Public notices to be issued for faster refund

The commerce ministry has decided to issue public notices to selected e-commerce platforms, asking the companies to refund consumers who paid in advance for products, but yet to receive the deliveries.

If any such platform fails to comply with this directive within the deadline mentioned in notice, the ministry will facilitate disbursement of the money stuck in payment gateways as refunds to eligible customers, and move for legal action against these companies.

These decisions came on Thursday at a meeting of the government’s technical committee on e-commerce, the ministry’s Additional Secretary AHM Shafiquzzaman told The Business Post.

Shafiquzzaman, also the chief of e-commerce cell, further said, “More Tk 1,000 crore is currently stuck in payment gateways as many e-commerce platforms charged consumers in advance, but did not deliver the products. This money will soon be refunded.

“We have already begun this process on Thursday by facilitating the refund of Tk 10 lakh and Tk 3 lakh, which the consumers previously paid to Shophetic and 99 Global respectively.”

Sixteen more e-commerce platforms – who also charged customers in advance – have reached out to the commerce ministry, asking support for facilitating the refund process, as the money too is stuck in payment gateways, he added.

Consumer trust still shaky

Data from the Bangladesh Bank reveals that e-commerce platforms have so far embezzled Tk 6,050 crore, and the government has managed to facilitate around Tk 73 crore in refunds to consumers.

Previously, the commerce ministry had set March 31 as the deadline for e-commerce platforms to issue refunds to eligible customers, but the companies did not comply with the directive.

Insiders say the ministry is now considering legal action against these companies if they fail to comply with the soon to be issued public notices.

Providing more details, Shafiquzzaman said, “We, with stakeholders, are making a list regarding the money stuck in payment gateways. We will issue notices to e-commerce platforms, asking them to issue refunds to their customers.

“These companies will have seven days to comply with this directive. After the deadline, the ministry will facilitate refunds using the same process the customers used to pay those platforms.”

He added, “We are also making a list of companies that are not refunding their customers within the allotted time. We will hand this list over to the law enforcers so that legal action can be taken against them.”

Ministry data shows that the owners of at least 35 e-commerce platforms are now in hiding after embezzling their customers’ money. The commerce ministry will send a letter to the law enforcement agency to take necessary action in this regard.

After the commerce ministry and central bank introduced strict guidelines for gateway transactions, Tk 506 crore got stuck in the system between July 1 and October 14 last year. Even before this move, Tk 506 core was already stuck in the payment gateways.

The ministry has been working on refunding customers whose money got stuck in the system.

Industry insiders said these e-commerce platforms used Software Shop Ltd (SSL), Nagad, Foster Corporation, bKash and ShurjoMukhi Pay to charge their customers.

So far, on behalf of the customers, 41 cases have been filed against 15 e-commerce firms accusing 110 people. Among the accused, 36 have been arrested till date.