The highest number of complaints and damages of’delivery delay/non-delivery’ 2372
“Limitations of the E-Commerce Act…Liability regulations should be introduced”
[세종=뉴스핌] Reporter Min Kyung-ha = Last year, it was found that more than 3,000 consumer consultations related to the domestic social network service (SNS) platform transaction were received. It was pointed out that there is an urgent need to improve the system, including the introduction of responsibility rules for SNS platform operators.
According to the Korea Consumer Agency on the 17th, a total of 3960 consumer consultations related to SNS platform transactions were received at the ‘1372 Consumer Consultation Center’ from January to October last year.
The SNS platform is a service providing platform that allows users to form a personal network online. Operating operators include Naver, Kakao, Facebook, and Google. Recently, as SNS platform operators have diversified their businesses such as advertising, payment, and search function enhancement, the number of SNS users who trade goods and services is increasing.
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| The Instagram logo reflected on the iPhone screen. [사진=블룸버그] |
In terms of consumer complaints and types of damage, among the cases of damage received, “delivery delay or non-delivery” was the highest with 2372 (59.9%) ▲ Contract cancellation and subscription withdrawal rejection 775 cases (19.5%) ▲ Quality defect or insufficiency 278 cases (7.0 %) followed.
By item,’clothing and textile personal supplies’ was the highest with 2700 cases (68.2%), followed by ▲ cultural products 250 (6.3%) ▲ health and hygiene products 191 cases (4.8%)
In addition, as a result of analyzing the SNS platform transaction cases, some vendors were using’multi-transaction channels’. In other words, even though they are the same business operator, they use 2 to 6 companies to upload sales information on multiple SNS platforms and link links to personal blogs or shopping malls.
There were 1305 complaints (33.0%) of complaints and damages related to multiple transaction channels. Most of the cases where it was not possible to check the place of purchase, business information, and contact information while going through several stages of the transaction path. There were also 235 cases (5.9%) of complaints and damages related to interpersonal transactions.
A consumer agency official pointed out, “The current e-commerce law imposes some responsibilities on SNS platform operators, but there is a limit to protecting consumers in the SNS platform transaction market.” He then emphasized that “there is an urgent need for institutional supplementation such as the introduction of accountability regulations according to the degree of involvement in transactions of the SNS platform and roles.”