No advance payments to e-commerce firms

Evaly welcomes govt decision

Staff Correspondent: The government has introduced new rules forcing e-commerce firms to take payments only after delivering products to customers in an effort to discipline the sector.
All advance payments will now be deposited with Bangladesh Bank or other payment gateways until the product reaches the customer.
The decision was finalised by the commerce ministry yesterday, said Hafizur Rahman, director general of the ministry’s WTO cell.
Meanwhile, E-commerce marketplace Evaly has welcomed the commerce ministry’s decision of clearing payments to the local e-commerce companies once the goods are delivered to the buyers.
“We welcome the issue,” said Mohammad Rassel, founder and CEO of Evaly.
“So, payment is not made before the delivery of the product. Those who have a bank or credit card will control the payment.”
The commerce ministry came up with the new mechanism yesterday in a meeting on issues related to e-commerce at the commerce ministry.
From now on, the payment gateways will not clear payments to the e-commerce companies until and unless the buyers get the delivery of the goods they ordered. These transactions will be supervised by the Bangladesh Bank.
Representatives from Bangladesh Bank, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, National Board of Revenue, Ministry of Home Affairs, e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh, MFS, different banks attended the meeting with Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh in the chair.
“There is no e-commerce policy in Bangladesh so far, for which Evaly itself has been advocating for a long time,” Rassel said.
“We believe that today’s decision is the first step in formulating that policy. We believe that this will benefit the entire ecosystem, including customers, merchants, and the marketplaces. Any regulatory decisions will apply to everyone, not only Evaly. We appreciate it.”