The Center has extended the deadline for seeking suggestions on the proposed e-commerce rules till July 21, 2021 according to a notification issued by Center on July 5, 2021. Earlier the Ministry of Consumer Affairs had sought feedback on the proposed amendments to the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, till July 6, 2021.<\/p>\n
\u2022 To provide information about the country of origin, best before or use before date prominently to its users.
\n\u2022 The logistics service provider of a marketplace e-commerce entity shall not provide differential treatment to sellers of same category.
\n\u2022 To ensure that it does not use any information collected through its platform for unfair advantage of its related parties and associated enterprises.
\n\u2022 To ensure that none of its related parties and associated enterprises are enlisted as
\nsellers for sale to consumers directly.
\n\u2022 To not sell goods or services to any person who is registered as seller on its platform.
\n\u2022 To not advertise a body of sellers for the purpose of subsidizing a sale on its platform.
\n\u2022 If a seller registered on its platform fails to deliver the goods or services ordered by a consumer due to negligent conduct, omission or commission of any act by such seller in fulfilling the duties and liabilities in the manner as prescribed by the marketplace e-commerce entity which causes loss to the consumer, the entity shall be subject to a fall-back liability.<\/p>\n
\u2022 To provide information regarding to best use before, contractual information, payment methods, refund and exchange, total price\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0including other charges and ticket number to track the order and lodge complain.
\n\u2022 Not to misrepresent itself as consumer and post false reviews for the product.
\n\u2022 Not to provide any misleading advertisement
\n\u2022 No inventory e-commerce entity shall refuse to take back goods except for the force majeure conditions.
\n\u2022 To bear the liability of authenticity of a product if vouched explicitly by entity.<\/p>\n
| Indicators<\/th> | Marketplace E-commerce Model<\/th> | Inventory E-commerce model<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Definitions<\/td> | According to the FDI policy guideline, \u201cMarketplace model of e-commerce means providing of an information technology platform by an e-commerce entity on a digital and electronic network to act as a facilitator between buyer and seller.\u201d<\/td> | According to the FDI policy, \u201cInventory model of ecommerce means an ecommerce activity where inventory of goods and services is owned by e-commerce entity and is sold to the consumers directly.\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Model structure<\/td> | It is a platform that enables a large, fragmented base of buyers and sellers to discover price and transact with one another in an environment that is efficient, transparent and trusted.<\/td> | The main feature of inventory model is that the customer buys the product directly from the ecommerce entity.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Management<\/td> | Inventory, stock management, logistics etc are not supposed to be actively done by the ecommerce entity.<\/td> | The Entity manages an inventory (stock of products), interfaces with customers, runs logistics and involves in every aspects of the business.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Users<\/td> | Three distinct users: Admin, Seller and Buyer<\/td> | Two users: Admin and Buyers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Examples<\/td> | Amazon, Flipkart<\/td> | Naaptol, Ebay<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\nUnderstanding of E-commerce and its models:<\/h3>\nAs per Consumer Protection (E-commerce) rules Section 3(b) E-commerce entity means any person who owns, operates or manages digital or electronic facility or platform for electronic commerce including any entity engaged by such person for the purpose of fulfilment of orders placed by a user on its platform and any \u2018related party\u2019 as defined under Section 2(76) of the Companies Act, 2013, but does not include a seller offering his goods or services for sale on a marketplace e-commerce entity.<\/p>\n As per Consumer Protection (E-commerce) rules Section 3(f) Inventory e-commerce entity means an e-commerce entity which owns the inventory of goods or services and sells such goods or services directly to the consumers and shall include single brand retailers and multi-channel single brand retailers.<\/p>\n As per Consumer Protection (E-commerce) rules Section 3(g) Marketplace e-commerce entity means an e-commerce entity which provides an information technology platform on a digital or electronic network to facilitate transactions between buyers and sellers.
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