Food disputes account for nearly half of online shopping. Post-80s and post-90s are the main rights protection experts
E-commerce platform must establish a normalized monitoring mechanism
□ Trainee reporter Zhang Shoukun
□ reporter Wang Yang
What are the online shopping disputes?
Who loves rights protection the most?
Judicial big data gives the answer.
On November 19, 2020, the Supreme People's Court of China Judicial Big Data Research Institute released the "Features and Trends of Online Shopping Contract Dispute Cases (2017.1-2020.6)" Judicial Big Data Special Report (hereinafter referred to as the "Report").
According to the "Report", statistics in recent years show that food products, digital electrical appliances, and other products have caused more disputes. "Post-80s" and "Post-90s" are the main force for rights protection.
Experts interviewed by a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily analyzed that the virtual nature of online transactions has further aggravated the asymmetry of information between buyers and sellers, and has also made traditional supervision models not directly applicable to online transactions, and that online sales cannot be timely and effectively supervised. Online shopping disputes appear frequently.
In particular, the production threshold of food is relatively low, which is more likely to cause online shopping disputes.
Nearly half of food disputes
False propaganda involving food safety
The statistical time of the report released this time is from January 1, 2017 to June 30, 2020.
Data show that during this period, people's courts at all levels across the country received 49,000 new online shopping contract disputes in the first instance.
Among them, 15,600 new items were received in 2019, a year-on-year increase of nearly 30%.
The "Report" shows that in online shopping contract dispute cases, food disputes accounted for nearly half, accounting for 45.65%.
According to Zheng Xian, a lawyer at the Liaoning Yingshen Law Firm, China has been “food for the people” since ancient times. According to recent data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, consumption expenditures on food, tobacco and alcohol accounted for the largest proportion of per capita consumption expenditures.
Moreover, the threshold for food production is relatively low. Article 10 of the Electronic Commerce Law stipulates that individuals do not need to obtain a license to sell self-produced agricultural and sideline products. This makes the qualifications of food operators who enter the network cannot be guaranteed, and the quality of food is uneven.
Data shows that the focus of online shopping disputes in recent years has mostly involved food safety, false propaganda by sellers, or fraud.
Specifically, 30.78% of the disputes involved food safety issues. In 22.56% of the disputes, consumers believed that the seller’s sales had false propaganda or other fraudulent activities. 21.65% of the disputes were due to the lack of necessary labels for the products, and 9.15% of the disputes The disputes involved counterfeit and inferior product quality issues, and other disputes totaled 15.86%.
In order to resolve and reduce online food disputes and maintain consumer safety on the tip of the tongue, on December 9, 2020, the Supreme Law issued the "Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in the Trial of Food Safety Civil Disputes (1)", clarifying the responsibilities of e-commerce platforms bear.
The e-commerce platform fails to carry out real-name registration and review of licenses for the food operators on the platform in accordance with the law, which damages the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. Consumers have the right to claim that the e-commerce platform operators and the food operators on the platform bear joint liability.
Zhu Wei, a member of the Expert Committee of the China Consumers Association, told the reporter of the Rule of Law Daily that one of the most common ways of infringement in online shopping disputes is false propaganda by sellers, because false propaganda can cause consumers to misunderstand.
Ordinary foods are advertised as "blue hat" products (health foods approved by the State Food and Drug Administration), but some health foods are advertised as good medicines to cure all diseases. This is unimaginable offline, but it is broadcast live online However, China may appear due to lack of supervision and other reasons.
Therefore, after online sales have problems, not only the online sellers must be punished, but also offline suppliers.
The younger generation becomes the main force of rights protection
Routine promotions affect the shopping experience
The "Report" shows that the "post-80s" and "post-90s" are the main force for rights protection.
In the case of online shopping contract disputes, the plaintiff’s birth year of "post-80s" and "post-90s" together accounted for more than 70%.
Du Leqi, an associate professor at the Law School of Jiangsu University, said that the acceptance of Internet trading models, the ability to learn trading technology, and the awareness of rights relief by the “post-80s” and “post-90s” are at a relatively high level, and they themselves have become an important subject of online transactions. When disputes arise, such groups are more willing to protect their rights through the law.
However, Zhu Wei believes that this data can only show that there are more online shoppers among "post-80s" and "post-90s", while fewer elderly people from "post-60s" and "post-60s" can purchase online, and the number of people who have encountered disputes over online shopping to defend their rights less.
But in reality, the awareness and methods of rights protection of some older people are indeed lacking compared to younger people.
Du Leqi said that for the elderly, they also need to communicate with their children before they search for the target product through the Internet and make a shopping decision; during the shopping process, they should pay attention to fixing and keeping electronic transaction records and consulting the seller. Or chat records negotiated with them; at the same time, for goods that can be returned without reason, the seller should return the goods within 7 days from the date of receipt of the goods, and ensure that the goods are packaged in good condition and will not affect the second sale.
For disputes that cannot be resolved through negotiation with the seller, complain to the consumer organization or market supervision department in a timely manner; if necessary, it can be resolved through litigation.
"Double 11", "Double 12", and "New Year's Day"... Multiple shopping nodes ignited the enthusiasm for consumption of the whole people. The China Consumer Association has monitored and found that during the "Double 11" period in 2020, the negative consumer information is mainly concentrated in live broadcasts and non-compliance. Two aspects of reasonable rules.
The main "slots" of live delivery of goods are: celebrities are suspected of falsifying orders with goods; low satisfaction with after-sales service and poor experience.
The "routines" of unreasonable rules mainly include "non-fulfillment of price promises", "false discounts", and "big data".
Tang Zhenlin, a lawyer from Sichuan Yingling Heshi Law Firm, said that live streaming has recently become a new and mainstream sales method, involving more illegal recommendations and sales behaviors.
Consumers are advised to learn more about the product information before buying and do not place orders impulsively; when purchasing food or large-value products, use the mobile phone screen or video recording function to save the process; when third-party merchants buckle or refuse, intervene through the e-commerce platform customer service Handling and complaining to the market supervision and management department and other forms to safeguard their own legitimate rights and interests.
In order to promote the healthy and standardized development of the online economy, the State Administration for Market Regulation recently issued the "Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Supervision of Online Live Marketing Activities", focusing on investigating and dealing with fictitious transactions or evaluations in online live marketing, using false or misleading price methods to deceive Consumers, unauthorized deletion of consumer reviews and other illegal activities.
“In response to behaviors such as big data killing, consumer associations in various provinces and cities can take the lead in setting up online shopping price comparison websites or apps to organize and encourage consumers to upload product invoices and order records. In this way, e-commerce is compared with consumers. Absolute advantage in price information level.” Tang Zhenlin said.
Justice helps protect public rights
Take multiple measures to reduce online shopping disputes
The "Report" shows that among online shopping contract dispute cases, 40.15% of the cases were finally mediated or withdrawn, with a higher rate of mediation and withdrawal.
Among the online shopping contract dispute cases closed by judgment, 44.66% of the cases supported the plaintiff’s claim, 30.56% of the cases partially supported partial rejection, and 24.78% of the case rejected the plaintiff’s claim.
Tang Zhenlin believes that "40% of online shopping disputes have been mediated or withdrawn" and "70% of the plaintiffs should be supported by the court to varying degrees", indicating that consumers are encouraged by the bounty law of "punitive damages" and have evidence. Retention awareness, active protection of rights through legal channels when their legitimate rights and interests are infringed; at the same time, courts at all levels in handling consumer rights disputes also protect their legal rights for the public in accordance with the law, regulate the business behavior of Internet practitioners, and promote Internet-related fields Efforts were made for the healthy development of the economy.
Zhu Wei said that online shopping disputes are now the most important disputes on the Internet.
The problems with online shopping are not due to imperfect laws. From the e-commerce law to the civil code now officially implemented, from the food safety law to the product quality law, and the consumer rights protection law, these laws have provisions on the issues that may be involved. However, the application of the law to some key issues is not clear.
Zhu Wei believes that many online shopping disputes occur in live webcasts. Even the top anchors have frequently overturned in recent years. However, whether the live broadcasts of online celebrity anchors are advertising or selling has not been clearly stipulated.
If it is an advertising spokesperson, the provisions of the Advertising Law shall apply; if it is a seller, the provisions of the E-commerce Law shall apply.
The Supreme Law needs to interpret the nature of the Internet celebrity in the live broadcast of the goods. The relevant legislation is actually quite complete, but I don’t know how to choose.
Du Leqi said that compared with actual transactions, once disputes arise in online transactions, the cost of protecting consumers' rights through litigation will increase and the difficulty in obtaining evidence will increase.
In order to reduce online shopping disputes, before completing online shopping transactions, consumers should obtain as much information as possible about the goods they want to purchase, understand the basic rules of e-commerce platform operators on e-commerce transactions, and obtain and understand the format contract content provided by the operators on the platform. In particular, the rights and obligations of both parties and dispute resolution clauses; e-commerce platforms should establish a normalized monitoring mechanism for the business activities of operators on the platform, especially for the sales of food that does not meet safety standards, false or misleading publicity behaviors Manage and control to improve the effect of pre-prevention.