At present, online shopping has become an important part of many people's lives, and the transaction volume of major e-commerce platforms has reached new highs. But behind the prosperous online digital transactions, there are also various false and chaotic phenomena - some merchants falsely mark prices, fabricate discounts, and claim that the gold bracelet, originally priced at 12888 yuan, is only sold for 4 yuan; Some merchants fabricate sales figures and positive reviews, with products showing sales of over 1 million and only a few dozen reviews; Some merchants exaggerate the functions of their products and make false claims, claiming that figs can treat cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases... "Big leak! Only one can be snatched, with a dustpan, tea spoon, and certificate. Tomorrow's price is 12888 yuan." Is it realistic to buy a gold utensil for 1 yuan? Recently, with the increasingly fierce competition in e-commerce, the phenomenon of false pricing and discounts by platform merchants is not uncommon. Some merchants claim during promotion that "in the last ten days, there will be a discount for the entire store" and "one yuan to pick up leaks, tomorrow's price will be 5999 yuan", but in reality, the so-called discounts and discount time limits are falsely reported by merchants; Some shops attract users with low prices, but quietly raise prices when or after users place orders. The interviewed experts pointed out that the behavior of merchants falsely quoting prices and fabricating discounts can have a serious impact on consumer rights and the reputation of e-commerce platforms. At the same time, it may also disrupt the market price order and affect the fair competition market environment. Merchants should comply with legal regulations when adjusting product prices, protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, and avoid false advertising or price fraud. When consumers encounter such problems, they should protect their rights and interests in accordance with the law, file complaints with relevant administrative departments or resolve them through legal channels. The merchant fabricated a product discount of "one discount for clearance" as a routine, and "one discount for clearance in the last few days" is just a tactic used by the merchant. I was almost caught up in their "routine". Ms. He from Guangzhou, Guangdong Province was recently attracted by a clearance discount in a live broadcast room on a certain platform and almost impulsively made a purchase. One afternoon, Ms. He came across a live streaming room for home clearance, where the anchor claimed that the landlord had increased the rent and would not renew it thereafter. The entire store is now being cleared. With a mentality of picking up leaks, she "crouched" in the live broadcast room. Ms. He explained that from the footage of the live broadcast room, the venue is relatively large with many shelves. The products displayed by the anchor include rice cookers, smart door locks, fans, etc., with a wide variety and relatively casual placement. Because the overall live streaming environment does look like a home goods store, and various products are densely packed together, unlike other live streaming hosts who meticulously arrange, making her think that the other party is really going to "close the store and clear the warehouse". After watching for more than 10 minutes, Ms. He found that every time the anchor hung a product link, they would first emphasize how expensive the original price of the product was, and then tell the audience, "Now the entire store is cleared, we are selling at a loss, and we will close the store in ten days." Finally, they would lure the audience to place orders quickly with a low discount of one to three times. At first, Ms. He did not realize that "clearing inventory at a discount" was a live streaming tactic used by merchants, until she found a set of 16 dishes and bowls with an original price of over 300 yuan and a discounted price of only 39.9 yuan, and clicked on the product link. According to the brand and material introduced on the details page, Ms. He judged that the actual value of the dish set did not reach the more than 300 yuan advertised by the merchant. She slid to the bottom of the details page and found that the "discounted price" in the live broadcast room was actually the same as the price of the same product recommended by other sellers on the platform. She finally realized that the so-called "one discount clearance" and "end of month store closure" were just sales tactics of the anchor. In the following month, Ms. He saw that the live broadcast room had been conducting a "bottom price clearance". She sent a barrage to remind other users: 'This store has been clearing inventory for almost a month and has not withdrawn yet.' After the comment was posted, she was blacklisted by the merchant. Perhaps it was because I wanted to catch up at the time and watched more live streams. The platform thought I loved watching this type of content and has been recommending similar live streams to me ever since Ms. He recalled, "Often, out of more than 20 live streaming rooms, five or six of them used this sales tactic and sold similar products." Through investigation, it was found that this type of sales method, which guides users to place impulse orders with "limited time discounts and low prices," is also more common among gold and jade merchants. There are many "big bargain" products on a certain shopping platform, selling valuable accessories at prices as low as single digits. The reporter searched on the platform using keywords such as "gold" and "leak detection" and found that the top 20 search results were mostly gold bracelets or jewelry priced at 1 or 10 yuan, with the lowest price reaching 0.89 yuan and the most expensive link priced at only 35 yuan. =Randomly click on a store, and the first image of the link is a normal product display photo. Swiping on the product image, you can see that the second image prominently reads "Tomorrow's price is 5999 yuan", "Big leak detection", "One fake, compensate ten, with certificate" and other words. When selecting specific styles and models, the reporter found that the 1 yuan displayed on the homepage is actually the price of the accessories in the link. If the selected style is a bracelet, the price will be adjusted accordingly, which is similar to the normal price. In some gold bracelet links, after selecting a style, the displayed price is a few yuan, stating that the original selling price or tomorrow's price will be restored to several thousand yuan or even tens of thousands of yuan. The phenomenon of false discounts is also very common in some group buying software. Some merchants will raise the original price of a certain product or service on the group buying platform and then sell it in the form of discounts. Xinxin, who lives in Shanghai, has encountered this situation before. Last month, Xinxin searched for a nail salon near her home on a group buying app and came across a "popular hand drawn style" with a discounted price of 415 yuan. When purchasing, the page shows that the original price of the link is 798 yuan, and 415 yuan is a discounted price of 5.3%. However, when Xinxin arrived at the store, she found that the style she had purchased was priced at 418 yuan in the store, which was only 3 yuan lower than the amount she had paid. Xinxin also noticed that several styles priced between 138 yuan and 458 yuan in the store's price list were displayed on the group buying platform with an original price of 798 yuan, and the discounts and discounted prices displayed on the page were all falsely reported by the merchant. After paying the deposit, the final payment was raised without authorization, which is chilling. "After paying the deposit, the store secretly raised the final payment price. Are all the prices on the platform fake?" Ms. Yang from Fujian noticed a washing machine with a purchase price of 4178 yuan during the shopping festival. After paying a deposit of 20 yuan, the page showed that the final payment amount was 4158 yuan. A few days later, Ms. Yang entered the payment page again and found that the final payment amount had been raised to 4878 yuan, an increase of 700 yuan compared to when she first placed the order. There are many people who have had the same experience as Ms. Yang. The reporter randomly interviewed multiple consumers and found that many people reported experiencing an increase in the final payment price after paying the deposit during the promotion period. In April of this year, Mr. Xiao from Guangdong saw that his favorite air conditioning model was on pre-sale at a brand flagship store on a shopping platform, with a final price of 1586 yuan, about 50% off the original price. At that time, my new home was undergoing renovation, so I kept an eye on the price of this air conditioner. The original price of this model was over 3000 yuan. Seeing the huge discount, I immediately ordered two units and paid a deposit of 100 yuan. The page showed that the remaining balance was 3072 yuan Mr. Xiao said. After placing the order, he asked the customer service, "Is the air conditioner reliable if the price is twice as high?" The customer service replied, "The activity intensity is different, they are all genuine products." Mr. Xiao finally felt relieved. On the day of the final payment, Mr. Xiao opened the shopping app and found that the payment amount had increased to 6698 yuan, and the link to the previously purchased product had also been taken down. At 8 pm, the payment amount was adjusted to 6540 yuan again. Mr. Xiao contacted customer service to verify the final payment amount, but the other party stated that the price at the time of payment would prevail and the originally agreed price had expired. Mr. Xiao felt angry and helpless about the dishonest business behavior of the merchants. Ms. Fang from Fujian also encountered a similar situation. Ms. Fang introduced that a few days ago, she planned to buy a few steel wire balls. During the process of comparing products and prices, she was attracted by a metal wire cloth. From the main promotional image of the product, this cloth is both easy to use and cheap, and comes with free shipping. So she wanted to buy it and give it a try. A single-layer steel wire dishwashing cloth is priced at 0.14 yuan. After placing the order, the platform did not display any other fees. The settlement page showed '0 yuan to place the order, 0.14 yuan to be paid after receiving the goods', and the price was not abnormal. However, after I placed the order, the merchant changed the price without authorization. There was a message in the software backend saying' the order has been changed in price ', and after the price change, 2.85 yuan needs to be paid. "Ms. Fang immediately asked the customer service for the reason for the price change, but the other party repeatedly stated that they did not change the price, and later changed their mouth and said," The store has never offered free shipping. What made her even more angry was that she had activated the "use first, pay later" function on the platform, which means that users do not need to pay when placing an order, and the platform will automatically deduct the payment after the buyer confirms receipt. If you didn't notice the merchant changing the price after placing the order, it's very likely that you would be overcharged without your knowledge. Although the difference this time is only 2 yuan, the merchant's behavior of raising the price when placing the order is really chilling, "said Ms. Fang. Can a sound price warning mechanism and strengthened credit management for merchants attract consumers with low prices on e-commerce platforms and then temporarily change prices? Can the price at the time of final payment really be used as the standard? How do we view the behavior of merchants falsely labeling discounts? Luan Yan, senior partner of Beijing Kangda Law Firm, believes that such behavior by merchants may violate relevant laws and regulations on consumer rights protection. As stipulated in the Consumer Rights Protection Law, consumers have the right to know the true situation of their purchase, use of goods or receipt of services, including information such as the price, place of origin, and producer of the goods. Merchants should ensure that the information they provide about their goods or services is true and comprehensive, and must not make false or misleading advertising. If merchants violate regulations, they may face corresponding legal responsibilities. Luan Yan said that the behavior of merchants falsely labeling discounts may be suspected of price fraud and false advertising. According to the Regulations on Clear Pricing and Prohibition of Price Fraud, operators shall follow the principles of openness, fairness, honesty and credibility, and shall not use price means to infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and other operators, or disrupt market price order. In addition, Article 19 of the regulation specifies seven typical forms of price fraud, including the use of false or misleading price indications to deceive consumers into making transactions. The E-commerce Law also stipulates that e-commerce operators should fully, truthfully, accurately, and timely disclose information about goods or services, protect consumers' right to know and choose, and shall not engage in false or misleading commercial advertising to deceive or mislead consumers. If a merchant's behavior violates these regulations, consumers can protect their rights in accordance with the law and file a complaint or report to the market supervision department Luan Yan said. Zhu Wei, Deputy Director of the Communication Law Research Center at China University of Political Science and Law, suggested that e-commerce platforms strictly implement regulatory responsibilities and improve their blacklist and whitelist systems. Once similar reports are encountered, the platform should intervene in a timely manner, impose corresponding penalties on merchants after investigation, and establish a credit score system to strengthen credit management for merchants. In Luan Yan's opinion, e-commerce platforms should strengthen internal supervision, establish and improve price monitoring and warning mechanisms, and conduct real-time monitoring and processing of behaviors such as false pricing and fictitious discounts; At the same time, market regulatory authorities should increase law enforcement efforts and impose severe penalties on confirmed illegal activities in accordance with the law, forming an effective deterrent; In addition, it is necessary to improve the mechanism for protecting consumer rights and interests, open up channels for complaints and reports, encourage consumers to actively protect their rights and interests, and safeguard their legitimate rights and interests. (New Society)