alnoor peermohamedbengaluru indian consumers dont favour regulations to check discounts and cashbacks offered by online marketplaces but want the government to subject social networks such as facebook and whatsapp to the upcoming ecommerce policy show the findings of a surveylocalcircles survey found that about 60 of the respondents said cashbacks by ecommerce firms should not be regulated while 72 opposed curbs on discounts however 88 said social networking platforms which are increasingly used by individuals to sell products should be subjected to ecommerce regulations advt the survey comes ahead of the release of the final ecommerce policy which according to government sources is largely targeted at putting an end to differential and predatory pricing practices of online marketplaces consumers on the other hand seem to want their benefits to be kept in mind when framing any policy consumers say that the ecommerce sector should be regulated and any policy should cover both products and services aspects of the ecommerce industry issues such as cashbacks discounting and efficiencies obtained through bulk buying must be left to market forces the survey read while asking for fewer checks on discounts and cashbacks a majority of respondents said the upcoming policy should enforce stricter regulations on how ecommerce firms deal with complaints and to ensure counterfeit products arent sold on their platforms while 78 of the respondents said counterfeit activity on ecommerce sites would reduce if details of sellers were listed on their sites 93 said these companies should address their complaints within 72 hoursdemanding that social networking platforms be included in the ecommerce policy consumers are effectively asking for checks on peertopeer selling while facebook whatsapp and instagram have become popular platforms for individuals to sell products dedicated platforms such as meesho glowroad wooplr and shop101have also found good traction devangshu dutta ceo at third eyesight said this demand by consumers was indicative of the lack of consumer protection in india india does not have a robust consumer protection infrastructure advt there are policies there are laws but the infrastructure is very weak if as a consumer you are wronged and you want to take the company to task it is hugely expensive sellers share the same sentiment said a representative of an online seller group sellers arent against cashbacks and discounts but want checks on discriminatory discounting on cracking down on sellers of counterfeit products he said weeding out those sellers would be beneficial to everyonehowever with the department of industrial policy promotion taking charge of formulating the ecommerce policy ensuring that the end consumer is benefited isnt a priority said dutta the only upside for consumers then could be possible laws promoting diversity in the ecosystem if there are multiple competitors the consumer gets a better deal he added et bureau published on jan 9 2019 at 0759 am ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your