With the outbreak of Covid-19 in India, ensued a maddening rush to local medical shops among all of us to buy face masks — an act that even India's most hideously polluted cities failed to make us do. Without absolute clarity from government and healthcare bodies, and a roving round of misinformation circulating social media services, N95 face masks saw a massive surge in demand — particularly through March and early April. This caused face mask stocks to clear out in almost all local stores. As a result, since many of us resorted to buying our face masks from online e-commerce stores, it now comes to light that numerous sellers on e-commerce shopping websites listed counterfeit N95 face masks. What more, many of these masks were being sold at heavily inflated prices, and in worst case scenarios, the face masks were both fake and highly priced.
Dhirendra Singh, founder-director of Brand Protectors India, undertook an investigation into the sale of fake N95 masks at inflated prices across e-commerce stores in India, which included Flipkart, Snapdeal and ShopClues. The issue was two-part — one, the authenticity of the masks, and two, the heavily inflated prices that they were sold at for the interim period.
Fake, overpriced masks
Speaking to News18, Singh said, “Each of these masks were being sold by opportune sellers at a heavily inflated price point. For example, 3M’s N95 masks were listed in online medical shops such as Apollo Pharmacy at about Rs 150. The same were being sold across sites such as Flipkart, Snapdeal and ShopClues at significantly higher prices, marking up to 9x inflation in the prices of these masks.” Singh, whose organisation works closely with brands to identify counterfeits in the market, stated that both 3M and Honeywell individually confirmed that the said N95 masks found on e-commerce platforms were indeed fake.
In screenshots shared by Singh with News18, one particular variant — the 3M Particulate Respirator 8210, was found on online medical products retailer HealthKlin for Rs 93, and on Snapdeal for Rs 1,299. This marks for a ~14x inflation in the price of one mask. Of the four instances of significant price inflation of masks on Snapdeal shared by Singh, a company spokesperson verified with News18 that three of the four products were indeed listed on the platform at the inflated prices, and have been taken down already.
Further interesting points to note were the branding of these products. On Flipkart, the 3M N95 masks were custom-branded by sellers such as Glasszone and Friendskart, neither of which are verified resellers of 3M’s own products. The same were reflected in user reviews of the products as well, which stated that the products were merely “pieces of cloth with clips attached”. (See cover)
Singh further said, “Within some time of writing about this on social platforms, these products were made unavailable on the said e-commerce platforms.” A search on Flipkart for these masks returned zero results, which is what makes matters more curious. In-demand products on e-commerce platforms are typically shown as ‘out of stock’ when they run out, and are removed only when either the product receives several complaints citing it as counterfeit. A product, as revealed by a Snapdeal executive, can also be removed when multiple complaints are registered against a seller.
What the platforms say
While it is impossible for an e-commerce platform to individually verify each and every product sold through them, it is important to note that as ‘intermediaries’, e-commerce services do have a certain level of accountability for the authenticity of popular products being sold through them.
A Flipkart spokesperson said in a statement to News18, “We have immediately communicated the government decision and needed compliance to our sellers with an advice to take necessary actions. We have additionally put in place technology solutions to maintain checks and balances to ensure the same. Should there be an instance where the sellers breach these directives, we have provisions in place for delisting as applicable.”
Glasszone, one of the alleged sellers that peddled the fake masks on Flipkart, appears to have been banned already, while Friendskart, the other seller, do not list masks under their list of products any longer. The latter has a history of being on Flipkart for over three years, but sports a measly rating of 2.6 for the products that it sells.
A Snapdeal spokesperson told News18, “Snapdeal is a pure-play market place and acts as an intermediary. Sellers are required to strictly comply with all applicable laws and the terms of use. If found to be in violation of law or in breach of any of the terms of use, Snapdeal removes the listings or delists and blacklists the seller from the platform depending on the severity and frequency of such delinquent actions of the seller.”
Citing their seller verification procedure, he further added, “Snapdeal verifies the authenticity of the seller on the basis of GSTIN No. and maintains records of all transactions. Snapdeal offers information relating to its platform users with law enforcement agencies that may be specifically required by them lawfully.”
A ShopClues spokesperson failed to comment on the matter at the time of publishing of the report.
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