The Consumer Affairs Ministry Has Assured That Flash Sale Has Not Been Banned
- ByStartupStory | June 23, 2021
Consumers and online platforms, like Amazon and Flipkart, as well as businesses “have nothing to worry”, said Nidhi Khare, additional secretary in the consumer affairs ministry as Flash Sale has not been banned. The Union government on Tuesday said it was not looking to ban routine flash sales on e-commerce platforms popular with shoppers under the new rules that have been proposed.
However, the proposed new rules do seek to clamp down on predatory and suspicious flash sale events that don’t let any other competitive sites reach the users and therefore limit consumer choice, according to Khare. “But there is no finality to the draft yet and we are open to suggestions and changes till July 15,” she said.
The government had on Monday made public a set of proposed rules which seek to make substantive changes in the way online marketplaces operate. A proposal seeking to prohibit flash sales created a flutter. Clause 16 of the draft reads: “No e-commerce entity shall organize a flash sale of goods or services offered on its platform.” Flash sales are essentially instant, heavily discounted, time-bound sale offers. The proposals also seek to offer level-playing field to India-made products and protect domestic producers from any discrimination. Consumers should be able to use a filter on websites to sort products by country of origin, the draft rules state. The official said only “fraudulent flash sales” that depart from normal course of business activity and manipulate software to exclude one or more sellers to give preferential treatment are being sought to be curbed.
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