The expansion of e-commerce has unsettled the architecture and orthodox conceptions of legal responsibility in commercial transactions. In Nigeria, platforms such as Jumia and Konga function as intermediary marketplaces, enabling third-party sellers to transact under their digital infrastructure. Yet this convenience carries hidden risks, like defective products, including faulty electronics and counterfeit goods, to hazardous household items, which frequently reach buyers. When injury or loss occurs, a core question arises: who bears liability? The elusive third-party seller who is often untraceable or judgment-proof, or the platform that facilitated the transaction, profited from it, and controls the marketplace?
E-COMMERCE PLATFORM LIABILITY
E-commerce platform liability is the obligation imposed on online marketplaces, such as Jumia, Jiji, Alibaba or Amazon, for unlawful activities, unsafe products, or harm suffered by consumers through the use of their platforms. Platform liability typically takes the form of product liability and includes responsibility for defective goods, counterfeit items, and breaches of consumer protection regulations. Product Liability, as defined by Black’s Law Dictionary, is “the general obligation or liability of the producer or supplier of goods and services to adjust for the loss associated with its utilisation, such as damage to property or personal injury. In traditional commerce, buyers and sellers interact within a shared physical space, making identity, control, and responsibility readily ascertainable. By contrast, e-commerce platforms interpose a digital intermediary that displaces physical presence, fragments transactional roles, and complicates the attribution of legal responsibility among vendors, consumers, and the platform itself. In certain cases, platforms may be held jointly liable with third-party sellers, particularly where they play an active role in storage, delivery, or marketing, thereby moving beyond a purely passive intermediary position.
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