Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

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Double 11 has started pre-sale, but a number of netizens reported that Tmall's cat enjoyed a number of mobile phones, such as Huawei and OPPO, which first increased prices and then reduced prices.

This kind of behavior has been banned repeatedly in Singles Day holiday over the years. Experts suggest that consumers should collect evidence and report in time, and once verified, the regulatory authorities should also deal with it strictly in accordance with the law.

It's double 11 again, and it's time to "buy and buy" again.

Generally speaking, double 11 goods are cheaper than usual, which has become the default rule of the industry. However, many netizens found that the prices of mobile phones and other goods sold on the e-commerce platform rose first and then decreased, and the final price was even higher than usual, causing netizens to complain that "there are too many holes in Singles' Day."

Experts point out that businesses who raise prices first and then lower prices to create the illusion of price reduction is a typical dishonest behavior, suspected of infringing on consumers' right to know and choice, and may also constitute fraud. According to the relevant laws and regulations, consumers can claim three times the compensation.

A number of self-operated mobile phones are accused of rising first and then falling.

(the price is from left to right, and the price fluctuation dates are 16 days, 18 days, 19 days and 24 days respectively)

A netizen, who planned to buy OPPO Reno 8 on Tmall's Maoshang, said he put the goods in the shopping cart early and didn't expect to see a "good show". The price on October 16 was 2099 yuan, and the price on October 18 was 2069 yuan. After a price reduction of 30 yuan, the netizen was glad to wait for a few more days. As a result, the price rose to 2469 yuan on October 19. When the pre-sale of Singles Day on October 24 opened, the price dropped to 2299 yuan. Although it was a little cheaper than the price of a few days ago, it was still more expensive than the price on October 18.

(prices range from left to right, 18 days, 21 days and 24 days, respectively.) the same thing happened on the Huawei Mate 50 Pro that another netizen planned to buy. According to the screenshot by netizens, the discount price of the Huawei Mate 50 Pro phone was 6999 yuan on October 18, while the price on October 21 was 7099 yuan. On October 24, the price was 7299 yuan, another price increase of 200 yuan.

By contrast, the price of this phone has increased by 300 yuan in a week.

In the public impression, the price of double 11 is cheaper than usual. for consumers, not buying a mobile phone when it is just on the market is a "late purchase discount". If you buy it at the same price as usual, it is better to "buy early and enjoy it early".

In fact, a similar situation has occurred not only in mobile phones, but also in other categories.

One consumer told Caizhi that he had never joined the excitement of Singles Day before because he was afraid of trouble and didn't want to buy things in time. Recently, under the indiscriminate bombardment of promotional text messages from merchants, he tried to buy a pair of shoes he liked, but found that there were too many holes in double 11.

"the discount on a pair of shoes put into the shopping cart was only over 400. When I went in yesterday, it rose to more than 600, and then a series of coquettish operations across various platforms were reduced to 500. If the price of the shoes I saw went up on Singles' Day instead, I really don't believe that businesses make money against their conscience."

Some netizens on Weibo complained, "since the price is going up, please stop doing Singles Day and let me buy things at the daily price."

A number of regulations do not put an end to the "routine" of businessmen.

Double 11 has been in its 14th year since 2009. However, in these 14 years, similar promotional routines of rising prices and then lowering prices have emerged one after another.

In 2017, the China Consumer Association released a report on the price tracking and experience of online shopping on Singles Day in that year. The survey involved 16 online shopping platforms, selected a total of 668 items, involving clothing, shoes and hats, mobile digital and other nine categories. From October 21 to November 21, the experience staff recorded the price changes of each item in detail by taking evidence such as screenshots. According to the statistical results of price records, among the 539 non-pre-sold items claiming to participate in the double 11 promotion, the proportion of promotional goods that can be purchased at the "double 11" price or lower price (regardless of linkage activities) reached 78.1% throughout the experience cycle.

In other words, nearly 80% of non-pre-sold goods are not cheap at all. Some of these platforms and merchants' commodities have problems such as price increases and then price reductions, and "double 11" prices rise instead of falling.

The China Consumer Association suggests that the relevant government departments should further improve the price laws and regulations that adapt to online shopping, standardize the price behavior of platforms and merchants, strengthen the dynamic monitoring of prices, and timely publish the results of price monitoring. serious price violations will be included in the blacklist of bad faith and made public to facilitate consumers' reference.

Relevant government departments are also taking action.

In 2021, the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration issued a "work Tip on standardizing" double Eleven "Network Promotion activities" to Internet platform enterprises across the country and local market regulatory departments, which specifically mentioned strictly standardizing sales promotion activities. It is necessary to improve the openness and transparency of sales promotion, and prohibit illegal ways to carry out sales promotion, such as "raising prices first and then discounting", fabricating original prices, and failing to fulfill price promises.

In October this year, the Shanghai Municipal Market Regulatory Bureau announced that in order to standardize the centralized online promotion during the "Singles Day" period, key e-commerce enterprises in Shanghai had been convened to put forward eight compliance requirements. The first is that promotion rules should be more transparent and easy to understand. It is forbidden to adopt illegal methods such as "false discount", "false price marking" and failure to fulfill price promises to carry out sales promotion.

However, these measures have not completely banned the emergence of promotional routines.

Expert: if it constitutes a fraud, you can claim three times the compensation.

Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary general of the Consumer Rights and interests Protection Law Research Society of the China Law Society, told Caizhi that businesses raising prices first and then lowering prices in order to create the illusion of price reduction is a typical act of dishonesty, suspected of infringing upon consumers' right to know and the right to choose, and may also constitute fraud.

The Law on the Protection of consumers' Rights and interests stipulates that business operators shall provide consumers with information about the quality, performance, use and validity of commodities or services, which shall be true and comprehensive, and shall not make false or misleading publicity. The price of commodities or services provided by business operators shall be clearly marked. Business operators who commit fraudulent acts in providing commodities or services shall, in accordance with the demands of consumers, increase the compensation for their losses, and the amount of compensation shall be three times the cost of consumers' purchase of commodities or services; if the amount of increased compensation is less than 500 yuan, it shall be 500 yuan.

In addition, the Price Law also stipulates that operators shall not use false or misleading price means to induce consumers or other operators to trade with them. If a business operator commits such an act, he shall be ordered to correct, the illegal gains shall be confiscated, and a fine of less than five times the illegal gains may be imposed concurrently; if there are no illegal gains, a warning shall be given and a fine may be imposed concurrently; if the circumstances are serious, he shall be ordered to suspend business for rectification, or the business license may be revoked by the administrative department for industry and commerce.

However, with a clear legal and regulatory basis and the reminder of interviews with market regulators, why are the promotion routines of double 11 still banned again and again?

Chen Yinjiang believes that relevant laws and regulations also impose heavy penalties on price fraud, but operators do have the right to set prices independently and may adjust prices in advance in order to evade the law; in addition, even if businesses rise first and then fall in prices, it is also difficult for consumers to provide evidence to protect their rights; from the regulatory level, the regulatory authorities are not very good to determine that there are a large number of online businesses involved in Singles' Day, and they are all cross-regional operations, and supervision is also difficult.

"these also make some businesses feel lucky and, driven by economic interests, take risks and infringe upon the rights and interests of consumers." Chen Yinjiang said.

He suggested that the governance of this kind of promotion routines should play the role of co-governance by consumers, regulatory authorities and other parties. When consumers encounter such phenomena as "raising prices first and then lowering prices", they must not choose to suffer dumb losses, but should provide clues for law enforcement departments in a timely manner; once verified, regulatory departments must also deal with them strictly in accordance with the law, and make illegal businesses feel pain and pay the price of breaking the law. It can also play a deterrent role to other operators.

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