Wedding and occasion wear
Usually a specific shop, often a specific weaver, almost always against a deadline. The commonest assisted purchase by a distance.
Free, you pay only the item cost
When the seller will not take your card, we buy it for you
Indian payment gateways reject foreign cards constantly, and the best sellers often have no website at all. Both problems have the same solution.
What is assisted purchase?
You tell us what you want and we buy it in India on your behalf, using our own Indian payment methods. The item is delivered to our warehouse, inspected and photographed, then shipped to you. The charge is two hundred and ninety nine rupees plus four percent of the item value, on top of what the item costs.
The two problems
Why an Indian address alone is sometimes not enough
An Indian address solves the delivery problem. It does not solve the payment problem, and it does nothing at all about sellers who have never had a website.
Foreign cards get rejected. Indian payment gateways apply their own risk rules and a card issued abroad trips them routinely, even when the billing address matches and the funds are there. Some platforms block international cards outright. Others accept them at checkout and then fail the transaction silently at the bank. Either way you are left with a cart you cannot close.
A lot of the good stuff is not online. The weaver whose sarees your mother buys, the sweet shop whose kaju katli is the one everyone means, the brass merchant in the old city: these are real businesses with real reputations and no e-commerce presence whatsoever. No amount of address forwarding reaches them. Somebody has to physically go.
How it works
From a link or a photograph to a box at your door
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01
Tell us what you want
Send a link, a screenshot, a photograph, or just a description and a shop name. We have worked from all four. The vaguer it is the more we will ask before spending your money.
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02
We confirm cost and availability
We check the item is actually in stock at the price quoted, then send you a breakdown: item cost, our fee, and an estimate of the shipping once it reaches us.
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03
You pay, we buy
You transfer the item cost plus the fee. We purchase, usually the same day, and send you confirmation from the seller.
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04
It joins your other orders
The item arrives at our warehouse, gets inspected and photographed like anything else, and waits with the rest of your consolidation until you are ready to ship.
What you pay
What assisted purchase costs on a real order
Nothing, beyond the item itself. We do not add a service fee, a percentage or a handling charge. Shipping is separate and depends on weight and destination.
| Item value | Our fee | You pay |
|---|---|---|
| ₹2,000 | Free | ₹2,000 |
| ₹5,000 | Free | ₹5,000 |
| ₹10,000 | Free | ₹10,000 |
| ₹25,000 | Free | ₹25,000 |
| ₹50,000 | Free | ₹50,000 |
Commute costs for a physical shop visit are quoted separately and only where they apply. Shipping is charged on chargeable weight when the parcel goes out.
What people use it for
The four things we get asked to buy most
Sweets and snacks from one named shop
When the brand matters more than the product. Nobody wants a substitute, they want the one from that shop.
Anything where the card was declined
The listing is fine, the stock is there, the gateway simply refuses a foreign card. We complete the same order on an Indian one.
Shops that exist only in person
A photograph and a street name is enough to start. We go, we find it, we check it is right before buying.
Where we stop
What we will not buy
We will not buy anything the carriers refuse to fly, because the purchase would be wasted. That includes gold, silver, precious metals and precious stones, currency and coins, batteries sent loose, aerosols, cooking oils, camphor, sandalwood, incense, seeds, plant material, and prescription medicines without the required documentation.
We also will not buy anything where we cannot verify the seller is genuine. If a request depends on paying an unknown individual in advance with no shop, no receipt and no way to go back, we will tell you rather than take your money and hope. Ask us before you commit to anything that feels marginal and we will give you a straight answer.
Common questions
Questions we get asked most
You pay us the item cost plus the service fee before we buy. We send you the exact figure and the payment details, you transfer, and we purchase the same day wherever the seller allows it. We do not hold a balance or a wallet, each purchase is settled on its own.
We check before buying and come back to you rather than guessing. If the price has moved you decide whether to proceed. If it is unavailable and you have already paid, we refund in full or hold the amount against your next purchase, whichever you prefer.
Yes, and this is the use most people underestimate. A great many of the best sellers for sarees, brassware, handicrafts and sweets are physical shops with a phone number and nothing else. Send us a photo, a name or a location and we will go and find it.
At physical shops, yes, where haggling is normal and expected. We buy at the price a local would pay, not the price offered to someone who has clearly flown in. On listed online prices there is nothing to negotiate.
Because it comes to our warehouse first, we see it before you do. We photograph it, and if it is wrong or damaged we raise it with the seller inside India on their normal returns process, which is far easier than trying to return something from abroad.
On the item value only, not on our fee and not on the shipping. So an item costing ten thousand rupees carries a fee of two hundred and ninety nine rupees plus four hundred rupees, totalling six hundred and ninety nine rupees.
Keep reading
Where to go next
Tell us what you are after
Send a link, a photo or a shop name on WhatsApp and we will tell you what it costs to buy and ship.
