Announcing PaisaPay COD service

[sapana@ebay.com]

Cash on Delivery (COD) has emerged as one of the preferred payment methods by online shoppers in India. Buyers who do not have access to online payments methods or prefer receiving the product before paying for it are increasingly using COD mode of payment. To help our sellers reach out to that buyer base in an easier, safer and cost effective manner we are pleased to announce the launch of PaisaPay COD on eBay India.

Benefits for sellers:
• Reach out to new buyer base by choosing to offer COD mode of payment in their listings
• Single point solution to manage commercial relationships with multiple courier companies.
• Offer cost effective rates irrespective of sales volume
• National coverage across these Pin Codes (http://pages.ebay.in/sellercentral/cod_supported_pincodes.html)
• Reputed courier companies participating in this will also offer (a) online tracking for all shipments on their respective web-sites (b) careful handling during transit, (c) necessary systems to ensure cash handling and (d) timely remittance of money.
• Get protected under eBay Guarantee* (*http://pages.ebay.in/guarantee/)
• eBay will proactively outreach to buyers to minimize risk of order being cancelled by buyer at time of delivery

How will it work?
1. eBay will facilitate ‘PaisaPay COD’ by coordinating with select reputed courier companies.
2. Seller lists selecting ‘PaisaPay COD’
3. Buyer opts to buy the item through ‘PaisaPay COD’
4. Seller ships the item via courier companies allocated by the system
5. Courier company picks up the item from seller
6. Buyer makes payment in Cash on receiving the item.
7. Seller receives the payment for PaisaPay COD transactions via PaisaPay remittances

PaisaPay COD charges
eBay will charge sellers 5% of the item value or Rs 125/- whichever is higher for PaisaPay COD.
These charges include the cash handling / management charges, as well as the courier charges of shipping the item. This will be the same across different product categories.
This cost will reflect in the sellers PaisaPay invoice.

eBay & PaisaPay policies
Please note that all existing eBay & PaisaPay rules & policies apply to PaisaPay COD as well

What is the launch date?
We will endeavor to make PaisaPay COD available on eBay India in early August 2010. We will send an update with the exact launch date.


Changes to COD shipping options in the Selling flows
• Currently a seller has the option of choosing Local COD, National COD and Flat rate COD in his/her listings. With the launch of PaisaPay COD, these would be integrated into a single COD shipping method. To facilitate the launch of PaisaPay COD, the current COD shipping methods of “Local COD” & “National COD” would be removed as options from the listing flows from 5th August 2010, and “Flat-rate COD” will exist as “PaisaPay COD” option;
• Sellers should edit their listings before 5th August 2010 to remove the options of “Local COD” and “National COD” from their listings. Failure to do so will result on such listings getting blocked.

Terms & Conditions

• Please note that the PaisaPay user agreement is being amended on account of launch of PaisaPay COD. Please refer to the link - http://pages.ebay.in/aboutebay/COD_FAQs_buyer.html to review the User Agreement that will be effective from the date of launch of PaisaPay COD (to be intimated to you)


For further clarifications, please post your question on this thread.


Regards,
eBay team

[sapana@ebay.com]

How will it work?
• Sellers wanting to offer ‘PaisaPay COD’ should select the option to offer PaisaPay COD in their listings and agree to the terms and conditions of the courier companies;
• Buyers from PaisaPay COD serviceable locations (http://pages.ebay.in/sellercentral/cod_supported_pincodes.html) may choose to order via PaisaPay COD option;
• On the basis of the pick-up and delivery location, the seller will be informed of the courier company for each PaisaPay COD transaction;
• Seller should inform the courier company to arrange for a pickup once the item is ready for shipment;
• Sellers are advised to ensure that pick up is done within 48 hours in order ensure Buyer satisfaction;
• The courier company will collect the item from the Seller’s location;
• The Seller does not have to pay anything to the representative of the courier company when the item is picked-up;
• Seller enters the AWB # into PaisaPay (non entry of AWB # in the system within the stipulated time will lead to transaction being cancelled);
• The courier company will make a maximum of 3 attempts to deliver the item to the buyer;
• At the time of delivery of the item the Buyer makes the payment in Cash to representative of the courier company and receives the item;
• Courier company will consolidate, reconcile and remit all COD payments to PaisaPay;
• Seller will receive the payment for PaisaPay COD transactions via PaisaPay remittances after eBay reconciles the remittances from courier companies;
• While all the Courier companies identified for this purpose have a track record of good service, the Seller would continue to be responsible to follow up with the Courier company to ensure prompt delivery.

Courier companies
• We have evaluated multiple courier companies and have identified Blue Dart, Aramex & AFL as partners for this activity;
• The system will automatically allocate a courier company to a transaction based on various parameters like pincode serviceability (for pick-up and delivery), product category etc. Once a seller has selected to offer PaisaPay COD for a transaction, he will use the courier company as specified by the system.

Packaging
• Tamper proof packaging is mandatory and will be required for PaisaPay COD shipments;
• Sellers should clearly mark the package as COD & prominently display the amount to be collected from the buyer on the package.

Remittance Process
Payments made by buyers will be consolidated, reconciled & sent by the courier company to PaisaPay.
Onward remittances to sellers would be after reconciliation of remittances received from courier companies. This process is expected to take about 15 days for most packages and about 30 days for a smaller portion of shipments and is counted from date of item received by the buyer.
PaisaPay will then release the payment to sellers in the next remittance cycle.

[sapana@ebay.com]

Role of eBay / PaisaPay
• eBay will be facilitating COD for users by providing a ready process to offer items on COD to a large number of buyers across multiple sets of COD serviceable pin code lists;
• Simplify the process of managing commercial relationships for sellers with the courier companies for COD;
• Identifying the specific courier company to be used for each PaisaPay COD transaction basis an automated algorithm and communication of the same to the seller;
• Receiving collections from the Courier companies for PaisaPay COD transactions and onward remittance to the seller after reconciliation;
• In the event of any claims against the courier companies, sellers should contact the courier companies for the same. On a case-to-case basis, eBay will attempt to resolve disputes between the seller and the concerned courier company.

Role of the Seller
• Ensuring high quality tamper proof packaging and documentation;
• Communicating with the assigned courier for pickup at the earliest;
• Follow up with the Courier company in case of delays in delivery;
• Communication with the Buyer on all aspects of the transaction, including shipment.

Role of the Courier Company
• Ensuring pick-up and delivery of the item within specified SLAs;
• Collection of the amount due from the Recipient and confirmation of the same; (to PaisaPay?)
• Remittance of the aggregated Collections to the PaisaPay account.