＂double 11＂ pit online shopping six don’t： beware of preferential traps
The annual "double 11" is coming, and many businesses and consumers have already entered the state of "preparing for war" in advance. "Double the deposit", "Full payment reduction", "Shopping allowance" and "Discount for collecting bills" … … All kinds of publicity and promotion of merchants are overwhelming, and all kinds of preferential rules are dazzling. While carefully preparing the shopping list, consumers are also carefully studying the best way to save money.
In order to guide consumers to spend rationally during the "double 11" online shopping peak hours, promote the honest operation of e-commerce, and safeguard and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of online consumers, the Guangdong Consumer Council issued a consumption reminder to consumers on November 7, reminding them to face the "Double Eleven" promotion activities rationally, and to raise their awareness of prevention and guard against various consumption traps while enjoying shopping discounts.
Text/Guangzhou Daily All-Media Reporter Li Dalin Correspondent Yue Xiaoxuan
Data: 29,000 online shopping complaints were accepted in the first 10 months.
As a shopping method in the Internet age, online shopping attracts more and more consumers with its convenient, inexpensive and fashionable features. After years of development, although the relevant systems have been established one after another, e-commerce companies and online shopping consumers have become more rational and mature, and the online shopping consumption environment has been constantly improved and developed. However, due to the emergence of various emerging consumption methods and problems, there are still loopholes in the legal system and regulatory measures, and there are still many disharmony and dishonesty behind the ease and convenience of online shopping.
From January to October 2017, the province’s Consumer Council system accepted a total of 29,408 online shopping complaints. The main problems focus on eight aspects: false propaganda, inducing consumption; Coupon giving activities are deep; The quality of goods is mixed, and after-sales service is difficult to guarantee; The merchant cancels the order without authorization; Private transaction disputes such as WeChat are frequent; The management of the offshore platform is chaotic; Consumer personal information is leaked; There are many problems in logistics distribution.
Case: Coupons are "out of shape" when they are "sucked" by members.
Many business discounts are realized through coupons. Nowadays, many consumers lament that coupon giving activities are deep. The Provincial Consumer Council said that the coupon routine is mainly reflected in the unreasonable and unclear rules for the use of coupons; Orders are paid by coupons, and coupons will not be returned after unsubscribe or return; With coupons with large discounts and wide application scope, consumers are attracted to apply for annual card membership. After consumers successfully apply, the shopping platform unilaterally narrows the use range of coupons, and the degree of discount is greatly reduced.
On October 25, 2017, Mr. Lin, a consumer, opened a plus member of a shopping mall. The opening page included a supermarket coupon full of 1000 yuan minus 200 yuan, with descriptions of products that can use the coupon. However, on October 30, the shopping mall unilaterally changed the use scope of the coupon.
Mr. Lin communicated with the customer service and asked to restore the original coupon, but the reply was: "Because of the promotion and update of the event, the products that can be purchased are subject to the actual display of the coupon. Please use it in time according to the rules of coupon use." Mr. Lin learned through other channels that some consumers who had the same experience had been compensated with a supermarket coupon full of 1000 yuan minus 200 yuan, but the mall did not respond effectively to his feedback.
Reminder: study the promotion rules and beware of the preferential trap
First, distinguish between regular e-commerce and carefully enter phishing websites.
When shopping online, consumers should not blindly pursue low prices. They should deeply understand the credibility, volume and praise of businesses, try to choose a formal and reliable online trading platform, and try to choose high-quality brands and shops with good reputation on the same e-commerce platform. Consumers should carefully identify the identity of the shopping website, whether there is a red shield industrial and commercial logo or ICP filing information, and do not arbitrarily enter unknown links for online shopping, in case they accidentally fall into the "phishing" website and be deceived.
Second, study the promotion rules and beware of preferential traps.
In the face of various promotional activities of major e-commerce platforms, consumers should carefully study and understand various specific rules of promotional activities, and use promotional activities to give away consumption points or coupons, and they should read clearly the instructions and additional conditions. Don’t be easily fooled by the so-called preferential discounts. Some goods that seem to be low-priced or have a particularly large discount may be digital games of the merchants, such as falsely marking the original price, raising the price first and then discounting, etc. When actually purchased, they may not be much different from the normal price, and there may also be other consumption traps.
Third, make good use of the payment platform and refuse to pay privately.
Consumers should strengthen their awareness of payment security. When shopping online, especially when conducting large-value transactions, they should not accept any private payment request from the merchants. Even if the merchants are conditioned by super-strong concessions, or pretend that there are various "compelling" difficulties, consumers should also refuse the other party’s private payment request. If consumers decide to buy online, they must pay through a creditable and reliable third-party payment platform.
Fourth, use WeChat shopping with caution to avoid personal transactions.
Wechat shopping can be roughly divided into two types, one is to buy and sell directly through a private WeChat account. If a merchant sells goods through a private WeChat account, it usually does not have business qualifications. In the event of a consumer dispute, it is difficult to protect rights. This situation is not within the scope of the Consumer Council’s acceptance of complaints; The second type is the merchants certified by WeChat, which generally trade on WeChat WeChat official account. In case of disputes in this channel, both merchants and WeChat platform should protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, and consumers can also turn to the Consumer Council for help. Therefore, before shopping on WeChat, consumers should know the real information of the business and confirm whether the business has passed the WeChat authentication. It is best to ask Wechat business to show his business qualifications and procedures, identity certificate, name, contact information and business address.
Fifth, identify purchasing channels and choose a reliable platform.
In recent years, overseas purchasing is popular in China, and various purchasing channels are constantly emerging, among which "friends circle purchasing" and "cross-border e-commerce platform" are growing in scale. "Friends circle purchasing" belongs to private overseas purchasing, and it is difficult to solve the after-sales problem, and it is very difficult to defend rights afterwards. This kind of dispute is not within the scope of acceptance of consumer organizations. Therefore, consumers should carefully screen all kinds of purchasing information and channels.
6. Retain relevant evidence and actively defend rights.
Consumers should collect and save evidence during the purchase process, including screenshots of publicity pages, chat records, payment records, business information, purchase orders, delivery vouchers, invoices, etc., to provide protection for later rights protection. In case of disputes with merchants, we should actively safeguard our own rights and interests. It is suggested to initiate a complaint about rights protection through the customer service platform first, and ask the customer service of the platform provider to intervene in mediation and rights protection. At the same time, it is also possible to complain to the industrial and commercial departments and organize complaints to the Consumer Council to protect rights.