CHENNAI: OLX, the digital classifieds site, has come out with a host of new features and offerings to its users. But the most important seems to be features that buttress user security and privacy. The highly technology-led changes have gone live with the launch of the new OLX App last month for Android and in the coming weeks for other operating systems, which the firm says will help increase the penetration of online classifieds across regions, age-groups, and categories. However, the most striking of the changes deal with security. In fact, two of the four ‘pillar’ that the new app is built on deal with security and privacy of users. The first one, according to OLX is the Registered Users Only condition.
“With the intention of making the platform more secure, OLX has made it mandatory for all users — sellers and buyers — to register for accessing the platform,” it said. This is a marked change from current strategy in most classifieds sites. Users can register with either of the following: Facebook, Google+, and phone number. Social media logins will allow users to see mutual friends, apart from revealing the transaction history of other users, how long they have been using OLX, as well as their location. “Mandatory log-ins will imply that there are no anonymous users on OLX anymore. It will increase the sense of familiarity amongst users,” said OLX, adding “Mandatory registration will especially help in bringing women users to OLX by providing a safer environment for them to transact in.” The other new feature, Chat First, Restrictions on Calling: have made it easier to protect user privacy.
“The default settings of the new OLX App do not reveal the phone number of the seller. OLX Chat is the only way to get in touch with the sellers until they decide to reveal their phone number,” said OLX. Amarjit Singh Batra, CEO, OLX India, pointed out that these were important changes to the firm. “Features such as ‘Chat First’ are bold, industry-first moves that along with mandatory registration enhance the trustworthiness of the platform, making our users more secure,” he said. OLX has also brought in other changes like the Snap and Post feature, where posting time for ads has come down by nearly 50 per cent and promoting hyper local experiences. “This has been introduced to allow users to find great products in their vicinity. This particularly helps facilitate transactions for low-value items,” said OLX.