[“Tide Economy” Expects New Norms No. 5] Don’t let e-commerce pre-sale become a “premeditated” infringement
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The pre-sale system has become a "new way of playing" for e-commerce.
However, in reality, some merchants delay delivery, change the delivery date at will, or even unilaterally withdraw orders, and do not accept returns or exchanges.
Under the guise of pre-sale, some merchants actually pass on the inventory cost and time cost of product stocking to consumers, and "play out" the pre-sale system.
People in the legal profession said that regulatory authorities should issue compliance guidelines, and platforms should also be responsible.
"618" has not yet arrived, and the curtain of e-commerce pre-sale has been opened.
Under the cumbersome rules, consumers are still waiting for delivery.
The reporter found that as more and more merchants joined, the boundaries of pre-sale commodity types were gradually expanding, and the delivery time had also changed from the initial 10 days to 30 days or even 45 days.
As a business model of "determining production based on sales", many netizens complained that some pre-sale operations were "more and more incomprehensible".
From concealing the fact of pre-sale to setting "overlord terms", to delaying delivery or even withdrawing orders directly, all kinds of chaos emerge one after another.
Experts suggest that regulatory authorities should strengthen rigid constraints, formulate unified specifications for issues such as pre-sale commodity types and delivery dates, and instruct platforms to conduct self-inspection and self-correction to prevent pre-sale from becoming a “premeditated” infringement.
Super long pre-sale becomes "blank check"
"'618' is about to arrive, and the items bought on 'Double 11' have not been shipped." "E-commerce used to be a gimmick of 'fast', why is it 'slower' now?"...
On a certain social platform, netizens created a topic of "hate pre-sale", and the number of views has exceeded 10 million.
At the moment when "everything can be pre-sold", the pre-sale products posted by netizens even include batteries, instant noodles, cat food, etc., which has attracted complaints.
Yue Lin, born in the 1990s, has nearly ten years of online shopping experience. She remembers that the pre-sale system was originally only for special products such as customized clothing, but now it is almost all-encompassing.
As the wind is getting stronger and stronger, the goods that could have arrived in a few days now have to wait at least half a month.
Yue Lin herself had just experienced a bad pre-sale.
"I placed an order for a small suit on April 10, and the product page was not marked for pre-sale. Who knew that after payment, the customer service suddenly said that it would take 30 days for delivery." After looking forward to it for a month, she waited. "The factory shipment is delayed, and there is still another 10 days to wait".
"I understand that merchants don't want to suppress the goods, but the pre-sale can't be without bottom line. If it is delayed like this, the clothes will be out of season even if they are received." Yue Lin said.
In addition to not telling the pre-sale, changing the delivery date at will, and unilaterally withdrawing the order by the merchant.
Previously, Chu Ting purchased a 15-day pre-sale face cream on an e-commerce platform.
When the agreed delivery time came, the merchant said that "the raw materials were out of stock and could not be produced" and asked her to apply for a refund.
"The face cream is pre-sold in full, the price is more than 600 yuan, and the monthly transaction volume is about 200. This is equivalent to a short-term interest-free loan. I suspect that the merchant is using the time difference to make profit." Chu Ting questioned.
Non-refundable advance payment, non-refundable goods, non-acceptance of mid-to-differential reviews... A series of "overlord clauses" also make consumers fooled.
In an online celebrity live broadcast, Bao Mama Qian Qian took a fancy to a dress and ordered it decisively under the guidance of the anchor's words.
The pre-sale period for the dress was two weeks, and she quickly realized that it was an "impulse purchase", and she contacted customer service to get the advance payment but was rejected.
After the dress arrived, Qian Qian found out that it was obviously wrong, so she decided to return it.
As a result, the customer service sent a screenshot of the purchase page, and a line of very small words read "No reason to return for seven days".
From then on, Qian Qian took a detour when she saw the "pre-sale", "it's like spending money to buy guilt".
Merchants cannot pass on risks through pre-sale
Why do merchants favor pre-sale so much?
Is this an act of desperation, or risk-averse speculation?
"The homogenization of e-commerce clothing is serious. If you don't test the 'water temperature', you will blindly stock up. At that time, it will be all pressed in the warehouse, and you will pay for the new one." Liu Adu, the manager of a women's clothing store, told reporters that pre-sale can be used to Test the market response in advance, adjust production in time, and place orders with factories on demand, so as to minimize warehousing costs and consumers can also enjoy certain discounts.
However, insiders said that some online celebrity shops "don't want to take any risk", and "win-win" may become "lose-lose".
For example, considering the high return rate, some merchants pre-sold 100 pieces, but only produced 70 pieces. By setting a super-long pre-sale period, the return form of the previous batch of customers was sent to the next batch of customers.
Some merchants find that the pre-sale data is not good, and they make up reasons to unilaterally cancel the order, so that consumers bear the cost of trial and error.
What's more, there are no samples, and a pre-sale is started after a rendering of the picture is posted...
The Jiangsu Provincial Consumer Protection Committee recently issued a document saying that some merchants who engaged in super-long pre-sale notified them on the surface, and there was nothing wrong with them, but in fact, they took advantage of their operating advantages to completely pass on the inventory cost and time cost of product stocking to consumers. Substantially unfair business practices.
Xie Yanping, the founding partner of Beijing Zhuopu Law Firm, believes that when consumers order pre-sale products, they have already reached an online shopping contract with merchants. For breach of contract, according to the Consumer Rights Protection Law, the merchant shall bear the legal responsibility for refunding, refunding the advance payment and paying interest and reasonable expenses.
On April 28, the China Consumers Association also named the super long pre-sale.
Regarding unfair standard terms such as non-refundable and non-refundable pre-sold products and non-refundable prepaid funds set by some merchants, the China Consumers Association cited relevant regulations and stated that operators shall not exclude or restrict consumers by means of standard terms, notices, statements, store notices, etc. Regulations that are unfair and unreasonable to consumers, such as rights, reduction or exemption of operators' responsibilities, and aggravation of consumer responsibilities, etc., shall not use standard terms and technical means to force transactions.
"Pre-sales cannot override the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, and merchants should respect consumers' right to know, their right to choose, and their right to fair trade," said Liu Xiaochun, executive director of the Internet Law Research Center at the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Relevant rules need to be further clarified
"Online shopping not only brings convenience to people, but also brings many challenges to traditional laws." Xie Yanping said, "Under the pre-sale model, only the pre-sale rules of commercial housing have been improved. In the field of ordinary commodities, especially for the Internet The transaction form is not clearly defined by the law.”
Xie Yanping said that the regulatory authorities should issue compliance guidelines, clarify the requirements for the types of pre-sale commodities, and make restrictive regulations on the pre-sale period according to commodity categories; strengthen the supervision of platforms and merchants, and focus on cracking down on "concealing pre-sale". Mandatory refunds” and “improper goods” and other loopholes, manage merchants through credit files, blacklists, etc., to further increase the cost of illegal and untrustworthy, and also provide reference for consumers to choose.
The reporter found that some platforms have introduced relevant restrictive measures for the "fascinated" in the pre-sale.
"Regulating pre-sale behavior, it is the platform's responsibility to keep the soil." Liu Xiaochun believes that e-commerce platforms should improve the pre-sale mechanism in accordance with regulations, form a unified standard for information disclosure, and require merchants to clearly mark the quality, price, performance period and method of pre-sale goods. , after-sales service, risk warnings, etc., and strengthen the review of the shelves to filter out products that exceed a reasonable pre-sale period.
Xue Jun, deputy dean of Peking University Law School and director of the E-Commerce Law Research Center, told reporters that the platform must first ensure that user evaluations can function properly, which is a big constraint for merchants.
In addition, more convenient complaint and dispute resolution channels should be provided to provide strong support for consumers. If merchants obviously use pre-sale to defraud, the platform is obliged to assist consumers in safeguarding their rights.
Xue Jun suggested that consumers should clarify the pre-sale rules before trading, and clearly agree with the merchants on their respective rights and responsibilities. If their own rights and interests are violated, they should keep the vouchers for rights protection.
For merchants, the establishment of word-of-mouth ultimately depends on the trust of consumers. Although products can be pre-sold, the quality and service must not shrink.