Shop online, but with caution

Up to 84.2 percent of the respondents to a recent China Youth Daily survey said that it is difficult to protect their rights if they shop online and their top three problems include "false description" (63.1 percent), "delivery of fake products" (41.9 percent) and "lack of after-sales service" (37.6 percent). Industry insiders agree that once a consumer is delivered fake or inferior products, it will be difficult for him/her to get their quality authenticated. Besides, the process could demand a lot of time and money.

Fortunately, China's top legislature is reviewing a draft amendment to the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Consumers, which was promulgated about two decades ago. The draft amendments include provisions that allow consumers to lodge complaints on the quality of goods within seven days of getting delivery from online shopping sites and empower consumers' association to litigate on behalf of consumers.

But despite being welcomed by many consumers, the amended law will still be difficult to implement because of lack of details. For instance, what happens if an online retailer refuses to honor the provision of "return of goods without reason in seven days"?

The situation will improve only if quality watchdogs crack down on online sites that dupe consumers by shipping them counterfeit or inferior products. And for this, we need the active involvement of industrial and commercial departments as well as branded companies, whose legitimate copyrights have been breached by online retailers. Besides, e-commerce platforms should strengthen their supervision.

Last year, Taobao joined branded companies to launch a crackdown on counterfeit products and deduct credibility points of unlawful retailers using the Taobao website. The move produced quite good results, and Taobao has decided to take similar action against retailers infringing upon intellectual property rights and delivering counterfeit or inferior products.

But the real onus is on consumers. They have to be careful while hunting for bargains and think twice before buying a product offered by an online site at a price that is incredibly low.

The author is a reporter with China Daily.

E-mail: xiaolixin@chinadaily.com.cn.