Bye Buy, Rakuten Marketplace

Rakuten is closing its marketplace, according to TechCrunch, and will wind down its operations over the next two months. The Japanese marketplace had acquired Buy.com in 2010 for $250 million and later rebranded it.

Rakuten had gone on an international expansion spree in 2008, but failed to fulfill its vision for a global marketplace. In 2016, it closed numerous country sites including the UK (Play.com) and Spanish marketplaces and those in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

Rakuten rebranded the marketplaces it acquired rather than sticking with the brand domestic customers were used to, which may have been a challenge, at least in some countries.

Over the years, Rakuten acquired other ecommerce related services, and the Rakuten.com website continues to feature one such business – its cashback program formerly called Ebates.

A Rakuten spokesperson told TechCrunch it was sunsetting the US Rakuten Marketplace but said the Rakuten cashback referral business “is stronger than ever.”

Ina Steiner

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.