Just last week, ecommerce major Amazon agreed to pay $2.5 Bn to settle a lawsuit filed by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which alleged that the company “knowingly duped” millions of people into enrolling for Amazon Prime membership through “manipulative, coercive, or deceptive user-interface designs” aka dark patterns.

But in India, one of the largest ecommerce markets in the world, such rulings are rare. If anything, companies often claim they have self-audited themselves.

Like Flipkart did in July 2025 after the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) directed all major ecommerce platforms to carry out an audit to identify and eliminate dark patterns. But claiming this is one thing, actually sticking to the guidelines is another.

According to a survey conducted by LocalCircles, most ecommerce marketplaces in India are replete with dark patterns. Many of these have come to the fore after the spotlight turned to quick commerce dark patterns.

The survey claims just 3% of all ecommerce platforms were free of dark patterns. And the issue becomes especially evident during the festive season sales. This is the peak season for marketplaces and while heavy discounts are rolled out, they are often tempered with upselling and cross-selling through dark patterns.

As per a Redseer report, ecommerce marketplaces had a gross merchandise value (GMV) of $13.1 Bn during the 2025 festive season sales, which began on September 19-20, 2025.

A whole lot is on the line. In this high-pressure environment, a persistent, systemic problem is laid bare: ecommerce platforms are banking heavily on dark patterns to push shoppers into spending more, making faster purchases, and signing up for recurring commitments they may not actually want or even know about.

For instance, during Flipkart’s Big Billion Days and Amazon’s Great Indian Festival sales, several buyers have reported orders being cancelled after payment, refunds delayed, delivery dates pushed back, and “sale” prices that only matched or were worse than the regular listed price on the manufacturer’s site.

Festive Sales, Urgency & Dark Patterns

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