Flipkart seller cancels iPhone 17 Pro Max on discount over ‘price mismatch’— Viral post flags ‘daylight fraud’

A mega online discount on the iPhone 17 Pro Max, which originally has a massive ₹1.5 lakh price tag, turned into a nightmare for Harsh Doshi, who grabbed a late-night deal on e-commerce platform Flipkart.

What initially appeared to be a massive 30% price drop on the ‘Flipkart Assured’ product quickly turned into allegations of "daylight fraud" when the shipped and fully invoiced order was abruptly cancelled, without his consent, due to a “price mismatch”.

The viral incident has now escalated to the Consumer Forum, bringing to light loopholes in fair trade practices and consumer protection during high-traffic online sales.

Here's what happened

In a viral LinkedIn post, Harsh Doshi, a Chartered Accountant, shared that he was browsing the Flipkart app late at night when he saw the 256 GB iPhone 17 Pro Max on a 30% discount, priced at ₹1,04,930. Lured by the lucrative offer, Doshi ordered the phone, availing an additional ₹6,000 credit card discount.

“Flipkart levied additional charges towards Product Protection Fee, Order Handling Fee, and Payment Processing Fee amounting to ₹724,” he wrote, adding that the order was ‘Flipkart Assured’ and was being fulfilled by Shreyash Retail.

Excited about his big purchase, Doshi was in for a rude surprise — “At around 6 PM, I received an SMS that the order for the phone had been cancelled.”

But he had not placed a cancellation request.

He immediately connected to Flipkart's customer support, who informed Doshi that the “order was cancelled by the seller due to price mismatch” and said that there “is nothing Flipkart can do”.

The executive suggested that the CA place a new order for an iPhone, “which is currently being sold at a significantly higher value”.

Processing fee not refunded

Doshi said that while Flipkart refunded the payment for the phone, they did not provide a refund “towards the associated charges” — ₹724.

Furthermore, Doshi said that the order was allegedly cancelled after it was shipped — “Proper GST invoice was also generated for this order.”

“It is clear that realisation hit later on, and the order was cancelled purely without my consent, with a fraudulent intent and unfair trade practice,” he wrote.

Doshi has raised a complaint on the Consumer Forum, but said the viral post is intended to “reflect the malicious intent of Flipkart on its listed products”.

Flipkart declined to comment when reached out by LiveMint.

However, according to follow-up comments on Doshi's post, Flipkart's Regional Head contacted him, and the company later credited ₹500 as fair compensation.

"You guys think this is all a joke. Just crediting 500rs for a 1.5 L phone is a "Fair" compensation as per you guys," Doshi, who was not happy with the incident, said. "On top of it, your so-called ‘Escalation handling’ officers don't know how to speak to a consumer, this guy hung up my call while I was speaking!"

He also claimed that the refund for the phone has not yet been reflected on his credit card. “The refund, which is so-called processed, is still not in my credit card, meaning my limit is still blocked to that extent!” — “Not letting this go!”