‘Online bakra mandis’ - A burgeoning trend in Pakistan?

KARACHI: With people so busy with personal and professional commitments, the tendency in purchasing sacrificial animals online is becoming a new trend across the country.

Eid-ul-Azha is approaching near, and so is the momentum for purchasing sacrificial animals online, as several websites now offer this service for people who do not have time to make a trip to the market to select their sacrificial animal.

As reports suggest, citizens are showing keen interest in online purchase of sacrificial animals that can not only save their time but also help them avoid poor conditions and the rush of traffic in highly congested cattle markets.

According to online goat markets such as Bakra Online, Qurbani online, if you don’t feel like making your way through cattle markets crowded with buyers and animals, then log on to the internet for having a cow or goat delivered to your doorstep.

They are also providing photo, video, voices and other descriptions including types and prices of the goats and other sacrificial animals on the internet which are helping the customers to make their choice. However, there are still a large number of people who prefer making it to markets and cherish the once-in-a-year moment. Dangling atop vehicle while bringing the animal to your place, cheering its arrival with shouts when you enter your vicinity and the most thrilling of all is unloading it , is something not everyone would want to miss.

Some of the online cattle market operators believe that this concept is still new and a majority of the citizens prefer to personally visit cattle markets to buy sacrificial animals that fit their budget.

In a conservative estimate, sacrificial goats are sold in the range of Rs30,000 to Rs50,000 on the online markets.

While rates for cows start at Rs80,000, and the rate of camels range from Rs 125,000 to Rs 175,000.

It’s not just a few websites that operate in online selling of sacrificial animals. Some of the online traders also advertise their animals on social media, while others sell animals through trading websites like OLX and other popular web portals.