False comments undermine trust in e-commerce

Wang Shanshan, a 27-year-old mother of two, opened an online cosmetic shop on WeChat, where she has nearly 5,000 followers. She checks delivery orders at home in Huai'an city, Jiangsu province on Jan 31, 2015. [Photo/IC]

Some e-commerce stores pay people to write five-star comments to promote their business. The practice is detrimental to the domestic e-commerce industry, says Beijing News:

The booming of e-commerce in China has multiple causes. Online shops can sell goods at cheaper prices because they do not need to pay rent; more importantly, their trading record is more transparent as a customer can see what previous buyers have to say.

If the trade record of an online shop is found to be falsified that will deal a fatal blow to trust, which is the basis of the online business. When people lose trust in online shops, online commerce will in turn wither.

But reports show that whole chains of falsehood have been formed, with thousands of people making a living by writing comments for online shops. The shops have to pay these writers and thus they have to make more money from consumers to pay them.

The e-commerce supervisors must pay more attention to this problem. Just imagine one day we may no longer dare to trust online shops and our shopping experience will go back to how it was in the 1990s.