EasyPaisa Launches Buyer Protection Escrow Payment Service
EasyPaisa Launches Buyer Protection Escrow Payment Service
As we hinted you a few months ago, EasyPaisa today formally launched its Escrow payment solutions in Pakistan.
Launched under the umbrella of EasyPay, with “Buyer Protection” all payments made by buyers are withheld before releasing them to the merchants, giving the buyers an option of opening a dispute if delivered items are faulty or not as they were advertised on the website.
In case of any disputes, payments are withheld and not transferred to merchants until the dispute is resolved.
Service is aimed at boosting online e-commerce transactions in an environment where there’s notable trust deficit between buyers and sellers.
Customers’ reservations range from the authenticity of merchants, product genuineness and condition; to the time it takes their orders to reach them.
Estimates suggest that more than 95% of ecommerce transactions in Pakistan are done through COD (Cash on Delivery), mainly because customers don’t trust online stores enough to pay in advance.
However, CoD has its own risks as a customer is not handed over the product(s) unless the cash payment is made to the courier representative.
With Escrow payments in place, buyers can now pay online in advance and raise a dispute in case of any issues to get a refund.
Service Mechanics
- Customer makes a payment through Easypay on an online store
- Funds are withheld with EasyPay for 7 days after the delivery
- If customer finds an issue or a problem with delivery, he/she can raise dispute with EasyPay to claim for a refund
- To raise a dispute, customer will have to fill the dispute from (shipped along with the product) within 24 hours after receiving product and email the copy of that checklist at buyer.protection@telenor.com.pk in case product is damaged or has defect upon its delivery
- From the point when dispute is raised, the merchant will have 7 days to resolve the dispute with customer where customer may agree and settle for product exchange or refund
- The merchant may call customer for clarification and resolution and both parties shall document their response over the same email thread, which was initiated by EasyPay upon opening up of the dispute
- If no settlement is reached between customer and the merchant within the 7 day dispute resolution time period phase 1, then the case is escalated to the Easypay buyer protection dispute resolution committee and phase 2 of resolution is initiated
- Dispute resolution committee will have 7 days to investigate and shall go through the entire email thread and see the evidence to make a decision
- The dispute resolution committee will reply on the same thread acknowledging customer and the merchant about the decision and also giving the justification for it
- In case merchant doesn’t actively respond on the email thread in the given time frame, then dispute shall go in customer’s favour
- If customer’s dispute is right, funds shall be revered to him/her following Easypay reversal process
- If merchant is right, customer shall keep the product and funds will be released to the merchant
- Delivery disputes can also be raised if shipment is not received within 5 days delivery time period
Please note that the decision of Easypay dispute resolution committee will be deemed final and may not be challenged by either buyer or merchant in the court of law.
Easypay’s Escrow service is an opt-in facility; meaning that not all merchants (online stores) may offer the service.
Currently homeshopping.pk, well.pk and techcity.pk are offering Escrow services.
Sarmad Gardezi
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