NEW DELHI: Ahead of its Big Billion Day sale, Flipkart is grappling with the quality of bedsheets being sold on its marketplace as many consumers have complained that the products do not match the specifications mentioned on the website.

While some sellers are passing off polyester-mix bedsheets as pure cotton ones, others are skimping on the correct size and thread count. This has resulted in the Bengaluru-based e-tailer blacklisting several sellers on its marketplace.

When contacted, a Flipkart spokesperson said, "We observe a zero tolerance policy on incidents where sellers are found violating rules pertaining to quality, pricing or genuineness of a product. We perform surprise checks on sellers to audit product quality. Sellers failing to pass the audit are de-listed. As part of our latest initiative, 'Utkarsh' , improving seller's business and keeping a tight check on quality are the most critical areas of our business."

Bed sheets are fast-moving items and contribute significantly to revenues from an e-tailer's home furnishings category. For instance, Flipkart has plans to order around 40 lakh bedsheets amounting to roughly Rs 100 crore for its private label brand, sources said. A large chunk of this order is meant for sale during its impending Big Billion Day sale.

"We recently received complaints from sellers in same category who have been blacklisted after Flipkart conducted product quality audit. But in case of preferred sellers like Retail Net, who source goods from Flipkart's B2B arm, the rules are bent. This discriminatory practice needs to be stopped," said a spokesperson from All India Online Vendors Association (AIOVA), a body that represents around 3,500 sellers that sell online.

When TOI contacted sellers who sell home furnishings on online marketplaces in India, they attributed the slip in quality to the low price of the products. "Sometimes, e-commerce players demand products at such low cost due to rivalry among marketplaces that it becomes difficult to match the expected quality."

Owing to the sheer number of sellers on a marketplace, e-tailers in the country are increasingly finding it difficult to rein in fake or inferior products. In one such scenario last year, US lifestyle and footwear brand Skechers had filed cases against Flipkart and some sellers on its platform for allegedly selling counterfeit Skechers products.

