When I started online retail in 2002, payment gateways were few and paying online using a card was rare. I remember ordering my college bag for Rs 199 on COD and using FabMart to order a Fanta bottle on Cheque-On-Delivery terms. You could imagine the kind of investment e-commerce players used to envision in the pre-payments revolution.
Given that I started my career with online retail, I am happy to see how players like Instamojo are innovating in this space. When Baazee.com came up with its payment gateway called PaisaPay, I remember being one of the first merchants to sign it by paying Rs 2500. Given I was below 18, I had my brother to sign the agreement on my behalf. In coming months, PaisaPay reduced its signup fees to Rs 100 and today it is free. It revolutionized online selling in India.
A lot of marketplace sellers across Amazon, Snapdeal and Flipkart made their beginnings on Baazee / eBay. Had eBay's PaisaPay not simplified payments collection for them back in early 2000s, these merchants would have never developed their business to sell online. PaisaPay brought a low upfront fee to begin selling online and attached itself to a marketplace that has millions of users. This laid the foundation for e-commerce In India. Today the average selling price of products has risen too. Phones like the Nokia Lumia 525 has sold in huge numbers at a price point of around Rs 10,000. This wouldn't be possible without a good payment system and trust build around the medium.
PaisaPay remains exclusive to eBay. But Instamojo is making inroads into the domain and democratizing online payments for all. Instamojo UX is crazy awesome for a payments company and you can get started in minutes with simplest on-boarding process to start selling & collect payments. Small businesses & startups can now have a payments solution that gives them best in class conversion ratio & user experience. For me Instamojo is ‘Simplifying Payments, Powerfully!’. All the best guys!
Guest post by Annkur Agarwal, Co-founder of Pricebaba.com.
