After the "sexy operation", a group of Chinese e-commerce companies were put on the "blacklist" of foreign consumer associations...

“ My friends and I work hard to run this store! ”

“ We have over 15 years of experience in the fashion industry! ”

"Our goal is to provide customers with high-quality goods and the best service at the most affordable prices!"

Sellers with these "beliefs" will tell you: "We can't hold on any longer and are going to go bankrupt. The clearance of products with discounts up to 80% is our last struggle." As a consumer, will you be more or less touched? And then help these stores to recover a little bit of "blood".

But a few months later you realize, eh? Didn’t this store say it was closing down and clearing out its stock? Why is it still there? Then you realize, well, you’ve been tricked again.

Of course, this method can no longer "touch" most domestic consumers, but what about foreign consumers?

Playing the emotional card, a group of websites "touched" many overseas consumers

“For 35 years, we have been creating beautiful bags with great passion”, “My husband and I founded this company 15 years ago”;

“With a heavy heart” due to “inability to compete with large online stores and rising costs”… “must close the business”;

"We sacrificed our dreams..." and now "starting a 'final clearance sale' with deep discounts".

Recently, some e-commerce websites have been promoting their products and brands in such a "touching" way through well-known social platforms . The "touching" corporate background + "touching" discounts have moved many German consumers to "passionately place orders". "We have received many similar consumer complaints every day recently," said Julia, a staff member of the Hamburg Consumer Association (Germany).

According to consumer complaints, these websites are closely related to "Chinese sellers". Through the investigation of the Hamburg Consumer Association, these "suspicious Chinese stores" are not German websites, but they are combined with German URL addresses and named after German cities and surnames, such as "Boutiq Berlin", "Imperio Hamburg" or "Schneider Düsseldorf".

Therefore, these websites can easily make German consumers think that "this is a local German company", and the website does not specify the specific location of the company.

Of course, if the shipping location and supplier were just "confused", it would not cause "verbal criticism" from German consumers and the Consumer Protection Association. In the final analysis, it is the product quality and return issues that are dissed by German consumers and the Consumer Protection Association.

According to the consumers who complained, "the quality of these products is very poor" and the photos and descriptions of the products on the website are far from the actual products. Especially the clothes, there are various problems in processing and tailoring.

The materials of textiles are often completely different from what is described on the website. For example, the website claims that the clothes are made of cotton or linen, but when consumers get the goods, they find that the goods are actually made of synthetic materials such as polyester.

The product does not match the picture, and the website is "sued" by consumers to the Consumer Association

German consumer Ella was one of the consumers who complained to the Hamburg Consumers Association after being deceived.

Ella recently bought a size XXL beige blended wool pullover for her husband on an e-commerce website through a well-known social platform. According to the website, the store is now closing for various reasons, so the high-quality wool sweater, which originally cost 100 euros, now only costs 29 euros.

With this calculation, the discount on this sweater is less than 30% off. Then, when Ella looked at the product in the picture, she realized it was worthy of the word "high quality", so she placed an order.

A few weeks later, Ella received a package from China. But the package contained a pink synthetic pullover, which was not only cheap but also "exquisite" in size. "This piece of clothing has nothing to do with the sweater in the advertisement," Ella said.

Then Ella applied for a return via email to the seller. Unexpectedly, the seller told Ella that she had to ship the sweater, which "did not match the picture" to China at her own expense. In anger, Ella complained to the Hamburg Consumer Association.

Ella said, "This store is very active in promoting on social media. There must be many people who have been deceived by this fake store which is fraudulent (in Ella's opinion). They should be banned!"

Ella is not the first, nor the only consumer to have this experience.

On review platforms such as Trustpilot, many consumers have shared their unpleasant shopping experiences on such websites.

A consumer named Nadja P. said: "These bags are nothing like the pictures on the website or the promises, and they have a really strong smell!" Another consumer also said, "The handbags are nothing like what is shown on the website, whether it is color, shape or material, and their quality is really poor. If I want to return them, I can only send them back to China at my own expense."

More than 100 Chinese e-commerce companies are on the Consumer Association's "blacklist"

In addition to the fact that the product quality and materials "do not meet the product description", many consumers also complained that it was difficult to contact the website when they wanted to return the product; after the website agreed to the return, the product still needed to be shipped from Germany to China, which brought additional costs to consumers. According to Julia, "(The return fee that consumers need to pay) is usually more than 40 euros."

Take the response from a website to consumers as an example: "You can return it to our warehouse in China, but you will be responsible for the return fee and it may take 20-30 days to return"; "Based on our experience, even if you use the cheapest express service from the post office, the return fee may be as much as half the price of your package, or even more than that." The website also stated that "returning to China may not be an economically viable option."

To appease consumers who want to return products, the website advises consumers to "keep the item and pass it on to a friend or family member in need" and offers consumers "a voucher of 30% of the product value" or "a refund of 20% of the product value" as compensation.

"But what's the point of all these discounts if you end up not being able or willing to wear the clothes?" asked one consumer.

In this case, the Hamburg Consumer Association compiled the e-commerce websites that consumers had complained about into a "blacklist", arranged in order from A to Z. There are more than 100 websites on the list .

The Hamburg Consumers Association also reminds consumers, "Don't let your feelings get the better of you" and "Check the legal notices and general terms of business even if you see a store with a German name and a .de domain name." If you are really "moved", remember to check this "blacklist" first.

In my opinion, cross-border sellers need to have some tricks in their business , but they also need to have the killer skill of sincerity. What better sincerity is there for consumers than "good quality" and "good after-sales service"? Therefore, while cross-border sellers keep up with their marketing skills, they must not forget to do a good job of quality control and service. Only by doing this can they have a better chance of winning repeat customers from overseas.

China e-commerce

overseas

blacklist