In the past few months, the 3000-odd sellers with Snapdeal have been facing several issues. In a letter to Commerce minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, the All India Online Vendors Association (AIOVA) said that the company was changing policies and processes without appropriate updates. They claimed that not only does Snapdeal cancel their orders after its shipped, but also charges them an ‘out of stock’ penalty saying the product wasn’t shipped. Returns too, they said, come in a damaged condition and are no longer in re-sellable. Damage compensation too is not up to the mark. Sellers were beginning to lose patience with the company with some sub-orders awaiting payment since 2015.
Now, there seems to be a ray of hope for the sellers. Days after the AIOVA wrote to the Commerce minister to look into the payment delays and ensure Snapdeal pays their dues, Snapdeal has now reached out to a seller forum to meet and resolve issues that they are facing.
Sanjay Thakur, President, e-seller Suraksha, a forum for online sellers told The News Minute that it received a communication from Snapdeal that co-founder Kunal Bahl wants to meet Thakur to hear out all grievances being faced by sellers who have pending dues from the company. “Snapdeal reached out to me and promised to give me a resolution for every problem within 24 hours. I have spread the message across all our members to write to me with their problems. I will meet Kunal Bahl early next week and try to resolve all issues,” he added.
To start off, Snapdeal announced on March 6 that it has reduced its seller payment cycle by 40% to benefit its sellers. Now reaching out to sellers is something that is being welcomed by the seller community.
Incidentally, AIOVA – who wrote to Nirmala Sitharaman – has not received any such communication. “We tried getting in touch with Kunal Bahl through various social media platforms as well but received no response. I’m surprised they did not reach out to us. But I’m glad they’re meeting e-seller Suraksha. As long as they are ready to meet sellers and look into the issue, we are happy,” AIOVA said.
The commerce ministry, AIOVA said, has responded to the letter and has agreed to meet the seller forum next week. And with both meetings – with Snapdeal and the commerce ministry – scheduled next week, sellers are hopeful that their woes will finally come to an end.