There are many pre-sale issues, and supervision must keep up (people pay attention to talk about online shopping ⑦)
It is marked as pre-sale even though it is out of stock, the merchant has not shipped the order for several months, and the pre-payment for pre-sale goods will not be refunded...On social platforms, online pre-sale is one of the high-frequency words that are heatedly discussed by the public. .
Ms. Chen, who lives in Chongqing, wrote in a letter: "I choose online shopping to save time and worry, but online pre-sale has turned the worry into a bad thing." Some time ago, Ms. Chen took a fancy to a pre-sale dress and waited for 15 Days later, because the balance payment was not paid in time, the order was cancelled, and the prepaid merchant did not refund the money.
"Originally, I bought pre-sale products because of low-price discounts. After paying the pre-payment, I have to make another payment more than 10 days to complete the transaction. Do consumers need to set an alarm clock to remind them of the final payment?" Chen the lady said sadly.
For products that have already paid the final payment, consumers sometimes do not worry.
Mr. Wang, a reader from Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, reported that every time he buys a pre-sale product, he always feels that he has no bottom, because he does not know when it will be shipped.
"I just bought an ordinary shirt, but the merchant will ship it 45 days after payment, and there is no explanation for this." Mr. Wang said that he tried to negotiate with the merchant, but all he could get was "We will ship it for you as soon as possible." Goods," "Please wait patiently," such mechanical responses.
In recent years, online pre-sale has gradually become a preferred sales model for e-commerce, especially in the peak season of online shopping, it is even difficult to find merchants who do not carry out pre-sale on some platforms.
Why is the online pre-sale model so popular with merchants?
The operator of an e-commerce women's clothing store said: "Pre-sale allows merchants to understand market dynamics in advance, avoid blindly stocking goods, and recover part of the payment in advance." There are also some stores that hope to achieve "hunger marketing" through pre-sale, so as to improve their products. value, driving up commodity profits.
At present, the pre-sale model of online shopping has exposed many problems, such as setting unfair format terms such as non-refundable and non-refundable pre-sale products; specifying the delivery time in advance, but still not delivering when the time is up; finding that the pre-sale data is inconsistent If the product is good, it will make up reasons to unilaterally cancel the order and let the consumer bear the cost of trial and error; the merchant does not clearly mark it as a "pre-sale product", and the consumer only finds out after placing the order; and so on.
In this regard, some readers said that these behaviors violated the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, and hoped that relevant departments and e-commerce platforms could introduce targeted institutional measures to establish and improve a reasonable supervision and restraint mechanism for the online shopping pre-sale model.
According to Xue Jun, deputy dean of Peking University Law School and director of the E-Commerce Law Research Center, there are usually two modes of pre-sale. One is that consumers pay all the purchase price in advance, and the merchants deliver the goods after a period of time; the other is consumption. The customer pays the advance payment first, and then pays the balance after the agreed time, and the previous advance payment becomes part of the payment for the goods.
"What the two have in common is that merchants sell products in advance before they enter the market, which will bring certain risks to consumers. Because merchants may over-pre-sell, and then refund the money to users when they are actually delivered, But you don’t have to take responsibility and risk.” Xue Jun believes that merchants are obliged to clarify specific pre-sale rules to consumers, and consumers should keep their eyes open to avoid falling into the trap.
Under the increasingly popular online pre-sale model, how should consumers protect their rights?
Lawyer Chen Ruojian, managing partner of Duan and Duan (Beijing) Law Firm, said that the unilateral delay or cancellation of the shipment by the merchant is a breach of contract, and the failure to indicate the pre-sale related information violates the consumer's right to know, " "Do not support return and exchange" and other overlord clauses do not have corresponding legal effect, which are clearly stipulated in relevant laws and regulations such as the E-commerce Law, Internet Transaction Supervision and Management Measures.
"Consumers should keep shopping vouchers, chat records and other relevant evidence. Once there is a problem, they can complain to the online platform or to the regulatory authorities, and use legal weapons to protect their own rights and interests." Chen Ruojian said.
Faced with various risks in online pre-sale, consumers should rationally view their own needs and choose carefully.
If you buy pre-sale products, in addition to clarifying the pre-sale rules, delivery time, and commodity conditions, you must also understand the qualifications and scale of the merchant.
In addition, regulatory authorities also need to guide e-commerce platforms to assume regulatory responsibilities, regulate various business models including pre-sale, and promote the healthy and sustainable development of the online retail industry.
Wang Xinyue Li Junqiang
"People's Daily" (10th edition on June 27, 2022)