Online purchases are squarely within consumer law, and the 2019 Act was drafted with e-commerce in mind.
The framework
The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 impose duties on both marketplace and inventory e-commerce entities:
- Display the seller's legal name, address and contact details, country of origin, and total price with a breakdown
- Publish a clear return, refund, exchange and warranty policy
- Appoint a grievance officer and acknowledge complaints within 48 hours, with redressal within one month
- Not manipulate prices unfairly, and not misrepresent goods
A marketplace claiming to be a mere intermediary is not automatically immune, particularly where it fails its own obligations, controls the fulfilment, or where the platform's conduct itself amounts to deficiency.
Name both anyway, and plead the platform's role specifically. Set out whether it handled the payment, the packing, the delivery and the returns, whether the listing carried its own authenticity badge, and whether the seller's legal name and address were displayed at all. A platform that never displayed the seller's identity is poorly placed to say your complaint should have gone to somebody it did not identify. The wider position is in our guide to consumer rights against an e-commerce seller.
Under the 2019 Act you may file where you ordinarily reside or work. This is a genuine change from the old law and it is the reason online-purchase cases have become practical. You do not have to litigate in the city where the seller sits.
The sequence that works
- Raise it on the platform within the return window, and screenshot everything: the listing as advertised, the order, the delivery, the product received, and every chat with support.
- Escalate to the grievance officer named on the site, in writing.
- Complain on the National Consumer Helpline (1915) or the INGRAM portal. A large proportion resolve here, and it costs nothing.
- If unresolved, file on e-Daakhil before the District Commission, naming the seller and the platform, and claim refund, compensation and costs.
| Respondent | Provision | What has to be shown |
|---|---|---|
| Product manufacturer | Section 84 | Manufacturing defect, defective design, deviation from specifications, or inadequate warning |
| Product service provider | Section 85 | Deficient service, faulty workmanship, or bad advice |
| Product seller | Section 86 | Selling a known-defective product, altering it, or where the maker is untraceable |
| E-commerce entity | Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules 2020 | Failure of the duties the Rules place on the platform, including seller particulars and grievance redressal |
Two things that decide these cases
Evidence of what was advertised, since listings are edited after complaints, so archive the page. And an unboxing video where the item is expensive, which is the single most effective answer to a claim that you damaged it or that the correct item was sent.
Archive properly rather than screenshotting. Save the full page to a web archive service so the capture carries an independent date, and keep the order number, the courier tracking history and the payment reference. Start the unboxing video before the outer packaging is opened, keep the shipping label and seal in frame, and do not cut it. A continuous recording that begins with an intact parcel answers the substitution defence; one that begins with an open box does not.
The power most complainants never invoke
Online cases turn on records only the platform holds: the seller's registration details, the fulfilment and returns log, the support chat transcript, and the listing as it stood on the day you bought. The Act deals with this directly. For the purposes of deciding a complaint, the District Commission may by order require an electronic service provider to produce such information, documents or records as it specifies. Ask for that order early and name the exact records: a general request will not get you far; a request for the listing as displayed on a stated date, the seller onboarding record and the returns log for a stated order number usually will.
Which commission, and where
The forum is decided by the value of the consideration you paid, so almost every online purchase is a District Commission matter, and you may file where you reside or work for gain. That is what makes these cases practical: a Bengaluru buyer is not sent to litigate wherever the seller sits. Where the sum is larger, see our guide on which consumer commission has jurisdiction, and for the steps, our note on how to file a consumer complaint.
Dark patterns
Guidelines issued by the Central Consumer Protection Authority prohibit specified dark patterns, including false urgency, basket sneaking, forced action and subscription traps. If you were pushed into a purchase by one of these, say so specifically in the complaint.
The Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns were notified at the end of November 2023 and specify thirteen such practices, the others including drip pricing, confirm shaming, bait and switch, interface interference, disguised advertisements and trick questions. Plead the dark pattern by its name and describe exactly what appeared on your screen, because a specific allegation is answerable and a general one is not. The Authority also acts on the practice rather than on your individual order, so a complaint to it can be worth making even after you have been refunded.
A false or misleading advertisement is also an offence in its own right, punishable with imprisonment which may extend to two years and a fine up to Rs 10 lakh, rising to five years and Rs 50 lakh for a repeat offence. That is worth knowing when a seller insists an inflated listing claim is only marketing.