Less than 60% of China’s e-commerce products are actually genuine

Even though Chinese products have improved significantly over the years, the country still has a problem with counterfeit goods, especially on its e-commerce platforms. According to a new report from the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, a measly 58.7% of the products sold on China’s e-commerce platforms were actually genuine, while the other 41.3% were counterfeits and fakes. This doesn’t just screw over consumers either, as many of these products are actually dangerous, which is why the Chinese government is taking this pretty seriously. 

China’s ecommerce industry has spent the past decade growing at breakneck speed, and there’s really no end in sight. Chinese ecommerce spending is expected to break US$1 trillion for the first time in 2017. But it isn’t all rosy, according to a new report released by the law enforcement and inspection team of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee. Fake products are still a serious problem. According to the Beijing Business Times, the report was compiled from the group’s inspections of 14 different ecommerce product categories in 2014. It found that only 58.7 percent of the inspected goods were genuine, meaning the other 41.3 percent were fake. Fake here is a broad term, and it could include dangerous fake products like cosmetics with unlisted ingredients as well as brand-name clothing knock-offs and the like. The report also says ecommerce-related consumer complaints are up. The China Consumers Association handled more than 20,000 shopping-related consumer complaints last year, and 92.3 percent of those were about online purchases. Ecommerce-related complaints handled by one Beijing court were 3.7 times higher than the previous year, the report said.