Online shopping has finally caught up in India, thanks to Flipkart, ebay.in, amazon.in and the list goes on.While most of them are committed towards consumer satisfaction, there are few online shopping websites which are present to exploit the consumers.After our research and talking to customers we found Naaptol to be one such company.
Naaptol is famous for running its ads on popular TV channels and they advertise products and claim to be giving them off for a cheaper price than anyone else in the market.Initially, no one doubted their marketing claims but soon they started advertising products that were available on other platforms for about half of the price quoted by them.This has been happening for some time and Naaptol did face *raids but their business model enables them to pass the buck to the 3rd party sellers.(acting clever uh?)
Case Study
Waterproof Aluminium Wallet – Naaptol’s AD of an Aluminium wallet :
They Claim the MRP to be 2,999 INR. A quick search for the same wallet on other online shopping websites reveals the fact that it does not cost more than 200 INR.
- Rediff [Link]
- eBay [Link]
This one is from a customer who had to undergo a nightmare thanks to Naaptol, he has raised his issue on an online forum handling consumer complaints. He has given more than enough proof to bust the unfair pricing.
arun2404 on May 25, 2012
Although Naaptol support responded, they never spoke about the product being sold for double the MRP. This sort of fleecing doesn’t stop here, almost every product that is being highly advertised price the same fate.
We definitely believe that Naaptol is using 3rd party sellers to stay clear of the laws , no market place comes up with ads like that of naaptol that show no clue of who the seller is.
A few months ago (June 12, 2013 to be precise) Times of India reported that Legal metrology officials raided the godown of the online firm Naaptol.com in Bowenpally, Hyderabad and seized Rs 1.26 crore worth goods.The goods included 55 different commodities, including various electronic goods like laptops, cameras, home appliances and toiletries.
The raid did confirm that the goods were purchased from China for a far less price and the price tags were manipulated.
“In newspaper ads, the company claims that they will be selling a product worth Rs 2,000 for just Rs 500, whereas the actual price of the product would be not more than Rs 200.”said a legal metrology official who was a part of the raid.
Naaptol stood completely busted. The legal metrology officials booked 54 cases against ‘Naaptol.com’ and Pentagon Logistix who were the stockists.
Naaptol claims to be a marketplace model, but the question remains who is actually selling to the consumer? Naaptol promotes its products without mentioning the real sellers and acts as a main point of purchase for consumers.
Also, if is really marketplace such fleecing would not be actually possible and moreover the current set of AD’s being telecasted show no trace of Naaptol being a market place. Consumers are tricked to believe that it is Naaptol who is the actual seller which is far from the truth, the customer realises this only when there is an issue since Naaptol refuses to take the responsibility of the vendors involved in the above activity.
Not so surprisingly, Naaptol also has some really poor after sales support, complains show that they sell duplicate products and refurbished ones. We have spoken to the guys who left the reviews and can agree the fact that Naaptol does pass off refurbished products as new ones.
While checking Mouthshut.com for reviews of Naaptol, It was found that 89% of out of 410 reviews gave 1 star rating. Few screen captures of the reviews written by users.
Quite a few people have actually realised the unfair trade practices being used by naaptol and here are a few tweets from various people about their products.
Inspite of all the above wrong doings and selling poor quality products, there is not a single negative comment on the entire Naaptol website.
Strange? We think not. The comments made are highly moderated, no negative comment gets through. If Naaptol were really a 100% genuine market place, this wouldn’t be happening. eBay is also a market place but the consumer has the freedom to publish his review whether positive or negative.
Adding to all this is the fact that you CANNOT unsubscribe from Naaptol’s mailing list, many users complained about it and when we tried it, we faced the same problem. We have no clue if it is intentional or just a technical glitch which had been left unresolved since a long time.
We have reached to Naaptol and their investors for their comments and will update once they reply.
Here’s what I found : http://imgur.com/OwykRek
You are comparing two very different products. Provided by Naaptol vendor is a Alumunium wallet which sells worldwide around this price only. It is made of Alumunium which provides it the Quality and the security against RFID thefts. However, other websites are selling duplicate products which is made of plastic. Here are few links for this product which are made of Alumunium. We believe in promoting the original and not the duplicate.
http://www.homeshop18.com/card-guard-aluminum-wallet-credit-card-case-assorted-colors-imported/stationery-office-products/office-supplies/product:30339260/cid:14703/
http://www.wallets-online.com/product.asp?itemId=57#.Uom2VPka73M
http://www.ogondesigns.com/en/portefeuilles-aluminium-ogon-designs.php
http://leathershop.com.au/card-holders/554-card-case-dark-grey-card-holders-by-ogon-designs-available-on-leathershopcomau-2000000004938.html
Just looking at reviews on mouthshut is not seeing things in the right perspective. Following is a count of complaints of different ecommerce marketplaces on complaint sites for the month of November. This can be confirmed by visiting these complaint websites. It is clear that due to customer focus of Naaptol it has the lowest number of complaints.
shopclues
mouthshut – 10
Grahak seva – 14
Consumer complaints.in – 12
Total – 36
Snapdeal
mouthshut – 1
Grahak seva – 14
Consumer complaints.in – 19
Total – 34
tradus
mouthshut – 16
Grahak seva – 7
Consumer complaints.in – 9
Total – 32
100 bestbuy
mouthshut – 8
Grahak seva – 13
Consumer complaints.in – 0
Total – 21
flipkart
mouthshut – 9
Grahak seva – 3
Consumer complaints.in – 8
Total – 20
HomeShop18
mouthshut – 3
Grahak seva – 2
Consumer complaints.in – 6
Total – 11
Naaptol
mouthshut – 2
Grahak seva – 4
Consumer complaints.in – 3
Total – 9
naaptol support
1. Pricing woes doesn’t confine to the wallet alone, we have also pointed out another case where the bill amount exceeds the MRP. Also, one of your customer purchased the so called “duplicate” wallet from another source and compared it with what he got from your site. Shockingly, he claims he did not find any difference. (We have reached out to him for permission to publish his details)
2. We would also like to hear a response for “Not a single Negative Rating” allegation.
3. Yes, reviews on mouthsut.com are not everything but we only were checking out the above MRP claims, sadly there were next to nil complaints for sites like eBay & Flipkart on these portals as compared to your site over pricing the products.
4. Also, the raid as reported by the media confirms the above allegations. Again, nor flipkart or any vendor of eBay has faced such a issue.
On a personal note, one of our guys did purchase a Zync Q8 tab from your site, Zync was the seller by itself. A promised update to Jellybean 4.1 was published in the description but it was never released. Repeated mails to Zync fetch no results, being a “market place” you were supposed to sort out the issue but your customer care told him that only zync was responsible. (He has posted a screenshot of the same on your Facebook wall back then but it was deleted, pretty much explains your “customer focus”)
And, We’re thankful and glad to hear back from you.
naaptol is a big scam. please don’t buy anything from this site.I have been a victim. back in 2011 I purchased a blackberry and what they sent was a joke. ridiculously old phone with no charger, nothing. they have been duping customers for a long time now atleast for five years…why people trust this site in the first place is because their ads come in mainstream TV channels and newspapers. don’t know how they get away from police and all…there are better website like flipkart eBay snapdeal jabong myntra amazon etc….
Techzei Team, You guys are young blood & doing a good Job. However, the criticism against one particular shopping portal here which i m not able to digest. I have been frequent online shopper even Naaptol, my experience was satisfactory one & bad – worst experience with Snapdeal & Homeshop18.I see Naaptol responding to your review, wat else do you expect as an Ecommerce platform. I mean every online shopping company do care for their customer in terms of satisfaction & delight service. And let me tell u the case you highlighted is of 2011 & we are in year ending of 2013.
You guys should write more about , how wide & easy online shopping comparison of various eCommerce portals , do & dont’s of Online Shopping. I wish you guys all the best in your endeavor
& easy online shopping is
Unfortunately inspite of the case of 2012 the prices remain irrelevant of the MRP until now for certain products. The sale of products above MRP has left us to make this post.
Also, can you pin point any other market place which moderates comments like naaptol? Not a single negative comment on a certain product, this amounts to unfair trade practice.
Term “Unfair trade practice” – Who doesnt??? You guys are more specifically Targetting one Online Shopping Portal, Dat was my concern & to be precise its 2011 case. I’m sure, if you explore you v’ll find other online shopping also doing the practise, please check the links for ready reference.
http://www.consumerlaw.in/flipkart-charging-more-price-than-the-mrp-for-laptop/
http://consumer.admanya.com/review_jabong_online_shopping_e_com-5131.html
Fortunately, Online buyer’s are educated, they prefer online shopping & they do look in to such things before placing order.There are other website such as Jabong.com, trendin.com & Naaptol.com, Flipkart.com they all have complaints & i still do prefer buying online. My point is give some suggestions on DO & Dont’s, Benefits, Draw backs of ecommerce. You have amazing website, so utlizie & channelize things in a good fashion. You guys doing a good job. All the best. Please no more comments. Itna Gyan Kafi hai dost… 🙂 Just another IT Physcho likewise….
Let me again remind you, the issue happened in Jun 13, 2013 and not in 2011. You can verify the same from here http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-06-13/hyderabad/39950592_1_metrology-online-trading-firm-naaptol-com
And there is a lot of difference between isolated incidents and such mass deliberate over pricing.
Thanks…..
Can you guys re open this Naaptol case. It seem they are still continuing the same with no regrets. Looks like even mouthshut got corrupted and highly moderated reviews are posted. Mouthshut-Naaptol user review are moderated by Megha Agrawal-Head of Digital marketing.Google Playstore reviews are again moderated by Mahendra Patil-CTO @ Naaptol. Naaptol founder & cheater -Manu Agarwal is keen making attractive ADS? and selling all 3rd class products. He managed to get funding from Mitsui Japan also.Can somebody share coordinates of Shinichi Yamazaki-Chief Strategic Office @ Naaptol and other directors as per MCA records as below RUCHIR LAHOTY 02191430 Nominee Director 30 July 2013 ,AVNEET SINGH KOCHAR 02415196 Nominee Director 12 June 2015 ,HIDETAKA MORIMOTO Director
Really sites are well-doing works…..
Found email
Send email to below
sh**chi.y*88aki@***8ptol.com
H.***imoto@m***ui.com
m***.***wal@n****tol.com
y***uf.**an@***ol.com
MOD: emails masked to respect privacy of above individuals.