Acting as purchasing agent means that purchasing agent errands and purchases because of friendship, affection or interests. Some scholars believe that the earliest overseas purchaser is Zhangqian, the pioneer of the Silk Road in the Han Dynasty. He was appointed to the Western Region by the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, which not only brings ferghana horse, grapes, toads, pomegranates, flax and other species to the Central China but also promotes the communication of civilization between the East and the West. To date, the purchasing industry has become an important part of the Chinese retail industry.
In recent years, the agent has taken the advantages of the Internet, the convenience of logistics and transportation, and the trust of consumers to make the purchasing industry be in full swing. However, among the huge purchasing group, there are some foxy purchasers who use the loopholes of the law to earn a huge profit margin.
On July 18, 2018, Youyan, the Taobao seller from Zhuhai of Guangdong province, smuggled garments over 11.4 million yuan, concerning tax evasion over 3 million yuan. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined 5.5 million yuan after being convicted of smuggling ordinary goods by the final judgment of the Higher People’s Court of Guangdong province.
On December 13 of the same year, Guangzhou Customs held a press conference to report two typical cases about smuggling through cross-border e-commerce. In these two cases, the criminals smuggled more than 170,000 seafood and 620,000 cans of milk powder which is worth 168 million yuan, and 17 major suspects were arrested.
The phenomenon that the agent violates the law owing to acting as purchasing agent is not by chance, and purchasing goods for others personally has intensified.
On January 1, 2019, the ‘E-commerce Law’, which went through four reviews, was officially applied. From the introduction to application, the law has affected the present and future of the entire purchasing industry, logistics and transportation industry. It’s not only regulating the sales activities of agencies, but also protecting the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
Firstly, admonish the purchaser
In recent years, agent has developed a variety of sales channels, from a small range of WeChat moments and QQ group to a wide range of microblog, live platform and Taobao, Jingdong, Vipshop and another e-commerce platform. It couldn’t be better that we describe their sales channels as ‘all-pervasive’.
(1) Legally running business as an purchasing agent and being kind
Whether you are a natural person, a legal person or an unincorporated organization, you have to be pursuant to the ‘E-commerce Law’ as long as you sell goods and provide service on the Internet for profit.
Agents should protect themselves. If necessary, they should obtain the relevant administrative permission according to law and shouldn’t sell goods or provide service prohibited by law or administrative regulations. Also, they have to offer customer receipt(a piece of paper that shows the price of something that you have bought and proves that you have paid for it). The ‘Electric Business Law’ explicitly prohibits some behavior of e-commerce runners such as default tie-in sale, charging repeat customers higher prices, false sales(The buyer affords purchasing costs to help designated online sellers to sell goods to improve sales and credit, and fill in false praise behavior.), false praise(Both the buyer and the seller aim at enhancing credit, or both parties make ‘satisfactory’ and ‘favorable comments’ without actual transaction.), unauthorized removal of bad reviews, no refund of deposits without reason, disclosure of user privacy, a long delay in express delivery, etc. If there is a violation, the maximum penalty will be 500,000 yuan.
(2) Properly guiding consumers to purchase goods
Most consumers understand and purchase goods through off-site forms(network channels) so that it often happens that consumers have disputes with agent because of the difference between physical and promotion. Therefore, the agent can counsel the norms and guidelines of ‘E-commerce Law’ and ‘Advertising Law’ from professionals. Then, do not make false promotion, and objectively evaluate the product to avoid unnecessary disputes.
Most consumers understand and purchase goods through off-site forms(network channels) so that it often happens that consumers have disputes with agent because of the difference between physical and promotion. Therefore, the agent can counsel the norms and guidelines of ‘E-commerce Law’ and ‘Advertising Law’ from professionals. Then, do not make false promotion, and objectively evaluate the product to avoid unnecessary disputes.
Secondly, remind consumers
(1) How to distinguish between acting as purchasing agent and smuggling
The legality of acting as agent mainly depends on whether you have declared and paid taxes.
According to Article 46 of ‘China's Customs Law’, personal goods carried in and out of the country and articles sent in and out by post shall be limited to their own use and reasonable amount, and shall be subject to customs’ supervision. Since January 1, 2019, three provisions on limits have been applied, including the transaction limit raising from 20,000 yuan per person per year to 26,000 yuan, the single transaction limit raising from 2,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan and the duty-free cross-border e-commerce retail imports which are imported within the limits.
(2) Pay attention to the amount of goods carrying when shopping overseas
The law reminds consumers to consider the price and the quantity of goods when shopping overseas. Taking tobacco and alcohol products as an example, it isn’t the reason for passengers to evade taxes that they buy the gifts for their relatives and friends. Each passenger can carry 200 cigarettes(a carton of cigarettes) from Hong Kong and Macao, and 400 cigarettes(two cartons of cigarettes) from other regions. Each person can be exempt from taxation when carrying one bottle of alcohol above 12 degrees(below 0.75 liters) from Hong Kong and Macao and 2 bottles(less than 1.5 liters) from other countries. If you exceed the amount, you need to pay taxes.
Prudently promise to carry valuable goods such as luxury bags and other products to the mainland for others. Once they are found by the customs, you would pay huge taxes or violate smuggling crimes. In particular, mobile phones, cameras, and laptops are not tax-free.
(3) Pay attention to protecting legitimate rights
a. Encountering an agent fraud incident
Legally, agent fraud is not only infringing on the civil rights of consumers, but also is a contract breach. If the circumstances are serious and matching the criminal prosecution standard, the agent may commit a crime. If the situation is true, the fraudsters need to bear civil liability, administrative responsibility, and may also charge criminal responsibility. Consumers can report to the market supervision and management department, and the market supervision and management department investigates. If the agent does act illegally, consumers can report to the police office.
b. Disputes involving suspected counterfeit and shoddy products
Consumers need to bear the burden of proof. First, who is selling what kind of product at what price? Second, this product may indeed be suspected of counterfeit and shoddy products.
c. Investigating the joint responsibility of the e-commerce platform runners
E-commerce platform runners, such as the management personnel of Tianmao, Taobao, Jingdong, Vipshop and another e-commerce platform, know or should know that the products sold by the operators in the platform or the service provided do not meet the requirements for the protection of personal and property safety. Or if there are other acts that infringe the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, and fail to take necessary measures, they would be held accountable jointly and severally with the sellers who run business through the e-commerce platform.
The application of the ‘E-commerce Law’ is not only regulating the business behavior of the e-commerce agent industry, but also protecting the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. At the edge of the legislation, interests often coexist with risks. Consumers only purchase goods through formal channels, which is the most safe choice for themselves.
