Reverse auction site comes to town

Sellers bid with their lowest prices when a buyer asks for a product

An e-commerce start-up pioneering reverse auctions has begun operations in Bengaluru.

Jinglebid was founded by a team of four in 2020 in Chennai. After expanding its services in Tamil Nadu, it has set foot in Bengaluru. It plans to cover six more states in the next 18 months.

“The Bengaluru crowd is more welcoming of newer concepts than other cities in India,” says Sudarsan Babu, co-founder.

With an app and a website, Jinglebid follows a reverse bidding model, which it claims to have introduced for the first time in India.

How it works

A reverse auction is a type of auction in which the traditional roles of buyer and seller are reversed. It has one buyer and many potential sellers.

A buyer puts up a request for a required good or service and sellers bid with prices. In the end, the seller with the lowest bid wins.

Sudarsan was inspired to launch this model after spending a hot summer afternoon trying to negotiate prices for a refrigerator. “Indians are masters of negotiating; we are value buyers. But this whole process of negotiating with various sellers can be time-consuming and tiresome. I wanted to make it easier,” he says.

The platform currently has 2,000 Bengaluru-based sellers on board and plans to add more. “One of our objectives is to improve business for local sellers and provide stability in their business,” says Sudarsan.

Sellers are located within a 5 km radius, and it is easy for customers to reach them in case they need post-sales service, he says. Giant e-commerce websites and pandemic concerns have pushed local sellers aside and ruined their business. Jinglebid hopes to counter that, he says.

“We mostly deal in electronic goods, mobile phones, laptops, gaming devices, and home appliances. Automobiles have been a popular category since we launched in Bengaluru,” says Sudarsan.

How the app works

Select the product you want.

Set your price range and start the auction.

When sellers bid, choose one.

Track your order in real-time.

If you can’t find a product on the app, you can raise a request.