India Post opens special counters for eBay sellers in 2 cities

India’s postal department has opened exclusive counters in Gurgaon and Faridabad for eBay India’s sellers to ship consignments in India as well as overseas.

Said Umesh Varma, Postmaster General of Gurgaon and Faridabad, “The counter for eBay sellers at Gurgaon and Faridabad business post center will be exclusive for them to send their products through speed post, registered post or any other service they wish to opt for in both the cities.”

Navin Mistry, head of Retail Exports and Lifestyle Category at eBay India, said of the development, “At eBay India our sellers are at the core of the business and we have continuously brought in varied innovations to ease operations of our valued partners. We aim to simplify product dispatch service of our trusted seller community and at the same time strengthen our long-term association with India Post.”

A mutually beneficial arrangement

India Post’s increasing participation in the ecommerce industry is a win-all situation. The postal department’s exclusive reach in remote corners of the country gives it an edge over private logistics players, particularly in the last mile. India Post has also recently set up a 12,000 square foot centre in Mumbai, to cater to ecommerce.

Postal department getting itself a makeover

The Indian postal department is working hard to refurbish its image as a typical government department. In a bid to remove stereotypes about slow delivery, missing post and the like, the department is actively seeking out alliances with ecommerce companies.

India Post also introduced a same day delivery facility for its customers. Apart from some hiccups, India Post is attempting to keep up with the crowd to avoid redundancy. Hopefully, online sellers will be able to make best use of the postal department’s facilities to strengthen their activities.