Administrative Action Taken Against Seller Who Falsely Claimed "Out of Stock" Despite Having 'Corona Mask' Inventory

Fair Trade Commission issues corrective orders and fines to WContents, HealingStory, ShoppingTag, and TPlus

The public desperately needs masks, but merchants were caught using 'deception'. / Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) took administrative actions against WeContents, HealingStory, ShoppingTag, and TPlus for deceiving consumers by claiming items were sold out despite having stock.

The FTC imposed corrective orders (future conduct prohibition orders) and a total fine of 60 million KRW (in lieu of business suspension) on the four businesses.

The FTC explained that since it was difficult to calculate related sales revenue, a fixed fine of 15 million KRW was imposed on each business.

According to the FTC, the four businesses did not sell 116,750 masks between January 20 and 30, despite having stock. Instead, they deceived consumers by claiming the items were sold out. They attempted to resell the masks at higher prices than the unilaterally canceled orders.

The FTC announced that it decided to impose corrective orders and a total fine of 60 million KRW for violating the supply obligation under the "Act on Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce, etc." (Electronic Commerce Act).

According to Article 15 of the law, businesses engaged in "prepaid telecommunication sales" must take necessary measures to supply goods within three business days from the date the consumer pays.

Exceptions are allowed only if the supply timing is separately agreed upon or if there are difficulties in supplying the goods.

Prepaid telecommunication sales refer to telecommunication sales where the consumer pays all or part of the price of goods or services in advance before receiving them.

The FTC clearly stated that when judging illegality, it considered circumstances such as the businesses finding it difficult to estimate the supplyable quantity in advance due to the Lunar New Year holiday and the difficulty in securing additional stock under the same conditions due to the impact of COVID-19.

Park Ji-woon, head of the FTC's Electronic Commerce Division, said, "This measure will serve as an opportunity to encourage businesses to prepare measures to prevent confusion, such as identifying supplyable quantities and providing information on supply possibilities, thereby enhancing trust in the electronic commerce market." He added, "The FTC will continue to monitor the related market and take swift and strict actions against issues threatening consumer safety."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.