Web firms told to address online shopping disputes

With virtual shopping catching on, online merchants and portals should set up a mechanism to address disputes, especially in cases where stores publish incorrect prices, the Consumers' Foundation (消基會) said yesterday.

Over the past three months, more than 10 cases involving incorrect pricing have occurred, mostly with merchandise sold through PC Home Online (網路家庭), an online portal that runs one of the nation's largest online stores.

On April 3, an advertisement placed on PC Home said that a batch of Casio digital cameras, with a market price of around NT$8,600 (US$268) each, would be sold for NT$790.

The more than 90 percent discount immediately attracted a huge number of buyers. But the next day, PC Home said one of its engineers had made a mistake on the price. It said the company could not take the orders and would refund buyers.

On Feb. 11, the online portal also mistakenly advertised 12 bottles of clam essence produced by Taiwan Sugar Corp (台糖) for NT$2. The product's market price is NT$840. Within hours 576 shoppers had placed 1,832 orders. PC Home refused to sell the products.

Similar lapses occurred at Unimall (統一購物網). On Feb. 18, its Web page said that Canon camera lenses worth nearly NT$20,000 each would be sold for NT$4,500. On April 10, it said cellphones with market prices of more than NT$8,000 each would be sold for NT$82. The portal then canceled orders it had received for the products and compensated buyers with coupons worth NT$600 each.

But vendors should honor the deals after consumers make payments and receive electronic documents confirming their orders, said Jason Lee (李鳳翱), chairman of the non-profit foundation, citing Articles 153 and 154 of the Civil Code.

In contrast, Hewlett-Packard Co (HP) decided to accept responsibility for a blunder in 2001, when it listed the price of some printers as NT$329, when the product actually retailed for nearly NT$5,000. To protect its corporate reputation, HP absorbed losses of NT$410,000 and sold the 77 printers consumers had ordered for the advertised price, Lee said.

Yang Hui-ju (楊蕙如), 27, said she had been involved in six similar incidents. Local online portals or vendors had refused to ship her orders, reasoning that consumers should be able to tell that the prices were unreasonably low, she said.

Lee said that retailers should establish a control mechanism to minimize possible losses if mistakes occur, such as placing caps on the number of units available for sale.