Showing MRP, expiry date now a must for ecommerce firms

Starting today, ecommerce companies will have to display maximum retail price (MRP) and expiry date of packaged products sold on their platforms, as well as other relevant details.

This is meant to address expected to buyers' concerns that e-sellers might be inflating prices and then offering steep discounts.

Such fears may not be misplaced. According to reports, a survey by LocalCircles which showed that 42 per cent of 10,000 online shoppers surveyed had reported witnessing inflated MRPs and fake discounts.

Earlier this year, the Department of Consumer Affairs had amended the Packaged Commodity Rules, 2011, and issued a notification under which sellers on all e-commerce sites would have to disclose the actual MRP of the product 1 January onwards. The ecommerce sites were given six months to comply with the order.

According to Business Standard, on Amazon.in, some products were seen to be listed with MRP, while most others were not yet doing so as of Monday morning. Some like Flipkart, Myntra and Jabong had not started displaying products' MRP.

"The new rules will help in realistic price disclosures, and fake discounts will also vanish from online platforms," Yatish Rajawat, chief strategy offices, LocalCircles told The Economic Times.

The ecommerce firms must now change their policies with the sellers and legal authorities.

However, there are concerns that several e-tailers are not yet ready to roll out the change.

"Feedback from users suggested that only 10 to 12 percent of the products on ecommerce sites are now showing MRP as they are being stocked by the ecommerce sites themselves," LocalCircles said in a statement.

An Amazon spokesperson told ET that it has taken multiple steps to inform the sellers of the changes in the legal metrology regulations. "We are working with them to enable them to comply with these changes in the regulations.''