As Muslims across the world are prepping to celebrate Eid al-Adha on Friday, owners of sheep and goats (or bakra) in Bengaluru have opted for e-marketplaces to sell sacrificial animals.
Several sellers from across Bengaluru and outside the city have posted advertisements on online classifieds marketplaces like OLX and Quickr, and are also receiving good response. The animals put on sale on e-biz portals have been priced between Rs 12,100 and Rs 50,000, The Times of India reported.
Most buyers are visiting the sellers to check the sheep or goats before finalising the purchase. "I called three sellers, and have to visit them on Tuesday to check out the sheep," said Aditya Sanjit, who celebrates Eid al-Adha despite being a Hindu.
"I buy a lot of things online because it's convenient, but when it comes to sheep, I would want to see my purchase," he added.
While many have opted to buy sacrificial animals online this Eid al-Adha, some are sceptical about making an online purchase of goats or sheep for the festival. According to them, e-portals do not have as much variety as proper markets.
"I'd rather go to the market, see and pick up my sheep. On a website, I have the option of talking to only one buyer, but in the market, I have a range of options," said Ghulam Mohiuddin, resident of Shantinagar.
The price of sheep and goats range from Rs 5,000 to Rs 90,000 in the markets in Bengaluru. The prices are expected to rise in the coming days. One of the sellers has priced his sheep at Rs 1.2 lakh and six people have already expressed interest in it.
Not only has the sellers in Bengaluru opted for e-marketplaces, people from several other states across India have also posted advertisements for sacrificial animals on OLX and Quickr. A seller from Madhya Pradesh said that the e-business is better than the offline marketplace.
"It's better than waiting for a taker in the market, where you have to depend on the middlemen," Bilal Ahmed from Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh said. He added that the buyers from Nagpur come all the way to Chhindwara to buy sacrificial animals during the Feast of the Sacrifice.
The sellers opting for online marketplaces have had mixed experiences as not many buyers are willing to buy sheep and goats online. However, e-business in this field is believed to be getting better with each year.
"I had tried this last year also, and this time I had customers from Orissa coming to buy goats from Nagpur," seller Imran Farooqi said.
Among all the states where sellers of sacrificial animals have opted for online marketplaces, Maharashtra has recorded the highest number of advertisements for goats on OLX, followed by Kerala, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and others.
