Board eases new COD transfer rule
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Board eases new COD transfer rule

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The new guideline only applies to cases where buyers confirm with delivery staff that they received products matching what they ordered. (Photo: Tawatchai Kemgumnerd)
The new guideline only applies to cases where buyers confirm with delivery staff that they received products matching what they ordered. (Photo: Tawatchai Kemgumnerd)

The division specialising in contracts at the Consumer Protection Board has issued an additional guideline to allow logistics providers to transfer cash on delivery (COD) payments to online merchants, forgoing the five-day waiting period.

The new guideline only applies to cases where buyers confirm with delivery staff that they received products matching what they ordered.

The guideline aims to ease the impact of the board's announcement regarding new COD rules, effective from Oct 3, requiring delivery companies hold COD payments for five days.

If buyers do not notify delivery companies that they want a refund, the companies can transfer the COD payment to online merchants after five days.

Within three days of the new rule being implemented, it helped consumers save 2 million baht from fraud related to home deliveries of 10,000 items, according to the board.

However, after a week of the rule coming into force, the board received complaints from 100 online merchants who want logistics providers to transfer COD money to them within five days, Lerssak Raktam, director of the consumer contracts division at the board, told the Bangkok Post.

In response to the complaints, the division issued the new guideline allowing logistics providers to transfer COD payments to online merchants without the waiting period if buyers confirmed with delivery staff the products match what they ordered.

If buyers confirm that they received what they ordered, then later find a product defect, buyers can file a civil lawsuit against online vendors, said Mr Lerssak.

He said some medium-sized online merchants with sales revenue of around 500,000 baht per day might be affected by the requirement that logistics providers hold COD payments for five days.

The new COD regulation aims to address rampant online fraud. Online fraud cases number 400,000-500,000 per year, according to the Digital Economy and Society Ministry.

Logistics providers could face a one-year jail term and a fine of 100,000 baht if they fail to issue complete money receipts to product recipients after receiving COD payment.

E-commerce pundit Pawoot Pongvitayapanu said the Consumer Protection Board's new COD rules could affect businesses in several ways.

The requirement for delivery providers to hold COD payments for five days before transfers could affect businesses that rely on quick cash flow, he said.

These companies might feel the strain if they have to wait for five days for COD payment transfers, said Mr Pawoot.

In addition, logistics providers need stricter transaction verification systems and must maintain detailed records of senders and receivers, requiring more management resources, he said.

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