Snapdeal making false claims about 'no outstanding towards sellers', says All India Online Vendors Association

The All India Online Vendors Association (AIOVA) has said that Jasper Infotech Pvt Ltd (Snapdeal) is making false claims that there are no outstanding towards sellers. While the emarketplace operator in its media statement released on Thursday claims they have a robust grievance redressal mechanism, AIOVA says they (Snapdeal) have hidden the fact that the seller helpline 18004190050 was shut down without any notice in March.

According to Snapdeal, any occasional seller disputes are handled through a robust grievance redressal mechanism, consistent with seller policies and contractual agreements. "The concerned teams work closely with the sellers and in case of any concern flagged by the seller, due action is taken to resolve the same. Sellers are advised to contact their account managers for any unresolved issues," it said.

In a few cases, Snapdeal added, details are awaited from sellers in support of the claims made by them. "In these cases, sellers have so far failed to provide required justification for their claims despite multiple attempts by Snapdeal to facilitate these settlements. These are minor amounts, which will get paid basis information provided by sellers and in accordance with the contracts and seller policies," said Sanjay Agarwal, senior vice president - Finance Operations, Snapdeal.

However, AIOVA said that it has a policy of taking up only those cases which are unresolved by the mentioned existing mechanisms of marketplaces. A survey was sent out to all its 2,300 members in March requesting them to highlight cases which required escalation. The response from sellers was tremendous and we still keep getting data in the form of emails, excel sheets etc that was shared with Snapdeal to lodge their claim.

"Snapdeal has not responded to the representative post the meeting and all issues still remain pending. We have also highlighted all issues to Honorable Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Madam Nirmala Sitharaman who had assured publicly to personally look into the issue. However, her office is now laying hands off the issue," said AIOVA.

According to Snapdeal's Agarwal, "Over the last many months, we have further reinforced the internal audit and control processes to detect fraudulent practices by the sellers and impose suitable penalties and deductions towards such exceptions. Legal action has been taken against nearly 35 sellers, including initiation of criminal proceedings where required."

Strongly objecting to Agarwal's statements, the association said, "This highlights the stepmotherly attitude of Snapdeal towards its sellers' woes and the intimidation power that they are showing against small sellers. We have also raised intimidation issue with the commerce ministry in the past."

AIOVA alleged that Snapdeal is illegally utilising sellers' funds for purposes such as investment in Freecharge and marketing and that it strongly objects against this. "We are currently exploring legal options to file a case on behalf of sellers to prevent any sale/merger/winding down of Snapdeal without settlement of outstanding dues and unsolved disputes.

"We also strongly condemn the laid back attitude of Government of India to whom we have made multiple representations and raised alarms regarding Snapdeals financial situation way back in July 2016. We do not know what factor is stopping the Commerce Ministry from looking into problems of e-commerce sellers," AIOVA said in a statement.

Interestingly, according to the sellers' association, Kunal Bahl was confronted by a seller way back in January 2016 on issues being faced. "The number of active sellers on Snapdeal are reducing day by day since January 2016 which Snapdeal will never acknowledge. We have several times raised alarm to Kunal Bahl and other senior leaders of Snapdeal, however, they never replied our acknowledged our concerns. If Snapdeal had taken action at that point of time then the company would have been in a better position today," it said.

Raising concerns over seller agreements by Snapdeal and other emarketplace operators, AIOVA said, "Seller agreements holds no value to us if it is being enforced by them selectively. We have made representations to Niti Aayog and Commerce Ministry to review the same and prescribe guidelines for a model seller agreement."

Snapdeal, according to AIOVA, has failed as a marketplace due to operational mismanagement and a failed leadership by Kunal Bahl who turned a deaf ear to problems being raised. "Due to wrongdoings of Snapdeal, other marketplaces like Flipkart and Amazon have gained ground in India," it said.