Dalal Plus refunds Tk 17.74 lakh

Tk 17.74 lakh were provided in refunds to 10 customers yesterday over the non-delivery of goods by e-commerce platform Dalal Plus in spite of orders being placed through payments in advance.

Some Tk 34.06 crore of Dalal Plus customers is stuck with different payment gateways over the same issue.

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Such platforms had mushroomed since mid-2020, taking advance payments pledging discounts of as much as 70 per cent to 80 per cent.

They all ended up failing to provide neither the products nor refunds.

The number of such unscrupulous e-commerce platforms is believed to be 16 while the amount awaiting return to customers is Tk 3,000 crore.

Since July 1, the advance payments have remained in escrow accounts of the gateways of payment service providers, payment system operators, and mobile financial service providers as per a Bangladesh Bank directive.

Escrow is the use of a third party, which holds an asset or funds before they are transferred from one party to another. The third-party holds the funds until both parties have fulfilled their contractual requirements.

Addressing yesterday's refunding initiative organised by the commerce ministry on its premises, Additional Secretary AHM Shafiquzzaman recommended Dalal Plus return all of the money as soon as possible.

It is expected that the other companies will also fast ensure the return for their customers, he said.

Platforms Qcoom and Alesha Mart earlier started their own refunding process.