While there exist plenty of players today vying for the e-commerce market, its only a handful few who actually seem to be in for the long run. They care about the quality of the products they ship, promptly answer your calls, follow up on all your issues. They are interested in building a dependable clientele Many among the rest are just out there to lynch you blind. Their primary target is an ill-researched buyer.
So after years of buying a whole lot of items online, ranging from home appliances to baby products, here's my list of the Top 5 dependable and trust-worthy online shopping portals in India, where you could be assured competitive pricing and quality of service.
FlipKart
If you haven't heard of Flipkart, the rest of the Indian online shopping fraternity can safely assume you were living under a rock so far. Founded by two ex-amazon India employees, thos portal is going places. They started small and in comparison to Amazon US or UK, they are tiny. Their interface and affiliate programs eerily remind you of Amazon all through. Nevertheless, whatever they offer, they serve it well and at prices which are perhaps the best in the market. Goods are delivered superbly well packed and are often with you in 2 to 3 days of an order being placed. With a recently received fresh round of capital funding, these are the guys to watch.Ebay
Unlike FlipKart, eBay is a marketplace. So, while FlipKart sells direct, eBay merely provides a platform for sellers to get in touch with you. Sellers in turn, have to pay eBay a commission on every item they sell, for maintenance of their services. A direct consequence of that is you aren't really assured best pricing. Since the commission cuts into their profits. Many don't provide free shipping either so add that onto your cost. What can be guaranteed however is the service. The biggest reason for that being that eBay has such a high minimum customer satisfaction requirement on the sellers that they dare not mess their orders up. Any breach from that, and they get taken down. So, no wonder when you buy something from ebay, the seller ships you with a note, begging you to not rate them badly if you have any issues with your purchase. They'll promise to fix all your issues over mail. This really works well for the buyer.Ebay also acts as an escrow. Its called as PaisaPay. While most see it as just an online payment setup, its actually eBay's way of assuring the buyers. You see, your money isn't deposited into the seller's account immediately. Once you receive the product, you need to let eBay know that you have received the product and that you are satisfied. Only then, the seller receives your payment, or by default in a span of 14 days. It is assumed that you by then, you have received the product and that you are happy. Your refunds happen through this PaisaPay service and are not undertaken by the seller. All of this means that sellers aren't a happy lot on eBay. But we are buyers and we shall rejoice.
Decathlon
You can't purchase as a retail customer. They function in the same way the Metro superstores do. So, you need to be a business entity. But, the easy way around it is that you ask your company to sign on, and then all its employees become members too. You'll then have access to wholesale prices, great product range, VFM and piece of mind since they ship through TNT.
BuyThePrice
Playground Online
Everything sports related. While Decathlon only stores their sub-brands and their related products, this one does retail on many other brands. Good quality of service and product range. So that concludes the round-up. Do bear in mind though that all these shops work great in Bangalore, and thats understandable since majority of them have their HQ here. So, your Top 5 may differ. Do share it with the world in the comments.