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recently, a user posted on a social platform that jingtaotao, an e-commerce software that promotes the "only refund for all", is suspected of absconding with the money, and the refund-only model may be a "ponzi scheme", which has attracted attention on the internet.

according to a post by a netizen named liang xiang on september 18, the jingtaotao shopping app launched with the slogan "refunds only for all", and many "wool-buying parties" rushed in to try to buy and then apply for refunds only. the platform really refunded and also gave compensation. the model that the platform supports introducing new users and also pays commissions instantly spread among the wool-buying party circle. "however, after the main group of people entered the order and received the goods and applied for refunds only, the system showed that the funds would be credited in 30 days. in the past two days, the platform suddenly ran away, claiming to have swindled 2 billion yuan."

regarding claims such as "ponzi scheme" and "running away with the money", a reporter from southern metropolis daily asked the customer service of jingtaotao platform on september 20. the other party replied that the platform had not run away, and "the platform discovered that malicious users had taken advantage of platform activities to maliciously place orders and cash out. currently, the risk control department is checking each order one by one."

customer service denies running away: investigating malicious order fraud and cashing out

will the orders of ordinary users be affected? can the "refund only" function be used normally? the customer service said that the risk control is currently investigating risky accounts, and after the investigation is completed, orders without problems will be gradually refunded. however, the customer service did not respond to the specific refund time. the homepage of the app shows, "if the refund only order has not been processed for more than 15 days, please contact the platform customer service for assistance."

public information shows that the developer of jingtaotao is shanghai jingduobao e-commerce co., ltd., which was established in shanghai in 2019. tianyancha shows that the company completed an angel round of financing of 500 million yuan in early 2024. there are three shareholders, lin xiuqing, lin qingxiang, and lin jinfan, holding 50%, 27%, and 23% of the shares respectively. its holding companies include fujian genggengjia investment co., ltd. and fujian jingtaotao supply chain management co., ltd.

nandu reporter noticed that as early as september 16, the jingtaotao team issued an announcement saying,we will initiate corresponding processing procedures for some arbitrage and wool-pulling behaviors. for normal shopping users, jingtaotao will strictly follow the normal process to conduct a refund operation for all people.. "during this process, users do not need to take any additional actions, and the refund will be accurately returned to the original payment channel within the specified time. this operation is in full compliance with relevant laws, regulations and business norms, and aims to effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of users."

the "refund only" model is an after-sales mechanism launched by major e-commerce platforms. that is, when consumers apply for "refund only" to the platform, if the merchant does not take action within 48 hours, the system will assume that the merchant agrees to the refund application and automatically initiate a refund. its original intention was to protect the rights and interests of consumers and crack down on bad merchants, but in the implementation process it provided an opportunity for "wool parties". a large number of malicious refunds have caused losses to merchants' profits and also had a negative impact on the e-commerce ecosystem. in the second half of this year, e-commerce platforms have successively adjusted the refund-only rules.

on july 26, taobao announced that it would optimize the "refund only" strategy, improve the after-sales autonomy of merchants based on the new experience score, and reduce or cancel after-sales intervention for high-quality stores. the relevant strategy will be officially implemented on august 9. on september 4, 1688, the source factory direct sales platform under alibaba group, announced the "buyer protection service upgrade announcement". it mentioned that starting from september 12, in order to reduce the operating burden of merchants, 1688 will adjust the "refund only" rule, and subsidize merchants with high return rates by setting up special funds, and provide them with a green complaint channel.

one product has three price tags, which may be suspected of price fraud

the jingtaotao app was launched in early 2024 with the slogan "only refunds for all". in actual use, users can choose between two shopping modes: "only refunds for all" and "buy now". nandu reporters found that the price of the same product in the "only refunds for all" mode is much higher than that in the "buy now" mode, and the price difference between the two is as high as tens of thousands of yuan. in addition to the above two prices, the product details page in the jingtaotao app will also mark the "market price", and the "market price" of some products is more than 10 times the refund-only price.

taking the iphone 16 pro with 128g memory as an example, the price of "all people only refund" on the jingtaotao platform is 53,327 yuan, and the price of immediate purchase is 7,999 yuan, which is consistent with the price on apple's official website. in addition, the product page also marked the market price of up to 129,000 yuan, which is obviously inconsistent with the actual price of the iphone 16 pro.

in addition, the "buy now" price of hanshu red waist five-piece gift box on jingtaotao is 338 yuan, but the price in the "all people only refund" mode is 2251 yuan. it is worth noting that the market price of 3377 yuan is marked in gray font after the price of 338 yuan, but the price of this product in taobao and jd official flagship stores is 399 yuan.

in the opinion of wang hao, an independent lawyer at shanghai zhonglian guangzhou law firm, the above-mentioned behavior is suspected of price fraud and violates the consumer protection law. in addition, by setting unreasonably high prices and false market prices, the app may also constitute unfair competition against other e-commerce platforms and disrupt market order.

according to the price law of the people's republic of china, price fraud refers to the act of an operator using false or misleading price forms or price means to deceive or induce consumers or other operators to trade with them. operators fabricate facts, conceal the truth, deceive or induce consumers or other operators to trade with them through price forms or price means, regardless of whether a transaction is formed.

"the main judgments on price fraud include: whether the price content is consistent with the actual situation, whether the price representation is based on evidence or comparable, and whether the price behavior is misleading," wang hao said. taking the iphone 16 pro as an example, the price under the "refund only" mode is very different from the price on apple's official website and the "buy now" price. there is no reasonable basis to support this price difference, which makes it impossible for consumers to obtain accurate information when comparing prices. the market price of han shu's red waist five-piece gift box on jingtaotao is 3,377 yuan, which is far from the price of 399 yuan in taobao and jd official flagship stores, and there is also suspicion of misleading consumers.

"this behavior may also infringe on consumers' right to know and right to fair trade. when purchasing goods, consumers have the right to obtain true and accurate price information and product value information, and the behavior of the jingtaotao app may cause consumers to make wrong consumption decisions without knowing it." wang hao said.

source: southern metropolis daily