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Our reporter Sun Tianjiao

I watched the anchor open and weigh the fruit, but after receiving it, I found that the weight was much less than promised. This was the experience of Ms. Jiao, a resident of Tongzhou, Beijing, who recently bought durian in the live broadcast room of a fruit store in the same city.

"The anchor promised a 50% yield, so I ordered a 4.4-catties durian. I saw the anchor peel the shell and weigh it, and the flesh weighed 2.2 catties." Ms. Jiao said that she received the goods about an hour later, and after unpacking it, she felt something was wrong - how could the flesh of more than 2 catties be so light? She weighed the durian flesh with the box and found that the weight was just over 2 catties, which was quite different from the weight in the live broadcast room.

Ms. Jiao immediately contacted customer service, who responded by saying "maybe your scale is inaccurate" and "water evaporated during transportation," denying that there was any shortfall. Ms. Jiao contacted the platform's customer service again, wanting to apply for a refund or compensation for the price difference, but the platform rejected her application on the grounds that fresh products could not provide after-sales service.

“I thought watching the video could help me avoid merchants from playing dirty tricks, but I ended up getting ripped off anyway.” Ms. Jiao had no choice but to “accept the loss.”

A recent investigation by Legal Daily found that it is not uncommon for online shopping merchants to "make a fuss" about the weight of goods, especially fresh fruits and snacks. Some merchants either blatantly shortchange the weight or switch the concept by counting the packaging weight as the "net content", causing consumers to find that the actual weight does not match the label after receiving the goods.

Experts interviewed said that if the goods sold by merchants are short of weight, it violates the principle of honesty and trustworthiness, or constitutes false advertising or even fraud, and they must bear corresponding legal responsibilities. Consumers have the right to ask merchants to compensate three times the price of the goods or 500 yuan. However, in practice, due to the difficulty in obtaining evidence and other reasons, consumer rights protection often remains at the stage of refunding the price difference, refunding postage, and refunding the payment, making it difficult to effectively crack down on illegal merchants. In this regard, the platform should strengthen review and supervision, open up consumer complaint channels, correctly handle complaint content, and severely punish merchants with short weight problems.

Shortage of weight sometimes occurs

Fresh nuts are the hardest hit

"When I placed the order, the product details page stated that it was packed in one-pound barrels, and two barrels were equal to six barrels. But after receiving the goods, I felt the weight was wrong. After removing the plastic barrel and desiccant, I weighed the chicken jerky and found that the weight was less than 400 grams." In July of this year, Mr. Li, who was attending university in Xiaogan, Hubei, ordered two barrels of chicken jerky on an online shopping platform. After receiving the goods, he found that the weight did not match the promise.

Mr. Li contacted the store's customer service, who sent him a product information picture showing "air-dried chicken strips, net content 200g/can, weight 250g/can." "Isn't this just playing 'word games'? When I bought it, they said it was packed in one pound, but it turned out to be packed in one pound." What made Mr. Li even more angry was that the product information provided by the merchant was not visible on the product details page. "Do consumers have to find out the specific information of 'net content' and 'net weight' only after they place an order and find out the problem?"

Furious, Mr. Li applied to the merchant for a refund without returning the goods. After the merchant refused, he applied for the platform to intervene. After a few days, the platform determined that the merchant had not violated any regulations and closed Mr. Li's refund application. Mr. Li said that he had limited energy and did not want to further defend his rights. He could only write a bad review helplessly, which was drowned out in the comment area after it was posted.

Many consumers told reporters that they had also encountered situations where merchants shortchanged them when shopping online.

Not long ago, Mr. Zhang, a Beijing resident, bought cherries on an online grocery shopping platform. Mr. Zhang placed an order for the "4J large fruit, fruit diameter over 32mm, net weight 3 jin" described on the details page. After receiving the goods, he found that the fruits were uneven in size, many of which could not reach over 32mm visible to the naked eye, and there were also many bad fruits. He weighed them himself and found that the fruit and the box only weighed more than 2 jin, "with ice packs it was more than 3 jin." He sent the weighing chart to the customer service, but the customer service said, "The moisture content of fresh produce will decrease during transportation, and loss is inevitable, so no compensation will be given." After Mr. Zhang insisted many times, the customer service finally agreed to give him a 5 yuan red envelope with no threshold for compensation.

"There are 250 grams of chrysanthemums in total, and 122 grams of desiccant in the bag." Ms. Ye, a sophomore medical student in Shanghai, bought a 250-gram bag of tribute chrysanthemums on an e-commerce platform two months ago for an experiment. Because the experiment requires accurate data, she weighed 72 grams of chrysanthemums the first time, and found that there were only 36 grams left the second time, and the total was only 108 grams. She took out the desiccant from the bag and weighed it, and found that the desiccant weighed 122 grams.

"The desiccant is heavier than the actual product. The key is that even with the desiccant, it is still less than 250 grams." Because of the weighing picture, Ms. Ye successfully refunded the money, but she was still angry. "If I didn't have the weighing conditions for the experiment, I would have been fooled by the merchant."

There are many consumers who have encountered the "desiccant killer".

In March this year, a reviewer posted a video saying that 70 items of nuts, dry goods, and snacks purchased online were weighed one by one and found to be short of pound (not counting items short of 5 grams or less), and 43 items were short of more than 10%. The specific weighing showed that in a 500-gram pack of melon seeds, the desiccant weighed 127 grams; in a 500-gram pack of dried longan, the desiccant and packaging bag weighed 136 grams; in a 250-gram pack of dried shiitake mushrooms, the packaging and desiccant weighed 121 grams, and the actual weight of the goods was only 129 grams, almost half of the marked weight; in a pack of dried bamboo cabbage, the marked weight was 50 grams, but the net weight was actually only 14 grams. The store information of these products shows that the sales of many products have reached more than 100,000.

The up-loader said that the total cost of purchasing these products was 2,186 yuan. According to the unit price of each product, a total of 264.91 yuan was "stolen" by desiccants and packaging bags. "These are randomly selected products with large sales. If we calculate based on the total sales, how much money was deducted from consumers?"

Ren Chao, professor of the School of Economic Law at East China University of Political Science and Law, said that if online shopping products are short of weight, the merchants violate the principle of honest business. If the goods or services provided by the operator do not meet the quality conditions indicated by the product description, physical samples, etc., or do not meet the product standards indicated on the product or its packaging, the operator shall bear civil liability. On the one hand, it shall be actively responsible for repairs, replacements, and returns; on the other hand, it shall compensate consumers for their losses.

"Merchants may also engage in false advertising, and in serious cases, constitute fraud against consumers. In the case of short weight in online shopping, the merchant's description of the weight and quantity of goods on the product description page and the order details page is selling goods by means of false product descriptions, product standards, physical samples, etc., which is an act of defrauding consumers." Ren Chao said that according to the Consumer Protection Law, if a business operator engages in fraudulent behavior in providing goods or services, it shall, at the request of the consumer, increase compensation for the losses suffered by the consumer. The amount of increased compensation shall be three times the price of the goods purchased by the consumer or the cost of receiving the service; if the amount of increased compensation is less than 500 yuan, it shall be 500 yuan.

Most rights protection cases only refund the price difference

The platform cannot sit idly by

Recently, the China Consumers Association released an analysis of complaints received by consumer associations across the country in the first half of 2024. Judging from the feedback from consumers, short weight in online shopping often occurs.

The main problems reported by consumers are: First, the weight of the goods is insufficient. Some merchants deliberately blur the net weight and gross weight when marking the weight of the goods, or include the packaging, auxiliary materials, and fillers in the total amount. The actual weight of the goods received by consumers is much lower than the advertised weight. Second, the number of quantitatively packaged goods does not match the actual number. The actual number of quantitatively packaged goods sold online by some merchants is significantly different from the number marked on the packaging and the shortage allowed by regulations. Third, the size of online purchased TVs is reduced. Some operators who specialize in selling counterfeit brands and small-brand TVs on online channels have the problem of falsely marking the screen size. After consumers discover this, the merchants not only do not bear the responsibility for false advertising, but also need to bear the shipping costs when returning the goods.

Among them, consumer Ms. Weng complained about a food delivery platform through the Consumer Association 315 platform, reporting that she bought a box of salted duck in a store on the food delivery platform. The product page described the weight as 701 grams. After receiving the salted duck, the consumer weighed it without opening it, and found that the total weight of the packaging box, packaging sealing film and food was only 358 grams. The consumer communicated with the store through the food delivery platform, and the seller said that the duck was processed and dried, and did not admit that it was short of weight. Later, the product details page was changed, changing the 701 grams described when placing the order to 501 grams.

Reporters found that when consumers buy multiple items, they often encounter shortfalls. For example, some tissues are marked with 80 pieces, but when they buy them, they count only 60 pieces; some toothpicks are marked with 200 pieces, but there are only 122 pieces. A consumer said: "I bought garbage bags three times from different stores on a certain platform, and the quantity was wrong every time. The biggest error was when I bought 100 garbage bags, but I counted only 50."

An online shop owner told the reporter that many businesses use short weight to save costs and increase profits. Common methods include: directly short weight when selling multiple items such as garbage bags, tissues, and notebooks, betting that most consumers will not count them one by one; subterfuge, for example, some notebooks advertised on the details page have 240 pages, but actually sell 120 sheets, and some cotton wipes claim to be able to be used 400 times, but in fact only have 30 sheets; using packaging or auxiliary materials to weigh is the third routine, for example, if someone buys 50 grams of seaweed, the outer packaging plus the paper shell will weigh up to 30 grams.

Ms. Yue from Jinan, Shandong, spent 45 yuan online to buy 500 garbage bags, divided into 10 rolls, each with 50 bags. After receiving the goods, Ms. Yue remembered that she had seen online before that some merchants would deliberately give less garbage bags, so she and her husband opened 4 rolls together and found that each roll was missing 2 to 5 bags.

Ms. Yue went to the merchant to argue, but the merchant denied that there was any short weight, saying that it was "within the normal error range" and only agreed that "if you return it, we will refund you. If you don't want it, you can take legal action." Afterwards, Ms. Yue complained to the platform, and after the platform agreed to refund the money but not return the goods, the merchant contacted Ms. Yue and said angrily, "This is what the platform agreed to. I am complaining to the platform to get the money back. If you don't want it back, you can wait for me to take legal action."

After Ms. Yue posted her experience online, many netizens said they had also bought things from this store and encountered the situation of being short-weighted. Some netizens also noticed that the store is still operating normally. "There have been cases of short-weighting, but the platform did not impose any substantial punishment. No wonder the merchants are so arrogant."

Wu Di, a lawyer at Beijing Deheng Law Firm, said that when consumers encounter problems with short weight when shopping online, it is difficult to prove that the merchant has committed fraud and thus obtain "triple compensation."

First, it is difficult to collect evidence. Consumers need to provide clear evidence to prove that the actual weight or size of the goods does not match the merchant's mark, but it is difficult to collect such evidence (such as photos or videos after weighing), especially after the goods have been opened or used.

Secondly, the cost of rights protection is high. Consumers may need to spend a lot of time and energy in the process of rights protection, communicate with merchants or platforms many times, and even need to resolve through legal means, resulting in high rights protection costs. Some merchants may shirk responsibility or directly modify the description of the product page, thus putting consumers in a passive position in the process of rights protection.

Thirdly, it is highly concealed. The problem of short weight of many online shopping products is highly concealed, and consumers often find it difficult to detect it immediately when receiving the goods. By the time they discover the problem, the time limit for return or complaint may have expired.

Experts interviewed pointed out that in many cases of short weight, the platforms rejected consumers' rights protection applications on the grounds that "fresh products do not have after-sales service", or simply dealt with the merchants by refunding the price difference, without imposing substantial penalties on the merchants, which led to some merchants being fearless and repeated short weight incidents. Platforms cannot sit idly by when it comes to the issue of short weight of online shopping products.

"If the online shopping platform knows or should know that the merchants on its platform are short of weight, but does not take necessary measures, for example, if the online shopping platform has received feedback or complaints from consumers about short of weight, but has not conducted corresponding investigations or re-rated the merchants involved, then it should bear joint and several liability with the merchants; if the online shopping platform cannot provide the merchant's effective contact information, then the consumer can also ask the online shopping platform for compensation; if the online shopping platform makes a more favorable commitment to the quality (including quantity) of the goods for consumers, such as the online shopping platform promises that the platform's goods do not have short of weight, then the online shopping platform should fulfill the commitment and bear the responsibility." Ren Chao said that online shopping platforms should actively resolve online shopping disputes and protect consumer rights. When a dispute occurs between consumers and platform merchants, the platform should actively assist consumers in safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests and provide original contracts and transaction records.

Increase spot checks and strengthen penalties

Implementing a credit rating system

Recently, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Notice on Further Deepening the Comprehensive Rectification of the Market Order of Electronic Pricing Scales", focusing on prominent issues such as short weight, and carrying out comprehensive remediation of the market order of electronic pricing scales across the country.

The China Consumers Association pointed out that through rectification, the number of complaints related to short weight in offline markets has decreased, but related problems in the field of online shopping still occur from time to time. The problem of short weight of online shopping goods is highly concealed. If consumers do not have certain life experience or do not weigh, check and verify the goods after receiving them, it is difficult to find related problems. It is recommended that relevant regulatory authorities increase the intensity of spot checks and supervision on the problem of short weight of online sales of goods. Consumers are reminded to try to choose regular merchants with good reputations, and avoid buying goods that are obviously lower than the market price for the sake of cheapness. Operators should carefully verify the actual size or weight of the goods sold, accurately mark them, and prevent misleading consumers.

Ren Chao suggested that the regulatory authorities should strengthen the supervision of the online shopping market, carry out special inspections regularly, and crack down on illegal acts such as short weight. At the same time, they should actively handle consumers' feedback and complaints to protect their legitimate rights and interests.

He also mentioned that online shopping platforms should establish and improve merchant management systems. First, online shopping platforms should appropriately raise the entry threshold, strengthen the qualification review of merchants, and regularly check the authenticity and accuracy of product descriptions. Secondly, online shopping platforms need to increase penalties for violations and establish a stricter punishment mechanism to deter potential violations, promptly punish or remove illegal merchants, and improve the merchant reputation evaluation system. In addition, online shopping platforms should also provide technical support, develop and promote technical solutions for product weight verification using electronic scales and other equipment to reduce the difficulty of consumer rights protection.

Wu Di believes that relevant regulatory authorities should increase the intensity of spot checks on online shopping products, especially for issues involving consumer rights such as underweight, and should establish special legal provisions to clearly regulate and increase penalties for illegal acts. At the same time, a merchant credit evaluation system should be established to record merchants with problems and disclose them to the public on a regular basis to encourage merchants to exercise self-discipline and reduce illegal acts. For certain products that are prone to problems (such as quantitatively packaged products), more stringent labeling standards should be implemented, requiring merchants to clearly mark information such as net weight and gross weight to prevent consumers from being misled.

"Consumers can choose reputable merchants, pay attention to product descriptions, and try to shop at merchants with good reviews and reputations. They can make judgments by checking the merchant's ratings, comments, and historical transaction records. Read the product description carefully before purchasing, especially key information such as weight and size, and ensure that the merchant clearly marks the net weight rather than the gross weight. At the same time, consumers need to be careful to retain evidence, save screenshots of the product page when placing an order, weigh or check the goods immediately after receiving them, and take photos for future use as evidence when needed. They should also be good at using the consumer protection services provided by e-commerce platforms, such as the seven-day no-reason return and exchange policy and the complaint mechanism within the platform." Ren Chao said.

Comics/Li Xiaojun