Qoo10 under police probe as vendors lodge reports over del delayed payments

Deliveries also disrupted; some businesses owed hundreds of thousands of dollars

- Timothy Goh and Wong Yang

Singapore-headquartered e-commerce platform Qoo10 and its logistics subsidiary Qxpress are under police investigations, following complaints by vendors about delayed payments of thousands of dollars each and disruptions to deliveries by Qxpress.

In response to queries from The Straits Times, the Singapore Police Force said on Sept 12 that reports were lodged against Qoo10 and Qxpress, and that it is investigating.

Qoo10, which is backed by the likes of private equity firm KKR and e-commerce giant eBay, did not respond to ST's requests for comments. Both KKR and eBay declined to comment.

Vendors told ST that Qoo10, which also has operations in Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan and Hong Kong, has failed to pay them on time.

A spokesman for a haircare retailer, which declined to be named, said Qoo10 owes the company nearly $32,000. He added that the retailer removed its listings from the platform on Sept 12.

"Previously, we were still able to receive payment from Qoo10, albeit with slight delays," he said.

"We requested to withdraw money in June, but we still have not received our payment, and we have been chasing Qoo10 since then but they just kept telling us to wait." Ms Wang, the founder of infant products store Baby Gallery, who asked to be identified only by her surname, told ST on Sept 12 that the platform currently owes her company more than a year's worth of payments, amounting to over $11,000.

While her vendor dashboard shows the payments as settled, she said she has yet to receive the funds, which is why the issue remained undetected for some time.

"I will be making a police report as it's a huge amount," said Ms Wang, who also removed her company's listings from Qoo10 on Sept 12.

She noted that prior to Qoo10's recent troubles, the platform typically released payments to Baby Gallery within seven days. However, since 2023, the time taken for the platform to release the payment has steadily lengthened.