One of the largest vendors of Flipkart, Marco Wagon Retail has sent a legal notice to the B2B arm of the Bengaluru-based e-commerce marketplace. The vendor has asked Rs 20 crore in return for non-payment of dues and damages.
This is a retaliation from the company after Flipkart filed a legal case against the vendor in April this year. The online marketplace, however, has called these allegations as baseless and already filed a legal proceeding, including criminal action against Macro Wagon. The matter is currently subjudiced.
In the legal Notice, Marco Wagon has alleged that Flipkart India (a wholesale arm of Flipkart) asked it to import Skechers shoes from suppliers in China that were pre-designated by the later, despite Flipkart having an agreement with Skechers South Asia for imports.
Through this arrangement, Flipkart planned to sell those products at a much higher price, said Marco Wagon in the notice.
Flipkart on the other side told a different story during the case filed in April. It blamed that Marco Wagon along with Flipkart employees was involved in importing sub-standard products at a lower price and then selling it at a higher price to the e-commerce player.
Macro Wagin has denied the allegations.
The incident came to light in December 2017, when California-based footwear brand Skechers had filed cases against Flipkart and four sellers Retail Net, Tech Connect, Unichem Logistics and Marco Wagon on its platform for allegedly selling its counterfeit products.
Skechers, with the help of court-appointed local commissioners, raided seven warehouses in Delhi and Ahmedabad to recover more than 15,000 pairs of fake shoes that were to be sold as Skechers.
Besides, Metro Shoes had recently filed a case in the Bombay High Court against Flipkart for violating trademark rights and selling a private brand named Metronaut.
Meanwhile, Flipkart is planning to audit the products sold by thousands of sellers. The e-commerce major even threatened to delist sellers or snatch the ‘Flipkart assured’ badge (F-assured) in case their products fail to pass the audit.
The development was reported by TOI.
