Why is it so hard to stop the cashback of positive reviews? 【 Frequent text messages with cards to ask for positive reviews are suspected of traffic fraud and misleading consumers 】
● The essence of cash back for good reviews is traffic fraud, that is, spending money to buy good reviews.
This kind of behavior not only deceives and misleads consumers, but also constitutes unfair competition to other similar businesses
● In fact, there is a possibility that merchants and consumers "commonly violate the law", and consumers should understand that this kind of behavior "cannot and should not be done"
● Business-induced evaluations are suspected of infringing consumers' right to know, which is not conducive to the ecological construction of the platform.
It is necessary to build a system of dispute resolution mechanism and punishment mechanism for all parties involved, warning and prevention, and a package of systemized dispute resolution mechanisms and illegal punishment mechanisms. The platform should ensure the objectivity and authenticity of the evaluation content by formulating rules and strengthening management.
□ Sun Tianjiao, a trainee reporter of this newspaper
□ Our reporter Chen Lei
"Praise 15 words and post a picture, ask the customer service to receive a 10 yuan red envelope" "Hello, dear, are you satisfied with the product? We are rushing the performance at the end of the month, can you please give a good comment, we can provide a red envelope reward" "Provide a screenshot of the positive comment to You can get cash back, and you can also participate in the store lottery"...
With the popularity of online shopping, product reviews not only affect consumers' choices, but are also closely related to the recommendation index of merchants on the platform.
In order to gain favorable comments, some merchants have adopted the method of hiding a favorable cashback card in the package, or even harassing them by calling or texting, asking consumers to give favorable comments.
In fact, this kind of positive feedback is explicitly prohibited at the policy level. Some online shopping platforms also expressly prohibit the positive feedback in the platform rules, and some merchants have been punished by the relevant departments for the existence of the positive feedback.
However, a reporter from the "Rules of Law Daily" recently investigated and found that in practice, there are still a large number of merchants using various methods to "cash back" to lure consumers to give praise, and even many consumers have become fans of praise and cash back.
A number of experts interviewed by reporters believe that the essence of positive feedback is still traffic fraud, that is, spending money to buy good comments.
This kind of behavior not only deceives and misleads consumers, but also constitutes unfair competition to other similar businesses, which must be dealt with.
It is suggested that from the regulatory authorities to relevant platforms, strengthen supervision and rule-making, and at the same time strengthen the warning of consumers on the return of praise, and maintain the order of fair competition in the market.
Merchants are keen on positive reviews and cash back
Traffic fraud to deceive buyers
Xu Hang, who lives in Chaoyang District, Beijing, bought a pack of spicy sticks for 5 yuan online. After opening the package, he dropped a red card with the words in bold yellow characters: "Contact customer service with a picture and get a good review for 3 yuan in cash back. ”, and the following also indicates that the goods, services and other options should be full of five-star praise.
With the attitude of giving it a try, Xu Hang gave a good review according to the content on the card. After contacting the customer service, the other party sent a red envelope of 3 yuan.
In the store that Xu Hang mentioned, the reporter saw that this product has nearly 2,000 reviews, all of which are positive.
The top reviews are all with pictures.
Such positive feedback is not uncommon on various online shopping platforms and takeaway platforms.
On a certain social platform, the reporter searched with the keyword "return for good reviews", and saw that many netizens complained or shared the good reviews they encountered after online shopping.
The reporter's investigation found that there are not only a large number of merchants with positive feedback behaviors, but also many merchants in order to ask for favorable comments. In addition to the most basic small cards with good feedback cashback in the product package, some merchants will also use online Customer service, phone calls, text messages, etc., contact consumers, ask consumers to give good comments on the grounds of "performance appraisal", etc., and promise to give cash rewards; some merchants will participate in the store lottery after good comments, and promise 100% Hundreds of winners attract consumers to give praise.
The so-called "cashback" behavior does not return all cash, and some merchants will also give back to consumers' praise in the form of store vouchers, shopping vouchers, small gifts, etc.
Why are some merchants keen to push positive reviews for cash back?
Mr. Qin, a merchant on a shopping platform, told reporters that according to the rules of the platform, consumers' evaluation after shopping is directly linked to the store's score and the merchant's credit score. Bad reviews are just the opposite.
"Consumer high-quality evaluations refer to evaluations with a large number of words, rich content and pictures, which are likely to become popular evaluations of products. Such positive evaluations can not only make other consumers leave a good impression when browsing products and reviewing evaluations, but also In addition, the store's favorable score and reputation score are closely related to the merchant's recommendation index on the platform, and the high number of favorable comments means that consumers are more likely to be recommended by the platform when searching for similar products." Mr. Qin said that this is why some merchants The willingness to provide positive feedback is actually equivalent to packaging and promoting your own products at a very small cost.
Zhang Tao, a partner of Beijing Deheng Law Firm, told reporters that from the perspective of e-commerce business activities, the cash-back activities carried out by sellers may cause consumers to profit from unfair, unjust and objective praise. From the perspective of consumer rights protection, this behavior will prompt some consumers to fabricate false consumer evaluations unintentionally, which may infringe on other consumers’ rights and interests. Right to know; From the perspective of anti-unfair competition, this behavior is false commercial promotion of user reviews, and the seller is also an act of unfair competition.
Zhang Tao said that compared with the criticized online navy, there is a real transaction, but the evaluation may be false, while the online navy may have a fictitious transaction. The behavior of the two They are different in nature, but they all infringe on consumers' right to know, destroy the order of fair competition in the market, and the behavior of returning positive reviews is more subtle and difficult to detect.
Hu Gang, deputy secretary-general of the Internet Legal Work Committee of the Internet Society of China, believes that the return of positive reviews is because operators induce consumers to make false evaluations, which is suspected of violating the principles of fairness, voluntariness, and integrity stipulated in the Civil Code, and infringing on the consumer rights protection law. Consumers' right to know and right to choose, which constitutes false advertising in violation of the Advertising Law, false propaganda in violation of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, and the E-commerce Law, should be fully regulated in accordance with the law.
Platform governance is weak
Some buyers choose to obey
In the opinion of the interviewed experts, the return of praise is currently in a state of prohibition.
Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association of the China Law Society, analyzed the reason. First of all, praise is very important to businesses.
Consumers' evaluation of a business, to some extent, represents the reputation of the business.
Consumers cannot check specific products on the spot when shopping online. The introduction of merchants and the evaluation of other consumers become the basis for consumers to make purchase decisions.
The second is driven by profit.
Businesses with more favorable reviews will naturally be recognized by more consumers and will also gain more economic benefits.
Therefore, even if the platform expressly prohibits positive feedback, this phenomenon is still repeated.
In addition, it is not easy to detect and not easy to regulate.
Cashback for positive reviews is a kind of "negotiation" between merchants and users. If users agree to accept the method of cashback for positive reviews, it is often difficult for platforms and regulatory authorities to find out, and it is difficult for the merchants to substantively deal with them.
How does each platform provide for the return of positive reviews?
Recently, the reporter consulted the customer service of online shopping, takeaway and other related platforms, and asked how consumers should deal with the behavior of positive feedback from merchants.
The customer service of each platform responded that the platform clearly prohibits the return of positive reviews and supports consumers to report to the platform.
The customer service of a large online shopping platform said: "This is the seller's private commitment, which is a serious violation of the platform's regulations. If you have purchased the merchant's products, you can report it on the product page." It is classified in the column of "harassment and abuse report-frequently invited praise".
However, after following the procedure, the reporter found that the content of the report was mainly aimed at businesses harassing and insulting consumers. Among the mandatory options, only the method of harassment and insults was phone calls or text messages, which did not completely match the actual cashback of positive reviews.
The reporter also asked the relevant customer service about the penalties that the merchant may face after the report, and the customer service said that it needs to "depend on the situation".
However, the reporter further asked whether the platform can negotiate and ask for cash back if the consumer gives a good review and the merchant who promised to return the cash back regrets. The customer service who said that "the platform prohibits any untrue evaluation behavior" before said that "it can help the negotiation".
In Chen Yinjiang's view, business-induced evaluations are suspected of infringing consumers' right to know, and are not conducive to the platform's ecological construction. The platform should ensure the objectivity and authenticity of the evaluation content by formulating rules and strengthening management.
Except that some shopping platforms have limited governance on the behavior of returning positive reviews, some consumers give positive reviews for their own benefit when they encounter the behavior of returning positive reviews from merchants.
Under the topic of "cash back for good reviews" on a certain social media, many netizens posted good reviews and screenshots of transfers, saying that cash back for good reviews has become a source of income for them.
Some netizens said that the products and takeaways they received were not good at all, but because the prices themselves were not high, in order to get cash back for good reviews, they still gave good reviews in good conscience.
Ms. Zhang from Zhengzhou City, Henan Province believes that, "Although the cashback for good reviews is only a few yuan, it adds up. Anyway, I bought something myself, and I gave good reviews, and I don't think there is any problem with it."
Experts interviewed by reporters said that some consumers do not care about the return of positive reviews or even choose to obey, which is an act of undermining the fairness and order of the market for petty profits.
Zhang Tao said that in fact, there is a possibility that merchants and consumers "commonly violate the law" in the behavior of positive feedback, and consumers should understand that this kind of behavior "cannot and should not be done."
Public exposure of credit punishment
Increase regulatory penalties
Regulations and governance for the return of positive reviews are on the way.
According to the interviewed experts, according to my country's existing laws and regulations, it is a clear fact that the praise and cashback are illegal and illegal.
For example, Article 8 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law stipulates that operators shall not make false or misleading commercial promotions on user evaluations of their products.
The E-commerce Law clearly stipulates that e-commerce operators shall not conduct false or misleading commercial propaganda by fictitious transactions, fabricating user reviews, etc., to deceive or mislead consumers.
On August 17, 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the Provisions on Prohibiting Unfair Competition on the Internet (Draft for Comment), clarifying that operators shall not use cashback, red envelopes, cards and coupons, etc. to induce users to make specified evaluations and likes. , forwarding, targeted voting and other interactive behaviors.
At the end of 2021, some e-commerce platforms will adjust the evaluation norm policy, stipulating that sellers shall not require buyers to write positive reviews, revise reviews, and additional reviews by themselves or through third parties; they shall not encourage or guide buyers to give positive reviews on the condition of material or monetary commitments. .
In practice, some merchants have been punished by relevant departments for returning good reviews.
For example, Hangzhou Doutao Trading Co., Ltd. was fined 10,000 yuan by the market supervision department for attaching a 5-star praise card to the package.
In Hu Gang's view, to govern the misconduct of distorted evaluation, it is necessary to build a system of dispute resolution mechanism and illegal punishment mechanism with participation of all parties, warning and prevention, and supervision is the main body and foundation of prevention and governance. On the basis of investigation and punishment in accordance with the law, the organ may supervise the interviewing operator to make corrections and improvement in a timely manner.
Chen Yinjiang believes that under normal circumstances, merchants carry out positive feedback cashback activities, which are privately "one-to-one" requests to consumers for positive feedback cashback, and there is indeed a certain degree of supervision difficulty.
Therefore, relevant departments should increase the publicity of policies and regulations, increase the intensity of daily supervision and punishment, and comprehensively use various supervision methods such as administrative interviews, public exposure, and credit punishment to guide and urge businesses to operate in good faith and law-abiding.
In the opinion of experts, online shopping platforms have responsibilities that cannot be ignored in the governance of cash back on positive reviews.
Chen Yinjiang said that the platform should ensure the objectiveness and authenticity of the evaluation content by formulating rules and strengthening management. Once it is found that the merchants have incentive behaviors of positive feedback, or that there are obvious inductive comments, they should be deleted according to the platform rules. , and publicly expose the merchants involved, so that consumers know which merchants have engaged in such induced fraudulent behaviors.
Zhang Tao suggested that the platform can take corresponding punitive measures for the merchants' praise and return behavior.
For example, according to the serious circumstances, the corresponding merchants can take measures to announce, restrict transactions or suspend transactions.
At the same time, a diversified evaluation mechanism can be set up, not just comments.
"We should increase publicity, improve consumers' awareness of the rule of law, and let consumers know that the return of positive reviews is an illegal act that violates consumers' rights and interests. If you encounter such behavior, you should promptly complain to the platform or report it to the regulatory agency." Zhang Tao said .