The central bank has launched a special service called Escrow Service to prevent fraud in purchases on e-commerce platforms, will now be applicable to single purchases worth Rs 5,000 or more. Bangladesh Bank recently announced this through a notification.
According to the notification, a single purchase worth Rs 5,000 or more from any e-commerce through the escrow service will not go directly to the seller. When the buyer pays, it goes to the bank, MFS or Payment Service (PSO/PSP) organization. The money will be reserved with these institutions. The seller will be guaranteed that the money will be received if the buyer receives the product through the courier. After delivering the product to the buyer and showing the seller receipt, then the product price will be sent from the escrow service to the seller’s bank.
Such conditions have been mentioned in the central bank’s policy titled ‘Merchant Acquiring and Escrow Service Policy 2023’. This policy is primarily designed to protect both buyers and sellers from fraud in online shopping.
According to the policy, banks, MFS, PSOs and PSPs will not be able to collect any fees from both the buyer and the seller in case of such transactions in e-commerce. Courier companies participating in this service must be approved by the Bangladesh Mailing Operator and Courier Service Licensing Authority. After the establishment of central or central courier hub by the government, all the courier companies will be connected to the central courier hub. Only one time password or OTP verification will be done by the central courier hub.
Payment service providers will contract with merchants or business organizations to ensure escrow services. Collect the product or service price from the customer on their behalf. In this case, the payment service provider plays a key role in bringing the respective merchant acquirer or business organization under the service. There are mainly three types of merchants that payment services contract with and open merchant accounts. They are – physical store based merchant, online based merchant and both physical store and online based merchant.
According to the central bank, this initiative will contribute to the expansion of digital payment systems. Because in the case of e-commerce, many sellers take advantage of the fact that transactions cannot be done in person. Does not give goods with money. Again, many buyers have the mentality of not accepting products from the courier in many cases with the purchase order. This policy has been initiated by the central bank to protect both buyers and sellers. It also mentions that action will be taken against the organizations that will work with this service if they violate the policy.
