Experts Say Taobao Mall Violates The Antitrust Law &Nbsp, And The Seller'S Rights Protection Is Inappropriate.

"Taobao

The new rules are not equal in advance.

Recently, Taobao mall has issued a new announcement on 2012's new investment measures and rules adjustment, which has been resisted by small and medium-sized sellers, and organized a cyber siege to big sellers.

At present, there are three parts of the fees charged by Taobao Mall for sellers: technical service fee, technical service fee annual fee and deposit.

The announcement significantly increased the annual fee and margin of technical service fees.

In the past, the annual minimum cost of technical service charge of 6000 yuan increased to 30 thousand yuan, 60 thousand yuan and two stalls, and the margin increased from 10 thousand yuan to 50 thousand yuan, 100 thousand yuan, 150 thousand yuan.

In addition, the rate of technical services for some goods increased from 2% to 3%.

A small number of sellers protested when the news came out.

11 evening, as many as 7 thousand small and medium-sized sellers through YY voice and other organizations, Taobao mall mall sellers malicious attacks, intended to force Taobao mall to modify the rules.

At present, both sides are tough.

Taobao mall said it had reported to the police about the malicious attacks it had committed and would not compromise.

Small and medium-sized sellers rights protection organization "China Network Business Rights Protection Association" also does not show weakness.

Today, they put forward, "I hope that Taobao will communicate with all Taobao small and medium-sized enterprises in YY34158 hall before 24 o'clock in October 15, 2011.

Besides the deadline, we will launch a larger group purchase. "

This means that if Taobao mall does not have an equal dialogue, it may encounter more large-scale network attacks.

Reporters call Taobao customer service today, the other said that the cost will not be adjusted.

It is reported that the rules of Taobao mall adjustment, most of the sellers did not know beforehand.

Zhang Yong, President of Taobao mall, told the media that "the upgrade of the whole rule began to be discussed in June when Taobao was disassembled for three hours.

During this period, I communicated with some sellers about the whole plan. "

Specific sellers, he did not disclose specifically.

Liu Deliang, a professor at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, said, "the relationship between Taobao mall and seller is the relationship of lease. According to the contract law, the parties concerned can change the contract through consensus.

Although Taobao mall can not negotiate with sellers one by one, it can not exclude the rights of the other parties when modifying the rules.

Moreover, the Taobao mall is formulating the format contract, and it should also stipulate in accordance with the contract law that it can not increase the liability of the other parties for the special long-term contract relationship with Taobao sellers.

Suspected abuse of dominant market position

Why did Taobao mall adjust its rules? Taobao mall announced that in order to create quality.

Taobao mall encourages businesses to provide consumers with high quality goods and services, while taking a clear-cut stand against counterfeit goods and parallel imports, opposing low-quality goods and opposing all low-priced and vicious competition.

The announcement also said, "any policy adjustment made by Taobao mall is intended to ensure the legitimate rights and interests of businesses and consumers."

The reporters found that there are basically two views on the new rules of Taobao: first, the Taobao mall's pricing of its services is its autonomy in operation, and the price of general goods or services is determined by the market and consumption.

Another view is that the new rule is only an offer invitation act in contract law, which is lawful. If the seller does not accept the rule, it can choose to cancel it.

But for sellers who sign contracts with mall before the new rules are issued, if the mall fails to inform the new rules when signing the contract, the behavior of the mall is a breach of contract.

Professor Wang Chunhui, a famous French business expert, believes that the "Taobao incident" should not only focus on the legal nature of the new rules, but also focus on the oligopoly and abuse of dominance of the Chinese Internet industry in some related markets caused by the new rules.

According to the antimonopoly law, market dominance refers to the market position of operators in relevant markets, which can control commodity prices, quantities or other trading conditions, or obstruct or influence other operators' ability to enter relevant markets.

At present, all countries' anti monopoly laws strictly prohibit operators from abusing the dominant position of the market.

China's anti monopoly law also stipulates that operators with market dominance should be prohibited from selling goods at an unfair high price or buying goods at an unfair low price.

According to the research data of domestic famous consulting firm ERI, in the second quarter of 2011, Taobao mall occupied 48.5% of the domestic B2C market share, which was nearly two times the sum of second to tenth.

At present, more than 70 thousand brands and 50 thousand businesses are stationed in Taobao mall.

According to Wang Chunhui, Taobao mall occupies an absolute dominant position in the relevant market of B2C online shopping.

In this regard, Taobao's small and medium-sized sellers rely heavily on Taobao mall, which has no game and negotiation skills for the new rules of price adjustment, which is the main reason for Taobao's incident.

Taobao mall, using its dominant position in the relevant market of B2C online shopping, has greatly raised the service related price, which is five times as large as that of last year. It has been suspected of violating the prohibition provisions of the antimonopoly law on abusing the dominant market position.

Liu Deliang told reporters that Taobao mall has the power to manage, and the idea of building a better brand in the industry is also understandable. However, unreasonable adjustments to the contents of the contract will have an impact on sellers. Taobao mall is also suspected of abusing the dominant market position and violating the provisions of the anti-monopoly law.

Taobao mall should be treated differently according to Seller's integrity and scale of operation.

The first reaction of Professor Sheng Jiemin, an expert in Peking University's anti monopoly law, was that "the cost will eventually be passed on to consumers."

Sheng Jiemin said that it is very complicated to determine whether an enterprise has a dominant position in the market. First, we must define the "relevant market". Secondly, we need to identify and identify the dominant market position, and we also need professional data and analysis.

Rules should be approved by government departments.

During the interview, experts said that government departments should actively intervene.

Wang Chunhui told reporters that the market dominance of Taobao mall is a special form of dominance in the e-commerce market. Its advantage is an advantage in network pactions. Taobao mall has the ability not only to determine the contents of its services, but also to offer unreasonable service conditions.

The absolute advantage will inevitably lead to abuse. Taobao has such a huge consumer group and businesses. The formulation of its trading rules must not be decided by Taobao's family. It must take account of many factors such as society, technology, market, policy and law.

At least, Taobao's adjustment rules are not in line with the current policy direction of the State Council to promote the development of small and micro enterprises.

Therefore, the government must regulate the electronic commerce paction rules of enterprises with market dominant position, and standardize and supervise them through legislation.

In addition, strengthening the supervision of the third party electronic trading platform is the responsibility of the competent authorities at all levels.

In April 2011, the Ministry of Commerce issued the "third party e-commerce paction platform service specification" clearly stipulates that all levels of commerce departments should establish a regulatory responsibility system and accountability system for online paction services, and supervise the trading activities of platform operators and operators in accordance with the law.

Wang Chunhui also recommended strict supervision of the deposit, requiring Taobao mall to deposit a certain amount of money or trading ratio in its bank account. If there is a problem, the bank can immediately freeze this part of the fund to resist risks.

"China Internet commerce Rights Association" also called on the government to regulate the electricity supplier market tonight.

They said: "our goal of safeguarding rights is not only to restore Taobao's original network platform system, but to let the government participate in the online shopping platform, formulate e-commerce laws, set up a network supervision Association, and set up the third party regulatory platform.

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Sellers' rights protection is not desirable.

Although the new rules of Taobao mall have formulated the annual fee refund standard, Taobao mall said that as long as the business dynamic service score reached 4.6 points, and the paction scale reached a certain level, it would partially and full refund, and most businesses met the annual fee refund standard.

The seller's doubts about the margin, Taobao mall also said that the deposit is frozen in the seller's Alipay account, the Taobao mall has no right and never thought of misappropriation of funds.

But small and medium-sized sellers are still dissatisfied with Taobao's holding funds, and even sellers say it is illegal fund-raising.

Liu Deliang said, small and medium-sized sellers of network attack behavior is illegal, it is not desirable.

In civil cases, it may involve contractual fraud and defamation of goodwill in criminal cases involving the failure to perform contracts and infringement of goodwill. In addition, network attacks are serious and may be subject to criminal accountability.

Wang Chunhui believes that according to the provisions of the law of public security management punishment, the seller's behavior is not enough to destroy public order.

Sheng Jiemin suggested that small and medium-sized sellers should change their current way of safeguarding their rights and report to the antitrust authorities.