In 2025, the spot price of silver surged from around $29 per ounce at the beginning of the year to $83 per ounce. Amid the drastic fluctuation in silver prices, consumer disputes have emerged. Recently, a citizen spent 36,836 yuan on a certain platform to purchase 2,400 grams of silver bars but the next day after payment, the store was “cleared out,” leaving him with no silver bars and stuck in a deadlock in seeking justice.
According to reports from Red Star News, Mr. Xu placed four orders totaling 2.4 kilograms of silver at the “Wenzhou Some Life Textile” store on December 25th.
“With the recent sharp rise in gold and silver prices, I thought of stocking up,” Mr. Xu said. He spent a total of 36,836 yuan to purchase 24 silver bars of 100 grams each. The purchase notice for the product stated: “This product is not price-guaranteed silver bars. Due to the fluctuating silver market, if the price drops after payment, no price difference will be refunded, and no additional payment is required if the price rises.”
However, after Mr. Xu placed the order, the store did not ship the goods promptly. “The expected shipping date was December 27th, but even after the deadline, no shipment was made,” Mr. Xu said. He mentioned that the day after he placed the order, the store’s inventory was emptied, and customer service became unreachable.
Mr. Xu believed that the main reason the merchant did not ship the goods was due to the increase in silver prices. The day after his purchase, the silver price started to rise. By around December 29th, the silver price exceeded 20 yuan per gram. By January 1, 2026, the price had fallen to 16.82 yuan per gram.
Text messages provided by Mr. Xu showed that on December 30th, the platform responded that they had made the utmost effort to urge the merchant regarding the shipment issue and suggested applying for a refund to purchase other items to avoid delays.
Mr. Xu stated that the product description promised “shipment regardless of price fluctuations,” and currently, the merchant must either ship the goods or compensate according to the current market situation.
The e-commerce platform’s “Wenzhou Some Life Textile” store displayed 929 sales with a “Bronze Store” ranking, but currently, no items are available for sale. The store is registered under Wenzhou Some Machinery Co., Ltd.
On January 1st, the legal representative of the company, Mr. Zhi, provided a different explanation to the issues raised by consumers.
“That online store was operated by seven or eight college interns during the summer before they left, and the account has not been active since, nor have any goods been shipped,” said Mr. Zhi. He mentioned that the online store was registered in July 2025 and was actually only in operation for one or two months before becoming inactive for three to four months. “We had no idea about this situation.”
According to the backend page provided by Mr. Zhi, in September 2025, the store’s sales were 636.8 yuan (31 purchasers, 32 transactions). In August, October, and November, sales were zero. However, in December, within two days, 507 people made 1,372 transactions amounting to 4.9575 million yuan.
The backend data showed a sudden surge in sales starting December 25. On December 26, users paid over 4.31 million yuan, but sales dropped to zero by December 27. Previously, the store had zero sales for a week.
Mr. Zhi explained that the prices of products sold offline are based on real-time silver prices plus labor costs, while the online store prices were fixed in August or September and no longer reflected current costs.
Mr. Zhi further alleged that the consumer placed an impure motive on the online order by spending tens of thousands of yuan in one go. He mentioned willingness to accept consumer refund requests and platform penalties but refused to ship according to the orders.
During this period, Mr. Xu also lodged a complaint with the petition platform. The Complaints Bureau of Yueqing City, Zhejiang Province, on December 28, 2025, stated that the issue did not fall within its remit and forwarded it to the Market Supervision Administration of Yueqing City for resolution.
On December 30, the Market Supervision Administration of Yueqing City responded to Mr. Xu that they had organized mediation. However, the respondent clearly refused to mediate with the consumer, leading to the administration’s decision to terminate the mediation.
Regarding this matter, Fu Jian, the director of the Henan Ze Jin Law Firm, believed that once a consumer places an order and pays for the goods, failure by the merchant to ship according to the contract terms or within a reasonable period constitutes a breach of contract, thus should bear the liability for breach.
Fu Jian explained that under relevant regulations, consumers have the right to demand shipment from the merchant or claim breach of contract, requesting a refund and compensation for losses.
In terms of consumer rights protection, Fu Jian suggested that consumers can initially file a complaint for undelivered goods and apply for preliminary compensation from the platform. If the issue is not satisfactorily resolved, consumers can resort to legal action, demanding that the merchant fulfills the contract or is liable for the losses incurred due to the breach.