Khamsat: A Service To Buy And Sell Anything For Five Dollars

Khamsat is a new service that takes another go at E-Commerce in the region; the site can be simply described as a marketplace for small services or goods provided at the low fixed price of five US dollars. In other words, it’s pretty much like an online 5 dollar store.

Sellers can login to the site and start adding services or products that they are willing to provider or sell for $5, as well as how much time it would take them to provide them.

The offers are listed under categories and tagged to make it easier for buyers to find what they are looking for. When a buyer views a certain offer, they also are able to see other offers from the same seller, as well as other offers of the same kind. Offers can also be rated, and when browsing listed by freshness, rating or popularity.

The site also allows buyers to put in requests for services or goods they’re willing to pay $5 for; those serve as pointers for providers who can put together new offers to cover those demands.

The concept is a pretty simple one, and given the low fixed price could encourage more people to start buying online; it also enables people to make a bit of money on the side by providing little services that they’re good and quick at. It’ll be interesting to see how this develops and works out.

For the time being, users who register for a free account have an imposed limit of $25 in their account (they can only top up their accounts through Western Union transfer for the time being), and they have a spending limit of $5 a day. Premium accounts will be provided for a yearly fee of $100, these unlock other functionalities and higher limits. The service is still really new and developing, and it seems the details for the whole payment structure and payment methods are still being worked out.

Khamsat was founded and is run by by Raouf Shabayek, the prominent Arab blogger and author based in Dubai, UAE; and it was built by the Palestinian web development company Sadaf.