The logo of India's e-commerce firm Flipkart
Credit: Reuters Photo
A user on X recently posted a collage of pictures claiming that Flipkart charges different amounts to iOS and android users for the exact same product.
Saurabh Sharma took to his social media account and said that the same cabin suitcase costs Rs 4119 on Flipkart on android and costs Rs 4799 on iOS app of Flipkart.
"Apple charges 30 per cent commission on subscriptions etc, so different pricing for iOS makes sense there. But for ecommerce? Very shady & unfair," the caption read.
According to the picture posted, the suitcase was of the same brand, 'Mokobara' with same product description.
The post has received around 131k views and several comments.
A user commented saying this is not possible if the seller of the product is same. "E-commerce sale has nothing to do with the 30 per cent apple commission - I hope we all understand that."
"As someone who works in a similar app.. I can tell you that it is common for us to run price sensitivity experiments based on multiple factors. We sometimes run 5-6 experiments in a day to check what price point works and what doesn't. This isn't looting," another commented.
"No. E commerce payments are happening via their payment gateway. I dont think commission is at fault here. Commissions are for in-app payments and they take card/bank details stored on the App Store/Play Store," commented a third.
"Wonder if PC versus Mac also has this same bias," commented a fourth.
"Shady, yes! Check if Amazon or any other does the same, I don't think so. Flipkart has been shady for a while now. Unfair? well as long as they can get away with it. Closed Flipkart a/c long time ago. The platform accepts no responsibility for anything. Risky platform," commented a fifth.
After the post garnered attention on social media, Saurabh Sharma later posted a screenshot of a reply from Flipkart.
"Thanks for speaking with us via private chat. Prices may vary since it is determined by the seller based on various factors. However, please don't worry, our sellers are always trying their best to bring you great deals and discounts," the message from Flipkart read.