After Marktplaats recently quietly pulled the plug on the ‘Equal Crossing’ payment service, the auction site is now introducing another payment option: Buyer Protection. By paying with Buyer Protection you are safer, and above all more expensive.
Earlier this month, Marktplaats removed the Instant Crossing payment option from the site because it was said to be not secure enough. With Equal Crossing, a barcode was generated after agreement of the amount and payment. With this code, the item could be brought to the parcel point, after which the money was finally transferred after a successful shipment. This left a fraud opportunity open to sellers. For example by sending an empty box.
Buyer Protection
Cross the road at once is effectively replaced by Buyer Protection, which also charges additional costs for the purchasing party. Those costs are substantial: five percent of the purchase price.
In practice, Buyer Protection works slightly differently. This is explained in a press release: “Buyer protection is offered and implemented by the payment partner Online Payment Platform (OPP). When using Buyer Protection, the amount paid by the buyer is placed in OPP’s suspense account. After payment, both buyer and seller will immediately receive a confirmation in Marktplaats Messages where they can follow the status of the transaction via the Purchase or Sales Overview: from payment and shipment to receipt. If the buyer reports within seven days of shipment that the package has not arrived, is damaged or that the contents of the package are different from what was agreed, the money will be held and the buyer can get a refund. If the buyer does not hear anything, the seller will still receive his money.”
Because the buyer has to confirm that the product has been received in good order, it becomes very difficult for sellers to cheat with Buyer Protection. Buyers themselves could make wrongful claims that make the sales process unfair. After all, the buyer can claim his money back if something is not right. OPP mediates in these kinds of cases.
availabilty
Although Crossing Straight has already been removed as a payment option, Buyer Protection is now being rolled out in a phased manner. This is expected to be available to every user within one to two weeks. Of course, Marktplaats users can also agree on how payment should be made. For example cash, iDeal or with a Tikkie.
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