Half a month ago, a leading e-commerce platform launched the first wave of pre-sale preheating activities for Double Eleven, 10 days earlier than last year. At the same time, live streamers from various platforms have also launched pre-sale activities for the “Double Eleven” event. However, many consumers have complained that pre-sale products during the “Double Eleven” shopping festival are more expensive than direct purchases, and prices immediately decrease after the pre-sale ends. The “final payment person” has become a “leek person”
During online shopping festivals such as “Double 11” and “618”, pre-sale mode was frequently “roast” by consumers. This is mainly because some merchants deliberately delay the delivery time under the guise of pre-sale period, and even arbitrarily change the delivery date. Some products are delayed in receiving for up to a month, resulting in the problem of excessively long pre-sales. In addition, there are also chaos such as the increase in the final payment, the lack of price protection for pre-sale products, the failure to fulfill promised gifts, and the untrue promotion of the “lowest price”.
The pre-sale system should have achieved a win-win situation, for example, businesses can accurately order and produce through pre-sale registration to minimize costs; Consumers obtain more favorable prices by giving up some delivery time. However, in reality, pre-sales often fall short of expectations and even affect consumers’ online shopping experience, such as receiving products that do not match the ones displayed earlier. The pre-sale model allows merchants to have a certain degree of “transaction initiative”, segmenting consumers in setting prices and determining delivery times, while consumers can only passively accept arrangements. As a result, the delivery time for pre-sale products is getting longer, there are more and more “tyrannical clauses” such as no return, no exchange, and uncertain delivery time, and even some merchants “run away” after receiving pre-sale payments… As consumers have said, the e-commerce pre-sale model is changing with complaints and dissatisfaction.
The pre-sale model, as long as both parties are willing to fight and suffer, is understandable, but it must respect consumers’ rights to information, independent choice, and fair trade. Don’t let e-commerce pre-sales become a premeditated infringement. Multiple parties need to work together, and the platform has the responsibility to urge merchants to abide by their commitments. It is necessary to strengthen supervision and management of the pre-sale models launched by merchants; The regulatory authorities should increase their punishment for the chaos in the pre-sale mode and curb the chaos in the pre-sale mode. From a preventive perspective, regulating e-commerce pre-sales also requires pre regulatory measures, such as establishing an infringement warning mechanism, providing “advanced supervision” for “ultra long pre-sales”, and identifying risks in a timely manner. In addition, consumers should also enhance their awareness of rights protection and prevention, and maintain necessary rationality towards pre-sale products.
The chaos of e-commerce pre-sale mode is a new problem in the online shopping chaos in recent years. From e-commerce platforms to regulatory authorities, they should all take responsibility and work together to curb unreasonable pre-sale chaos and fill the “consumption trap” for consumers. Protecting the online shopping consumption environment is also protecting the online business environment, and ultimately benefiting every link and person in the online shopping chain.