Hey everyone!
I have long been wanting to share with you all, about my experience while working on my startup Eashmart. However, I always decided to wait till we launched. Today we are at that moment! We launched last night, with our first vendor partner.
Eashmart allows a user to make a payment at the time of delivery, by simply tapping on their phone. The vendor simply sends us a request with the amount and buyer’s phone, and we take care of the rest! We are here to end cash on delivery, and make card on delivery a free, and actually practical form of accepting payments on delivery.
It was a very nervous night for us! We were in a train coming back to Delhi, and if anything went wrong, we’d have no way to fix anything! We got our first user at about 3:30AM, aaannndd shit happened! Our app crashed on the user’s phone; and it did so seven times! The user then decided not to use the app. However, they didn’t have cash on them, and our vendor being the king of customer support, assured them that they can make the payment later 😉 (Try that sometime!)
Today, we got in touch with our user, and apologized to them for what we put them through. They were kind to forgive us, they even decided to give us a try again. We had already fixed the issue, actually we fixed it right at 4:07AM, exactly 3 minutes later, however, we could not update the app store entry.
Today we are glad to say that we have successfully completed our first transaction. I believe we were able to get the user’s support because we were upfront that we made mistake, that it was our fault that we had not tested our app fully, and that it was us they should blame for having brought them in such a situation. One more thing we did was to offer that they can choose not to use us to complete the payment, and that we’ll take care of the trouble of collecting the payment and handing it over to the vendor. This way we tried to offer a way out for the user, and also tried to not add problems for our vendor who has trusted us to take care of the most important part of a business.
If you feel like eating something late in the night, call Midnight Munchies, and ask for payment via Eashmart 😉
I’d really value your feedback!
How does it work?
When you are placing an order you tell the merchant that you will be using Eashmart to pay. Instantly you will get an invoice on your phone; If you don’t already have the app on your phone, you’ll get an SMS, with a link to the invoice. Clicking this will show you a screen with a list of your saved cards, and an option to use a new one. We immediately notify the merchant and the delivery that the payment is done.
From a user’s point of view, you don’t have to make payment beforehand, and you can enjoy the benefits of payment on delivery and cashless payment, all at the same time.
Where it works?
- Eashmart can be used for either, store or online.
- We currently support credit and debit cards only. We support VISA, MASTERCARD, and MAESTRO
- We are currently experimenting with loyalty cards too, but we want to get the card payments right first. We think that getting one thing right is the key to the killing it!
- We are not doing a pre auth. The payment happens only at time of delivery.
Rishi
Hey Amit! Congrats on the launch, and great job being upfront.
Eashmart sounds like a really cool concept, how does it actually work?
Ashish Katkar
Hey Amit,
First and foremost- Congrats on the launch !!!! Loved the way you handled the issue. Honesty is the best policy!!!
Is Eashmart a mobile wallet or mobile payment kind of solution? I checked through your website but could not find lot of information.
We are very active and engaged in the mobile wallet/payment, cards, information security space which seems to be relevant for Eashmart as well. I would be more than happy to share inputs to further improve the solution.
Will be downloading the app soon …..
Regards – Ashish
Anamika Joshi
Congrats Amit… It’s always the best way to handle a tough situation.. and that’s to face it honestly. Kudos to your spirit and hope you will have many more successful transactions happening through your app!
Amit Kumar
Hi Rishi,
When you are placing an order you tell the merchant that you will be using Eashmart to pay. Instantly you will get an invoice on your phone; If you don’t already have the app on your phone, you’ll get an SMS, with a link to the invoice. Clicking this will show you a screen with a list of your saved cards, and an option to use a new one. We immediately notify the merchant and the delivery that the payment is done.
From a user’s point of view, you don’t have to make payment beforehand, and you can enjoy the benefits of payment on delivery and cashless payment, all at the same time.
Amit Kumar
Hi Ashish,
We are a mobile payment solution. You could call us a wallet too, but we actually do exactly what a real wallet does with your cards – it stores them; you don’t need to load any money with us.
Our website is currently really missing out on what we really our. We are planning to release an update tonight itself actually for that.
Thanks!
Amit Kumar
Thanks Anamika!
asha chaudhry
amit – at night when you update your post pls add relevant points from the comments as well. like your answers to rishi & ashish
Rishi
Thanks Amit, that’s helpful.
Follow-up: So if it’s not a prepaid instrument (and you actually store credit/debit card information, right?), how would you classify your app per RBI guidelines? I’m also curious to know how you are taking care of PCI compliance. This has been a big question on many forums (including this one) and I’m guessing people would find comfort in knowing how you deal with those pain-points.
Amit Kumar
RBI does not stop a merchant from saving cards. They only require you to have PCI compliance. We are already finishing our last step for the same.
Rishi
I understand you can save some information but not all. Does the user have to enter a PIN and/or CVV for every transaction?
Amit Kumar
Rishi, yes we require CVV and pin. However, just as a note, it’s PCI that prevents you from storing CVV, not RBI.
Ashish Katkar
Thanks for the explanation. I have downloaded your app as well but will play with it only tomorrow morning.
Based on your response to Rishi, I have few additional questions as it will help me the understand the proposition a little better:
1. Will Eashmart app be used as payment option for both physical stores and/or online?
2. Does app provide flexibility to add credit or debit or prepaid card? Which all associations does it support (e.g. Visa/ MasterCard/Amex)?
3. Does it allow me to store loyalty cards so that even loyalty can be integrated?
4. Are you taking pre-auth on stored card for the time between order and delivery? I am not clear with the workflow based on above explanation. Probably will have to wait for your website update.
Meanwhile, I am not sure if you are already aware, as these guys ( https://www.livquik.com/ ) are also building a mobile wallet solution targeted towards Indian market. Do have a look as it might give you some pointers.
I will write you a separate email with my feedback and suggestions. Good luck.
Cheers – Ashish
Rishi
Thanks for the prompt response, and good luck with it. It has a GREAT potential if done right! 🙂
Just a suggestion — you might want to highlight the security AND PCI compliance aspect on your website once you’re done with the process. Consumers in India are still very sensitive about card security and electronic payments.
Amit Kumar
Hey Ashish,
We are aware of livquik, they are our closest competitors till date!
Amit Kumar
Thanks Rishi, we will do that for sure, as soon as we get the audit done 🙂
Ashish Katkar
Hey Amit,
As promised, I have sent an email with my feedback and suggestions on the app. Have stayed true to the maxim – “Honesty is the best policy”.
Let us connect over phone.
Cheers – Ashish
Amit Kumar
Hey Asha,
I have updated the post. Thanks!
asha chaudhry
awesome!
Omkar Nisal
Hey Amit
you might to take some info and concept presentation tips from Square.
https://squareup.com/
They present the info pretty clearly.
A 2 min video of explanation or rather an actual role play of transaction happening at a show would show a lot more than what one can tell. Especially in India, where we often are used to see others and learn.
And also emulation of role play in real life would be much easier for all the early adopters.
Best wishes and good luck.
Amit Kumar
Hi Omkar,
We are planning to get a video done very soon.
However our major problem is that people who are coming to the site, are not customers of any of our partner merchants. So they don’t convert.
Manish Swarnakar
Hi Amit,
Just check your post and found this app interesting. I have downloaded this app and surely use this in my next transaction. I was just wondering if you have already placed the processes to tackle the defaulters and have
done the proof of concept for that scenario as well.
regards,
Manish
Amit Kumar
Hi Manish!
Looking forward to being of use to you!
What do you mean by defaulters? Like people who order and then don’t pay? For this we have setup something called a customer score. This is based on how many times you have defaulted for any customer. It’s based on quite a few factors, such as the amount of the invoice, how frequently does it happen ,etc.
If you meant something else, let me know, I’d be glad to discuss it with you!
Manish Swarnakar
correct, but who will be responsible for recovery then. It will be you or online retailer.
Amit Kumar
Manish,
since it’s a payment on delivery, if customer does not accept the order, it’s the same as cash on delivery. However, the merchant can tell us of this, and we can help the merchant and other merchants about this customer so that they can execute caution, before shipping, the next time.