Use FlipKart to compare prices!

FlipKart.com is India's leading online shopping retailer. They deliver a variety of goods - mainly books and electronics, but now expanding to other categories - to addresses in India. Delivery is often free. They also deliver to border towns like Jaigaon. Prices are usually below MRP. Various forms of payment are accepted, including debit and credit cards, as well as online payment using Indian bank accounts. In some locations they even accept cash-on-delivery (COD), and by cash they mean INR, not BTN.... By the way, Jaigaon is currently not one of the COD locations.

Online Grocery Shopping in Thimphu

Check out Green Mart at shop.bt, a new online grocery shop in Thimphu. You register, select the items, add them to the virtual cart, and then check out.

You can order anytime. Delivery is done 7 days a week, either during lunch break (1-2pm) or in the evening (5-8pm). These time slots are convenient. There's no minimum order, and the delivery fee is Nu 50 in Thimphu proper and Nu 70 in extended areas. Given the current taxi fares, the shipping fee is very reasonable. And best -- you pay cash on delivery.

Using social media for classified ads

 Need to sell your auntie's rice cooker, a used Alto or your "old" iPhone 4? Check out B-Bay, an open Facebook group for "Buying and selling second hand stuffs in Bhutan". Created about two months ago by Passang "Passu" Tshering, the group already boasts more than 850 members.  Using Facebook for classified ads has an interesting advantage. While scams are common on websites such as E-Bay and Craigslist (which are very popular in other countries), it is much harder to cheat on B-Bay: You often know the real person behind the Facebook user, especially in a relatively small and tight-knit society such as Bhutan.

Will a new plastic card revolutionize retail in Bhutan?

Bhutan National Bank is launching a prepaid Visa card today. Other banks are offering or have plans to offer similar cards. According to the information provided by BNB, the card can be used for Internet online shopping.