Snapdeal in legal tangle: Sellers drag company to court for non-payment of dues

Sellers on Snapdeal have often complained of alleged non-payment of dues by the platform in the past. It appears the matter of payment between sellers and the online platform has not resolved yet and reached the court.

Sellers have filed cases in different courts in the National Capital Region for alleged non-payment of dues by the online marketplace Snapdeal.

Of various plaintiffs, Bengaluru-based Veepee Electronics and Spacewood Furnishers are a few. The former, which sold consumer durables on Snapdeal, alleged the company to hold the payment of approximately Rs 5 crore and has filed a criminal case in a Gurgaon court against the firm. Veepee Electronics in the complaint also alleged goods worth Rs 15 crore is still lying with the e-commerce platform.

Besides, Spacewood Furnishers has also slapped a case in the Delhi High Court for recovery of Rs 18 crore from Jasper Infotech, the parent company of Snapdeal. In its complaint, Spacewood said that Jasper failed to make payments to Spacewood for goods sold through the platform.

The seller also alleges that it neither received money nor the goods that were returned by buyers. Importantly, Snapdeal founders, Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, are also the party in the case.  

Snapdeal, however, denied holding any such dues of sellers and said that the two particular companies making claims are not payable as per the company’s records.

“One of the claims made is pending arbitration, and the other represents an attempt by the claimant to misuse police machinery to address commercial disputes. We will oppose the claims and defend itself in the appropriate forums,” Snapdeal spokesperson said.

In July last year, the online platform walked out of a merger talk with Flipkart and followed an independent path, apparently to build Snapdeal 2.0. The company, however, is still to make any turnaround.

The Gurugram-based marketplace posted a loss Rs 4,647 crore in FY 17 as compared to Rs 3,340 crore in the previous fiscal.

Besides, the company is also on selling spree of other businesses. In July last year, it sold its payment platform Freecharge to India’s third largest private bank Axis Bank for about $60 million. Early this year, Snapdeal sold its logistics and supply chain management arm Vulcan Express to Kishore Biyani-led Future Group for Rs 35 crore.

Amidst selling sister concerns and increasing loss in the FY17, Snapdeal is still confident to turn the business from here and write a new chapter of growth.

The development was first reported by ET.