Multiply to shut down Philippine operations

On a letter to its valued merchants, Multiply disclosed that they will be shutting down the marketplace on May 6 and will discontinue all business operations by the end of May 2013.

What does this mean to the merchant’s customers? You can only buy items off Multiply stores until May 6.

This deadline will also allow Multiply’s 130,000 merchants to settle transactions and receive funds earned on the platform. For those who paid for the Trust Badge, a pro-rated refund based on the remaining time of subscription can be availed.

No details as to why Multiply decided to shut down its local operations. They simply advise their merchants to look for alternative e-commerce platforms to migrate their shop to.

It was just last December when Multiply dropped their blog and social network services to concentrate on their e-commerce service, allowing their merchants to manage their own storefront with a real e-commerce infrastructure behind.

Last February, they awarded three outstanding Multiply merchants the Multiply Origination Award for their excellence and creativity in marketing their products online.

Just over a month ago, they transitioned to a new and “better” e-commerce platform that was met with a lot of bugs and issues for a number of merchants.

This sudden move was a bit surprising considering that Multiply has already established itself as the premiere site where you can actually manage your own online storefront.

Multiply launched its Philippine operations in August 2011, and it has 5.5 million users and 130,000 merchants in the country.[source : PTB]