Internet selling giant Play.com is set to stop selling its own items on the web from March onwards and will become a marketplace for other sellers. Gone will the days of super cheap DVDs, CDs, books and games from the site as the Channel Islands-based company will be only selling other peoples goods.
Play.com is owned by Japanese retailer Rakuten will change from being the shop that it currently is to a solely marketplace-based site that acts as a front for other sellers.
Play has been an internet staple since its startup in 1998 and in the UK it is the second most popular online retailer behind the goliath that is Amazon.com, so the decision to stop selling is something of a shock for many people.
Play has been an internet powerhouse mainly due to it taking advantage of a Low Value Consignment Relief, a pre-Internet tax provision that waived VAT for goods that cost less than £15. This meant that Amazon and Play (plus many more customers) were able to take advantage of low cost tax-free shopping, all because the companies had set up in the Channel Islands.
However, in April of last year the LVCR loophole was closed for all including the Jersey-based sites like Play, so the inability to offer VAT-free products forced the company to hike its prices.
This may be why Play is stopping selling products itself as it may just not be cost effective, whereas with the marketplace system the company can use its existing Play brand name to charge marketplace sellers a fee and make money without a whole load of overheads.
This does mean that several UK and Jersey folk will be losing their jobs as a result, as in March 147 staff will be made redundant in Jersey, with another 67 put out of a job on the mainland.
It’s sad for us to say but we are going to miss Play.com as one of the UK’s internet shopping pioneers and we hope that the website as a marketplaces can keep up its bargain busting prices for the future, but only time will tell.