The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), which aims to increase consumer confidence in the ambitious project that is scheduled to go online later this month, will publish its draught dispute resolution framework in two weeks, according to a top executive. A third-party organisation will take care of the online dispute resolution (ODR), which will involve looking over the digital traces that each order has left behind and making a decision. The progress can be monitored by the customers.
The proposed paper would be based on NITI Aayog‘s online dispute resolution policy proposal starting in October 2021, according to an ET report quoting sources. The network will publish a public document on “grievance redressal,” according to T. Koshy, CEO of ONDC, who also said that the dispute resolution organisations will review the instances. Along with the resolution, the network’s reputation ledger will function in tandem with the grievance redressal system. It will keep track of grievances against the sellers, total the number of cases the seller has, and show how many of those have been settled out of court. This will provide buyers with a warning rating against subpar sellers.
Every e-commerce site has a democratic seller rating system, but because there is little volume, it is subject to bias. In reality, the CCI is looking into examples of fraudulent reviews on major e-commerce sites like Amazon, Flipkart, and others. The reputation ledger is democratic as well, but the data influx will probably make it more complete than others.
Shireesh Joshi, CBO of ONDC, also spoke on the reputation ledger at the D2C Summit 3.0. He said that the reputation ledger’s functioning mechanism also aims to bring existing seller trust into the network. He withheld the specifics of how it would accomplish that. The “trust” component will be based on a number of factors, such as how frequently customers complain about a vendor or their goods, what proportion of those complaints are resolved and other factors. In other words, the paper on grievance redress will also provide further insight into how the reputation ledger functions.
