Can domestic service providers be required to compensate for purchasing goods through cross-border e-commerce platforms?
2024-05-21
In recent years, with the rise of cross-border e-commerce industry, the sales of imported goods have increased, leading to frequent related disputes. Recently, the People's Court of Mount Taishan District, Tai'an City, Shandong Province heard a dispute over an information network sales contract that required domestic service providers to compensate for purchasing goods through cross-border e-commerce platforms. The court ruled against the plaintiff's claim in accordance with the law. On August 4, 2023, the plaintiff purchased 3 pieces of "Ji XX Yin NMN Single Bottle 60 Granules" products from the defendant's WeChat store through a third-party platform, with a unit price of 1299 yuan per piece. After enjoying a discount, the plaintiff paid 3507.3 yuan in actual. The plaintiff signed for the goods on August 7, 2023. The plaintiff later claimed that the defendant's sale of the food in question was an illegal act, claiming that NMN cannot be used as food for production and operation within China. They believed that the food in question did not meet food safety standards, and the defendant should refund the paid price and provide ten times compensation for this. In court, the defendant submitted relevant materials, claiming that the goods involved in the case were entrusted by a company outside the case to provide sales and operation related services within the country, and to handle customs procedures in the bonded zone. The customs declaration states that the overseas shipper is an outsider company, the domestic consignee is an outsider Ningbo company, the domestic destination is Ningbo Beilun Port Bonded Zone, the regulatory method is bonded e-commerce, and the remarks are for cross-border e-commerce. After trial, the court found that the product details page of the shop involved in the case stated Chinese labels such as product ingredients and packaging specifications. The "Purchase Notice" section of the page states: "Due to the special nature of cross-border goods, cross-border goods do not support 7-day no reason return and exchange, and import taxes and fees are collected by customs in accordance with the law. Once the goods are cleared, the taxes and fees cannot be refunded..." The "Consumer Notice" on the page states: "1. You are aware that the goods you purchased meet the quality, safety, health, environmental protection, labeling and other standards or technical specifications of the country of origin, but there may be differences with Chinese standards, and you need to bear the relevant risks. 2. You are aware that the goods you purchased directly from overseas may not have Chinese labels, and you can view the Chinese electronic labels of the goods through the website..." The court believes that the transaction model in question belongs to the cross-border e-commerce retail import model. ". Cross border e-commerce retail import operators are overseas registered enterprises that sell goods from China to domestic consumers. Domestic service providers are responsible for handling industrial and commercial registration within the country, accepting commissions from cross-border e-commerce enterprises to provide declaration, payment, logistics, warehousing and other services, possessing corresponding operational qualifications, directly providing relevant payment, logistics, and warehousing information to customs, accepting subsequent supervision from customs, market supervision and other departments, and assuming corresponding responsibilities. In this case, the plaintiff is a domestic buyer of cross-border e-commerce retail imported goods, and the defendant is a domestic service provider. The goods involved in the case were purchased by the plaintiff from overseas through cross-border e-commerce platforms. The plaintiff's claim that the goods involved in the case do not meet China's food safety standards and that the defendant, as an operator or seller, should return the payment to the plaintiff and bear compensation liability cannot be established. Therefore, the aforementioned judgment is made in accordance with the law. Judge's reminder: Consumers can purchase overseas goods through two channels: cross-border e-commerce retail imports and domestic e-commerce platforms. Cross border e-commerce retail import refers to domestic consumers purchasing from overseas through third-party cross-border e-commerce platforms
Edit：Wangchen Responsible editor：Chenjie
Source：http://rmfyb.chinacourt.org
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