In recent days, the community of sellers through the e-commerce platform Shopee has been “uprising” because this platform changed a series of sales policies, increasing the free return period for users to 15 days, while keeping money. Sellers stay longer.
Along with the above changes, Shopee also launched an app for lending to sellers. While many shoppers and experts support the new policies of this floor, especially the extension of return time, many shop owners are skeptical whether the sellers are borrowing money from… themselves! ?
Purchases on Shopee have additional return time
Since March 8, Shopee shoppers can return purchased products labeled “change your mind for free 15 days” from the date of delivery, longer than the official three days. previous books, and 100% free return shipping fees. The buyer can even request a return or refund with the reason “no longer needed or the product has a problem”.
Ms. Huyen Trang, living in Thu Duc City (HCMC), said that she recently bought a vacuum cleaner on this floor and tried it but discovered that the information on the product was overwritten and had incorrect capacity and features. Description as on the box. She decided to refund. “I just responded to return the goods and took a picture to describe it. By the afternoon, a delivery person came to take back the goods. The money for the return was also returned to my account immediately after that,” Ms. Trang said.
Specializing in buying goods on e-commerce platforms, even having a “VIP” account, Mr. Q.Vinh (District 7) also said that the policy of allowing returns up to 15 days is reasonable, even 30 days is still reasonable. may be worth considering. According to Mr. Vinh, many people have the habit of leaving their purchases there and then opening the store a few days later. With the old policy, customers almost lost the right to return goods and suffered losses if they purchased poor quality goods.
“The new policy also follows international practice such as the major US e-commerce platform Amazon allowing buyers to return within 30 days. From another perspective, the new policy also helps screen the quality of sellers, Because if the customer has a legitimate reason to return the product, the shop must bear the return shipping fee,” Mr. Vinh expressed his support for the new policy.
Sellers claim to be “suppressed”
Contrary to the support of consumers, sellers on this floor have been “excited” in recent days. Talking to Tuoi Tre, Mr. NVTuan (34 years old, Quang Ngai province), the owner of an online store specializing in selling women’s fashion items on this platform, said that he had registered to sell through Shopee for three years and before the deadline. satisfied with the sales policies and regulations of the floor.
In particular, when the shipper completes delivery and reports the item as paid, within three days the money will go into the Shopee account balance. However, from March 8 until now, not only Mr. Tuan but also many people are very upset when the order was successfully delivered but 15 days later the floor paid the seller. This means keeping money for too long, and many sellers don’t have the capital to buy new products.
“For example, I’m stuck with 50 million VND to get the goods, while the order has already been delivered to Shopee, keeping more than 30 million VND,” Mr. Tuan said angrily. In addition to limiting sellers’ cash flow, the reason “increasing customer experience” of this floor makes many people miserable.
“The customer bought two shirts, “experienced” them for two days and returned the goods, Shopee accepted and sent them back to the shop. I checked, the customer had worn them and taken pictures, and had body odor. From the customer’s phone number, I checked the customer’s Zalo and saw the customer wearing my shirt to take pictures. Submitted a complaint, Shopee asked to prove… body odor to show that they had used it. I could only cry…” – Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh (HCMC), the owner of a clothing store on this floor, was upset.
According to sellers, not only does it extend the payment time, some other policies are said to “force” sellers that Shopee has recently applied, such as the shop must send goods quickly within 12 – 24 hours or else it will be punished. Operating points deducted, floor fee increased to a minimum of 8%, shipping costs for returned goods are paid by the shop…
Sellers’ capital being misappropriated?
Recently, on social networks, there have been a number of forums, chat groups… created to “join forces” to talk about frustrations about the policies of this exchange. On Facebook, the group “Shopee – sharing experiences of selling thousands of orders” with nearly 1 million participants continuously shares their frustrations. Luice Pham’s account posted the status line: “It’s okay to return goods within 15 days, but please pay for the order that was successfully delivered on March 8. Does anyone have any way to complain, but I’m exhausted.”
Or there are many anonymous accounts speaking up: “My shop has been in business for 10 days and still hasn’t seen any money. What’s wrong with 150 million in sales but I only received 2 million in my wallet this week?”, “Hello everyone! Normally I come home on weekends.” several hundred million to pay for the goods. Today I checked for 0 dong. Where’s the money so I can pay them?”
A sales representative on this floor also said that among many policies offered to sellers, there are policies where sellers are very passive. “If the buyer does not click “Received goods” on the application, eight days after successful delivery, the money will be returned to the seller’s wallet.
Meanwhile, in the opposite direction, if the seller determines that the store’s goods are defective, they will immediately click to return the goods. I have several million in goods but have been waiting for two weeks,” she reflected to Tuoi Tre.
According to individual sellers, the cost of goods is usually not low, so keeping it for that long is no different than misusing capital. With this policy, stores must increase prices or advise customers to buy on other platforms. One seller said he proactively increased the selling price by 2% to hedge against costs due to the new policy.
Meanwhile, sellers who are strapped for cash have chosen to close their doors on this floor. According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu (who sells milk, diapers and baby products, in Ho Chi Minh City), after the new policy was applied by Shopee, when selling goods, many sellers were afraid to… send the goods away.
“Instead of being happy, the seller has never felt as scared as he does now. The money that was detained and returned to be checked is not sure if it’s missing enough because my daily orders are so many, accumulated in half a month, it can be thousands of orders. I can’t keep records of inspections and sue. I chose the solution… to close the online shop,” Ms. Thu said.
Increasing customer experience is an inevitable trend
Talking to us, financial expert Le Trung Nam, director of EPS Investing Vietnam Co., Ltd., said that increasing the return time is completely consistent with the trend.
“Increasing customer experience by increasing return time is completely consistent with the general world trend. Amazon allows buyers to return goods within 30 days. Therefore, keeping the seller’s money Returning goods until the expiration date is normal. Therefore, merchants should adapt to this because it also helps increase their reliability,” Mr. Nam recommended.
Also according to Mr. Nam, Shopee’s application of lending policy is also to help merchants turn capital. Furthermore, the interest rate Shopee offers, multiplied by about 20%/year, is also normal and does not violate the law.
The commercial floor “fries its fat”?
Information on the Shopee.vn website says that from February 26, this floor has announced the Seasy service for lending to sellers. Accordingly, the seller can borrow a maximum of 200 million VND and a minimum of 10 million VND for two periods of 3 months and 6 months. Fast application appraisal, interest rate from only 1.74%. This information also makes the seller doubt that he is borrowing from himself!?
“The seller is frustrated because his money is lying there and cannot be withdrawn to revolving business capital, but the floor is lending out? Why did the floor not support loans for sellers before? So is there abuse? policy of “forcing” sellers, “techniques” in appropriating capital? – Mr. NVTuan, owner of a fashion shop on this floor, expressed doubts.
Just sold on all 4 major platforms including Shopee, Lazada, TikTok Shop and Tiki, Ms. Nguyen Thi Xuan (HCMC) believes that Shopee’s policy change is unfair to sellers. Because selling on the floor is now very competitive, protecting consumers, protecting the reputation of the floor, so who protects the seller?
“It can’t be said that if you can’t sell, then stop selling on the e-commerce platform. Every method is a business environment, so it needs to be fair from many sides. When Shopee money comes back to lend, I’m completely skeptical,” Ms. Xuan said.
Source: Thao Thuong and Nhu Binh – Tuoi Tre Newspaper