The Privity Gap In E-Commerce: Intermediary Platforms And The Inadequacy Of Liability Allocation Under The Sale Of Goods Act, 1930
- IJLLR Journal
- 3 hours ago
- 1 min read
Ms. Krishnaa Thite, O.P Jindal Global University
ABSTRACT
The Sale of Goods Act, 1930 is a system that is designed for bilateral transactions between two identified persons, one of whom is the seller through the ownership of the title. By exerting significant control over sales, including price listing, product display, payment processing, and grievance redressal, while never possessing title to the commodities themselves, e- commerce platforms have upended this system. This is because platforms define themselves as intermediaries and avoid seller obligations under this Act, despite the fact that consumers interact with them for every practical part of the transaction, creating a structural vacuum in liability allocation. By analysing landmark cases in ecommerce liability allocation, this article investigates how Indian courts have addressed this issue. It contends that rather than being a void that other laws can appropriately fill, the courts’ dependence on the Information Technology Act, the Consumer Protection Act and even the Criminal law is a reflection of the Sale of Goods Act’s conceptual insufficiency. The paper suggests structural changes to the Sale of Goods Act itself, including an expanded definition of “seller” that takes functional control into account and a “deemed seller” clause that is activated by particular indicators like payment processing, product guarantees and control over listings. These changes are based on comparative jurisprudence from the US and the EU. The paper comes to the conclusion that, under sales law, the liability must follow the party that organises the transaction, not merely the party that holds title.
