What a D2C Product Page in India Has to Show: The Rules, and What Buyers Need Before They Pay

Fix the Page Before You Buy More Traffic

When a D2C brand’s ads stop paying back, the usual response is new creatives, new audiences or a new agency. Often the problem is further down: the product page the ads send people to. It doesn’t answer the questions a buyer has before paying, or it hides them until checkout, and the visitor leaves.

India adds a second reason to look closely. A lot of what buyers want to see is also what the law requires a store to show. Getting the page right does both jobs.

What the E-Commerce Rules Require

The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 apply to any business selling goods or services online in India, including a brand selling from its own Shopify or WooCommerce store. Among other things, the store has to show:

• Who you are: the legal name of the business, its geographic address, and customer care contact details.
• A grievance officer: name, contact details and designation. Complaints have to be acknowledged within 48 hours and resolved within one month.
• The total price: with a breakdown of any other charges, such as delivery or cash-on-delivery fees.
• Return, refund, exchange, warranty and delivery terms, clear enough to understand before buying.
• Country of origin for each product.

What Legal Metrology Adds for Packaged Goods

If you sell packaged products (food, cosmetics, home goods, supplements), the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules require the declarations printed on the pack to appear on the product page too. That includes the manufacturer, packer or importer’s name and address, the net quantity, the MRP, the country of origin and consumer care details. Product photos of the label don’t count as a substitute; the details should be readable as text.

The Dark Patterns You Can’t Use

In November 2023 the Central Consumer Protection Authority issued guidelines listing 13 dark patterns it treats as misleading. Several are common on Indian D2C stores:

• False urgency: “Only 2 left!” or countdown timers that aren’t true.
• Basket sneaking: adding a donation, insurance or gift wrap at checkout without the buyer choosing it.
• Drip pricing: revealing extra charges only at the last step.
• Confirm shaming: “No thanks, I don’t like saving money” on a pop-up.
• Subscription traps: making a subscription easy to start and hard to cancel.
• Disguised advertisements: paid content made to look like an independent review.

The others include forced action, interface interference, bait and switch, nagging, trick questions, SaaS billing and rogue malpractices. Several of these tactics were sold as conversion best practice a few years ago. They’re now a regulatory risk, and buyers have learned to distrust them anyway.

What Buyers Look For Before They Pay

Beyond what’s required, these are the questions we see Indian shoppers ask, in reviews, chats and support tickets, before they commit:

1. What will it cost me, all in? Show delivery charges and any COD fee on the product page, not at checkout.
2. When will it arrive here? A pincode check with an estimated date beats “ships in 3–5 days”.
3. Can I pay on delivery? If COD is available, say so. If not, say why prepaid is safe.
4. What if it doesn’t fit or work? A short, plain return summary next to the buy button, linked to the full policy.
5. Is this real? Reviews with photos, a visible customer-care number and a real address do more than a trust badge.
6. Will it suit me? Size guides, ingredients, dimensions, compatibility: whatever the product category’s equivalent is.

A Product Page Checklist

Before the next campaign, go through your top five product pages and check:

• Legal name, address, customer care and grievance officer are linked from every page.
• Price shown is the total, with every extra charge visible before checkout.
• Return, refund and delivery terms are summarised on the page and linked in full.
• Country of origin and, for packaged goods, the full label declarations are shown as text.
• No fake urgency, pre-ticked add-ons or hard-to-cancel subscriptions.
• The page loads fast on a mid-range Android phone on mobile data, because that’s how a large share of Indian shoppers browse.

This is a marketing summary of the rules, not legal advice. For more on the ads side, see our guide to performance marketing strategies for e-commerce. If you’d like us to audit your store and campaigns together, that’s how we start our D2C and e-commerce marketing in Bangalore.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do the e-commerce rules apply to a brand’s own online store?

Yes. The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 apply to businesses selling goods or services online in India, including a brand selling from its own website. The store must show its legal name, address, customer care and grievance officer details, total prices with any extra charges, return and delivery terms, and country of origin.

What are dark patterns under Indian law?

In November 2023 the Central Consumer Protection Authority listed 13 dark patterns it treats as misleading, including false urgency, basket sneaking, drip pricing, confirm shaming, subscription traps and disguised advertisements. Online stores should not use them.

What should a D2C product page show before checkout?

The all-in price including delivery and any COD fee, an estimated delivery date by pincode, payment options, a plain summary of the return policy, real reviews and contact details, and the product details a buyer needs to choose, such as sizing or ingredients.