Can 12315 complain about the cashback for good reviews?

Unfair marketing practices such as cash rebates for good reviews not only violate national laws and regulations, but also infringe on important statutory rights such as consumers’ right to know and fair trade. The Consumer Rights Protection Law stipulates that consumers have the right to know the true situation of the goods they purchase and use or the services they receive; the Anti-Unfair Competition Law stipulates that operators shall not misrepresent the performance, function, quality, sales status, or status of their goods. User reviews, honors received, etc. are used to make false or misleading commercial propaganda to deceive and mislead consumers; the E-commerce Law clearly stipulates that e-commerce operators are not allowed to conduct false or misleading business through fictitious transactions, fabricated user reviews, etc. Commercial propaganda that deceives and misleads consumers.

But nowadays, cashback for good reviews has become a common tactic of many merchants, and product evaluations have lost their due objectivity and fairness. As "Double 11" approaches, this investigation by the Guangdong Provincial Consumer Council has once again exposed the seriousness of the problem. The survey results showed that among the 600 samples surveyed, 85 samples were accompanied by positive feedback cards. The proportion of such obviously illegal and infringing behaviors is so high! It can be seen that relevant departments need to increase their efforts in daily supervision to promptly discover and investigate violations by merchants. If we only rely on centralized, short-term investigation and treatment, we may only be able to treat the symptoms.

It is worth noting that the trend of "private chatting" in improper marketing activities such as cash rebates for positive reviews has created considerable problems for daily supervision. Many consumers may have had this experience: when they got takeout, there was a small card attached: "Dear, scan the QR code and add WeChat, and take a screenshot of the positive reviews and get cashback." The cashback for positive reviews that Ms. Li came across in the previous article was also through private messages, By text message, etc. This kind of "private chat" unfair marketing is often not reflected on the official e-commerce page, which greatly increases the difficulty of discovery and investigation. Therefore, encouraging consumers to report and providing certain rewards after verification should be a practical and effective solution. As the Guangdong Provincial Consumer Council reminds, when encountering phenomena such as cash rebates for good reviews, consumers can call 12345 or 12315 to complain, or log on to the Consumer Council’s official website to lodge a complaint.

By strengthening supervision and encouraging reporting, clues have been discovered in a timely manner. It is also necessary to strengthen the integration of information and power between relevant departments to eliminate illegal marketing. According to reports, regarding the results of this investigation, the Guangdong Provincial Consumer Council has recommended that relevant departments strengthen supervision, increase law enforcement, and regulate through administrative penalties and inclusion in credit supervision. Whether this suggestion can be implemented and achieve actual results also depends on the close contact and cooperation between the Consumer Council and local market supervision departments in terms of information sharing and mechanism connection. Only when information is discovered in a timely manner, clues are fully shared, and law enforcement agencies, relevant organizations, and individual consumers take active actions to truly form a joint force, can penalties be implemented, and the phenomenon of cashback for good reviews can be fundamentally curbed.