By reasonable price we mean market price in India. We all know what the prevailing prices are for goods which are banned from import, we also know what the cost of importing permissible items is as well as the price they usually sell for.
While someone asking something like 15-20% more than what the items usually sells for (in India) would not attract a second look from the moderators, if someone is quoting it at many times the market price with a view to maybe:
a) artificially inflate his eventual sales price at ebay/ another website/ offline (the ad here is pointed to as being representative of what people are asking for the product elsewhere OR the item is quickly listed as sold at the asked for extortionate price which is then claimed to be the new representative market price for the item and a few weeks later the same item will be listed by another seller at similar price etc.)
b) to make another advertisement/ offer (a cartel in operation?) of the same/ similar product look much more attractive
These sort of
"Shilling" operations would attract the relevant clause of the new sales rules and action would be taken. We do not intend to act as a "pricing police", however many reports have come in of unscrupulous cartels in operation who use such means to dupe people into believing that they are buying at an attractive price.
End of the day, it is up to the seller to demand what he wants for his product and for the buyer to decide whether or not to buy at that price. However, the above mentioned misuse needs to be curbed, hence this provision in the new trading rules. If the seller feels he is unable/ unwilling to offer his items close to what the current (Indian) market price is, no one is forcing him to offer it for sale here.
Since these sections are not open to commercial sellers, we do not expect many cases of such abuse but the proviso is there - just in case.
Cheers!
Abhijeet