Good morning [%first_name |Dear Reader%],

It’s Aayush here for Trade Tricks this week. 

Being an e-commerce writer for The Ken tends to come with additional unofficial responsibilities. For family and friends, you are the designated shopper; expected to know all the best deals on every platform in the country. And once we get to this time of the year, you are piled with a never-ending list of things to research. 

Which is how my last fortnight went, as the Indian e-commerce ecosystem kicked off its most significant sales events for the year. Flipkart’s Big Billion Days. Amazon’s Prime Day Sale. And now into Dussehra, Diwali, and before you know it, End-of-the-Year sales.

By now, millions of Indian consumers (like me) wait for these events to finally purchase things carefully added to wish lists over the year. And why not? Discounts, deals, and product launches are bigger and better now than at any other time. 

Minimum of 50% off on home and personal care, 80% on beauty, 90% on apparel—big-number discounts are everywhere, and e-commerce platforms make a big deal out of them. And push their sellers to one-up each other on the deals they offer. 

For consumers though, the decision to buy comes down to one simple thing: whichever platform offers the highest discounts, and therefore the cheapest price, gets their money. 

Because that’s where straight logic leads you, right? Especially for branded products, where a certain amount of price standardisation is assumed. 

Higher the discount, lower the price. 

That’s the rule. 

Except, it’s not always the case. 

How sellers on Amazon, Meesho play fast and loose with MRP

Take a look at these deals I found being offered on Himalaya Baby Powder (700 gm) on four different Indian e-commerce platforms.

Some decent offers there. 

Going by just the discount, the best deal is from Tata-owned BigBasket—a nice 27% off. 

But, as the actual post-discount prices on those screenshots make glaringly clear, if you chose that deal, you made a bad deal. Because the selling price on Amazon is significantly cheaper. 

Odd, isn’t it? 

After all, the product in all four cases is the same. So is the quantity. And especially after the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which removed differences in state-level taxes, you’d think the maximum retail price (MRP) would be the same everywhere. 

Except, it isn’t.