Low price ≠ affordable! The China Consumer Association suggests that Spring Festival consumption needs to avoid these pits

As the Spring Festival of 2022 draws closer, many consumers are ready to buy New Year goods, replace new furniture or brew up visits to low-risk tourist attractions. Shopping malls, supermarkets, travel agencies, e-commerce platforms and other operators have also launched a variety of preferential activities, among which the most intuitive and common way of activity is to reduce prices and promote promotions. However, low prices do not equal affordability, and some unscrupulous operators may take the opportunity of low prices to sell counterfeit and shoddy products, and even deceive consumers to "add blockage" to consumers' Spring Festival life. In this regard, the China Consumer Association has sorted out several "low-price routines" that consumers have reflected in recent years, hoping that consumers will strengthen prevention and prevent "recruitment":

First, the low-price "problem" food safety risk is high and the nutritional value is low

The China Consumer Association has carried out rural bazaar survey experience activities for 3 consecutive years from 2018 to 2020, and found that the food sold is mixed with some "cottage" food and "three no" foods, because most of these "problem" foods use unknown raw materials, the production process is not standardized, and food safety is difficult to guarantee. However, due to the low price, if consumers only pay attention to the price, it is easy to "get caught". Recently, there are also media publicly exposed the source of raw materials for low-cost dumplings and low-priced meatballs and the "way of survival", through visiting a number of frozen wholesale markets, large supermarkets, and going deep into the front line of food production, it was found that individual quick-frozen food companies added chicken meat to the pork dumplings sold, and added chicken neck mud and chicken rack mud to meatball products, and did not indicate on the packaging. Experts said that the use of chicken neck mud, chicken rack mud and other bone mud instead of the original meat, the essence is adulterated and shoddy, will reduce the nutritional quality and sensory quality of the product.

【Tips of China Consumer Association】

As the saying goes, "the people take food as the sky, food takes safety as the first", consumers choose New Year food, while considering the price, we must pay more attention to safety and quality. First of all, it is necessary to check whether the merchant has the business qualifications such as the "Food Business License" and the "Business License", and check whether the business scope specified in the "Food Business License" matches, and it is recommended to buy food from the regular business with a complete license. Secondly, pay attention to the label information of food, especially the trademark, name, production date, shelf life, product implementation standards, food production license number, ingredient list and nutrition composition list, etc., understand the basic situation of the product, prevent "copycat" food, "three no" food and expired food, and reduce food safety risks.

Second, the community group buys "wool", and is careful to buy fake and inferior products

Community group buying is a group purchase activity for consumer goods carried out by relying on e-commerce platforms, communities and other tools. Consumers can buy cheaper goods in the form of a group. It is understood that since the end of 2020, with the entry of many well-known e-commerce platforms into the community group buying business, the community group purchase has developed rapidly, with "far below the average market price", successfully attracting a large number of community consumers to "follow the group". At present, community group buying can be described as all-encompassing, from fruits and vegetables to daily necessities, from catering services to transportation. However, behind the "glossy" of community group buying, there are also many problems, such as poor product quality, false promotions, low-price dumping, and non-refund of the return deposit, among which the problem of low price and low quality is the most prominent.

For example, in September 2021, China Consumer magazine selected 10 low-cost laundry detergents with better sales from the community group purchase e-commerce platform, and commissioned a third-party testing agency to provide a third-party testing agency on the total active substance content of the laundry detergent (referring to the percentage of the quality of the surfactant with decontamination effect in the product, in general, the higher the total active substance content, the better the decontamination effect) and the decontamination power of the tarnished cloth (the ability of the laundry detergent to remove dirt on the laundry and dirt such as grease, starch and protein). That is, whether it is washed or not) and other 2 core indicators were tested, and the quality of the results was worrying. After testing, the total active content of 10 samples did not meet the industry standard (≥15%), the highest one was only 9.8%, the remaining 9 models were less than 5%; 9 of the 10 samples did not meet the industry standard requirements in terms of the decontamination force of the sewage.

When consumers conduct community group buying, they should carefully identify and check the qualifications of merchants, understand the reputation of merchants and after-sales service, try to choose group buying merchants with good reputation, service standards, and after-sales guarantees, and carefully choose WeChat group buying groups of micro-businesses, social platforms and individual organizations. Second, we must carefully check the supply channels and supplier qualifications, and check the quality of the products in time when receiving the goods, such as whether the meat and poultry products have been inspected and quarantined, whether the agricultural and sideline products have been tested, whether they meet the national food safety standards, and whether there is a product certificate. Third, we must consume rationally according to our own needs, do not blindly hoard commodities for use within a limited period of time, resist the temptation of low prices, and avoid excessive hoarding caused by waste. Fourth, it is necessary to retain information such as invoices, electronic orders, payment pages, and chat records with the "group leader" of the group purchase platform, product publicity and service commitments, and actively protect their rights when their legitimate rights and interests are infringed.

Third, ultra-low-price promotions hide "cat greasy", so that profits are false, and profits are true

Some low-price promotions with obviously unreasonable prices are more "catty", which seem to benefit consumers, but in fact, they "put long-term fishing for big fish", using "free", "0 yuan purchase", "second kill", "how much to charge and how much to send" as bait, inducing consumers to "take the bait". Some are particularly inferior quality unqualified products or shrink in service quality; some are products are given away for free, but additional fees need to be paid to use the product; some are loans or installment payments without the knowledge of consumers; some are inducing consumers to recharge a large amount of advance payment; some are to obtain consumers' personal information, and then push various advertisements or sell profits; some are hidden Trojan horses, once consumers click on the link or scan the code, they will face greater property security risks.

For example, on January 27, 2021, the Wuxing Street Branch of the Consumer Rights protection committee of Ziliujing District, Zigong City, Sichuan Province, received a complaint from consumer Ms. Yuan, saying that she was shopping in a shopping mall on January 27, 2021, and saw that some merchants were distributing gifts for free, while promoting free learning machines, Ms. Yuan thought that the children at home could be used to learn, so she learned from the merchants, and the merchants have always said that they do not have to pay a fee, so Ms. Yuan received one. However, after receiving it, the merchant let her recharge the 2499 yuan learning card to use it, and Ms. Yuan had to pay 2499 yuan to the merchant. Afterwards, consumers felt that the merchant was inducing consumption, so they complained. After investigation, the merchant did not inform consumers when advertising that they should recharge and pay for normal learning after receiving the learning machine for free. After mediation, the merchant refunded the consumer the full amount of 2499 yuan.

Consumers should be vigilant against the ultra-low price or even free promotion behavior of the merchant, carefully distinguish the authenticity of the promotion, and especially understand whether other conditions are attached. For those involving installments, it is necessary to fully understand the relevant rules and measure their ability to repay. Second, rational recharge, for "how much to send" and "high amount of cashback" and other forms of inducing consumers to recharge, it is necessary to combine the credibility of the business, the consumer's own economic ability and consumer demand and other comprehensive considerations, it is recommended not to recharge a large amount at one time. Third, we must protect the safety of personal information and personal property, do not fill in personal information such as mobile phone numbers and addresses; do not click on unknown links at will, and do not scan two-dimensional codes at will.

Fourth, stay away from the "unreasonable low-price tour", beware of "travel tour" becomes "buy buy buy"

In recent years, problems such as forced shopping, product quality disputes, and insults to consumers caused by "unreasonable low-price tourism" have occurred from time to time, seriously damaging the rights and interests of consumers, damaging the image of tourist attractions, and affecting the healthy development of the tourism industry. "Unreasonable low-cost tours" are often packaged in gimmicks such as "group purchase price", "zero tour fee", "free tour", "tourism subsidy", etc., but in fact, there are hidden "traps" that harm the interests of tourists, such as great discounts in the itinerary route, transportation, catering and accommodation, etc., and arrange various shopping links during the trip, or exclude the most exciting and paid attractions from the low-cost tour fee when signing the contract. These behaviors seriously affect the travel experience of consumers and are prone to consumer disputes.

For example, on April 22, 2021, the Tourism Quality Supervision Institute of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism released ten typical cases of complaints about "unreasonable low-cost tourism". One of them is the case of a "zero tour fee" tour group that profits from shopping. Tourist Wang complained that he signed up for a five-day shopping group in Yixing at a travel agency in Nanjing, and the tour fee was 0 yuan. In addition to the agreed itinerary, the tour guide increased the number of shoppings without authorization, and Wang spent a total of 500 yuan, and the purchased goods were seriously inconsistent in quality and price. After mediation by the Nanjing Gulou District Culture and Tourism Bureau, the travel agency agreed to handle the return procedures for the tourists and pay the return price of 500 yuan in advance. The illegal acts of travel agencies are separately "sued and transferred" and investigated.

When choosing tourism products, consumers should abandon the psychology of coveting cheapness, can not be simply price-oriented, pay more attention to the reputation of travel agencies and the quality of tourism products, while considering their own physical condition and affordability and other factors, and sign a travel contract with the travel agency, read the terms of the contract in detail, understand the travel itinerary arrangement and the liability of both parties for breach of contract. If you find that the contract of the travel agency is unreasonable, you must negotiate with the travel agency in advance to solve it, and you must not blindly sign the contract.

Jointly promoting consumption fairness and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of consumers is the common responsibility of the whole society, and a good consumption environment also needs to be jointly maintained by the whole society. The China Consumer Association will strengthen supervision and standardization of problematic operators in accordance with the law, promote industry self-discipline, curb industry chaos, and escort Spring Festival consumption; urge relevant operators to abandon all kinds of bad marketing methods, pay attention to quality improvement and credit construction, and truly provide consumers with high-quality and inexpensive products and services.

The China Consumer Association reminds consumers to rationally look at the discounted promotion behavior of merchants, polish their eyes, distinguish whether the so-called "low price" is "real benefit" or "set routine", especially pay attention to preventing the ultra-low price trap of illegal businesses, shrewd consumption, and enjoy benefits. Finally, I wish consumers across the country a happy New Year, a happy family, happiness and health!

Source: People's Daily client