It is difficult to protect the rights of buying fakes: the "gold" ring purchased online has faded after not wearing it for a few days

A gold ring will fade! Not long ago, in order to celebrate her birthday, Fan Rourou (pseudonym) from Yibin, Sichuan Province, carefully purchased a 2.5-gram gold ring weighing 1285 yuan for herself on an online shopping platform.

　　

The product name and store name are marked with the words "Zhou × Fu", the details page says "official authentic" and "fake one penalty ten", and the customer service guarantee is "999 pure gold, with invoice and appraisal certificate". However, once when Fan Rourou was wearing a gold ring and taking a bath, she suddenly found that the ring was seriously white.

　　

"Does gold jewellery change color?" Fan Rourou and her mother found a jewelry store together, and after burning it with an airbrush, the whole ring changed color. The clerk told them that the gold could not fade and that they had probably bought a fake.

"It is difficult to protect rights in online shopping" Comics: Gao Yue

A recent investigation by a reporter from the "Rule of Law Daily" found that there are not a few people like Fan Rourou who buy fakes online. The names of the products and the stores to which these fakes belong are written "×× brand authentic" and "bonded store direct hair", and some stores are also flagship stores certified by the platform.

　　

In practice, what makes consumers more upset than buying fake goods is the follow-up rights protection. Many consumers reported that merchants flatly denied that they were fakes, and refused to compensate for them. There are consumer help platforms, and the platforms either let consumers continue to negotiate with the merchant, or they have been dragging their feet and not resolving the issue. According to the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests, merchants should "refund one and pay three" if they commit fraud, and few consumers can get compensation after buying fake goods.

　　

Should both the merchant and the platform be held responsible for the sale of counterfeit goods in online stores? How to protect the rights and interests of consumers after the business runs away? How can consumers who buy fake goods achieve "one refund and three compensations"? The reporter launched an investigation.

Online store sales often occur

The platform intervenes and does not process

After discovering that she had bought fake gold, Fan Rourou began to review it, only to find that this online store, which looked like an official store, was actually full of flaws:

Although the name of the store is "Chow × Fook Gold Wholesale Store", it does not have an official flagship store logo. The gold card ring she purchased was converted to 514 yuan per gram, which was far lower than the market price per gram of gold and the processing fee at that time. Although the appraisal certificate sent can be scanned through the QR code to the appraisal interface, the appraisal agency "×× Jewelry Testing Center" does not have an official website on the Internet, and the total quality of the test content only shows "subject to the actual situation", and the specific weight of the ring is not displayed, and the price on the invoice sent does not match the actual amount paid.

　　

After suspecting that she had bought fake gold, Fan Rourou wanted to ask the merchant for an explanation, but found that the store was closed, and the message was rejected when she contacted customer service.

　　

"The merchant has run away, and the platform has to give an explanation." Fan Rourou found the platform's customer service to explain the situation, and at the same time applied for a refund in the after-sales channel, "After the customer service inquiry, I found that the seller did not have a business license at all, and the deposit was insufficient, so I could not compensate for my losses." ”

　　

For several days in a row, the platform's customer service said that it was "being verified and processed", asking Fan Rourou to "wait for the processing results"; After Fan Rourou called many times, some staff members even impatiently said that frequent phone calls would affect their work; Later, a customer service called back and said that the refund application could be closed before the follow-up operation could be carried out, and Fan Rourou found that it was difficult to contact the customer service again and could not apply for a refund again.

　　

For more than 1 month now, Fan Rourou has made no progress in communicating with the platform, she tried to report through the 12345 hotline, and also filed a lawsuit against the platform.

　　

The reporter searched on a social platform and found that there are many consumers who buy fake goods like Fan Rourou, and many of them have experienced the situation that after the complaint is submitted to the platform, the platform does not deal with it in a timely manner, has no effect or even does not reply.

　　

Ms. Liu, who is studying at university in Changsha, Hunan Province, bought two bottles of La Mer skincare lotion in an online store that is a "×× beauty store", which is claimed to be an "official discount" and "bonded straight hair". After receiving and using the goods, she felt that it was not authentic, so she took it to a third-party identification platform for testing, and the result was fake. In this regard, the merchant did not admit the sale of fakes, and wanted to return the goods for refund, and asked Ms. Liu to choose "refund due to her own reasons" in the reason for return. Later, Ms. Liu repeatedly asked the platform to intervene before the refund was successful.

　　

Yunnan netizen "Shallow Shadow" placed an order for an infant diaper on the 10 billion subsidy interface of a certain platform. The genuine version is called "Lion Kingdom", the brand is "Babycare", the product name is no different from the genuine product, but after receiving the goods, the product packaging shows "Lion Jade Country" and "Babycate", and there is a peculiar smell after opening. After many times of communication, the platform agreed to "refund only" and there was no follow-up.

Anhui netizen "vivian" spent 1,308 yuan to buy an 18K gold necklace in an e-commerce platform store, and it turned out to be a copper necklace with a gold-plated surface, which may be worth only a few dozen yuan. She immediately applied for a refund, but found that the seller had closed the store and ran away, and the platform said that the seller's deposit was insufficient, only 2 yuan, and she had to urge the seller to pay it for 90 days before processing. "The sellers have run away, is it useful to expedite delivery?" The netizen communicated with customer service to no avail, and has decided to file a lawsuit in the near future.

　　

A media survey of 2,005 respondents showed that 46.5% of the respondents had bought counterfeit goods during the online shopping process. Skin care products, makeup, clothing, shoes and hats, and electronic products are more commonly accused of being fake.

It is difficult to protect your rights when you buy fakes

Merchant platforms pass the buck to each other

The interviewed experts pointed out that according to the provisions of the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests, if a business operator commits fraud in providing goods or services, it shall increase the compensation for the losses suffered by the consumer at the request of the consumer, and the amount of the increased compensation shall be three times the price of the goods purchased by the consumer or the cost of the service received by the consumer; If the amount of increased compensation is less than 500 yuan, it is 500 yuan, that is, "one refund and three compensations".

It is worth noting that in the investigation, the reporter found that many consumers will ask the merchant to "refund one and pay three" when they buy fake goods sold under the banner of genuine products, but there are few successes.

　　

At the beginning of May this year, Ms. Wen in Chaoyang District, Beijing, bought a trendy brand bag on an e-commerce platform and wanted to give it to a friend as a birthday gift. "This is an overseas fashion brand, and there is no official flagship store on the platform, but there are many purchasing stores. I specifically chose a store that ranked first on the search page and had a high number of followers and sales. ”

　　

However, after receiving the goods, Ms. Wen was stunned - it was an inferior plastic bag, and after opening it, she found that the lines of the bag were uneven in many places, and the color was completely different from the picture. Flipping to the back of the bag, there is a small pocket that is not in the original, and a small sign is attached to the seam on the side of the bag, which reads "×× handmade".

　　

"This is obviously a knockoff bag made by yourself!" Ms. Wen immediately approached the clerk, but the other party resolutely refused to admit that it was a fake, and excused herself by saying that "the new employee sent the wrong goods", but the purchase voucher and the brand's authentic authorization could not be obtained at all. Ms. Wen instead applied for the intervention of the platform's customer service, and clearly asked for "one refund and three compensations". However, the platform's customer service advised Ms. Wen to continue to communicate with the merchant, saying that "the platform has no law enforcement power and cannot impose fines on the merchant."

　　

Ms. Cui from Anyang, Henan Province, bought a "crushed ice gold ring" of more than 1 gram at a price of 905 yuan at the online store "Ying× Gold Jewelry" in early April this year. As a result, after the courier arrived at the return address, the merchant never picked up the package, so the courier returned it to Ms. Cui, and the refund application was not approved. Ms. Cui tried to communicate with the store, but the other party flatly denied selling fake goods and resolutely disagreed with the return and refund, so Ms. Cui also chose the platform customer service to intervene, hoping that the merchant would "refund one and pay three".

　　

"After understanding the situation, the customer service actually offered to let me do a quality inspection of the product to prove that it was a fake. When I found an authoritative testing agency to confirm that the so-called gold ring was actually 925 silver jewelry, the merchant still refused to admit it, saying that it was not the product they sold, and the platform customer service kept saying that it was verifying, but there was no solution. Ms. Cui said.

　　

Why is it so difficult for consumers to defend their rights after buying counterfeit goods online?

　　

Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association of the China Law Society, told reporters that it is difficult for consumers to protect their rights when they buy fake goods, mainly because it is difficult to provide evidence for rights protection. Some goods are difficult to identify as fakes from the appearance, and testing involves not only time and economic costs, but also testing qualifications and testing procedures. Consumers spend money and time to apply for the results of testing unilaterally, and may also face the situation that the merchant does not recognize. Consumers ask merchants to test together, but merchants may not cooperate.

　　

"Although the Consumer Rights Protection Law has made specific provisions on relevant behaviors, it takes a long time to file a lawsuit and consumes a lot of manpower and material resources, so many consumers choose to 'swallow their anger', and businesses seize this psychology and are unwilling to take the initiative to restrain themselves and provide compensation." Ren Chao, deputy dean of the School of Economic Law of East China University of Political Science and Law, told reporters that the current supervision and punishment system of platform operators by platforms and relevant departments is not sound enough, and many consumers are not clear about the relief channels other than operators.

"It is unreasonable for the platform to let consumers communicate with merchants on their own." Ren Chao said that as a provider of online shopping services, online shopping platforms have the obligation to supervise and cooperate with consumers to protect their rights. According to the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests, if the legitimate rights and interests of consumers are damaged in online shopping, the seller shall be required to provide compensation, in which the online trading platform provider shall cooperate in providing the real name, address and effective contact information of the seller or service provider, and if it cannot be provided, the consumer can also claim compensation from the online trading platform provider. If the online trading platform provider clearly knows or should know that the seller or service provider is using its platform to infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, but fails to take necessary measures, it shall be jointly and severally liable with the seller or service provider in accordance with the provisions of the Consumer Protection Law.

Strengthen audit and supervision

Increase product transparency

The reporter found that on social platforms and third-party complaint platforms, a large number of consumers complained that they bought fakes on online shopping platforms, and these fakes claimed to be "×× brand authentic" and "bonded store direct hair" on the product name and store name, and even some stores were officially certified flagship stores and tens of billions of subsidized stores. It is precisely for this reason that many consumers believe it to be true.

In the opinion of the interviewed experts, this means that the platform lacks the review of the names and qualifications of the settled stores. The platform should strengthen the review and supervision of merchants, screen out merchants with good reputation, and put an end to the sale of counterfeits; It can also improve the transparency of goods by strengthening information disclosure and publicity, so that consumers can better understand the true situation of goods. If the platform fails to review the merchant's qualifications, resulting in losses to the rights and interests of consumers, the platform shall be liable. Consumers can claim compensation from the merchant or from the platform. After the platform bears the liability for compensation, it can recover from the merchant.

　　

Regarding the problem of the proliferation of counterfeit goods on some online shopping platforms and the difficulty of consumer rights protection, Chen Yinjiang believes that first of all, it is necessary to enhance the legal awareness and responsibility awareness of operators, operate in good faith and abide by the law, introduce goods or service information truthfully and comprehensively, provide consumers with high-quality products and services, and smooth after-sales service channels, solve consumers' reasonable demands in a timely manner, and take the initiative to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. Second, the relevant departments should strengthen supervision, strictly investigate and deal with all kinds of acts that harm the rights and interests of consumers, such as the sale of counterfeit and shoddy goods, increase the cost of illegal business operators, and give play to the deterrent effect of administrative supervision. When consumers buy counterfeit goods and other issues where their rights and interests are damaged, they should also collect relevant evidence in a timely manner, protect their rights in accordance with the law, and prevent operators from taking chances.

　　

"Even if there is a 'refund one compensation three' clause, some online shopping platforms are still flooded with counterfeit goods, which shows that there are certain problems in the implementation process of this clause." Ren Chao said that it is necessary to build a smoother channel to assist in rights protection, so that consumers can clearly know that there are other diversified solution channels when negotiating with merchants is fruitless, such as some online shopping platforms can now realize automatic algorithm identification, consumers and operators do not communicate well, and consumers can be automatically reminded to let the platform intervene to help deal with it.

　　

According to Ren Zhanmin, executive director of Beijing Guanling Law Firm, the platform dispute resolution mechanism should be supervised in strict accordance with the requirements of the E-commerce Law. Platforms should formulate clear, specific and effective dispute resolution rules and strictly enforce them. Establish and improve mechanisms for complaints and reports, and smooth channels for consumer feedback. At the same time, complete credit appraisal mechanisms. Strictly implement the requirements of the E-Commerce Law, and provide consumers with a way to evaluate the goods sold or services provided on the platform. Conduct investigation and punishment in accordance with law for unauthorized deletion of negative reviews.

　　

"Consumers should also enhance their awareness of self-protection and rights protection, and pay attention to verifying the production information, identification, and reputation of the merchant before purchasing. Take the initiative to protect your rights when you encounter an act that infringes on your legitimate rights and interests. Ren Zhanmin said.

Author: Sun Tianjiao, all-media reporter of the Rule of Law Daily