E-Commerce Dispute Resolution

To protect Consumers rendered vulnerable in the wake of rapidly-developing digital technology.

Traditional dispute resolution mechanisms create challenges and difficulties for an aggrieved consumer to enforce the guaranteed consumer rights. For the case to be taken up for consideration in the consumer forum or civil court, the claimant/consumer should have to establish the case where there are various factors the adjudicative authorities will look at which includes: personal identity of the respondent; possibility of bringing the respondent/second party into the adversarial process; proof of evidence related to the claim; etc. One of the major difficulties at the first instance is to engage or seek attorney/legal advice to know the procedural rules as how to approach the redressal authorities seeking remedies. Then so on. Okay these may be the challenges in the traditional dispute resolution mechanism being applied in India till the Consumer Protection Act.2019 got introduced. Accordingly new rules were framed in order to protect the online consumers too.

A typical incidence reflecting the emotions and mental strains of a professional photographer who was forced to face such situation has to be briefly conveyed to you. He received a mobile handset he had ordered online at a discount of Rs. 500, he realized it was a refurbished product. The fact it was refurbished had not been stated in a clear, readable manner in the description and he had missed the fine print. After trying to have telephonic contacts with the online provider for months which he ultimately failed, finally gave up the efforts and decided to keep the phone, left with no choice. This person represents the online consumers who have been always at the receiving end and used to get embittered in the hands of the online traders.

Although the Internet is a convenient platform to conduct commercial transactions, consumers are disadvantaged in the online marketplace due to insufficient information about goods and services as well as business and transaction process, lack of access to redress and several other problems. The number of complaints regarding online transactions increased in India and the number of Internet-fraud related complaints reported to Consumer Coordination Council, Consumer-Court and Consumer Redressal Forum under Consumer Protection Act 1986 were also increased. This, in turn, has undermined consumer trust and impeded the growth of e-retailing as well as added to the fear among e-consumers of falling prey to online fraud. In spite of this, the nature and effectiveness of e-consumer protection has not been adequately studied, notwithstanding extensive research into other aspects of e-retailing.

Hope the new revolutionized reforms in the Consumer Protection Act 2019 and the rules framed accordingly could handle such issues competently so as to redress the grievances of online consumers. But there may be apprehensions to the effect of efficient implementation of the amended Act.

In the new era of technology, innovativeness in technology is bursting into the legal domain. For an expedited and inexpensive resolution of disputes, the new Act and legal courts in India and in various other jurisdictions have ventured into the technological advancements. The Act and Rules are also the instances of such effort. But the technicalities to be implemented as the result of this legislation calls for a fast-growing expertise taking into consideration the current business demands.

Though the new resolution mechanism gets initiated through a portal, the ultimate decision rests with the Consumers’ forum. If at all the an early decision taken as a result of the complaints filed in the portal, it would be fine. But the consumer forum is bound by procedural rules and due process of law should be exercised to resolve the matter which is time consuming to achieve the final outcome.

The introduction of a new platform under the brand of Soft Settle which deals the resolution in minutes or hours maximum, can let the people have an easy access to justice without any fees or any court syndromes.

As the cyber presence of the commercial disputes is cropping up without any breaks use of e-courts paving way for e-commerce disputes resolution has become a necessity in all senses. The first and second segment of the project under the banner of Gateway to Equity & Justice (www.odrsupport.com) and (www.softsettle.com) providing ODR policies and frame work, facilitating E-commerce players from getting assaulted.

Soft Settle is not intending to compete with official dispute resolution mechanism. SoftSettle always prays for such laws to come and save the online shoppers. But SoftSettle has a different perspective with regard to the resolution feature. It encourages harmony which could build a bondage between trader and consumer. Further it tends to bring pleasant ambiance in the society so far as the party which does wrong could be rectified so as to eliminate the negative reviews in future and consumer found his favourite retailer always close to him supplying quality products against his orders.

The Time Bound Grievance Redressal against E-Commerce Issues

SoftSettle Support

Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020, which fall under the Consumer Protection Act.2019, endorses setting up a robust consumer redressal mechanism.

The e-commerce platforms also have to acknowledge the receipt of any consumer complaint within forty-eight hours and redress the complaint within one month from the date of receipt under this Act. And will also have to appoint a grievance officer for consumer grievance redressal.

As per the rules, sellers cannot refuse to take back goods or withdraw services or refuse refunds, if such goods or services are defective, deficient, delivered late, or if they do not meet the description on the platform. The rules also prohibit the e-commerce companies from manipulating the price of the goods or services to gain unreasonable profit through unjustified prices.

The online consumers are much relieved and they have a robust consumer redressal mechanism against the e-commerce issues.

This mechanism has been already integrated in the digital platform Soft Settle and it provides a positive reach for the consumers to go ahead with simplified procedure as far as the case management is concerned along with the ADR process in the cyberspace. More over Soft Settle does not compromise in admitting court syndromes in adopting the online platform so far as it is purely DIY platform with adequate consumer services.

The statutory phenomena definitely takes the consumer protection to a level beyond its concept of the traditional court procedure. But still some distresses shall undergo changes and Soft Settle is an alternative online platform which eliminates such flaws detectable in the grievance mechanism statutorily promoted.

The Soft Settle platform provides the simplest online consumer dispute resolution environment. With innovative features, such as representations, list of dispute issues and possible redress, escalation over to a different online platform Mediator Affair, limited need for written texts, direct negotiation tool between the parties etc. The Soft Settle platform cooperates with professional associations, e-commerce and consumer associations and is on the way to be used by companies, consumers and online dispute resolution bodies worldwide.

Further while appreciating the statutory prospects of the consumer protection, Soft Settle assures a harmonization to promote justice, unlike the court, by functioning as a smart choice for consumers as well as businesses in dealing with each other while confronting the disputes to have their share of win-win configuration. Hence both of them can advance their relationship stimulating the consumers to purchase more goods from the same business with upgraded qualities which the trader or business never compromises as they have won the loyalty of their customer and while they may be subjected to negative remarks from the part of the consumer segment.

Soft Settle is being designed in such a way so as to be truly user-friendly and easy for both consumers and retailers from different parts of the world. The application will guide you through the whole process and present you with a number of options to resolve the issue. Plus, our Consumer Service Team is here to help you.

Trends and Challenges in E-Commerce Dispute Resolution

Adv. Rajesh, Chief Coordinator, SoftSettle Support

E-commerce has become a busting business in India today. It is the cutting edge in all areas of business today. E-commerce has indeed emerged as a major opportunity for India. With the phenomenal spread of mobile telephony and the advent of 4G in the country, buyers from small towns and cities are also buying online in large numbers. It is a fact that internet has dissolved the discrimination factor between the small and the big cities enabling buyers from small towns to have access to the same branded goods, and quality products which earlier was a privilege of large city buyers.

The most significant reason for lack of consumer confidence in electronic transactions lies in anonymity of parties to the consumer contract. Statutory law now makes clear that a contract cannot be denied enforcement solely because it is in electronic form or signed electronically. Still there are certain legal issues supposed to take place in a digital contract i.e. the technology contracts are required to fulfil certain conditions to be legally enforceable. They are as follows:

Authenticity: The contracting parties must be identified to give authenticity to the technology contract. The parties shall be saved from any kind of misrepresentation as a form of fraud. Any sort of fraud would be a mark on the genuineness of the terms of the contract and the other party completing its obligations as per the contract.

Offer: One party proposing an offer to enter into a contract with its own sets of terms and conditions accompanying the agreement. The other party has the option to accept the offer or decline on non-compliance with the terms and conditions.

Writing & Signature: Every contract should include a signed digital signature along with the terms and conditions as the indication of acceptance by the other party.

Confidentiality: In a technology contract with e-commerce websites or any other company for that matter are under an obligation to maintain the confidentiality of its consumers. If in any case, they leak the sensitive data then they will be subjected to legal implications.

Disputes within Cyberspace transactions (with regard to technology contract):

It has been a revolution in the field of cyberspace with the introduction of a separate statute for Information Technology. This is an initiation of a generation of techno-friendly legal aspects to ease the workload of the legal professionals as well the companies that have adopted technology contracts as modes of conducting businesses.

It is not a free-flowing field with its own disputes which need to be enumerated in order to be settled in coming times. These disputes are legal in nature and have to be sorted with legal procedure. These loopholes cannot be ignored as they impair the very foundation of the legal framework.

The environment promoting a scenario where the interaction between and among the characters has to be evaluated. It is understandable with the scope of cyber law to reach out to every individual across the globe at an instant without any boundary barriers, the possibility of physical interaction of each contractual party is almost impossible.

Soft Settle discovered certain methods to mitigate the disputes with the case management procedure and negotiating tactics so as to resolve most the disputes in minutes or hours, but invite the constant efforts from the contracting parties to come up with a commitment to put these solutions into proper practice.

Resolving Consumer Grievances effectively

SoftSettle Support

Consumer grievance is the voice of consumer raise after dissatisfaction from company product or services. When consumer expectations not meet with the value as they paid for product or services then they become frustrated are raise their voice against the company for the replacement of good, refund and return.

Disputes arise within and between businesses and individuals all the time for many different reasons. The one thing all disputes share is that ultimately they involve people and people involve relationships. The key to effective dispute resolution, from the perspective of business, is to have a broad, flexible approach which offers an outcome-focused resolution to the dispute.

Where dispute arises in the area of Consumer-Business relations, those trained in problem solving, dispute avoidance, negotiation and dispute resolution should have initial oversight of such dispute and be able to record and monitor all claims. Apart from such training, role of the grooming technology in deciding the cases resulting out of the issues in respect of the consumer dissatisfaction of the products or services belong to the Business has to be evaluated too.

Ideally, the analysis of disputes and complaints should include a recommended online dispute resolution (ODR) plan and suggestions on how to strengthen the relationship with the other party.

Soft Settle has adopted such ODR frame work to go along with people to decide the cases where the outcome shall not be painful to either parties while justice cannot be let down or ignored. But while promoting the win-win propositions, Soft Settle requires parties to be more amenable, generous and collaborative so that they can expect an reasonable outcome deemed to be the appropriate justice.

Soft Settle provides such platform as a device to resolve your consumer grievances through online medium which is easy, relaxed to come out with a decision acceptable to both parties unlike the outcome resulting in court litigation.

There are many ways to resolve your consumer grievances and online medium made this easier for quick redressal of consumer complaint.

Now things, information, and communication become online and easily accessible for all users because they are using a mobile device. Soft Settle is such a platform where a virtual neutral SS-Equity (CDR) would decide the cases in no time and at no cost. The decision is binding too.

Comforting Consumer Concerns

SoftSettle Support

Disappointed by a product or service you’ve paid for? You don’t have to settle for shabby performance. Most businesses want to keep you happy so you’ll keep coming back. But things may sometimes happen in a different way. Hence the problem crops up.

You can solve many consumer problems by talking to a store employee, or if you bought the item online, by returning to the website. Do this as soon as possible because some retailers have time limits on returns and refunds.

Online retailers should provide return instructions on the site or on your receipt. When shopping online, it is wise to consider the company’s reputation and return policy before you buy. Similarly the manner in which the physical shops considers the direct customer in a reasonable way such as providing the refund and return policy before the consumers buy things should be there.

Soft Settle provides a Consultancy Platform to help customers as if they were drafting a complaint letter to retailer with the following inclusions and in the following manner:

You have to provide the details of your profile in the specified fields.
You would be precise and concise as the fields call for concise and precise complaints.
You can express what you desire to get out of the settlement of the issue
You can upload relevant documents.

Soft Settle frame the issues furnished in the specified fields to build a case and find the answers to the following questions.

Didn’t get what you ordered?
Did you get a defective product?
Disappointed with the service you got?
Any other issues (product or service) with your Seller?

The Soft Settle platform has two levels of resolving disputes (negotiations level and resolution by a neutral as an escalated level) with refined technological features.

It is free sign up and free resolution for customers but for the escalated mode (appeal)

Converting Shopping Complaints into a Great Customer Experiences

SoftSettle Support (targeting sellers/traders and servicemen)

It is true that customer experiencing a good relationship with sellers or traders, would definitely share this experience with friends, family and connections, which in can lead to new business without expending anything in the form of advertisements or towards using certain publicity tools. But on the other hand the experience is bitter, there will be an adverse approach from the part of the customer to proceed with his or her complaint.

And for customers that don’t complain, they just stop doing business with you.

A customer complaint highlights a problem, whether that’s a problem with your product, employees or internal processes, and by hearing these problems directly from your customers, you can investigate and improve to prevent further complaints in the future.

Soft Settle helps you handling the customer complaints. When a customer makes a complaint, he or she is voicing a concern in relation to your product or service. Soft Settle proposes a consumer redressal avenue step by step where the consumer has a specific issue or dispute over certain products or services, so that the seller or trader could react over the complaints positively to focus on the quality of the product or services. This may ultimately lead to good relationship with the customer and finding more leads with him or her to enhance your business.

Soft Settle is a simple application that resolves customer claims and makes shopping experience trouble-free for both businesses and consumers.

It helps companies seamlessly communicate and handle claims, allowing customers to spend more time on shopping – and less on complaining. Through Soft Settle, in just a couple of clicks, both sides can communicate and negotiate directly, making the issue resolved – for good…

The Soft Settle platform has two levels of resolving disputes (negotiations level and resolution by a neutral as an escalated level) with refined technological features.

Soft Settle can take the baton. It has nothing to do with lawyers, adjusters, but everything can be taken care of by you only. It is purely a DIY business. That itself calls for a true and fruitful relationship with the customer always.

The inevitable implementation of technology stimulated Application in resolving E-Commerce Disputes

Adv. Meerza Zaheer, Chief Consultant, Senate Legis

Electronic commerce is the process by which businesses and consumers buy and sell goods and services through an electronic medium.

We have been witnessing the online presence of majority of companies in the present market since early 1990. Since you have recognized the ability to conduct business through the internet, you might have also accepted the online shopping starts from food and clothes to entertainment, furniture and whatever essential products for human life under the sky.

Electronic commerce brings both comforts and discomforts to its users. You may be enjoying the comforts widely include on the spot sales and purchase, competitive costs, convenience, saving of time, etc. On the other hand, the discomforts include frauds and cyber-crimes committed against e-commerce users. At times there are disagreements and dissatisfactions as well among buyers and purchasers that cannot be resolved using traditional litigation methods.

But the countries like India is lagging behind in applying the ADR or ODR mechanisms and technology driven solutions to find settlements against such cropping commercial conflicts or e-commerce disputes. It is quite unfortunate that India is still strange to the resolution of e-commerce disputes by means of ODR.

ODR more evidently capable of helping e-commerce disputes resolutions in India and like countries. I feel some of the areas where we must pay special attention include technology related dispute resolution, film, media and entertainment industry dispute resolution in India, cross border e-commerce dispute resolution in India, etc. E-courts and ODR can be effectively used for all the above mentioned purposes.

E-commerce players in India have many techno legal obligations to follow and cyber law due diligence in India is one such obligation. Not only legal requirements for undertaking e-commerce in India are stringent but even Internet intermediaries liability in India must be taken seriously by companies engaged in online transactions and businesses.

As the cyber presence of the commercial transactions is cropping up without any breaks use of e-courts paving way for e-commerce disputes resolution has become a necessity in all senses. The first and second segment of the project under the banner of Gateway to Equity & Justice (www.odrsupport.com) and (www.softsettle.com) providing ODR policies and frame work, facilitating E-commerce players from getting assaulted by some laws which may cause them held liable for cases like Intellectual Property infringement and other violations, introduced e-Court as a virtual resolution center or settlement support center.

Online Dispute Resolution, an ideal way-out in finding Consumer Dispute Resolution

SoftSettle Support

ODR or Online Dispute Resolution is a pioneering method to resolve grievances, issues or disputes, especially now when both consumers and business started to use virtual space for concluding contracts and performing various transactions.

Legal action may not be the most suitable remedy for disputes especially so when such disputes are the outcome of e-commerce transactions or dealings on the Internet. The Internet exposes us to a variety of fields and in turn disputes too seem to be inevitable. It is best to resolve these grievances, issues or disputes arising as a result of the Internet in that very same environment, that is, the Internet.

As for the ordinary locally based offline consumer disputes too the traditional court intervention does not benefit the consumers as well as traders to find a settlement in a cost effective and fast manner. The crawling attitude of the court behavior to find a settlement will definitely lead the clients to find a better alternative to this effect.

ODR supplements existing ADR methods based on the assumption that certain disputes (more specifically e-disputes) can also be resolved quickly and adequately via the Internet. ODR can be defined as the deployment of applications and computer networks for resolving disputes with ADR methods. Both e-disputes and brick and mortar disputes can be resolved using ODR.

SoftSettle Support has come up with innovative digitilized concepts that can eliminate the limitations of the traditional legal devices to find a resolution to the effect of consumer issues whether it is offline or online.

SoftSettle Support has developed a concept where dispute resolution techniques range from methods where parties have full control of the procedure, to methods where a third party is in control of both the process and the outcome. These primary methods of resolving disputes may be complemented with Information and Communication Technology (ICT). When the process is conducted mainly online it is referred to as ODR, i.e. to carry out most of the dispute resolution procedure online, including the initial filing, framing up the issues, electronic negotiation, the neutral appointment, evidentiary processes, oral hearings if needed, online discussions, and even the rendering of binding settlements. Thus, SoftSettle has developed an ODR system which is a different medium to resolve disputes, from beginning to end, respecting due process principles.

Suitable Alternatives to Resolve the Consumer Complaints

SoftSettle Support

The online commercial transactions used to witness disputes subsequent to the transactions or it is appropriate to say disputes are always incidental to the online transactions such as e-commerce trading, where parties located in different corners of the world can contract with each other using the device like internet. In the case of any disputes arising out of these types of online transactions, the litigation is often inconvenient, impractical, time consuming and prohibitive. Providing an alternative approach to resolve online disputes might assist in redressing grievances and gaining consumer confidence in e-commerce conflicts.

As the internet rapidly emerges as a speedy and cost-effective way of conducting business, the number of disputes arising out of the use of this new technology also increases. By adopting ADR as an alternative to litigation to resolve the e-commerce disputes, technology is being borrowed to support ADR or ODR to be the appropriate settlement mechanism to resolve such disputes. Online disputes typically arise in relation to material that is displayed or available online. E-Commerce disputes are such disputes, arising out of business-to-consumer contracts initiated on the internet could be resolved online.

Online ADR or ODR can be used to resolve issues concerning delivery of products, enforcement of warranties, guarantees on products, over billing issues, defective goods, to name a few examples. In fact, several ODR providers are involved in assisting parties to reach a settlement in online contractual disputes. The defects or any unwanted properties of the product delivered online shall be noticed by the customer would be brought to the table of dispute resolution by the ODR provider and the E-Commerce provider shall be binding with the decision of ODR mechanism and they have to mend the fences with the customer against the damages caused that worried him. This example highlights some of the advantages of using ODR to resolve contractual disputes.

The flexible and often party-friendly nature of ADR, coupled with the remarkable technological features of the internet, makes an appropriate instrument to resolve online conflicts. The reasons are:

Economically viable;
Speedy Resolution;
Non-confrontational Mechanism;
Eliminates Complex Jurisdictional and Choice-of-Law Problems;
Facilitates documentation of records

SoftSettle Support has gone further in providing such a platform like Soft Settle with one or two modes and an escalated mode with an additional platform like Mediator Affair which is integrated in www.odrsupport.com

The platform Soft Settle provides more simple and easier devices to resolve complaints.

Any complaint related to purchased products or services can now be resolved to mutual satisfaction quickly. Customers no longer need to vent their frustration, instead they can use Soft Settle to describe their problem via simple icons and text. Stores can respond promptly, taking customer care to a new level. If both sides still can’t find an agreement, the customer can “escalate” their claim and ask a neutral professional for a decision.

Soft Settle is one of the global platforms for resolving consumer claims. Having filed a claim in just a few clicks through online application, buyer can reach an agreement with a seller or- if unsuccessful- escalate the issue and request a decision from an independent neutral and if further failed, the issue can be referred to further an appellate tribunal where a professional neutral assigned by an ODR provider empanelled being integrated in a different application ODRSUPPORT or www.odrsupport.com powered by the same SoftSettle Support.

Soft Settle deals with E-Commerce Disputes

SoftSettle Support

The proliferation of electronic commerce using the Internet as a common communication medium has established a need for an effective dispute resolution mechanism when exchanges in electronic commerce are unsatisfactory to one or more the parties involved. The Internet is a convenient medium by which consumers and businesses can purchase a variety of goods and services. Since buyers and sellers meet online, convenience of selecting, ordering and payment is offset by the possibility of the transaction not occurring as planned and the difficulty in resolving any issues post-order. Issues could include corrupt traders or merchants, a failure to deliver the goods or services promised, a lack of quality in the goods or services which are delivered or other ways in which one of the two parties feels that the transaction did not occur as expected. The difficulty of resolving an issue once it occurs is compounded by the fact the parties are in different locations and therefore cannot show one another visually what may be the issue, or cannot discuss face to face other alternatives that they may lead to mutual satisfaction. All these factors also contribute to a general lack of trust between parties. Hence the lack of adequate system lead to leave the parties highly dissatisfied with the electronic commerce experience with a common outcome of not participating as much or at all due to the risks or due to an incidence of real or perceived dispute.

What can SS-EQUITY (E-Com Dispute Resolution) do to resolve e-commerce disputes?

Finding the traditional dispute resolution processes like court litigation and traditional ADR do not provide an effective solution and so far not effective in dealing with cross-border or cross-state or often times cross-locality transactions that may occur in electronic commerce and further traditional ADR are generally slow and very procedural comparatively.

As such SS-EQUITY (E-Commerce) groomed up with an ODR system applies the techniques beyond the traditional dispute resolution mechanisms, such as automated complaint handling, automated direct negotiation between the parties, automated agreement processes, facilitating case handling, facilitated mediation, specialized mediation processes and specific marketplace processes could able to meet the challenges posed by the present trend of e-commerce disputes. Techniques are described for handling disputes online. The

techniques particularly relate to low-volume as well as high-volume dispute handling, and integration with an online marketplace or general online selling. The techniques can handle even a very high volume of concurrent disputes cost effectively, and provide for the central management of a large and geographically distributed group of dispute resolution specialists that assist

with online dispute resolution. The techniques address needs arising through the recent growth of global online market places and online selling.

Commitments

Soft Settle facilitates the parties with the techniques aiming at faster settlement with transparency in the solutions. Further SS-Equity (ECDR) incorporated in the platform Soft Settle promotes effortless experiences in resolving e-commerce disputes.

Features

A method is technically integrated to enable a complainant to automatically design a dispute resolution process from a plurality of component process.
Technical integration of a method to receive characterization information
Technical integration of a method to enable access to deliberation information associated with a second dispute to facilitate resolution of first dispute.
Assisting a review of a plurality of component processes that respectively utilized to facilitate the resolution of a dispute.
Independent review feedback is incorporated
The settlement process can be synchronous or asynchronous as according to the convenience of the parties.
Repeated e-Negotiation till a resolution is found
An escalated mode with a neutral assisting the disputants in finding a solution (software built) where the neutral’s decision in respect of disputes would be final.
As an appeal parties can again approach an appellate tribunal in a different platform Mediator Affair integrated in www.odrsupport.com.
An automatic Agreement would be generated on settlement in all situations referred above after the parties approving the Agreement Framework.