For buyers based in a different city from the sellers, e-commerce companies would have a maximum of 10 days to deliver goods. COURTESY
The Ministry of Commerce on Wednesday finalised the "Digital Commerce Operational Guide-2021" with a provision requiring e-commerce companies to deliver products to customers within five days of taking advance payment.
Hafizur Rahman, additional secretary to the commerce ministry and also the chief of the government's central digital commerce cell, informed this to the media after an inter-ministerial meeting chaired by Commerce Secretary TapanKanti Ghosh on Wednesday.
Hafizur said for buyers based in a different city from the sellers, e-commerce companies would have a maximum of 10 days to deliver goods.
Hafizur hoped that the implementation of these guidelines would ensure discipline in the fast-growing sector and create healthy competition.
He said that various sections have been added in the guideline so that customers are not deceived.
If a company does not comply with these rules, the government will be able to close the company, and consumers will be able to file complaints with the Consumer Rights Protection Department and other relevant courts.
Shomi Kaiser, president of the E-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (E-CAB), said the guidelines would ensure healthy competition in the e-commerce sector and protect the rights of consumers.
"We have heard for so long that buyers have been deceived in various ways at different times. The guidelines contain adequate measures to eliminate these irregularities."
She also hoped that the guidelines would be implemented soon.
Companies would be able to move forward by overcoming the existing confusion in the e-commerce sector, she said, adding that E-cab will play a monitoring role when the guidelines are put into practice.
According to the draft guidelines, e-commerce platforms will hand over ordered products for delivery within 48 hours of receiving advance payment and they will also notify the customers via sms, email or phone calls.
In the next 72 hours, the delivery person or companies will supply the items to the clients.
For purchase with advance payment, the guidelines say e-commerce companies must already have the showcased items ready to ship – either in their own stock or with a registered third party.
"If a product is not ready for handover within 72 hours of the payment, the companies will not take more than 10% of the price in advance," said the draft, adding that a 100% advance payment can be charged in this case only through the Bangladesh Bank's escrow service.
For essentials, the delivery time will be shorter than five days as the e-commerce platforms will have to specify the timeline to the customers. For multiple essential items in the same order, a uniform delivery fee has to be charged. Following an inspection of e-commerce company Evaly by Bangladesh Bank report, it was found that the platform had a capacity to repay only 16% of their staggering liabilities, which was owed both to its customers and merchants.
Citing the central bank report, The Business Standard ran a report on the matter on 22 June.
There are mounting allegations against some e-commerce ventures, including Evaly, of failing to deliver products and refunding affected customers who had made advance payments.
After these irregularities came to light, the government has sprung into action to rein in the sector.
No alternative to cash without BB approval
The draft guidelines, a copy of which has been obtained by this newspaper, say, "All types of digital wallets, gift cards, cash vouchers or any other medium which can be used as an alternative to cash cannot be launched, used, bought or sold without the permission of Bangladesh Bank."
E-commerce companies must have the displayed items in their own stock, or to the registered merchants. Any offer must mention the available stock, and it will have to be updated regularly.
According to the draft, if a delivery with advance payment is delayed due to an unforeseen and uncontrollable issue, the company will notify customers. But they must not force the clients directly or indirectly to buy any other product in exchange for the delayed one.
If a product comes with a discount, free shipping or other facilities, the product description must have those mentioned clearly.
The cashback offers or discounts must be effective immediately after the sales as the e-commerce companies will not be allowed to keep the cashbacks in their wallets, said the central bank.
Besides, once Bangladesh Bank launches escrow services, the payment gateways will make the refunds upon delivery failure or order cancellation by the customers.
Escrow service to launch this week
The escrow service will be launched this week and a circular will be issued, said MezbaulHaque, general manager of the central bank's Payment Systems Department.
The advance payments will remain with the gateways, and will enter e-commerce platforms' accounts only after delivery.
BB seeks account info of Alesha Mart, 10 other online merchants
The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) of the central bank has sought bank account details of 11 e-commerce merchants, including the Alesha Mart.
The online merchants are- Alesha Mart, Dhamaka Shop, Sirajganj Shop, Aladiner Prodip, Boom Boom, Adyen Mart, Needs, QCoom, Dalal Plus, EOrange and Bajaj Collection. BFIU, in a notice on Tuesday, asked the banks to send detailed information of seven online merchants' bank accounts within a week. Earlier on 23 June, BFIU asked for information of four more platforms. Recently, several banks including Prime Bank, Mutual Trust Bank (MTU), Brac Bank and Bank Asia suspended card transactions with these seven online shops along with Evaly and E-orange. The fresh action of the central bank came in the wake of recent report on another e-commerce company Evaly. In a recent report, Bangladesh Bank said, Evaly's ever-increasing liabilities caused by a reportedly flawed business strategy – unusually high discounts in products and cashback offers incurring huge losses – has exposed it to the risk of collapse.
According to an inspection report of the central bank, Evaly's liabilities to customers and merchants have risen to Tk403.80 crore, while its current asset is only Tk65.17 crore. The report says till 14 March this year, Evaly did not deliver products against a cumulative sum of Tk213.94 crore in advance payments from customers. Moreover, the company owes Tk189.85 crore to the merchants from whom it bought products. In other words, with all its current assets, Evaly can repay only 16.14% of its total liabilities or only one-third of the liabilities to the customers. The total number of customers of Evaly as of 28 February this year was 44,85,234. Including the cancellation of the purchase orders, cashbacks given by Evaly and sold gift cards, an e-value to the tune of Tk73.39 crore was stored in Evaly's virtual IDs (account, holding, gift card, cashback) of these customers. But at the end of that very day, Evaly.com Limited had a total deposit of Tk2.04 crore in its 10 bank accounts.
0 Comments