Tech mistake leads to stellar shipping fees on Lazada

A Lazada customer was asked to pay VND8.4 million shipping fee for five fabric bags that cost altogether VND125,000

Over the past few days, customers on Lazada.vn have been complaining about exorbitant delivery fees. Nguyen Anh Dao in the highlands province of Dak Lak said that she ordered five fabric bags on Lazada.vn with the total value of VND125,000 ($5.4). However, at the next step of payment, she was surprised that the shipping fee would have been VND8.2 million ($359), 66 times the order value.

When she changed the delivery location to Ho Chi Minh City, this fee fell to VND1.8 million ($80), still 15-times higher than the value of the goods to be shipped.

“I was surprised by the shipping fee and sent a message to seller, but got no feedback. I have never seen a shipping fee like this, the highest delivery fee from Ho Chi Minh City to Dak Lak province is only VND50-60,000 (2.17-2.6),” Dao told the media.

In a similar case, Nguyen Pham Bao Han (Ho Chi Minh City) told media that she could not believe her eyes when she wanted to order a Lock&Lock ironing board priced VND490,000 ($21.3) but the shipping fee was VND23.5 million ($1,020), although the supplier was also located in Ho Chi Minh City.

A whopping VND24 million shipping fee for an ironing board sold for VND490,000

Discussing these issues with the media, Lazada's representative said that this mistake has been caused by the suppliers who filled out the information of the products. "A number of suppliers filled in the wrong size or weight of the products. They used kilogrammes instead of grammes, so the delivery fees increased 1,000-fold," he said.

Thereby, he recommended customers to contact vendors or Lazada's customer care via the in-app chat box if they see huge shipping fees. "We also suggest clients to choose the products of vendors who are nearest to the delivery location, to save fees," added Lazada's representative.