Alvin Tan on e-commerce platform’s payment terms for small businesses

In Parliament on Tuesday (Nov 12), Minister of State for Trade and Industry Alvin Tan responded to an MP’s question about a major e-commerce platform’s extension of payment terms on small businesses in Singapore. Mr Tan said the Government engaged the platform after receiving feedback. The platform had updated its payment terms in June 2023 to allow it to wait until after the buyer’s return or refund period ends before releasing the monies to merchants. This was to strengthen its consumer protection and fraud detection efforts. Mr Tan said that as these are private commercial agreements, the Government advised the feedback provider to engage the e-commerce platform directly with its concerns. He added that in the case of disputes, there are established processes and legal avenues to assist merchants - for example, they can file a civil claim with the courts.