Alesha Mart forced to withdraw its ad with illogical offer
By bypassing the payment gateway, various companies, including Alesha Mart, are offering huge discounts and asking customers to deposit money directly into their bank account
Under pressure from the commerce ministry, E-commerce platform Alisha Mart.com withdrew its advertisement with an offer to selling bikes with a 33% discount, by depositing money in its bank accounts for violation of the e-commerce policy.
Bypassing the Bangladesh Bank's escrow service, Alesha Mart.com offered customers a 33% discount on their Facebook page on 15 August and asked them to deposit money in its bank account of National Bank's Gulshan corporate branch to collect money directly from the customers.
The offer also includes that it will be delivered 45 days after the buyer pays the full price.
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Mohammad Hafizur Rahman, additional secretary of the commerce ministry and head of the Central E-commerce Cell, noticed this offer immediately after it was posted by Alisha Mart on its Facebook page at 12am.
Mohammad Hafizur Rahman told The Business Standard, "As soon as I saw the advertisement in violation of the policy, I put pressure on the top tier of Alesha Mart to withdraw it."
"Then they told me that it was becoming difficult to run the business without taking advance money from the buyers. Payment gateways are not disbursing money. "
"I told them if it is not possible to run the business, the business has to be shut down. But in no way can the government policy be violated. And if there is any problem with the payment gateway or any transaction with the bank, you can inform Bangladesh Bank. Shortly afterwards, Alisha Mart informed me that the advertisement was withdrawn," he said.
A policy issued by the Commerce Ministry last month said delivery must be made within five days of receiving the price in advance within the same city and within 10 days in different cities.
According to the Bangladesh Bank circular, the advance payments will wait at the gateways, and will enter e-commerce accounts only after the delivery. The payment gateways will make the refunds upon delivery failure or order cancellation by the customers.
By bypassing the payment gateway, various companies, including Alesha Mart, are offering huge discounts and asking customers to deposit money directly into the company's bank account. That's a violation of the policy.
