Telenor Pakistan, under the umbrella of EasyPay, is working on introducing Escrow payments in Pakistan. This feature will enable its EasyPay consumers to keep payments on hold — even after making the payment — for a certain duration before releasing the funds to merchants/receivers.
Omar Moeen Malik, Director Strategy and Payments for Easypaisa at Telenor Pakistan, told me that they are in the process of finalizing the product that will be launched within the next few weeks. For this purpose, the Easypaisa team is working closely with some leading merchants to determine market demands and users’ needs to come up with terms and conditions that will acceptable for everyone.
Ideally speaking, buyers will have an option to recall their payment within 7-10 days (or any period that is mutually agreed between buyer and seller) at the time of placing an order. Not to mention, the buyer won’t be allowed to recall a payment just because they changed their mind after placing the order, instead if delivery is not made during committed period or if product delivered is different than the advertised product then they will be able to raise a complaint with Easypay to recall the payment.
While paying with escrow service, funds are held and not transferred to merchant until product/service is delivered
For those who aren’t familiar, with escrow payments a user/buyer makes a payment that is deducted from his/her account immediately but funds are withheld with the payment solution provider (Easypay in this case) and aren’t transferred to seller/merchant for a certain duration.
Escrow payments are especially useful in cases where trust level between buyers and sellers is low as payments are held with a third-party unless the service/product is delivered to the buyer.
In case of any disputes or non-delivery of product/service — terms and conditions are usually defined beforehand — the buyer is given an option to recall their funds safely and securely.
The Pakistani ecommerce industry is worth USD 100 million dollar at the moment, and also has the potential to grow to a multi-billion dollar market within the next few years. We are currently undergoing a similar situation where trust levels between buyers and sellers are low, with ecommerce stores not being straight with their promotions. This is probably why more than 95% of ecommerce transactions in Pakistan are COD (Cash on Delivery) where customers pay only when they see and feel the product in their hands.
Cash on Delivery, while its easy and simple method of payment and does the job, also comes with countless hassles for both the sellers and buyers. For example a seller has to pay extra to a courier company to manage payments, funds are withheld with courier companies for several weeks for operational and procedural reasons. As for the buyer, they have to keep cash in hand at home and wait for the delivery boy to collect the product and make the payment.
Escrow payments are useful in cases where trust level between buyers and sellers is low as payments are held unless service/product is delivered to the buyer
While various online payment solutions are being offered by leading ecommerce stores, cash on delivery still rules in the Pakistani commerce industry and as mentioned above, the buyer is more comfortable with COD just because they don’t have to pay until they can verify their purchase in person.
Advance online payment is a naturally preferred mode of payment for sellers and at times buyers too want to pay online and beforehand. But they just don’t due to lack of trust on e-commerce stores for reasons that we have discussed at various stages in the past.
Here escrow payments are going to come into play where the buyer will pay in advance but will trust that payment is not through to the seller until the requested purchase is delivered. Moreover, they can also make sure — before releasing the payment — that the seller has shipped the promised and advertised product.
More details on Easypay’s escrow service should be expected in the coming days.
It merits mentioning here that the escrow service will be a feature of EasyPay, Telenor’s online payment solution for merchants in Pakistan.
This is Good. I hope it retains its business model’s reliability. Because a lot of frauds are being pulled off via Easypaisa now. One can withdraw Easypaisa without knowing receiver’s CNIC or even pass code for transaction. BTW most of these frauds are also done via Olx dealings. (be aware)
If escrow brings in uncompromising reliability, then this thing will fly high.
Otherwise meh.. Easypaisa already exists.
How is it possible to withdraw money without knowing? I don’t think it’s possible if a person doesn’t know the pin code! If so, then how I can keep myself safe from being hacked?
Long story short. I was a victim of such fraud in which I sent Rs. 12000 to a person in Lahore, (I’m in Isb) but I didn’t gave him the code for it. I wanted him to deliver me things which he promised. Within 2 hours he withdrew those Rs. 12000 without knowing PIN of my transaction. So. :)
Without pin :O
Yup. :-/
how did you send money, through your mobile account or retailer? and was it collected and items were not delivered or you got the items still?
Please read previous comment. I said he withdrew the amount within 2 hours from a retailer. He was supposed to deliver me things the next day, but obviously when he had the money with him, he ‘changed’ his plans. I didn’t give him PIN and he still withdrew amount. I sent via a retailer.
hmmm the passcode at the time of sending transaction was set by you or the retailer? you should have complained at Easypaisa call center. i think if you haven’t launched a complain, do it now.
I set the password myself. And boy I did things beyond just a complaint to counter that bast**d.
this is very interesting, can you please give me your number at [email protected]. want to discuss this more with you.
thanks.
I would recommend you to delete this email from here, or expect unending spam from all sorts of people and companies.
i can manage, dont worry.
inam, can you please share your contact number or email on my email address.
Sorry. Don’t take it personally but I don’t want to discuss this issue any further.
As per my knowledge, it has only 3 possibilities:
1. Most pin codes are 00786 or 00789 etc.
2. Every retailer has a fixed pin code, if he knows from where you sent him money.
3. You have sent money to the bast*** in the past. He knew the pin code.
As I said, I set the PIN code myself. Neither the retailer nor that person knew it except me. It’s just an easily hackable process with a few tricks. I learned the hard way.
no its not :) if you set it yourself and you got message of transaction confirmation on your phone, it’s not possible to hack it from the system.
Ji acha
“I believe there is a fraud complaint system online on their website. Just Google it! Or you can contact them directly at [email protected]“
Inam! I’m from Sri Lanka trying to buy pigeons and use DHL, FedEx from a seller in Lahore. You think there’s a good chance for me to never see my money or goodssgain through escrow?
Good for hiring freelancers within Pakistan by Pakistanis.
EastFlair.com is already accepting payments through EasyPay.
any idea on the current status of this service. It was supposed to start a while ago but still no sign of it.