Before paying an unfamiliar shop, check who is selling, what they promise and how you could raise a dispute. Our buying advice is to pause whenever those answers are unclear. Do not award a website a clean bill of health from one badge, one review or one registration number. Use the checks together, and keep the evidence before checkout.
The recommendations below are MyDealNinja's buying judgement. Legal requirements are identified by rule number and linked to official text. This guide concerns shopping in India. It does not certify any particular seller.
Warning signs worth stopping for
CERT-In's online shopping guidance advises checking the brand and website before paying. It also warns against suspicious links offering implausible discounts. Use the following as our screening checklist, not as proof that every shop with one warning sign is fraudulent.
- Too-good prices: compare the exact model, quantity and condition elsewhere. Do not let a countdown replace those checks. Read our fake-discount guide before treating the crossed-out price as a saving.
- Only UPI or prepaid payment: ask why other checkout options are absent and where payment disputes go. Our recommendation is to walk away if the seller demands an immediate transfer before identifying the business.
- No usable return policy: look for eligibility, reporting deadlines, return shipping costs and the refund process. Treat missing pages, contradictory promises or a policy naming another shop as reasons to stop.
- A new domain: if the registration date is available, compare it with claims such as years of trading. Our advice is to investigate inconsistencies, without treating domain age alone as a fraud verdict.
- Copied social pages: compare the exact handle and linked website with the brand's independently located website. Ask for clarification when names, contact details or branding disagree. Do not use follower counts as your deciding test.
Example: an unfamiliar shop advertises a phone for Rs 2,999, asks for payment to an individual's UPI ID and cannot supply a return address. This is an invented example. Our decision would be to skip the purchase, even if its social page looks busy.
Read the address and test the contact details
Type the intended website address yourself when possible. Compare every letter with the address supplied through a separately verified brand channel. Open About, Contact, shipping and returns pages. Ask one concrete question about the exact product and retain the reply. Do not send identity documents merely to test whether support responds.
NCH's financial-fraud brochure explains that HTTPS indicates encrypted communication. Our advice is to check HTTPS while still verifying the business separately. Do not treat a padlock as a substitute for seller identity, clear terms or a working complaint route. Avoid entering payment details when the browser displays a security warning.
What the law requires websites and marketplaces to show
The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 separate the roles: Rule 4 covers general duties of e-commerce entities; Rule 5 covers marketplace liabilities; Rule 6 covers marketplace sellers; Rule 7 covers inventory entities, which own the goods or services they sell directly. Check the actual seller as well as the platform.
- Platform identity: Rule 4(2) requires the entity's legal name, headquarters and branch addresses, website details and customer-care and grievance-officer contacts. Rule 4(4) requires the grievance officer's name, contact details and designation to be displayed.
- Seller identity: Rule 5(3)(a) requires marketplace seller information including business name, geographic address and customer-care number. After purchase, a written request can seek the additional seller contact information specified there.
- Purchase terms: Rule 5(3)(c) requires information about returns, refunds, exchanges, warranties, delivery, payment and grievance handling. Rule 5(3)(b) requires a complaint tracking ticket number.
- Origin and seller support: Rule 6(5)(d) includes country of origin among the relevant product details sellers must provide for informed buying. Rule 6(5)(e) covers seller grievance-officer details. Rule 5(3)(e) requires marketplaces to display information supplied under Rule 6(5).
- Direct sellers: Rule 7(1)(a) requires inventory entities to display accurate return, refund, exchange, warranty, delivery, return-shipping and grievance information. Check country-of-origin disclosures wherever required by applicable law; do not infer origin from a shop's name.
Save the seller panel and relevant policies for your chosen listing. Our recommendation is to postpone payment if you cannot identify who will handle a problem. A generic Contact Us button is not the same information as the named officer and seller details described above.
Changes coming on 1 January 2027
The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) (Amendment) Rules, 2026, published in the Gazette in September 2026, take effect on 1 January 2027. Points that matter when you check a shop:
- Prior price on discounts: when a platform or seller announces a price cut, it must show the prior price, defined as the lowest price in the 30 days before the announcement. This makes inflated crossed-out prices easier to spot.
- Seller name on the invoice: the seller's name must appear on the invoice in the same font size as the platform's name, so you can see who actually sold you the item.
- Sponsored listings: paid placements must be clearly marked.
- Complaint copy: the grievance officer must give you a copy of your complaint as recorded, on top of the 48-hour acknowledgement and one-month redress rule.
- Seller details: marketplace seller details expand to include website and email where available, and sellers must provide identification numbers such as GSTIN or MSME registration for display.
Until 1 January 2027, the 2020 rules described above apply as they stand. After that date, expect these details on legitimate marketplaces, and treat their absence as one more reason to pause.
Know the complaint and refund rules
Under Rule 4(5), the entity's grievance officer must acknowledge a complaint within 48 hours and redress it within one month of receipt. Rule 6(4)(b) imposes the same deadlines on marketplace sellers' grievance officers. These are complaint-handling duties. Do not reinterpret them as a promise that every refund reaches your bank within 48 hours.
Rules 6(3) and 7(4) prohibit refusing returns or refunds for specified problems, including defective, spurious or misdescribed goods and late delivery. The late-delivery provision has a force-majeure exception. Our advice is to document the actual fault and promised delivery date. Do not assume these provisions create an unrestricted change-of-mind return window.
Check a claimed GSTIN on the official portal
Use GST's public Search Taxpayer page. The official GST manual confirms that basic taxpayer details can be searched without logging in. Ask for the GSTIN the seller claims for the transaction, then perform your own lookup.
- Enter the GSTIN in the GSTIN/UIN field, complete the displayed CAPTCHA and select Search.
- Compare the legal name, trade name and principal place of business with the seller's written details and proposed invoice.
- Review the registration information and any suspension or cancellation information shown. Save the result and the date you checked it.
- Ask the seller to explain mismatches before paying. If the lookup is unavailable, retry through the official GST homepage instead of accepting a screenshot as your only check.
Treat this as a registration cross-check. Our advice is not to infer website ownership, product authenticity or reliable delivery from an active registration. Rule 6(4)(d) says marketplace sellers supply GSTIN and PAN details to the platform where applicable. From 1 January 2027, the amendment described below also asks marketplace sellers to provide identification numbers such as a GSTIN or MSME registration number for display. Until then, a missing GSTIN on a listing is a question to ask, not proof of fraud.
Choose payment with a clear dispute route
Our recommendation is to prefer a payment method whose provider clearly explains how to dispute a purchase. Read the conditions before paying. Ask your card issuer or payment provider about the relevant process and deadlines. Do not assume the word chargeback means an automatic refund.
Rule 5(3)(d) requires marketplaces to disclose payment information, including chargeback options if any and the payment provider's contact details. Rule 7(1)(c) contains the corresponding inventory-entity requirement. Use those disclosures to assess the available route.
Our buying rule is simple: never pay a personal UPI ID for a store purchase. Keep payment within the verified checkout and stop if the recipient is unexplained. This is a precaution, not a claim that every personal UPI payment is unlawful. See our UPI scams guide.
The financial-fraud brochure hosted by NCH advises keeping OTPs, banking passwords, PINs and CVV details private. Do not disclose them to a seller or someone offering a refund. Avoid shopping payments over public Wi-Fi, as CERT-In advises.
If you have already been scammed
Report suspected financial cyber fraud immediately through 1930 and cybercrime.gov.in. The Ministry of Home Affairs identifies 1930 as the immediate financial-fraud reporting helpline. Do not wait for a seller's promised refund or the grievance deadline before reporting suspected fraud.
Contact your bank and payment provider through their official app, website or published number. NCH's financial-fraud brochure advises immediately reporting suspicious or unauthorised transactions. Describe accurately whether you approved the payment or discovered an unknown debit. Ask what blocking, dispute or recovery steps apply, and retain the reference number.
Our evidence checklist is the website address, seller details, order confirmation, amount, payment reference, transaction time, chats, policy screenshots and bank alerts. Keep originals privately. Add a short timeline separating what the seller promised from what happened. Do not pay another fee merely because someone promises to recover the first payment.
For a consumer dispute, contact the National Consumer Helpline through 1915 or its portal. NCH describes this as a pre-litigation grievance mechanism and does not guarantee a remedy. Keep its docket number. Our NCH complaint guide explains how to organise the complaint. Use the fraud-reporting route promptly when fraud is suspected.
For later delivery messages, reopen the order through the verified shop instead of following an unexpected payment link. Our fake courier SMS guide provides a separate checking routine.
Quick checklist
- I can identify the business and the actual seller, with consistent contact details.
- I have read the return, refund, delivery and grievance information for this purchase.
- I checked any claimed GSTIN myself and investigated mismatches.
- I understand the payment dispute route and have rejected personal UPI requests.
- I saved the listing and terms, and know to contact my bank, 1930 and the cybercrime portal promptly if scammed.
Sources
Official material checked on 17 October 2026. Buying recommendations are our judgement. The GST instructions were verified against its official manual; no individual seller was checked.
- Department of Consumer Affairs: Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, Rules 3 to 7.
- Department of Consumer Affairs: Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) (Amendment) Rules, 2026 (in force from 1 January 2027).
- GST: public taxpayer search and official search manual.
- CERT-In: online shopping safety booklet.
- National Consumer Helpline: contact routes, grievance process and financial-fraud brochure.
- Ministry of Home Affairs: 1930 helpline announcement; National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.
