Online selling in Pakistan has grown faster than the arrangements underpinning it. A great many businesses trade through Instagram, WhatsApp and marketplaces with no terms of sale, no return policy and no clear position on who bears the loss when a courier loses a parcel.

That works while everyone is happy. The disputes are all about who bears a risk nobody allocated.

If you are the buyer

Preserve the evidence first. Screenshots showing the listing, the price, the seller's account and the date; the order confirmation; payment evidence; the delivery record; and photographs of what actually arrived, including packaging.

Then, in order:

Use the platform's process. Marketplaces have dispute and refund mechanisms, and for cash-on-delivery and platform-processed payments this is usually the fastest route.

Chargeback, where you paid by card. Card schemes provide a dispute process for goods not received or not as described. Time limits apply and they are shorter than people expect — contact your bank promptly.

Legal notice to the seller, where the amount justifies it. See sending a legal notice in Pakistan.

Consumer forum. Provincial consumer protection legislation provides a forum for claims about defective goods and deficient services, generally designed to be more accessible and less formal than ordinary civil litigation. For consumer-scale losses this is usually more proportionate than a civil suit.

Civil suit, for larger amounts.

Criminal complaint, where the facts disclose fraud rather than a commercial failure — a seller who never intended to deliver, or an account impersonating a legitimate business. See online fraud and cybercrime complaints.

Be realistic about proportionality. A ten-thousand-rupee loss rarely justifies litigation, which is precisely why the platform process and the consumer forum exist.

If you are the seller

Most seller-side disputes come from three gaps.

No terms of sale. Publish them, and make acceptance part of the order process. They should cover: what is being sold and its specification, price and taxes, payment terms, delivery timescales, when risk and title pass, returns and refunds, warranty and exclusions, and dispute resolution.

Risk in transit unallocated. When a courier loses or damages a parcel, someone bears it. Your terms should say who, and your contract with the courier should be consistent with what you have promised customers. Businesses routinely promise customers more than their courier contract gives them, and absorb the difference.

Returns handled ad hoc. Publish a policy and apply it consistently. Inconsistency generates both disputes and complaints.

Also attend to:

  • Accurate description. Overstated listings are the largest single source of disputes, and they engage consumer protection legislation as well as costing you refunds.
  • Business registration and tax. Online sellers are not outside the tax net — see registering a business in Pakistan and FBR notices.
  • Your brand. Register the trade mark. Online businesses are copied quickly and account names are taken. See trade mark registration in Pakistan.
  • Customer data. Collect what you need, keep it securely, and do not share it.
  • Platform terms. Marketplace agreements can be one-sided on suspension, withheld payouts and liability. Read them before you build a business that depends on the account.

Marketplace and platform problems

Two recur for Pakistani sellers.

Account suspension and withheld payouts. A suspended account can end a business overnight, and funds may be held. Your position is governed by the platform agreement, which is why it is worth reading before rather than after.

Counterfeits and copies. Where your product or brand is being copied on a platform, the routes are the platform's IP complaint process and, where the mark is registered, infringement proceedings.

Cross-border selling

Selling into Pakistan from abroad, or from Pakistan to overseas customers, adds import duties and clearance — see customs disputes at Karachi port — plus questions about which country's law governs and where a dispute would be heard.

Those should be settled in your terms. A cross-border consumer dispute with no governing law clause is disproportionately expensive relative to the order value.

Practical advice

For buyers: keep evidence, use the platform process first, and act quickly on chargebacks.

For sellers: publish terms, allocate transit risk, describe goods accurately, register the business and the mark, and read the platform agreement.

For both: a written arrangement, however brief, resolves what a screenshot of a conversation cannot.

How the firm can help

We draft terms of sale, returns policies and courier and supplier agreements for online businesses, and advise on registration, tax and consumer protection obligations.

We act in e-commerce disputes on both sides — recovery, defective goods, platform suspensions and withheld payouts — and in the trade mark and counterfeiting matters that follow a successful online brand.

If you are running an online business without written terms, that is the cheapest thing to fix. Contact the firm.