Will the money be automatically transferred to the merchant? Taobao buyers suffer from "lost money and goods" and cannot get pre-sale goods
More than a year has passed since he placed the order, but Mr. Zang has never received the toy statue he has longed for. What made him even more anxious was that after urging again and again, the Taobao merchants who pre-sold the goods simply lost contact. Not only did they not say that they had received the goods, they could not even get back the deposit.
According to Mr. Zang, he asked the platform for help as soon as possible, and the customer service first reassured him to wait for delivery. It was not until multiple consumers complained that the platform punished the merchant. However, when it comes to consumers’ deposits, customer service said that “the merchant does not have a deposit and the money cannot be guaranteed.” Mr. Zang was a little puzzled. The consumer clearly did not receive the goods, so why was the prepaid money automatically transferred to the merchant?
In January 2023, Mr. Zang took a fancy to a model toy statue with a global limited edition of 300 in the "Aiwen Model Toy" store on the Taobao platform. According to reports, the model-playing statue is a pre-sale product. Customers need to pay a deposit of 2,000 yuan when placing an order. After the production cycle is completed, the store will make up the balance of 2,888 yuan before shipping.
Mr. Zang is no stranger to this sales method. In recent years, the size of the trendy toy market has grown rapidly, and the emergence of the "second dimension" has also brought products such as figures into the eyes of many consumers. However, due to factors such as long construction periods and unstable sales, related products are generally sold in advance. sales method. Mr. Zang, who is familiar with the routine, placed an order on January 22 after briefly checking the store's number of fans, positive reviews, "good store for 2 years" and other information.
The process of waiting to receive the goods was not as smooth as expected. In the second half of 2023, many people in Mr. Zang’s WeChat group complained about the store’s failure to deliver goods as scheduled. Out of concern, he contacted the store's customer service four times in July, September, November and January 2024 to confirm the delivery time. The store's customer service first simply replied "Not shipped yet" and then ignored him. Helpless, he turned to the platform's customer service for help, asking for assistance in returning the product and returning the deposit. "In January this year, Taobao customer service reported that the transaction had been completed and I failed to raise an objection within seven days, so they could do nothing."
Mr. Zang kept asking about the delivery time, but no one responded later.
It turns out that as early as January 31, 2023, the status of the transaction was changed to "shipped" and then to "transaction completed" on February 10. Mr. Zang did receive an email from "Aiwen Mowan" A card "confirming receipt of deposit". However, at that time, he believed that the shipment and transaction in the pre-sale transaction were the shipment and transaction of a virtual product, not the product itself. However, the actual situation is that as the transaction status changes, the platform defaults to the completion of the transaction, and the "deposit" he paid is also transferred to the merchant by the platform.
In order to prove that the transaction was still going on, Mr. Zang deliberately dug out his previous communication records with the merchant on the Taobao platform and appealed again. This time, the customer service staff responsible for handling the transaction confirmed after verification that the transaction was indeed in progress and that there were many related complaints. However, the customer service staff could not directly cancel the transaction and refund the deposit. On the one hand, Mr. Zang did not raise any objection when the previous transaction was completed, and the relevant payment is no longer in the platform account; on the other hand, because the store is still in arrears with Taobao's deposit, which has not been replenished. "The merchant's account has been punished, and the money cannot be guaranteed." ”, and finally gave the plan of “compensation of 500 yuan”.
Obviously, there is still a big gap between the 500 yuan compensation and Mr. Zang’s actual loss, and he is not satisfied with this. He believes that the platform should establish a corresponding guarantee mechanism for such pre-sale products, instead of waiting for the merchant to "run away" and then push them away on the grounds of "no deposit".
In fact, Taobao has long been familiar with the management of "pre-sale goods". Especially during large-scale shopping festivals, everyone has long been familiar with paying deposits and making up the balance. The platform also has a corresponding "Pre-sale Agreement", which clearly states that "from the completion of the deposit payment to the completion of the balance payment is the deposit guarantee period. During the guarantee period, if the seller fails to pay the balance , the seller shall return the deposit and Compensate the buyer with an amount equal to the deposit. If Taobao’s investigation finds that there are transaction risks and the platform closes the transaction order to protect the buyer’s rights and interests, the seller should return the deposit. Relevant compensation matters shall be negotiated between the buyer and the seller.” So, what exactly is the lack of protection that Mr. Zang mentioned?
On April 7, reporters found this "Aiwen Mowan" store on the Taobao platform. The store's rating has been closed and all products have been removed from the shelves. Only the "Special Shooting with Freight Recharge" product link remains. Click on this link. There is indeed a "Full Pre-sale" logo with white characters on a red background in the logistics column. However, according to Taobao's "Pre-sale Agreement", this type of product does not display the pre-sale price and the deposit included in the details interface. The amount, and the transaction payment is not split into two parts: "pay the deposit immediately" and "pay the balance after the pre-sale is completed", it does not belong to the "pre-sale goods" defined by the platform, that is, Mr. Zang's transaction does not apply to this agreement .
In other words, the "pre-sale goods" purchased by Mr. Zang are actually no different from ordinary goods. In addition, the balance is not reflected on Taobao, but is paid through a third-party platform. Once the merchant delivers the goods according to the time specified by the system, After the consumer confirms receipt of the goods, the money paid by the consumer will be automatically transferred to the merchant's account, which cannot be restricted by the platform. For this type of product, the platform also has a line of small text on the product details interface to remind: "If the product you purchased is a fully paid pre-order product, please be careful to click the 'Confirm Receipt' button before receiving the goods to avoid financial risks."
The so-called risk may refer to the situation encountered by Mr. Zang. The reporter noticed that the store has not registered as a market entity, and there is no contact information on the store information interface. In this case, consumers can only place their hope on the platform. So what is the status of this store? How can consumers recover their losses? A few days ago, the reporter contacted Taobao officials to inquire about relevant matters, but as of press time, no reply had been received.
Today, the pre-sale model is being widely used in various scenarios, but the consumption risks behind it cannot be ignored.
On March 10, Mr. Sun purchased a sweeping robot marked “pre-sale” on the Xianyu platform and paid the full price of 4,200 yuan. At that time, customer service claimed that it would take 10-15 days to deliver the goods, which means it would be delivered to your home around the 25th. However, 4 hours after placing the order, a pop-up window reminded him that the product had been shipped. He quickly contacted customer service to inquire about the situation. The customer service informed him that the relevant information was the order number. Only after filling in the order number can the purchase be submitted to the manufacturer. "Logistics information will be sent later." Display, please wait patiently."
Around the 20th, Mr. Sun opened the App again and found that the product had already been received, but the logistics information column was empty. He immediately asked the logistics company where he received it for verification, and the relevant staff said that the order number was a fake one. At this time, when he contacted the merchant again, no one responded, "Isn't this a lie?" Mr. Sun turned to the platform for help. The platform customer service also said that the money had been transferred to the merchant and said that it could not recover it and could only withdraw it. Regarding the account ban, as for his request for the platform to provide merchant information, customer service also said that they could not cooperate.
In this regard, Liu Zeruo, a lawyer at Shanghai Pushi Wanlian Law Firm, believes that from the facts, the consumer only paid a deposit to the merchant, and clearly agreed to enter into a separate sales contract within a certain period of time in the future and the consumer will pay the consideration for the goods at that time. As a merchant who accepts deposits, if there is a virtual delivery, so the contract has not been established at this time, the consumer may, in accordance with the provisions of Article 587 of the Civil Code, determine that the debt has not been performed or the performance of the debt is not in compliance with the agreement between the parties, resulting in If the purpose of the contract cannot be achieved, the merchant is requested to return double the deposit. If the consumer has paid the deposit and equivalent payment, or has met other conditions for the contractual relationship to be established in accordance with the law, the merchant can be required to return the equivalent payment or continue to perform delivery obligations in accordance with Article 577 of the Civil Code. corresponding liability for breach of contract.
In view of the current situation where consumers are no longer able to contact merchants, platforms should shoulder their own responsibilities. According to Article 27 of the E-Commerce Law, e-commerce platform operators shall require operators who apply to enter the platform to sell goods or provide services to submit their identity, address, contact information, administrative license and other true information for verification and registration. Establish a registration file and verify and update it regularly. When a dispute occurs, if the online trading platform provider cannot provide the real name, address and valid contact information of the seller or service provider, consumers may also request compensation from the online trading platform provider.
As for the "fraud" claimed by Mr. Sun, Liu Zeruo said, "If the merchant fails to inform the false information or deliberately conceals it, and only fails to perform the main obligation to deliver the goods, it is generally not considered to constitute fraud. At least in the effective judicial precedents in Shanghai, false shipments are prohibited." , empty packages, etc. are not supported, and only refunds of payment are supported. "She suggested that for this type of sales model, the platform should further strengthen supervision, implement the main responsibilities, strictly verify and review the relevant qualifications of the main entities within the platform, and build an access mechanism. To strengthen the management of operators within the platform, we can also consider establishing a special pre-sale fund supervision channel to create a good shopping environment. "Consumers must also evaluate the qualifications of merchants from multiple perspectives before choosing pre-sale products."
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