Online Shopping Damage Halved Compared to Last Year... Significant Decrease in Clothing and Mask-Related Complaints

Seoul Electronic Commerce Center Announces Analysis of 2,988 E-commerce Damage Cases in First Half of This Year
30% of Reported Cases Completed Refunds and Compensation, 15% Undergoing Exchange or Contract Fulfillment for Practical Damage Relief

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] According to an analysis of online shopping damage reports in the first half of this year by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, damages related to clothing and health products/medical devices, which previously accounted for a high proportion, have significantly decreased. The total number of damage reports also dropped to about half compared to the previous year.

On the 19th, the Seoul Electronic Commerce Center reported that the number of online shopping damage reports in the first half of this year was 2,988, about half of the 5,936 cases reported in the first half of last year, due to the stabilized supply of "masks" and social distancing measures. Among the received cases, 875 cases (29.3%) were resolved by sellers refunding or compensating consumers (amounting to 205.13 million KRW), and 440 cases (14.7%) were handled by sellers fulfilling contracts or exchanging products.

Although the number of damage reports by product category has significantly decreased, clothing-related cases still accounted for the largest share at 28.6% (855 cases), followed by "culture, kidult, and leisure goods" at 24.9%. Looking at the increase and decrease trends by category, damage reports related to "health products and medical devices" such as masks and hand sanitizers dropped sharply from 1,582 cases in the first half of last year to 55 cases this year. This is interpreted as a result of reduced consumer damages such as delivery delays and sales refusals caused by supply difficulties in the early COVID-19 period, as supply stabilized and prices normalized.

With the expansion of remote work and prolonged social distancing, consumption of clothing, shoes, bags, and accessories slowed down, leading to a decrease in damage reports for these items. Clothing cases dropped from 1,925 last year to 855 this year, and shoes, bags, and fashion accessories decreased from 478 to 326 cases.

On the other hand, damages related to "culture, kidult, and leisure goods" increased 4.6 times from 161 cases in the first half of last year to 746 cases this year. This increase is attributed to delivery delays and product defects in hobby and culture-related products such as figures and animations, which are often sold through pre-order formats.

The most common type of damage was "contract cancellation, returns, and refunds" with 1,589 cases (53.2%), followed by product defects and faults with 384 cases (12.9%), delivery delays with 368 cases (12.3%), business suspension/closure/unreachable with 232 cases (7.8%), and contract changes or non-fulfillment with 202 cases (6.8%). Regarding the types of shopping malls where damages occurred, "internet shopping malls" accounted for the majority with 2,128 cases (71.2%), followed by open markets with 493 cases (16.5%), SNS platforms with 174 cases (5.8%), internet services with 75 cases (2.5%), and overseas purchases with 36 cases (1.2%).

Meanwhile, the Center considers a shopping mall as a frequent damage offender if more than 10 consumer consultations related to delivery delays, withdrawal interference, refund delays, etc., are received within a month from the same mall and the mall fails to properly address the issues. In such cases, the mall's name is publicly disclosed on the Center's website to warn consumers. Sites confirmed as fraudulent are blocked in cooperation with hosting companies to fundamentally prevent consumer damages.

Han Young-hee, Director of Labor, Fairness, and Coexistence Policy at Seoul City, stated, "As online shopping mall usage continues to increase due to COVID-19 and changes in consumer trends, various consumer damages are also emerging. We will support safe online shopping for consumers by providing accurate information about shopping malls to prevent damages and by offering fast and systematic damage relief for cases that do occur."

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