Acquisition aimed at online entrepreneurs.

 

Amazon has acquired Selz, a Sydney-based online development company that helps small businesses create their own websites.

 

Selz founder Martin Rushe announced the acquisition in a blog post: “We have signed an agreement to be acquired by Amazon and are looking forward to working with them as we continue to build easy-to-use tools for entrepreneurs. Nothing is changing for our customers at this time, and we’ll be in touch with customers as and when we have further updates.”

 

An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the acquisition, but no terms were disclosed.

 

The acquisition signals Amazon’s interest in letting small businesses use their own websites rather than trying to direct all their traffic to its marketplace, where merchants pay commissions on each sale as well as delivery fees. 

 

Selz is similar to Shopify, a Canadian company that gives sellers more control over the customer experience.

 

Selz has posted a notice on its website stating that it is not taking any new sign-ups at this time.