Reduce the price just after you buy it？ Expert： Online shopping commodity prices fluctuate at will and are suspected of fraud.

"Lost! Just buy it and cut the price "-this kind of consumer complaint often appears in the evaluation column of many online shopping products. What I just bought the day before was reduced in price the next day, and I was busy for half a day to grab the promotional goods. As a result, after the activity, the price was still "discounted" or even lower … More and more consumers found that the sales price of online shopping goods often fluctuated, and even the prices of some goods were far apart at different times. Liu Junhai, a professor at the Law School of Renmin University of China, and Qiu Baochang, president of the E-commerce Rule of Law Research Society of Beijing Law Society, interpreted this phenomenon.

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Online shopping prices generally belong to market pricing, that is, merchants have the freedom to adjust prices according to peer pricing, consumer attention and other factors, but consumers’ right to know should be protected.

Consumers need to know the historical price of goods, to avoid being misled by the "ups and downs" of merchants to modify the price. They can compare prices in many ways through the "seller exchange" section of the price comparison website or platform to ensure the purchase of goods as affordable as possible.

If the "lowest price" marked by the merchant is not worthy of the name, consumers must keep the relevant evidence at the first time.

Earlier, according to media reports, the price of a refrigerator fluctuated in 900 yuan within a week, the price of a pan was three times different within four months, and even the price of some commodities was almost one price a day. Consumers’ shopping experience is closely related to whether the goods are of good quality and low price. Can merchants adjust the prices of goods frequently? Relevant experts believe that although the law does not stipulate that merchants need to maintain stable commodity prices, the pricing freedom of merchants should still abide by the legal boundaries. At present, we should make an expanded explanation for the protection of consumers’ rights and interests, or make clear provisions to improve the punitive damages for price fraud.

Why do the prices of online shopping goods often change? Is it legal to adjust commodity prices frequently? In this regard, Liu Junhai, a professor at Renmin University of China Law School, said that online shopping prices generally belong to market pricing, that is, businesses have the freedom to adjust prices according to peer pricing, consumer attention and other factors, but consumers’ right to know should be protected.

"Although the law does not stipulate that merchants need to maintain stable commodity prices, the pricing freedom of merchants should still abide by legal boundaries." Qiu Baochang, president of the E-commerce Rule of Law Research Association of Beijing Law Society, believes that on the one hand, the law prohibits businesses from engaging in malicious competition by means of low-bid prices; On the other hand, the merchant must clearly mark the price, especially when it comes to discount pricing of commodity promotion activities, the "original price" of the commodity should be specially indicated as the basis for discount.

"As for the discount base price? Merchants should fulfill their information disclosure obligations. " Liu Junhai said, "If there is no evidence to prove the original price of the goods, it may involve price fraud." According to the national development and reform commission’s regulations on prohibiting price fraud, the "original price" of goods refers to the lowest transaction price of operators within seven days before this promotion; If there is no transaction within the first seven days, the last transaction price before this promotion is the original price.

In this regard, Qiu Baochang explained for example: "If a commodity was previously priced in 200 yuan and traded at a price of 50% off 100 yuan, then it was changed to sell 80 yuan, then the second price change must be based on 100 yuan, which is counted as 20% off. If the merchant sells 80 yuan at a discount of 40% off the original price of 200 yuan as a publicity, it is price fraud."

According to the regulations, if the marked market lowest price, ex-factory price, wholesale price, special price, best price and other prices have no basis or can’t be compared, making up the original price, reasons for price reduction, preferential discount, lying about price reduction or about to raise prices, and tricking others into buying are all price fraud.

Merchants often use discount promotions or "copy the reserve price" and "lowest price" to attract consumers. "The word’ lowest’ is comparative, and it is necessary to specify the time and object of comparison, such as comparing with similar products, comparing with competitors or comparing with their own historical prices, so as to avoid misleading consumers." Qiu Baochang suggested that businesses should use such slogans with caution, and consumers should be vigilant when they see such words.

By inquiring about some e-commerce platforms, the author found that in addition to the self-discipline of merchants, some e-commerce platforms have taken some measures to regulate such activities. For example, an e-commerce platform launched the corresponding "price protection service" in order to avoid the price fluctuation of commodities in a short period of time and protect the interests of consumers more comprehensively.

According to the rules of the platform, consumers can apply for price protection if the price of self-operated goods on the platform has changed after placing an order. If the application is successful, they can pay according to the selling price of the mall at the time of submitting the application, or return the money equivalent to the difference.

Although another platform does not explicitly provide price protection services to consumers, it also mentions the relevant content of "price protection" in its Detailed Rules for the Implementation of Price Reduction after Marketing Platform Activities: if the actual transaction price of a merchant’s goods is lower than any actual transaction price during his participation in marketing platform activities within 15 days after the end of the activity, the merchant will be punished by warning or even deducting points.

"The platform’s provision of such services is worth encouraging. Although there is no requirement for the platform to provide price protection at present, it is better to lose millions of dollars without losing customers’ hearts. This is a voluntary behavior of the platform, and all platforms cannot be forced to do so. " Liu Junhai said.

Referring to the price protection measures of e-commerce platform, we can find that "price protection" protects more consumers who buy self-operated goods on the platform or participate in platform marketing activities, and has less binding force on self-operated businesses with more platforms.

In the face of price fluctuations, in order to buy cheap and affordable goods, many consumers will choose to negotiate with merchants to refund the difference. So do businesses have to compensate for the difference? Qiu Baochang said that this is not the case. "The market price depends on the market. If there is no illegal situation such as price fraud and no commitment to price protection, there is no obligation to compensate the difference." Consumers need to know the historical price of goods to avoid being misled by the "ups and downs" of merchants to modify the price. They can compare prices in many ways through the "seller exchange" section of the price comparison website or platform to ensure the purchase of goods as affordable as possible.

If you accidentally fall into the "digital trap" of the merchant, it will affect the shopping experience, and your rights and interests will also be violated. Online shopping "help-seeking posts" often appear on social platforms. When you click in, you find that many consumers often find it difficult to defend their rights when facing "tough and unreasonable" sellers.

Faced with such a situation, Qiu Baochang said that if the "lowest price" marked by the merchants is not worthy of the name, consumers must keep the relevant evidence at the first time and complain to the e-commerce platform or the "12315" consumer complaint reporting platform. Screenshots including product links and promotional sales pages, and chat records with customer service are all strong evidence of rights protection.

According to Article 55 of the Law on the Protection of Consumers’ Rights and Interests, if a business operator commits fraud in providing goods or services, it shall increase the compensation for the losses it has suffered according to the requirements of consumers, and the amount of compensation shall be three times the price of the goods purchased by consumers or the cost of receiving services; If the amount of increased compensation is less than that of 500 yuan, it shall be 500 yuan.

In addition, Liu Junhai suggested that at present, the protection of consumers’ rights and interests should be expanded, and clear regulations should be issued to increase the punitive damages for price fraud, so as to increase the cost of dishonesty. To truly achieve the purpose of protecting consumers, it is necessary to reduce the cost of rights protection, improve the benefits of rights protection, ensure that the benefits of rights protection of consumers are higher than the costs of rights protection, and ensure that the cost of dishonesty of businesses is greater than the benefits of dishonesty. Liu Junhai emphasized that "only by sanctioning those who have lost their faith, compensating the victims and encouraging the defenders can the rights and interests of consumers be truly protected."

(Source: Procuratorate Daily)