com from Infibeam, pricing from Rs 1000 / month, number of products listed depends on plan chosen
3.Zepo.in – basic version starts from Rs 500 / month does not include a payment gateway, but other plans include a payment gateway. Like other gateways, the number of products listed depends on plan chosen
4. GetaBox.in (from Plutus Retail Pvt. Ltd.) – only one plan at Rs 1000 / month, unlimited number of products can be listed, 5% transaction fee on completed sales.
Many online sellers list their products on online marketplaces , which may or may not charge a listing fee. However, payment from the buyer is transferred to the seller only after the buyer confirms receipt in some marketplaces. Some buyers receive the item, but make false claims of non receipt which results in losses for the seller. Seller accounts at these marketplaces can be suspended if the negative feedback against the seller exceeds a specified threshold. This results in feedback manipulation as some buyers sign up only to give negative feedback to the seller, lower the feedback score, making it difficult for the seller to sell in the online marketplace. Marketplace place several restrictions on sellers of digital products such as :
1.Selling of ebooks is not allowed.
2.Linking to website urls is not allowed
3.Contact details should not be provided by a buyer to the seller.
To overcome the above problems, many online sellers are developing their own online shops using the ecommerce platforms discussed above. However, driving traffic to these online stores can be time consuming initially.