Amazon offering loans to its online sellers

NEW CHETTIARS: Amazon.com Inc is launching a new business offering loans to some of its online sellers. — Reuters

SAN FRANCISCO: Amazon.com Inc is launching a new business offering loans to some of its online sellers, a move that could boost the growth of its Internet marketplace while exposing it to potential credit risks.

The new programme is called Amazon Lending and sellers on the company’s marketplace have been sent e-mail messages offering loans from Amazon Capital Services Inc, a unit of Amazon, according to a merchant who received such an e-mail from the company recently. The merchant did not want to be identified because Amazon has not announced the programme publicly.