The Supreme People’s Court published its provisions on applying law in online consumption dispute cases on 2 March, effective 15 March. Twenty articles covering online consumption contracts, liability, live-stream marketing and food delivery — and several common e-commerce practices do not survive them.
Live-stream selling gets a framework
Article 11: when a seller on a platform runs a live-stream room to sell goods, the seller is liable for false advertising by its staff. Article 12: where consumers cannot tell who actually sold the goods, the room operator must prove it clearly labelled itself as not the seller and identified the actual seller, visibly enough for a consumer to tell — otherwise the consumer can hold the operator liable as the seller. Where the operator did label properly, courts weigh the appearance of the transaction, the agreements and cooperation model between operator and seller, the course of dealing and consumer perception.
Four further articles allocate platform liability: self-operated sales, advance payment when a platform cannot provide the room operator’s real identity, joint liability for failing to verify food business credentials, and joint liability where the platform knew or should have known of unlawful conduct.
Standard terms must be fair
Article 1 lists the classics — ‘signing for the goods counts as accepting their quality’, ‘the operator holds sole or final interpretation rights’ — and adds a catch-all: standard terms with such content are invalid.
Unsealing a product to inspect it does not waive the seven-day no-reason return: an e-commerce operator cannot refuse the return just because the package was opened, unless the law says otherwise.
Fake orders and fake reviews
The grey industry of fake orders, fake reviews and fake traffic distorts what consumers see and hurts honest sellers. Contracts whose purpose is to fabricate transactions, clicks or user reviews for false publicity are invalid — a clear signal to operate cleanly.
For anyone selling online, the practical summary is short: say who you are, write fair terms, honour returns, and let real demand make the numbers.
Republished for information. The original text has not been independently verified and does not necessarily reflect our views.
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