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Amazon gave me a different problem. I was buying an iPad last year and they were offering zero cost EMI for 3/6 months. Considering the benefit, I thought I should take it up.

After the transaction was processed, I got a message stating the interest costs on the EMI. I called Amazon who said that it was a problem with my credit card. The credit card company of course passed the buck back to Amazon.

I gave up after a couple of calls, just not worth my time to follow up. Or to buy again from them. I have been preferring offline vendors for buying most of my stuff since then. I pay a little more, but I have no issues with warranty (for electronic goods) and some peace of mind.
For smaller things, I prefer to give business to my local shops.

1. Sell it cheap -> 2. swallow your loss -> 3. demolish the competition -> 4. get the buyers addicted to you -> 5. then quietly raise the prices after the competition is dead.

The Opium Wars of the 1800s foisted on the poor Chinese by the British went in these 5 steps.

Instead of offering earth shattering discounts, it would be a better business model if everyone priced their products correctly. Atleast then, companies can compete on providing a better service than just offering discounts.
And yes, in my time in Bangalore, I stayed away from FK after a few bad CC interactions. Just think Amazon is far better. Even if I have to send a gift home, I still use Amazon India, rather than anything else.

I can see a pattern on how the ascendance of one e shopping portal is preceded by a general deterioration in the quality of service of its chief competitor. It happened with rediff-snapdeal, snapdeal-flipkart, flipkart-paytm, paytm-amazon and now with flipkart-amazon. It could be a case of intentional but indirect sabotage or pure decaying of values on the part of sellers - platform.

Flipkart service has taken a nosedive for sure. But more importantly, amazon has improved and this has made the former appear listless, unattractive and at times unethical too. I have had quite a few bad experiences with Flipkart. With amazon though, potential problematic situations have been addressed well; a little late at times, but addressed nevertheless and most of the times to my satisfaction.

Even as I type this, I can't get over the excellent customer service I have received from an overseas seller and amazon in resolving a problem with a recent (pre BB sales) order. Where they could have shirked their responsibilities citing some complicated reason, they chose to work with me over the last three days and in the process have gained my trust.

That doesn't mean they are saints out to bless the shopping brethren. They are here to mint money as we are out to save some. So long as the relationship doesn't turn parasitic, both will continue to score occasional brownie points over the other.

The refund is yet to reflect my credit card, I am now officially sure that the rabbit hole goes more deeper than I thought. Just imagine all that cash they raise in a week of sale and how they can show the investors of how many paying customers they have.

Note the coupons are credited back.

Pramod

Flipkart, Jabong and Myntra are all under the same group now. Chances are, even the Customer Care is a shared unit between the three.

I am greatly disappointed at how Myntra and Jabong operate. Once added to cart, the prices increase on account of added taxes, anywhere in the range of 5-15% depending on the discount of the product. In a way, this kills the joy of shopping. The rate you see is not the rate you pay.
But choose a product at MRP and no tax.

I long shifted to Amazon and most of my online purchases happen on Amazon. Flipkart is good till the point there is no need to get in touch with Customer Care. I usually avoid the risk, unless the discount is too steep comparatively.

Don't forget Indiaplaza :-)

Your subsequent example just proves the key differentiator between the two - Amazon has kept up to its standards of customer care and delivery service from their start about 5 years ago, even as their scale has grown massively in India.

Amazon Prime has also played a big role - it started off as just a benefit for online shoppers, but then the additional value adds like Prime Video, Prime Music have really knocked its value proposition out of the park.

On the other hand, Flipkart's pivot to a marketplace model some years ago doesn't seem to have been as well managed, with people quickly realizing that they were better off picking only Flipkart Assured items in most cases.

Wasn't it Flipkart that made it insanely difficult to reach customer service on phone a couple years ago?

When to stop taking orders: This is a complex question. However, it looks like flipkart's inventory management system and/or web site/app are just not good enough to grind and digest real time data. So, by the time say website figures out that there is no stock left, system probably allowed few more orders.
Also, traditionally there will be periodic overwriting of 'inventory picture' based on a source of truth, but sometimes it can also go totally wrong causing a sold-out product to show up online. These are classic problems seen across the industry. Good quality data and systems are the only solutions.

Showing inventory number/availability of units: This functionality depends a lot from type of stock to type of vendors with more features to business decisions to show or not etc.

What is needed in Indian market is, more strict regulations to begin with. I have personally seen situations abroad where industry giants had to fulfill orders after they were taken at 1/10th of the original price (Pricing issue). An order in a lot of countries points to a promise or even more a contract being made between two parties, which cannot just be closed with one sided decision. Compensations will need to be a part of discussions; just like delayed or cancelled flights are refunding or compensating customers. That’s the direction we need to head for. The quality of systems, data etc. will just follow because otherwise coping up with such regulations will not be possible for companies operating in this area.

Correct.

Looking back, I can recall how Flipkart was a better place to shop from when most of its sales were being handled by WS Retail. The conversion to marketplace model is what seems to have triggered off the rot. That said, Flipkart seems to have done well in the recent sales, as per this this report in TOI. Surprisingly, that red herring of a shopping site - shopclues.com - has managed to garner some good business too. In a nation of 130 crore people, it does take some time to con everyone!

Akin to airlines overbooking on their flights, sellers too appear to be taking orders beyond their capacity. The difference lies in the way they handle the extra orders. An item I had ordered off amazon a few days ago was supposed to be available in Bengaluru. I ordered it with a next day delivery option to an address in the same city. But by the time the order went through, local stocks must have exhausted and therefore it was shipped overnight from Gurugaon and delivered as promised. That, to me, is customer service. And a trust builder.

I had recently bought a cell phone on flipkart. My purchases on flipkart are limited to cell phones - various reasons - some time because it is online only for example.

This particular phone was flipkart exclusive and online only at the time of purchase. And i realized after buying that it doesn't support Android Auto. I wrote a review to warn buyers about Android Auto incompatibility of the phone. Flipkart blocked my review on some flimsy ground. That review never went live. Can I really rely on the reviews on this eCommerce site?

Practiced by many.

A tiny department store near to where I live was threatened and harassed everyday by a larger one. Despite carrying lower prices, we locals preferred the smaller one, but, eventually they had to shut down.

Amazon

I agree with that. Amazon comes about as professional & responsible in handling customers' interaction with the customer care. Yesterday I had to reach out to their customer care and executive on the other end was succinct and precise in explaining amazon's viewpoint on the query I raised. Knowledgeable and professional.
Recalling my experience here, I had booked a tank bag and the delivery time shown was inordinately long -about 12 days. I reached out to the seller (ViaTerra) via Amazon because I needed the tank bag urgently for a ride. Within two hours I received a mail from ViaTerra (via Amazon again) saying that my tank bag has been dispatched through FedEx and should reach me within 4 days' time! What I'm trying to highlight here is the professional and positive attitude of Amazon and ViaTerra as companies. I'm sure they were flooded with orders during this mega sale, yet their customer support is up and about and handling all sorts of queries/goof ups/glitches/unusual requests calmly and professionally.

Cheers!

I am more comfortable with Amazon because it has access to customer service executive. Recently I had following experience with Amazon.in.


I ordered Mobil Super 3000 F1 5W-40 (4L). However, I got 3.5L product, naturally I am disappointed. Raised the complaint via chat window providing images. Amazon CS asked me if I need a refund or replacement. Asked for replacement, they obliged. Since Oil is not returnable item, I can dispose it at my convenience.

Then I was going through product review, realized that this is not one-off case. I wrote to seller via "ask seller questions". Seller responded immediately stating that Amazon merged two listings (3.5l and 4L), currently product listing actually points to 3.5L item in backend. He also sent me image of actual item associated with product listing which shows 3.5L.
.

On forwarding this info to amazon, they promptly corrected the product page, and gifted Rs.100 as goodwill gesture for finding the root cause! The replacement arrived in 2 days (which was 4L as ordered!).

All in all, I am happy customer.

Disclaimer: I am amazon customer since 2009 (US), and currently prime customer(since its inception in India). I always prefer to order Amazon Fulfilled item even if its little expensive.

IIRC, in the last 5 years, there is only one thing I've bought on Flipkart and that's the Google Chromecast (since Amazon doesn't sell it).

What I see in post #1 is CHEAP behaviour from the largest e-commerce player in India. This isn't cool. Your brand has to stand for something. I'm surprised to see Flipkart behaving like a small fly-by-night operator.

While I do shop a lot on Amazon:

1. I also have returned to offline shopping for some items due to the hassle-free experience, easy replacements etc. Example, I buy my electronics from Vijay Sales for their excellent service, price matching (with online) and 5-year in-house extended warranty that works like a charm. It's called VS+ or something.

2. Don't believe everything you see or read on Amazon either. Look up USA news and you'll see how fake products & fake reviews are rampant on Amazon. Yep, even if you buy a 'fulfilled by Amazon product', there's no guarantee it's authentic.

For pricey items, I prefer buying directly from the manufacturer or an authorised brick & mortar shop. My latest phone I bought on Samsung's website. My TV was from Kohinoor Electronics, a shop with a good reputation in Bombay. My sound system was from ProFX. My air-cons are from Nova Weatherworks or Vijay Sales.

Even when it comes to perfumes, I prefer https://www.shoppersstop.com/ instead of Amazon which is now a 3rd-party market place.