Croma's cancellation-and-return page, read on 2 September 2026, opens by ruling out the thing most shoppers assume: it “offers a replacement-only policy”, and replacement applies within the return window “only for defective or damaged products”. Change of mind appears under Exclusions as Buyer's Remorse. A refund is paid in two named situations — the wrong product was delivered, or a replacement is owed and the model is out of stock. The window is seven days for all 26 categories Croma lists, with a 48-hour clock for a damaged phone or tablet. Damage must be reported before the product is used or activated; TVs and soundbars must not be opened by the customer before installation; store purchases cannot be claimed for scratches after handover; software problems are never a replacement; and warranty needs brand-authorised installation within 7 days. Refunds are processed in 2 working days and land in 5 to 7.

Thirty-one sunglasses listings read from tatacliq.com's own search results on 2 September 2026, with every price, MRP, discount, rating and rating count as Tata CLiQ displays them. The shelf runs from Rs. 553 to Rs. 12,231, and it carries only five discount percentages: 74, 67, 50 to 53, a flat 30 and a flat 10. Which tier a frame lands in is decided by the brand on it. Every badge above 50 per cent belongs to a house label marking down from one shared MRP — Rs. 4,999 for all three Resist Eyewear listings, Rs. 6,000 for all four John Jacobs, Rs. 1,999 for the Vincent Chase trio. Ray-Ban and Oakley Junior sit at a flat 10 per cent with one pilot frame at 30, and nothing on the page is priced between Rs. 6,083 and Rs. 8,541. Only eight listings have ten or more ratings behind their score.

AJIO's returns and refunds policy, read on 2 September 2026, does not run one return window — it runs three. Apparel, footwear, accessories, winterwear and bags get 10 days; sunglasses, watches, sarees, dress material, home furnishing and jewellery get 7; and a long list gets nothing at all, including beauty, skin care, hair care, fragrances, makeup, innerwear other than bras, smartphones, smart watches, tech accessories, kitchen and dining, decor, toys, baby care and made-to-order items. The rule that decides most rejected requests is that a return has to be AJIO's error: the policy states it will not accept a return where the customer ordered the wrong model, colour or product, and routes size problems to the exchange process instead. Refunds take 7 to 10 business days, are never paid in cash, and exclude shipping and convenience fees; cancellation is possible only before the order is packed and invoiced.

A hundred and twenty-five kidswear and kids' footwear listings read from Myntra's own boys, girls and kids pages on 2 September 2026, with every price, MRP, rating and rating count as Myntra displays them. Sixty-six are under Rs. 500 and eleven under Rs. 300; the median clothing price is Rs. 478 and the median footwear price Rs. 617. It is the most heavily marked-down shelf we have read on Myntra — 81 listings at 50 per cent off or more, 39 of them at 70 or more — but the deepest badges all belong to multipacks with very high MRPs: a HELLCAT pack of three T-shirts is Rs. 395 against Rs. 3,897, an implied Rs. 1,299 per tee. At the other end, H&M and Marks & Spencer sit at zero discount, Rs. 1,799 to Rs. 2,299. Unusually, the ratings here have volume: 46 listings carry 100 or more.

We read myntra.com/men-formal-shoes, /men-loafers and /men-derbys on 2 September 2026 through the site's own listing payload — 92 rows, 79 distinct listings once colourway repeats are removed. The shelf is cheap and dense at the bottom: 55 listings under Rs. 1,000, 27 under Rs. 700, everything between Rs. 449 and Rs. 1,803, median Rs. 849 at 70 per cent off. The finding worth carrying to checkout is that the discount badge and the price move independently. Bata's 12 listings never print more than 50 per cent off — the discount takes only four values across the brand — yet Bata's median price of Rs. 593 undercuts HERE&NOW's Rs. 674 at a median 76 per cent off. A Mast & Harbour loafer at 83 per cent off costs more than a Bata oxford at 50 per cent off. Below: the brand table, every listing under Rs. 700, and the most-rated shoes on the shelf with what they actually cost.

We read both men's formal shoe shelves on the morning of 2 September 2026, logged out and unfiltered: 79 distinct Myntra listings across formal shoes, loafers and derbys, and 219 on AJIO across the same three searches. Myntra's median is Rs. 849 at 70 per cent off and AJIO's Rs. 1,435 at 59 — but the medians hide the real difference. AJIO holds both ends: its cheapest shoe is Rs. 300 against Myntra's Rs. 449, and its dearest is Rs. 8,000 against Myntra's Rs. 1,803. Myntra's shelf is a narrow budget band with 70 per cent under Rs. 1,000; AJIO's is a full range carrying Lee Cooper, RED TAPE, U.S. Polo Assn., ARROW and ten STEVE MADDEN listings at a Rs. 6,899 median. The decisive gap is evidence: AJIO shows a customer rating on none of its 219 listings, the same absence we found on its home shelf the same morning, while Myntra shows one on 52 of 79. On Bata, the only shared brand with a real sample, Myntra's median is Rs. 593 against AJIO's Rs. 1,182.

We read Amazon.in's popularity-sorted results for water purifier ro, water purifier under 10000 and ro uv water purifier on 2 September 2026 — 47 rows, 34 distinct products. Six of the 34 carried a 99 per cent discount badge, and in every one of those six the MRP printed on the search tile was exactly one hundred times the selling price. We opened all six product pages and read the M.R.P. field there: not one matched. The KENT New Grand's product page says Rs. 23,000, not Rs. 13,89,900; the Pureit Classic says Rs. 3,500, not Rs. 2,99,900. Set those six aside and the shelf is readable: 28 listings from Rs. 3,956 to Rs. 18,499, median Rs. 8,739 at 46 per cent off, 20 of them under Rs. 10,000. Aquaguard, KENT, Pureit, Livpure and Havells sit at 20 to 57 per cent off; Aqua X Pure, PROVEN, AquaUltra and Addyz at 71 to 83. Below: the full 100x table, every brand grouped, and both price bands listed out with review counts.

We read both water purifier shelves on the morning of 2 September 2026 — Amazon.in's popularity-sorted results for three queries (34 products, six excluded for showing an MRP exactly 100 times the price) and Croma's results for two queries (55 listings). Amazon's median is Rs. 8,739 at 46 per cent off with 71 per cent of the shelf under Rs. 10,000; Croma's is Rs. 19,490 at 26 per cent off with 16 per cent under Rs. 10,000. The 2.2x gap is not markup. Five brands priced Rs. 3,956 to Rs. 5,690 — AQUA D PURE, Aqua X Pure, PROVEN, AquaUltra and Addyz — appear only on Amazon and pull its median down, while AO Smith and Croma's own brand appear only on Croma, which also stocks each shared brand further up its range. Where both carry the same brand it splits: Havells was cheaper on Amazon with no overlap between the ranges, and the Native M0 was Rs. 13,499 on both.

Sixty-three refrigerator, washing machine, microwave and OTG listings from croma.com's own search on 2 September 2026, with every price, MRP, discount, rating and rating count as Croma displays them. A fridge and a washing machine cost about the same at the median — Rs. 17,690 and Rs. 18,190 — while microwaves sit at Rs. 9,990 and the OTG shelf starts at Rs. 1,849. The discount percentages track the maker rather than the category: Croma's own-brand appliances run 0 to 54 per cent off, and 19 of those 20 listings carry an MRP that is an exact round thousand, against two of the 43 brand-name listings. The largest brand-name discount on the page is 34 per cent and the largest rupee saving is Rs. 24,000 on LG's Rs. 67,990 466-litre fridge. Only 15 of 63 listings have ten or more ratings behind their score.

We read AJIO's own results for bedsheet, bed cover, curtain and cushion cover on 2 September 2026 — two pages each, no filters, no account — and got 288 distinct listings. The shelf is cheap: 207 under Rs. 1,000, 62 under Rs. 500, everything between Rs. 130 and Rs. 5,039, median Rs. 734 at 60 per cent off. The finding that shapes how you shop it is an absence: not one of the 288 listings carries a rating or a rating count, so the discount badge is the only signal on the tile — and 37 listings sit at exactly 60 per cent off with 29 more at exactly 50, against 84 MRPs and 162 selling prices. One brand is 52 of the 77 curtains. Arrabi's 83–87 per cent badges come off MRPs up to Rs. 8,489 and land at an ordinary Rs. 900 median. Below: the four aisles priced, the twelve biggest brands, and the cheapest listings on the shelf.

We read both home shelves the same morning, 2 September 2026, logged out and unfiltered: 288 AJIO listings across bedsheets, bed covers, curtains and cushion covers, and 144 Myntra listings across the same four aisles. On price they are almost interchangeable — AJIO's median is Rs. 734 at 60 per cent off, Myntra's Rs. 789 at 64, and 22 per cent of each shelf sells under Rs. 500. The separation is evidence, not money: Myntra shows a customer rating on 103 of its 144 listings with 36 above a thousand ratings, and AJIO shows one on none of its 288. Aisle by aisle AJIO is cheaper on curtains (Rs. 639 against Rs. 933) and bed covers (Rs. 884 against Rs. 1,299). Twelve brands sell on both, and within them it splits: KLOTTHE's median is Rs. 473 on Myntra against Rs. 1,005 on AJIO, while Saral Home is cheaper on AJIO.

Re-read from Hostinger's own India plan page on 2 September 2026: shared hosting from Rs. 69 a month on the 48-month term, shown as 83 per cent off, unchanged since our 21 August read. The Monsoon Sale branding is long gone, while Premium and Unlimited have risen from Rs. 139 and Rs. 199 to Rs. 149 and Rs. 249. We put the number the page buries next to the headline: the renewal rate. Single costs Rs. 3,312 for four years and renews at Rs. 289 a month, so the next four cost Rs. 13,872 - a 4.2x step-up, the steepest on the page. Premium, Unlimited and Cloud Startup renew at Rs. 449, Rs. 649 and Rs. 1,599 for step-ups of 3.0x, 2.6x and 2.7x. The badges are computed against a regular price that is simply the crossed-out monthly rate times 48 months; measured against each plan's own renewal rate the real reductions are 62 to 76 per cent. Plan-by-plan storage, backup cadence, website limits and email allowances, plus five ways to pay less. Hostinger publishes no end date.

Forty-seven shampoo, face serum and sunscreen listings read from nykaa.com's own search results on 2 September 2026, with every price, MRP, discount, rating and rating count as Nykaa displays them. The aisle decides the discount: shampoo runs a 20 per cent median and holds the four deepest badges on the page — TRESemmé and Himalaya at 40 per cent, Dove and L'Oreal Paris at 35 — while face serums and sunscreens sit at a 10 and 11 per cent median and the biggest Indian skincare labels hold at 5. Sunscreen is a Rs. 330 to Rs. 500 category, with four Dot & Key bottles at exactly Rs. 387; serums span Rs. 195 to Rs. 3,591. And the ratings cannot separate any of it: the eight most-rated listings carry 1,32,000 to 5,40,000 ratings each and every one scores 4.3 or 4.4.

Udemy's Personal Plan page, read on 2 September 2026, prices the subscription at “Starting at Rs. 500.00 per month, cancel anytime”, billed monthly or annually, with the annual figure not shown to a logged-out visitor. On the same page Udemy compares it against buying courses one at a time at “Rs. 599.00 – Rs. 7,900.00” — but that is list pricing, and the storefront rarely sells at list. The development shelf on the same day was running a “Courses from Rs. 449.00” banner, with the biggest bootcamps — the Python Pro Bootcamp, the Full-Stack Web Development Bootcamp, Machine Learning A-Z — at Rs. 449 to Rs. 609, marked 86 per cent off. Twelve months of the plan is about Rs. 6,000, or roughly a dozen of those courses bought outright with lifetime access. The plan also reaches 28,000 courses out of a catalogue Udemy advertises as 250,000-plus.

Croma's television listings on 1 September 2026 ran from Rs. 9,990 to Rs. 81,990 across 26 sets, and the size bands overlap so heavily that shopping by diagonal gets the wrong answer. The cheapest 55-inch on the shelf, Croma's own 4-Star QLED at Rs. 32,990, costs Rs. 15,000 less than the dearest 43-inch, a Sony BRAVIA 2 II at Rs. 47,990. Inside the 43-inch band alone the spread is 2.4 times — Rs. 19,990 for a Croma Full HD LED up to that Rs. 47,990 Sony — and what separates them is the panel line printed on the listing, not the size. Croma's own label holds 12 of the 26 listings and is the price floor in three of four size bands; LG discounts hardest among the national brands at a 35 per cent median. Review counts are in single figures on most listings, so they will not rank these sets for you.