E-commerce operators have temporarily withdrawn the cash on delivery mode of payment for orders placed by the customers. Amazon, Flipkart, 1MG have all suspended the cash on delivery (CoD) option, as per a report in the Economic Times. This is basically to avoid any contact between their delivery executives and the customers.
Some of them are resorting to contact-less delivery even which basically means leaving the ordered stuff at the doorstep and informing the customer so that that they can collect it from there. This works as a safety measure for both sides. The delivery boys may not feel threatened coming into face to face contact with the customer and the customer having any apprehensions of safety of health facing the delivery executive.
The change in the payment terms has been brought about by a remark on the respective app. This means that the customers placing orders have to go through with the payment online, using their credit/debit cards or other digital wallets. Many customers are wary of using such instruments and prefer to pay upon delivery. The delivery executives carry a card swiping machine or accept cash and deliver the packets. This will not be feasible now, at least till the coronavirus scare is around.
Also, only essential products are being serviced at the moment. Grocery, home cleaning products, health and fitness products and pet supplies are the items broadly included in the essential items’ category.
E-commerce platforms are also holding back delivery of goods ordered before the lockdown came into effect and not all pin codes are being serviced currently. They are picking and selecting the essential products only from the orders and trying to deliver them. They are posting notices on their websites that deliveries will be delayed.
Of the different companies, PharmEasy is the only one still offering CoD facility. But they charge ₹50 as the fee for accepting this payment mode. So, they mention that if the customer wants to save this fee, they are advised to pay upfront.