80% consumers want e-com rules: survey

The survey was conducted to gauge consumer acceptance of amendments to e-commerce rules proposed the consumer affairs ministry (MCA) last month. More than 16,000 responses were received across 356 districts.

The government has sought public comments on the proposals by Tuesday.

In the survey, respondents were asked about the modes of online retail that need to covered under some sort of regulations—7% agreed that e-commerce marketplace and inventory models must be covered, while 3% said e-pharmacies, e-groceries require some rules. Another 14% said all electronically sold services such as app-based food delivery and app taxis need some regulation. A majority of those surveyed voted for all of the three options. However, 10% of respondents want no regulation, while 9% did not have an opinion.

“81% of consumers want sales of products and services over electronic or digital network to be governed by a set of electronic commerce rules. This question in the survey received 16,236 responses," LocalCircles said in the findings of its survey issued on Sunday.

Those surveyed identified online service platforms such as travel aggregators, food delivery aggregators, event ticketing aggregators and platforms like airline websites and IRCTC as e-commerce services. Most of those surveyed sought both online service platforms as well as marketplaces selling goods to have some compliance mechanism in place for consumers.

Most consumers wanted rules to govern electronically sold services, followed by marketplaces and e-commerce inventory models. “64% of the consumers want e-commerce rules to be implemented for all electronically sold services like app-based food delivery, app taxis, home repair, salon, airline and railway ticketing, OTT subscription, payments, etc; while 59% said they must be implemented for e-commerce marketplaces and inventory models. 56% said they must be implemented for vertical e-commerce i.e. e-pharmacies, e-groceries," LocalCircles said.

The proposed amendments to the e-commerce rules announced last month aim to tighten rules for so-called ‘flash sales’ to prevent any preferential seller treatment and proposed a ban on sale of goods from related parties of the marketplace, among rules that could increase regulation and compliances for e-commerce platforms.

A recent report by Reuters showed that Amazon and Tata Group have sought an extension of the deadline for submitting feedback and recommendations. In a meeting with government officials, the two firms said the fresh set of rules for online retailers would have a major impact on their business models, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, in their survey, respondents claimed they face hurdles reaching out to the sellers of counterfeit or fake products on various online marketplaces. “Those surveyed also raised concerns about poorly-rated sellers getting re-listed on platforms. Meanwhile, others said that Facebook Marketplace is not complying with any legal metrology rules and permits products and services sales over the internet," it added.