Anyone can sell anything on online shopping websites in India these days. So if you are not careful enough, there is a chance you end up buying from rogue sellers on Amazon.in, Flipkart, Snapdeal, etc causing you to receive fake, defective, or even rocks instead of iPhones. You can buy safely from Amazon.in and other online e-commerce websites if you check a few things before buying.
Look for Good Sellers! On Amazon.in, if you see “Fulfilled by Amazon“, the item will be shipped by Amazon from their own warehouses even though it’s sold by another seller. In such cases, you can trust the item to be a genuine product most of the time. If in case you received a product with a defect or a dead on arrival, because the shipment was handled by Amazon directly, you can easily return and get a refund or request a replacement.
There are many good sellers on Amazon.in offering thousands of products via Fulfilled by Amazon program. Cloudtail India, Darshita Mobiles, and Appario Retail Private Ltd are a few sellers with good ratings on Amazon.in.
No Warranty Products! I have seen a few sellers listing imported from USA products for much higher prices on Amazon.in due to the import charges. If you see “Usually dispatched in 1 to 3 weeks.” that is a sign of an imported product. Such products often will have a seller warranty instead of a local India manufacturer warranty. If you get a defective product, you are at the mercy of the seller. Amazon can’t do much to help you. So be careful. Buy at your own risk.
Not all such sellers are bad. I have bought a few such imported products from reputed sellers at good prices, and received genuine products. Every seller has a profile where users who have bought previously from that particular seller can write reviews on the product they received. So reading those will give you a clue on how good a seller on Amazon.in is.
Too Good a Deal on an iPhone! If you see an Apple iPhone, iPad, or a high-end Samsung Galaxy smartphone selling for a much lower price than it should be, and is sold by a random seller, you can be sure the product you are gonna get is not going to be the original. Always avoid such big Deals and Discounts ( unless if it’s a Fulfilled item – so if you get the wrong product you can cancel and get a refund easily ).
Never buy a product for the MRP price! Amazon India and other shopping websites often list a new product at its MRP price online. The launch selling price for the product would be much less than the MRP often, and the price is usually updated after a few hours. So wait until the sellers update the pricing.
Beware of Deal Hunters! Many of the Deals they post are not at all real Deals. Almost every product launching in India online is Discounted when you compare them to their MRP prices. Those Discounted prices are often advertised as Offers by many Deals hunters and Price comparison websites. Be aware. If you want to get good deals, check out the Deals of the Day page on Amazon.in.
Check out Rating and Verified Buyer Purchase Reviews! If you are buying a costly item like a Laptop, make sure you read the Verified Purchase reviews posted on the product page. You will get some valuable information like Pros and Cons, reasons to buy or not buy, etc, defects if any, etc, by reading these reviews. Any product that has a 2-star rating or below, should be avoided.