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Secure and fuss free online shopping? Now you can with Shopee

By Vijay Anand - on 20 Nov 2015, 10:36pm

Shoppee is the latest social marketplace and it makes online shopping secure and fuss-free

 

The online shopping scene is vibrant and growing at an unprecedented rate with several prominent marketplaces worldwide. In Singapore alone, there are several options such as Qoo10, Lazada, Rakuten and many more. Despite that, yet another virtual marketplace officially launches in Singapore today, but this time its core messaging is on fuss-free and secure shopping. Meet Shopee.

The opening page for the Shopee app.

With its distinctive orange themed site and the orange shopping bag as its logo, the site and service clearly markets itself as the go-to place for shopping that aims to end the two key banes of online shopping - 1) lack of interaction between buyers and sellers, 2) uncertainties of the seller being paid without concerns and the buyer obtaining a satisfied purchase.
 

Why you would want to try Shopee

Often, you're left to wonder if the deal is worthwhile and you wish to know more information from the seller before making the offer to purchase. To overcome this, Shopee integrates a "Live Chat" function to allow direct communication between the prospective buyer and seller, much like how our HWZ Forums Marketplace section allows active interaction before you consider making a suitable offer. This Live Chat function not only allows you to message the seller, but to also make a revised offer, which the seller can choose to accept and officiate the transaction at the revised price. Nifty.

The second differentiator is a secure payment service called the Shopee Guarantee. Using an escrow service, Shopee is able to safeguard the interests of the buyer and seller.

  • For shoppers, when you accept purchasing an item from the buyer, the agreed sum would be held at Shopee's escrow service provided by the bank. When you receive the product, you're directed to offer rate and release payment to the buyer. If for some reason the products aren't received in the previously agreed condition, payment will be refunded to the buyers in full through a dispute process.
  • For the sellers, this secured transaction process ensures that if the shopper goes missing in action after the purchase or tries to make life difficult for the seller, the escrow's timeout period will kick-in to pay the seller.

The Shopee Guarantee works as pictured only if the buyers have chosen to upload their bank account details for easy transactions and initiating the related delivery options. One can however still use Shopee without those details uploaded and even transact in a traditional manner by meeting up in person.

On the topic of deliveries, Shopee actually has an enrolled Ninja Van as its integrated logistics partner, so the shopping process is more hassle free. Sellers do however have the option to select other delivery options too.


Buy and sell in less than 30 seconds

There's more to Shopee such as the use of hash tags to list and search content, as well as the ultra fast listing and transaction capability with the streamlined interface and use of the app. For starters, the sign-up process to use Shopee online or via the app is dead simple as it only requires your phone number, preferred User ID name and a password. Within seconds of sign-up and verifying your email and phone number, you're all set to use Shopee for business or leisure.

What about the process of listing your wares for sale? Easy. Just tap the large orange "+" button hovering on the bottom right of the app and you'll be taken through the following steps:-

The photo makes or breaks your ad, so uploading a good photo is step 1. Choose from the possible upload options. We chose the Sell from Camera option to snap a photo.Next, you are given the chance to tweak and glorify your photo with in-line photo enhancement tools. We told you, pictures are important.

Step 3 is to list more details, add hashtags in the description and set your sale options.That's it - your listing is now published and you're given options to spread the word.

 For those unaware, Shopee was actually soft launched earlier this year in June in several countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines. Our active forum users have actually been patronizing their store for quite some time now and you can tune in to their discussions, promo code sharing and must-get deals over here.

Some stats and the state of interest of Shopee since its soft launch.

Last but not least, we were given snapshot of some of the prominent local sellers who've got a storefront on Shopee. Left to right: Belinda from Imperial Studio, Randy from SD Perfume, Andy from Original Store and Hazel from White Fiction. Do check them out!

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