What responsibility do online shopping hosts bear for quality issues with their products? (Lawyer's mailbox)
2024-09-14
Lawyer Gao: I am an international student studying in China, and because I particularly like a live streaming host who sells products, I purchased a foreign brand product from their live streaming room. But after receiving the goods, I found that there were quality issues with the product. May I ask if this livestreaming host is responsible? How should I protect my rights? Chris Chris, an international student studying in China: Hello! Live streaming sales is a common sales model nowadays. Whether the live streaming host should be responsible for the products in the live streaming room depends on the relationship between the live streaming host and the product management entity. The responsibilities that different identities and types of live streamers need to bear are also different. The specific explanation for you is as follows: If the anchor advertises for other stores, this type of anchor is often an internet celebrity or celebrity. They register an account on the live streaming platform, operate their own live streaming room, and sign agreements with various online stores to promote their products. In this case, the anchor is not a seller themselves, and their identity is similar to that of an advertising publisher or spokesperson. Therefore, whether they are liable for compensation should be determined in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the "Advertising Law"). According to Article 56 of the Advertising Law, if false advertising of goods or services related to consumers' life and health causes harm to consumers, the advertising operator, publisher, and spokesperson shall bear joint and several liability with the advertiser. At the same time, for some false advertisements that cause harm to consumers, if their advertising operators, publishers, or spokespersons know or should know that the advertisements are false but still design, produce, act as agents, publish, recommend, or prove them, they should also bear joint and several liability with the advertisers. Overall, if the anchor engages in false advertising, deception, or misleading consumer purchasing behavior, they should bear joint and several liability for compensation, otherwise they will not be liable for compensation. If the anchor is an employee of a merchant's live broadcast room and engages in anchor work in the live broadcast room, establishing a labor relationship with the sales party, then the anchor's personal sales behavior in the live broadcast room is considered as duty behavior during the work period. In this case, the legal relationship arising from the purchase of goods in the live broadcast room belongs to the legal relationship between the operator and the consumer. The legal responsibility arising from sales and live broadcasts to the outside world is borne by the operating entity of the online store, and has nothing to do with the anchor himself. Consumers can directly demand compensation from sellers on online shopping platforms. If the anchor engages in business activities and sells products produced by themselves, then the anchor's identity is that of a business operator. For the purpose of making profits, the anchor should be identified as the operator engaged in business activities of selling goods continuously through the Internet and other information networks, and the change of the number of times of trading products or trading methods does not affect the nature of the behavior. At this point, the anchor should bear civil liabilities such as returns and exchanges, compensation for losses, and may also be held liable for punitive damages due to fraudulent behavior. You can demand that online shopping platforms or platform operators bear compensation liability. In addition to determining whether the anchor needs to bear responsibility, you can also directly demand that online shopping platforms or platform operators bear compensation liability. According to Article 9 of the E-commerce Law of the People's Republic of China, e-commerce operators refer to natural persons, legal persons and unincorporated organizations engaged in business activities of selling goods or providing services through the Internet and other information networks, including e-commerce platform operators, platform operators and e-commerce operators who sell goods or provide services through self built websites and other network services. In practice, if there is a dispute between the buyer and seller in online shopping, consumers can demand that the e-commerce platform bear the liability for compensation in advance, or directly demand that the online store operator within the e-commerce platform bear the liability for compensation. In summary, whether the anchor needs to take responsibility depends on the specific role they play in the live streaming sales process. At the same time, consumers can also demand that online shopping platforms or platform operators bear compensation liability. Lawyers remind that hosts and operators of live streaming rooms should comply with laws and regulations, follow the principle of good faith, and truthfully disclose the product information displayed and verbally stated; At the same time, if consumers have disputes with operators, they should rationally protect their rights. (New Press) (The author is Gao Yanli, a lawyer from Beijing Gongheng Law Firm)
Edit：Liling Responsible editor：Chenjie
Source：People.cn
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