ODR Japan

Products/Services/Animals

• Products do not arrive!

Buyers

1. Wait for a couple of days from the expected delivery date. If it is an international transaction, wait another week because they may have different holidays. The postal services in different countries, such as in Italy, takes longer to process.
2. Contact your sellers and ask for detail information of shipment. If they have any tracking number, get them and track online on the sites like Japanese Postal Tracking Service or US Track & Confirm
3. Against a seller's words, a product has not arrived for over a week from an expected delivery date, try to communicate with the seller and try to settle within two weeks. If the problem is not solved, try ODR companies such as SmartSettle within 30 days from the payment day. During that time, contact your credit card company to stop the payment. If you used Paypal, file a claim.
4. When you can not reach the other side, contact a customer support center immediately. Calling is faster and some companies like eBay have Japanese customer service.
5. If there is any ODR services within the hosting company, contact them immediately. Move fast, some hosting sites have restrictions on filing. Claims need to be filed within 45 days after payments in eBay.
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6. Paypal has buyer protection program.Paypal　Security Center
7. If you dealt directly with a seller which is located in the US or Canada, file a complaint to Better Business Bureau. Type in a zip code where a seller resides. The "File a Complaint" button links to the claim form.
8. If there is a doubt of a fraud, contact law enforcements. Get information from Counter-Cyber Crime Department of Metropolitan Police Department in Japan. FBI has Internet　Crime　Complaint centerIC3.

Sellers

1. Try to insure items especially when you ship to other countries. When a buyer claims that a product does not arrive, insurance will help. Try to mail it with tracking numbers so that you would know where the product is.
2. Contact post offices and find out where an item was sent. Address could be mistyped.
3. In order to prevent conflicts, try to respond honestly and contact your buyer frequently.
4. An item seems already arrived, but a buyer does not pay or ask for chargebacks to a credit card company. Contact your hosting site immediately because it may be a fraud.
5. Paypal has Seller Protection Program. Refer to Paypal　Security Center.



• Dissatisfaction with products/services

Buyers

1. There are options when you are dissatisfied with the product after receiving it. Choose what you want from options as return, exchange, refund, or discount.
2. If it is due to damage, stains, discoloring, take a picture. Print out a seller's image picture from its website and make a comparison.
3. If a product is fake, it is better to consult experts. If it were Hermes, try to bring it to its official store and ask for information.
4. Products such as electronic or cars are related with their performances and it is hard to prove such functionality by photographs. It is crucial to have experts' opinion or try to take video for a proof.
5. Prepare these evidences and contact your seller. If you choose exchange or return, clarify who will be responsible for the shipment.

Sellers

1. Clarify plitely what was wrong with the product you sent when you receive a complaint from a buyer.
2. Prepare a certification, a note from an expert, or a photograph which can prove the good quality and condition of your product.
3. In order to prevent conflicts, try to respond honestly and contact your buyer frequently.
4. If you have not specify your shipping policy in case of return/exchange prior to this incident, clarify them at this point.



• Wrong item arrived/Goods are lost

Buyers

1. Decide what you want, exchange, return, discount, or refund.
2. If you want exchange, make sure that your seller has an item size or color you want.
3. Settle who will be responsible for the returning or exchanging shipping cost.

Sellers

1. Settle who will be responsible for the returning or exchanging shipping cost.
2. Check your inventory and find out whether you have the sizes and colors which your buyer wants.
3. If a buyer wants refund, make sure that a product has not been used.



• Animals

Buyers

1. It is very difficult to prove when and where an animal become sick. In many cases, they come with veterinaries' certifications, but they can not guarantee.
2. Ask for doctors' certifications and a birth certification.
3. If an animal becomes sick after the arrival, get certification from your veterinary.

Seller

1. Animals can become sick, injured, or dead during transports. Try to have physical check up or vaccination right before the transports. Save records.
2. Find out the condition of transportation. The quality of sanitary condition varies among transportation companies, so reach an agreement with your buyer about the company which you use.
3. Disclose as much information as possible with your buyer and your transporting company. Some animals can be weaken by different temperature or humidity of vehicles.

Payments

• Cancellation fee/Non-payment

Buyers

1. Cancellation fees are sometimes expensive. Be sure to check when you reserve hotels and other accomodations and clarify the deadline for free cancellation.
2. If there is an agreement site, check a cancellation clause before you click "accept" button.
3. It is difficult to set the appropriate amount of cancellation fee. But if a fee is higher than the product/service you ordered, it is not reasonable. To know the regular cancellation fee, research the other companies of the same field and find out. If the website has a hosting company, ask them.

Sellers

1. Avoid non-payments by shipping items after you receive payments. But be sure to get agreements from your buyers on this shipping policy.
2. But even if the payment seems to be completed, Paypal and credit card companies can chargeback. Join their sellers' programs.
3. When a buyer asks to ship to the countries which Paypal does not support or the name of a addressee is different from the name of a payer, contact customer service or stop the deals. If you doubt a fraud, contact law enformcement officials.


• Refund/Discount

Buyers

1. It is harder to persuade your seller for refunds and discounts when you are dissatisfied with the quality and performance of products and services. Discoloration depends on individual perceptions and damages can not be validated. In case of auctions, discoloration of a product could mean an affection to a seller. Disclose honestly before deals and try to create trustworthy environment.
2. There are cases when a buyer claims the damage of packages. Especially in case of international shipping, do not claim when a product is safe because packages are damaged in order to protect products and in that sense they did their jobs. If you are sensitive, contact your seller and clarify your concern about the package.
3. It is very difficult to ask for discounts after payment. You are asking for the refund of the discounted portion. Also it is difficult to verify that the amount of discount is relevant for the damage that you percieve.

Sellers

1. When a product is returned, refund is indispensable. Accept return items only if they are not used.
2. Discount is virtually depending on a seller's conscience. If you need a good feedback, refund politely. But first, communicate to find out the problem with your product.


• Shipping/Handling Charges

Buyers

1. Try to think of various scenarios before closing deals and try to clarify with your sellers. The questions you need to ask yourself are, for example, "Who is going to be responsible for returning a product?" or "Why are they charging a high handling charges?"
2. In many cases, buyers need to pay for returning shipping fee and sellers are responsible for the shipping fee of new item.
3. It is always wise to research the shipping fees prior to deals. Refer to eBay　Calculator
4. When a seller charges the higher shipping rate after closing deals in auction sites, clarify reasons.eBay hasOvercharge shipping policy. If your seller seems to be violating any one of them, file a claim at eBay site.

Sellers

1. Specify your shipping and handling policy in your site.
2. Research shipping fees beforehand so that you would not be surprised by expensive international fee.

Reporting Scams and Frauds

• For both Buyers & Sellers
  • It is normal to follow steps before filing claims or reporting frauds and scams. You should not, for example, file a complaint in a small claims court before notifying the other party. There needs to be a decisive factor of a internet crime in order to skip the steps and file a claim to an investigative organization. Don't file a claim just because you have not received an item for 10 days.
  • First try to solve an issue among parties. Then try to reach the conflict resolution section of the site to start the process. Or you can use an outside ODR companies recommended by the site, such as Square Trade.
  • Japanese organizations where you can report frauds and scams
  1. National Consumer Affairs Center of Japanintroduces examples of troubles and how to resolve disputes. It has its own ADR process.
  2. Consumer Affairs Centers in different prefecturescan refer you to different level of advisory organizations depending upon your troubles.
  3. Japan Consumer's Associationis where you can file complaints about everyday troubles and it conveys messages to related manufacturers, distributos and industry organizations.
  4. Jaapn Direct Marketing Associationhandles specifically direct marketing complaints.
  5. Internet Hotline Center Japanis where you can report information about online criminal activities.
  6. Organizations where you can report international frauds and scams
  1. Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)handles the cases of the US. This organization itself does not investigate but it refers cases to the other appropriate organizations. A case of ID　Theft will be referred to FTC and Nigerian letters or 419 scams will be referred to USSS. They can contact to local law enforcements.
  2. FTCinvestigates ID Theft and other scams.
  3. Sentinelaccept variety of cases
  4. econsumer.govdeals with international frauds and scams. It protects consumers of 20 countries and translated into Japanese, English, Spanish, German, French, Korean, and Polish.
  5. Fraud Info
  6. If you have problem filing complaints, contactODRjapan.

Communication

• No contacts/Incorrect contact information



1. Wait for a couple of days to get response. Then email or call everyday or every other day. Find out the holidays because each country has different ones.
2. There is a tendency in some people who do not respond to emails when they are not interested in or when they do not prioitize. People also forget even if they were going to reply.
3. Even if contact information is incorrect, do not assume that it is a fraud. The telephone line can be cut due to electricity outage. Telephone can be broken. Try to contact them next day. If you can not still contact them,in case of eBay, notify invalid contact information and ask for correct information. When there is no updated information, file a Non-Paying Buyer alert.
5. When you can not contact more than 10 days, contact customer support centers. Phone calls are faster.
6. When you encounter a fake contact information, ask a third party neutral to intervene. If that does not work, contact law enforcements.
7. It is said that Germany, Canada, Australia, the US, England are the countries have high reputation for safe dealings. People avoid African countries, Eastern European countries, Russia, and China because they have high rate of scams. It is sad to say but you need extra cautiousness when you deal with these avoided countries. According to the LA Times article "Romania home base for EBay scammers" (12/26/2007), "No one, ...does Internet auction fraud like the Romanians. Bulgarians specialize in intellectual property theft; Ukraine is a leader in online credit card crime; the Russians have a profitable niche in Internet dating fraud".
8. Please remember that people of the avoided countries are also damaged by their bad reputation. Only small number of people are engaged in frauducent activities and majority of population are honest and hardworking people. There are poor people in developing countries who are trying to support their families by earning very small profit from e-commerce. They are supported by microcredit and microfinance organizations of developed countries and they form villages to payback. If you limit the dealings to this type of villages, that is a way to avoid and prevent vicious frauds.



• I can not allow emotionally/Big gap in principles



1. Asynchronous emails create time to think. And often one starts think negatively when he is in the middle of conflicts which can be escalated further by emotional factors. Don't go there. Concentrate on facts!
2. In e-commerce dealings, it is wise to be simple and practical and do not look for apologies rather than facts.
3. It is wise to make the time of conflict short so that you can always go back to your happy life.



• Differences in language, culture, and tradition



1. Don't be emotional and handle practically concentrating on facts. Language can be a reason for not contacting. Use translating softwares, if possible.
2. Contact customer support centers. They can facilitate as a third party.
3. Don't forget to respect the other side. Everyone wants to be treated equally and respectfully.
4. Focus on future and think how to build trusted relationships.