when buying 250 grams of chrysanthemums online, 122 grams are desiccant? the consumer protection committee calls on e-commerce platforms →
2024-09-01
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the product is displayed as 5 kg, but even the packaging is less than 5 kg;
the garbage bag was marked with 150 pieces, but when i received it, i counted only 86 pieces;
250 grams of chrysanthemums, but the packaging bag actually contained 122 grams of desiccant...
in net content
manipulating the quantity of packaged goods
when requesting compensation
the merchants also refused with various excuses.
you are shopping online
have you ever encountered this kind of "pitfall"?
according to the public opinion analysis of the jiangsu provincial consumer rights protection committee, from january 1 to august 23, 2024, there were a total of 18,525 consumer rights protection public opinion information items related to "short weight of goods purchased online" nationwide, of which jiangsu province accounted for approximately 12.77%, with a total of 2,366 items.
the jiangsu provincial consumer protection committee stated:
the practice of short-changing in online shopping violates the principle of good faith, which, to a certain extent, has undermined consumer confidence, caused consumer dissatisfaction, and damaged the credibility and reputation of merchants and e-commerce platforms. once consumers see through the tricks of short-changing, they will definitely vote with their feet. if merchants insist on doing so, they will only ruin their own jobs and their future.
the consumer rights protection law stipulates that if an operator makes false descriptions of the weight or quantity of a product on the product details page, causing consumers to purchase insufficient quantities of goods, it is suspected of infringing on consumers' right to know and right to fair trade.
the "e-commerce law" also clearly requires that operators should follow the principles of voluntariness, equality, fairness and integrity. at the same time, e-commerce platforms should ensure the fairness and rationality of the relevant rules system, take necessary measures to strengthen the management and review of merchants, and prevent the occurrence of short weight.
the jiangsu provincial consumer protection committee believes that:
the phenomenon of short weight in online shopping is frequent, especially for fresh fruits and snacks, which are the hardest hit areas. this is closely related to the operating strategies of e-commerce platforms.
on the one hand, due to the perishable nature of fresh products, they are excluded from the “seven-day unconditional return and exchange” policy. some e-commerce platforms use this as an excuse to claim that “fresh products do not provide after-sales service” and reject consumers’ requests for rights protection, allowing some businesses to exploit loopholes in the system and blatantly or by using tricks to shortchange consumers.
on the other hand, consumer rights protection is usually limited to merchants refunding the price difference or refunding the money. the e-commerce platform has not imposed substantial punishment on the merchants, and it is difficult to form an effective blow to illegal merchants. if the platform fails to manage dishonest sellers, it cannot escape blame and will inevitably lose credibility.
jiangsu provincial consumer protection committee recommends:
as the "middleman" of transactions, e-commerce platforms should act as gatekeepers and regulators, strengthen the review of the qualifications of merchants, increase the intensity of product review, improve the credibility evaluation system, improve the punishment mechanism, and promptly punish or clear out illegal merchants.
e-commerce platforms should also act as rule makers and improve operating rules to squeeze merchants' "tricks", especially for vulnerable product categories such as fresh food and snacks, leaving no room for merchants who attempt to shortchange customers.
operators within the platform should always operate with integrity, strengthen their sense of responsibility and self-discipline, and not damage their own reputation for the sake of immediate gains. only by operating with integrity and legality to gain trustworthy and reliable consumer evaluations, win the market and reputation, and achieve their own long-term development.
china consumer news·china consumer network
reporter/xue jingjing
source: china consumer news
