Not liable for faulty products: Amazon

Should an e-commerce marketplace be held equally liable along with the manufacturer for sale of a defective product?

The National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission (NCDRC) is adjudicating this issue which will fix the liability of e-commerce players, a booming sector in India.

In this case, the popular e-commerce website, Amazon Seller Service Private Limited has challenged a decision of the Chandigarh State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission in the NCDRC holding that it cannot be held liable for the sale of any defective product along with the manufacturer. Amazon’s contention is that it neither sells nor offers to sell any products and merely provides an online marketplace where independent third party sellers can list their product for sale. Gopal Krishna, a resident of Chandigarh, raised this question first in the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum when his Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 mobile handset, which he had bought from Amazon , turned out to be defective within two months from the date of buying.

Krishna handed over the phone to the Xiaomi’s customer care centre but when it was not repaired on time, he wrote to Amazon which asked Krishan to get ‘dead on arrival report’ from the customer care executive. The executive refused to provide such a certificate. When Krishna didn’t get his handset, he first sent a legal notice to Xiaomi and Amazon and when he didn’t get any positive response, he filed a complaint before the district forum . The district forum ordered Xiaomi as well as Amazon to jointly refund ₹9,998 being the cost of the mobile phone along with ₹10,000 as compensation and ₹5,000 towards litigation expenses.