OnePlus miffed over 'unauthorised sale' of its devices on Flipkart

Smartphones contribute to over half their gross merchandise values of Amazon and Flipkart

Chinese smartphone manufacturer OnePlus has accused Flipkart of selling its devices without authorisation and has warned consumers that its only online partner in the country is Amazon.

Flipkart began running advertisements for the OnePlus 3 smartphone on its platform this week which was picked up by OnePlus founder Carl Pei. He tweeted to Flipkart founder Sachin Bansal questioning how the company was doing so.

"We have an exclusive partnership with Amazon in India. We advise customers to purchase OnePlus products only through official channels as we cannot guarantee the authenticity of the products sold elsewhere," said the company in a statement.

The Indian e-commerce firm has diverted the blame onto sellers on its platform, saying that it is just a marketplace and will allow them to sell on its platform as long as they follow its stringent guidelines.

The ad was part of Flipkart's upcoming Big Shopping Days sale from December 18 to 21 where the OnePlus 3 was being sold for under Rs 20,000. The retail price of the OnePlus 3 on Amazon's India website its Rs 27,999.

"Flipkart is a marketplace which helps sellers connect with customers across the country. All our sellers are mandated to adhere to stringent guidelines. The prices and discounts for all our sales are decided by the participating sellers and brands," a Flipkart spokesperson said in a statement.

Behind the big war between Amazon and Flipkart for customers, the two companies are battling it out for exclusive deals with brands, especially for smartphones which still contribute to over half their gross merchandise values. Amazon has been able to close the gap between it and Flipkart in terms of sales largely by breaking many of the company's exclusive partnerships with Xiaomi and Motorola for example.

While Flipkart has been able to claw back at some of its brunt in consumer electronics with brands such as LeEco, it is still feeling the pinch from Amazon which can leverage its tie-ups with brands in other geographies.

In India, Amazon handles logistics and warehousing apart from the sales of the devices in the country. In China, OnePlus controls even the sales of its devices through its own platform, but in India where the company lacks warehousing and other infrastructure, the company has partnered with Amazon to do so.