Speaking at a press conference at Le Meridian hotel here today, regional managing director Ian Ho said Shopee believed in open communication between buyers and sellers.
He said the platform took many measures to protect its buyers, such as employing the ratings feature.
“The ratings of our sellers are determined by buyers who have bought their products before, to instil trust among other buyers.
“You can also hold a live chat with the seller via their mobile app to ask more about the product and bargain with the seller.”
He said such features would give buyers more confidence when purchasing products online.
Shopee’s guarantee system also makes transactions safer as the platform will handle payments as well as the logistics process.
“When you buy a product, we will hold the money and release it to the seller only after the buyer has confirmed receiving it and is happy with the product.
“If you buy from other platforms, say Classified or Carousell, you have to perform the transaction offline via direct bank transfer to the seller’s account, and you don’t know if the seller will send you the product or otherwise,” he said.
Likewise, he said, Shopee’s newly-forged partnership with Pos Malaysia Berhad on its cash-on-delivery (COD) programme further strengthened efforts to reduce the risk of buyers not receiving products for which they had already paid.
Pos Malaysia chief commercial officer of postal and courier, Nor Azizan Tarja, said the COD market was new in Malaysia but was confident that the programme would make first-time buyers feel more comfortable.
“What happens during the point of delivery is, we allow the customer to check the shipment, and they will only accept the product after they are satisfied with it,” he said.
Shopee, together with Pos Malaysia, also announced their biggest Raya campaign, “Cahaya Raya bersama Shopee”.
The campaign, which begins on May 15, will offer discounts of up to 90% on more than 25,000 items, and daily contests with RM50,000 worth of prizes.
Shopee is currently available in Southeast Asia and Taiwan.