The pre-sale system has become a "new way" of e-commerce. However, in reality, some businesses delay the delivery, change the delivery date at will, or even cancel the order unilaterally, and do not accept the return and exchange of goods. Under the pretext of pre-sale, some businesses actually transfer the inventory cost and time cost of product preparation to consumers, and "play badly" the pre-sale system. The legal profession said that the regulatory authorities should issue compliance guidelines, and the platform should also be responsible.
"618" has not yet arrived, and the curtain of e-commerce pre-sale has opened. Under the cumbersome rules, consumers are still waiting for delivery. The reporter found that with more and more businesses joining in, the boundaries of pre-sale commodity categories are gradually expanding, and the delivery time has changed from the initial 10 days to 30 days or even 45 days.
As a business model of "setting production by sales", many netizens roast that some pre-sale operations "are more and more incomprehensible". From concealing the fact of pre-sale to setting the "overlord clause", to delaying shipment or even directly canceling orders, all kinds of chaos emerge in endlessly. Experts suggested that the regulatory authorities should strengthen rigid constraints, formulate unified specifications for the types of pre-sale goods, delivery time and other issues, and instruct the platform to conduct self-examination and self correction to prevent pre-sale from becoming a "premeditation" of infringement.
Ultra long pre-sale becomes "empty cheque"
"The '618' is coming, and the items bought by the 'double 11' haven't been delivered yet." "In the past, e-commerce used to use 'fast' as a gimmick. How can we start 'slower'?"
On a social platform, netizens created a topic of "hate pre-sale", and the reading volume has exceeded ten million. At the moment when "everything can be pre sold", the pre-sale commodities exposed by netizens even include batteries, instant noodles, cat food, etc., which attracted roast.
The post-90s Yue Lin has nearly ten years of online shopping experience. She remembers that the pre-sale system was initially only aimed at customized clothes and other special goods, but now it almost covers everything. With the wind blowing fiercer and fiercer, the goods that could have arrived in a few days now have to wait at least half a month.
Yuelin herself had just experienced a bad pre-sale. "I placed an order for a small suit on April 10, but the product page did not indicate pre-sale. Unexpectedly, after payment, the customer service suddenly said that it would take 30 days to ship." One month later, she waited for the news that "the factory delivery was delayed, and it would take another 10 days".
"I understand that the merchants don't want to press the goods, but the pre-sale can't have no bottom line. Just drag on like this. Even if the clothes are received, they will be out of season." Yue Lin said.
In addition to not informing the pre-sale and changing the delivery date at will, there are also merchants who unilaterally cancel the order.
Previously, Chu Ting purchased a 15 day pre-sale face cream on an e-commerce platform. At the agreed delivery time, the merchant said that "the raw materials are out of stock and cannot be produced" and asked her to apply for a refund. "Face cream is a full-scale pre-sale, with a price of more than 600 yuan and a monthly turnover of about 200 orders, which is equivalent to a short-term interest free loan. I suspect that the merchants are making use of the time difference to make profits." Chu Ting questioned.
Do not return the advance payment, do not return or exchange goods, and do not accept medium and poor reviews... A series of "overlord clauses" also let consumers be directly deceived.
In a popular live broadcast, Bao Ma Sisi took a fancy to a skirt and ordered it decisively under the guidance of the anchor's script. The pre-sale period of the skirt was two weeks. She soon realized that this was an "impulse consumption" and contacted the customer service to refund the advance payment, which was rejected.
When the skirt arrived, sissy found that the goods were obviously wrong. She decided to return it. As a result, the customer service sent a screenshot of the purchase page, which read "no reason to return or exchange goods within seven days". Since then, sissy saw the "pre-sale" and took a detour, "it's just spending money to buy a sin.".
Merchants cannot pass on risks by pre-sale
Why do businesses like pre-sale so much? Is this a helpless act or a speculative act to avoid risks?
"There is a serious homogenization of e-commerce clothing. If you don't try the 'water temperature', you will blindly stock the goods. When the time comes, all the goods will be put in the warehouse, and you will be compensated once again." Liu Adu, the manager of a women's clothing store, told the reporter that pre-sale can test the market response in advance, adjust production in time, and place orders with the factory on demand, so as to minimize the storage cost, and consumers can also enjoy certain discounts.
However, some insiders said that some online stores "don't want to take any risks" and "win-win" may become "lose lose lose".
For example, considering the high return rate, some businesses pre sell 100 pieces, but only produce 70 pieces. By setting an ultra long pre-sale period, they send the return supplement of the previous batch of customers to the next batch of customers. In addition, businesses found that the pre-sale data was poor, so they fabricated reasons to unilaterally cancel the order and let consumers bear the trial and error costs. What's more, there are no samples, and the pre-sale is started by hanging an effect picture
The Consumer Protection Commission of Jiangsu Province recently issued a document saying that some businesses engaged in ultra long pre-sale ostensibly told them that there was nothing wrong, but in fact, they used their dominant position in business to completely transfer the inventory cost and time cost of product preparation to consumers, which is essentially an unfair business practice.
Xieyanping, founding partner of Beijing Bopu law firm, analyzed that when consumers ordered pre-sale goods, they had already reached an online shopping contract with the merchant, and the merchant should deliver the goods on schedule as agreed. Repeatedly changing the delivery date and canceling the order without any reason are all acts of breach of contract. According to the consumer rights and interests protection law, the merchant should bear the legal responsibilities of refund, refund of advance payment, payment of interest, reasonable fees and so on.
On April 28, the China Consumer Association also named the super long pre-sale. With regard to unfair standard terms such as non refundable and non refundable pre-sale commodities and non refundable prepayments set up by some businesses, the China Consumers' Association cited relevant laws and regulations to say that business operators shall not make unfair and unreasonable provisions on consumers by means of standard terms, notices, statements, store notices, etc. to exclude or restrict consumers' rights, reduce or exempt business operators' responsibilities, and increase consumers' responsibilities, It is not allowed to use standard terms and technical means to force transactions.
"Pre sale should not be above the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. Businesses should respect consumers' rights to know, to choose and to trade fairly." Liuxiaochun, executive director of the Internet rule of law research center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said.
Relevant rules need to be further clarified
"While online shopping brings convenience to people, it also brings many challenges to traditional laws." Xieyanping said, "under the pre-sale mode, at present, only the pre-sale rules of commercial housing tend to be improved. In the field of ordinary commodities, especially for the form of online transactions, the law does not make clear restrictions."
Xieyanping said that the regulatory authorities should issue compliance guidelines, clarify the requirements for the types of pre-sale commodities, and make restrictive provisions on the pre-sale period according to the types of commodities; Strengthen the supervision of platforms and businesses, focus on cracking down on loopholes such as "concealing pre-sale", "forced refund" and "goods are not sold properly", manage businesses through credit files, blacklists and other means, further increase the cost of breaking the law and breaking the promise, and provide reference for consumers' choice.
The reporter found that some platforms have introduced relevant restrictive measures for the "fishy" in the pre-sale.
"It is the responsibility of the platform to regulate the pre-sale behavior." Liuxiaochun believes that e-commerce platforms should improve the pre-sale mechanism in accordance with regulations, form a unified standard in information disclosure, require businesses to clearly mark the quality, price, performance period and method, after-sales service, risk tips and other contents of pre-sale goods, strengthen the review on shelves, and filter out goods beyond the reasonable pre-sale period.
Xuejun, deputy dean of the Law School of Peking University and director of the E-commerce Law Research Center, told reporters that the platform should first ensure that user evaluation can play a normal role, which is a great constraint for businesses. In addition, more convenient channels for complaint and dispute resolution should be provided to provide strong support for consumers. If businesses obviously use pre-sale to cheat, the platform has the obligation to assist consumers in safeguarding their rights.
Xuejun suggested that consumers should understand the pre-sale rules before trading, and clearly agree on their respective rights and responsibilities with merchants. If their own rights and interests are infringed, they should retain vouchers in time to protect their rights. For businesses, the establishment of word-of-mouth ultimately depends on the trust of consumers. Although goods can be sold in advance, the quality and service must not shrink.