Ms. Li from Qingdao, Shandong recently carefully selected multiple desired products during an e-commerce platform's New Year's Day shopping festival, hoping to secure two discounts: a 30 yuan discount on orders over 200 yuan and a 60 yuan discount on orders over 800 yuan. For this reason, she carefully compared prices and calculated how to match to achieve the optimal full discount standard. When she was preparing to settle, she found that the actual payment amount was much higher than expected. After careful examination, it was discovered that some products did not participate in the discount promotion. What makes her even more dissatisfied is that the platform does not clearly indicate which products participate and which do not, only mentioning them in some inconspicuous small word terms, which ordinary consumers find difficult to notice. I feel like I've been tricked, wasted time, and haven't enjoyed the discount yet, "Ms. Li said helplessly. As the end of the year approaches, major e-commerce platforms are launching New Year's shopping festivals, with full screen promotional information attracting consumers to place orders one after another. A recent investigation by a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily found that behind this shopping feast, many problems have surfaced, such as unclear discount rules, counterfeit goods, false advertising, etc., which seriously affect consumers' shopping experience. The details of the discounts are unclear, and many consumers are caught up in the promotional activities of the New Year's shopping festival. Full discount is a common means for major e-commerce platforms to attract consumers. However, despite the seemingly tempting discount promotion, the calculation rules have caused many consumers to complain about being "unclear" and "tricked". Mr. Lin from Taiyuan, Shanxi plans to purchase some household items during the New Year's shopping festival. Coincidentally, a certain e-commerce platform has launched promotions such as discounts of 50 yuan for orders over 300 yuan, which looks very tempting. Mr. Lin carefully selected 4 items, with a total price just over 600 yuan, and is eagerly looking forward to enjoying a discount of 100 yuan. However, it was discovered during settlement that the discount had not taken effect. After consulting customer service, Mr. Lin learned that although these four products are all within the scope of participating in the discount promotion, due to the fact that two of them belong to the same brand's "special series", the platform stipulates that special series products of the same brand cannot be combined with other products to make up for the discount. Mr. Lin did not find any hints about the restrictions on such combinations in the product details page and activity rules. He consulted customer service but was told, 'The discount at the time of payment shall prevail, or we can recommend other products that participate in the discount for you.'. During the lively Spring Festival, Ms. Xu from Shandong took on the task of purchasing a batch of Spring Festival gifts for her company. After some selection, she chose two barrels of peanut oil with a specification of 5.7 liters at a flagship store of a certain e-commerce platform. According to the activity rules, Ms. Xu paid a deposit first, and then participated in the full reduction activity with the remaining balance, successfully completing the payment. She placed a total of 5 orders, each with an amount of 339.6 yuan, totaling 1697.9 yuan. Ms. Xu discovered the problem before she could receive the goods. When she checked the product again, she found that the price had changed - from 339.6 yuan to 306 yuan, but the gift was missing a bottle of soy sauce (priced at 13 yuan in the store). I bought something during the New Year's shopping festival before, but I haven't received it yet. Why did I lower the price? It's really unreasonable Ms. Xu submitted a request for insurance to the customer service, hoping to refund the price difference. However, the customer service explained that the price change was due to a temporary subsidy provided by the platform, which "has nothing to do with our business, so we cannot process insurance for you". As a procurement officer of the company, in order to avoid falling out of favor on the issue of discounted prices, Ms. Xu also needs to write a simple report on this matter and report it to the leadership to explain the situation. She described this experience as a "disaster without reason": "This is clearly a New Year's goods festival event, and the platform claims that the deposit payment activity is the most favorable. Now that I haven't received the goods yet, there are some temporary subsidies, and even lower prices cannot refund the price difference. Is there a problem with the platform mechanism?" Ren Chao, Vice Dean of the School of Economics and Law at East China University of Political Science and Law, believes that the unclear preferential rules of e-commerce platforms infringe on consumers' right to know. When conducting promotional activities, merchants have the obligation to provide comprehensive, accurate, and sufficient information about the rules of the activity. The way of notification should be sufficient to attract consumers' attention and be easy to understand. Rules should not be changed without notification, or rules that restrict or exclude consumer rights should be formulated. Otherwise, consumers can claim that the relevant rules are invalid. The platform's promotional activities should have clear and transparent rules Ren Chao said that on December 27, 2024, the Cyberspace Administration of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee issued a "Checklist for Enterprise Self Inspection Issues in the Algorithm Governance Special Action" to relevant platforms, including "e-commerce shopping and lifestyle service platforms have not prominently disclosed their promotional rules to consumers, such as scope of application, participation conditions, specific restrictions, etc. E-commerce platforms should improve their promotion mechanisms for goods and services, effectively safeguarding consumers' rights to information and fair trade. The temporary price increase and fake promotional activities have become reverse discounts. Recently, Ms. Chen from Shantou, Guangdong took advantage of the New Year's shopping festival platform to promote and purchased several new clothes for herself online. When placing the order, she ordered three pieces of clothing from the same store for a total of just over 2000 yuan in order to make up for the platform's discount of 30 yuan for every 200 yuan spent. A few days later, she received the clothes and tried them on. She felt that one of the green down jackets was not the right size, so she applied for a return. At this point, she realized that the limited time promotion for the New Year's goods had ended, and if she directly ordered clothes, it would be even cheaper than the discounted price at that time. I spent around 860 yuan on discounted clothes, but now I only need about 830 yuan to place an order directly. Why has the New Year's shopping festival event become a reverse discount Ms. Chen found that the prices of the other two clothes were also lower than during the event period. She questioned the customer service about whether there was a behavior of raising prices first and then participating in the activity, and whether the price could be guaranteed and the price difference could be refunded based on the lowest price. However, the customer service said, "The price is mainly based on the activity price, and we do not participate in the insurance. You can return the product and reshoot it. The express delivery will be suspended soon, how can I return and reshoot Ms. Chen is extremely angry and has filed a complaint with the platform, which is still awaiting resolution. Ms. Wu from Guangzhou, Guangdong also has a similar experience. She told reporters that the pistachios sold in a flagship store of a certain e-commerce platform were originally priced at 39.9 yuan when she added them to her shopping cart before the New Year's shopping festival. As the New Year's shopping festival approaches, this pistachio fruit has suddenly been taken off the shelves. A few days later, the price of the same product with the same weight that was re released skyrocketed to 84.9 yuan, almost doubling the price. I used to buy pistachios from this store all the time, but I didn't expect the prices to rise so much as it's almost Chinese New Year. It's so disappointing Ms. Wu said. Ren Chao pointed out that if businesses clearly price and have sufficient reasons, such as the increase in labor costs during the Spring Festival, it is a normal price increase behavior. If a merchant takes advantage of a sudden price doubling at a certain point without significant changes in related operating costs and supply and demand relationships, it is suspected of infringing on consumers' rights to information, choice, and fair trade. According to the Price Law and the Regulations on Clear Pricing and Prohibition of Price Fraud, if a merchant attracts consumers with low prices during the New Year's promotion period, and then suddenly removes the product and relists it with a significant price increase, this behavior may constitute price fraud. Ren Chao believes that as a third-party platform for online transactions, e-commerce platforms should strictly abide by the Price Law, Anti Unfair Competition Law, etc., organize self-examination of sellers' temporary price increases, and eliminate behaviors that violate consumer rights such as not clearly marking prices according to regulations and price fraud. For example, abnormal fluctuations in commodity prices can be monitored and alerted through technological means and management measures. If the platform discovers that merchants engage in price fraud and other behaviors, it should take timely measures such as warnings, removal of goods, etc. In the process of online shopping for New Year's goods, some consumers have also encountered situations where the goods are not on the right board. Ms. Wang, a consumer, complained that she purchased 5 pounds of 3J Chilean imported cherries from a fresh food store on a certain e-commerce platform. After receiving the package, she found that the cherries had no labels and weighed only 4.4 pounds, and the actual size of each cherry did not meet the 3J standard. I wanted my family to have something good to eat during the Chinese New Year, but it's so frustrating to buy cherries like this Ms. Wang said helplessly. Mr. Xie, a resident of Tianjin, encountered a "word game" when shopping for New Year's goods online - he ordered a box of Danish cookies in a gift box in a live broadcast room. At that time, the live broadcast host always emphasized "one box with the original packaging, two boxes", and when placing the order, the product details page and product category column both showed a weight of 1.3kg (about 660g per box of original packaging products). Therefore, Mr. Xie believed that he should receive two standard boxes of cookies. After receiving it, Mr. Xie was stunned. There was only a small box of cookies in the gift box packaging, showing a net content of 663g. He asked customer service, 'How can the weight difference between the front and back be the same as that of a box of genuine products?' The customer service said that the weight of the ordered product displayed as' gross weight ', including packaging and other weights, and the actual cookies were only one box. But the livestream host and product detail page did not clearly distinguish between gross weight and net weight, and I am currently preparing to file a complaint with the platform to protect my rights. "" I received a bunch of bad fruits, but the merchants mocked me for spending less and only buying poor quality ones. "Mr. Hou, whose hometown is in a county town in Ganzhou, Jiangxi, recently bought a bunch of New Year's goods for his father online. He bought 2.5kg black melon seeds at the" XX Food Flagship Store ". After receiving the goods, most of the melon seeds were soft and had a bitter taste, and many were empty shells. Mr. Hou requested a refund from the store's customer service, but they refused and replied that the melon seeds he ordered were of 1.5A quality and cheap price. They were the leftover seeds from the 2A3A quality batch, and "if you require quality, you can buy 3A seeds". Mr. Hou was extremely angry and applied to the platform for intervention, but the platform suggested that Mr. Hou choose to return the item for a refund on the grounds of insufficient evidence. In the end, it was just the other party bearing the return shipping cost, and my dad and I were both angry for nothing. "In Ren Chao's view, the behavior of online merchants who are short of weight violates the principle of honest operation, constitutes false advertising, deceives consumers, infringes on consumers' right to know and fair trade, and may even harm consumers' physical health due to food safety issues. Ren Chao said that the above-mentioned merchants' descriptions of product weight and quantity on the product description page and order details page constitute fraudulent behavior by selling products through false product descriptions, product standards, physical samples, and other means; When consumers purchase food, the weight and quality standards of the food are important factors that affect their purchasing decisions. The weight and quality standards indicated by the above-mentioned merchants on the product homepage and name do not match the actual situation, constituting false advertising. Ren Chao suggested that market regulatory authorities should strengthen daily supervision of e-commerce platforms, especially during promotional activities during major sales periods. In response to prominent issues such as OEM sales and false advertising, regulatory authorities should regularly carry out special rectification actions to prevent counterfeit and inferior products from entering the market from the source. In addition, regulatory authorities should establish a linkage mechanism with e-commerce platforms to quickly respond to consumer complaints and reports. Lawyer Zhong Xin from Beijing Yinghe Law Firm pointed out that e-commerce platforms should strengthen supervision and management of merchants and their sales behavior, formulate rules for merchant sales behavior, especially for promotional activities organized by the platform, ensure transaction transparency, and publicize promotions in a prominent manner