Complaints related to direct purchases from overseas e-commerce malls surged 16.9% in South Korea last year, coinciding with the accelerated expansion of Chinese e-commerce giants such as AliExpress and Temu into the Korean market.
The total number of complaints related to direct purchases from overseas e-commerce malls increased to 19,418 last year from 16,608 a year earlier, the Korea Consumer Affairs Agency (KCA) said on Friday.
Complaints filed against AliExpress, an e-commerce platform owned by China's Alibaba Group, nearly tripled in South Korea in 2023 compared to the previous year, jumping from 228 to 673.
The main complaints are related to product quality, late or absent deliveries, incorrect deliveries, missing items, failure to reflect order cancellations after late delivery, and lack of tracking information regarding delivery routes and delivery times.
Consumer rights groups say governments need to create new rules to prevent and address consumer harm caused by unfair market practices by multinational companies like AliExpress. ing.
Alibaba focuses on business-to-business transactions, while AliExpress is primarily a marketplace for business-to-business transactions.
KCS, an organization under the Korea Fair Trade Commission, said it is in talks with AliExpress to set up a hotline to resolve consumer complaints.
Written by Seo Ji-eun [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]