To avoid actions of fraud happening to the customers, Amazon is reported to test its new feature, the video call to verify the merchant’s identity who wants to sell products on the site. This plan is known as a new strategy to fight against unexpected actions like online fraud that is getting increased in the middle of Coronavirus pandemics.
According to Reuters, Amazon stated that the plan for having the new feature has been started at the beginning of the year. It is due to some customers’ complaints that merchandise they want is not likely what is in the picture. With the feature also, it is possible for both merchants and customers to schedule for meeting up.
Video call is not the only safety feature provided by this big e-commerce platform. It has applied a monitoring system for so long to make sure all products offered are safe and original. Undeniably, fraud is not only frustrating customers but also big brands like Apple and Nike. The situation also makes people want to go back to the past; doing transactions offline or directly since it is considered safer for all of them.
The plan of the platform to launch the new feature is also “supported” by the spread of Coronavirus in many countries. The pandemic has forced many governments to issue new regulations; mostly about social or physical distancing which means offline transaction activities should be limited. With the availability of the video call feature, it is expected that people can do transactions more safely even if they don’t need to meet up with each other directly.
Amazon itself changes the release date of the Video Call feature to make it one of the solutions of transactions in the pandemic. Currently, the feature can be enjoyed starting in February. The platform uses this feature also to conduct interviews with more than 1,000 prospective traders from the US, the UK, China, and Japan.
Unfortunately, the tight monitoring system seems to make many Chinese merchants find it more difficult. Despite the fact that Coronavirus was started from China, many traders from this country are also found to use many fake accounts. Meanwhile, many Chinese traders are registered in Amazon. Their number is even around 40% of the total merchants in the platform mainly for the European market.
It is not really surprising since Chinese merchants have been well known in other countries for so many years even before the era of online shopping. Additionally, many products from the country have similar names and look with many famous brands. For some reasons, those products are called only imitations.
Slightly, the video call feature from Amazon is just the same as the same video call from other platforms. However, Amazon claims that their feature is more focused on business purposes. It is reasonable by remembering that Amazon itself is a platform for selling and buying.
In this one new feature, some other features are offered to make it work better. First of all, it lets you meet, chat, and place business calls in a single and more secure application. There is no need to switch the app if the users want to make or receive a call. Different from conventional video call apps that are mainly intended for personal communication, the feature from Amazon is recommended for teleconference also. Presenting products to customers is also getting easier with it.
Second, although it still needs upgrades, the quality of the service is relatively good. The picture is clear and it supports multiple calls at once. In these social-distancing days, people still have a problem in video calling and conferencing for the unclear video and audio provided by the platform. From the perspective of business, it is quite disturbing. Therefore, based on the statement of Amazon’s representative, they make sure that the quality is good to avoid problems in business dealing.
Third, it also lets all merchants be extra careful before deciding to join the platform. Only trusted merchants are currently allowed to join with some requirements; their merchandise must be original and they must pass through a set of interviews.
But once the merchant has fulfilled the requirement, it is very good for them as well as a chance to improve their business. Amazon itself is known as the biggest shopping platforms in the world currently. It is accessed by people in many countries around the world. Some countries indeed have not yet accessed the platform well for some conditions. However, it seems that the app founded by Jeff Bezos tries its best to enlarge its influence on them.
