In recent times, Chinese online shopping platforms have been flooded with low-priced “pure silver” bowls and chopsticks. Mainland China scholars have stated that these are typical examples of “one-glance fake” products that are proliferating due to the irresponsibility of e-commerce platforms. This news has surged in popularity on social media.
According to a report by the “Southern Metropolis Daily” on November 10th, Chen Yinjiang mentioned during an e-commerce legal forum on November 8th that earlier this year, he purchased 24 items labeled as “pure silver” bowls and chopsticks from various platforms. He said: “These silver bowls and chopsticks are priced as low as 10 or even 5 yuan per pair, with a ‘pure silver’ bowl selling for only 30 yuan, while the price of silver raw materials has exceeded 7 yuan per gram during the same period.” Merely based on the price, it can be determined that these products are not made of pure silver. This is a typical representation of “one-glance fake” products found online. Furthermore, these fake goods have become widespread across various platforms and categories, including traditional comprehensive e-commerce, emerging social e-commerce, live streaming sales, and second-hand trading platforms. In addition to household items like silver bowls and chopsticks, counterfeit luxury goods, beauty and personal care products, food supplements, and electronic products are also being counterfeited.
Regarding the reasons for the proliferation of “one-glance fake” products, Chen Yinjiang believes that the platforms bear an undeniable responsibility. Firstly, algorithms tend to recommend products with low prices and high sales volumes to consumers, which easily gives low-priced “one-glance fake” products priority exposure, leading to a situation where inferior goods drive out quality goods. Secondly, the platform’s qualification review processes are merely formalities, resulting in ineffective control of counterfeit goods, thereby providing a means for the survival of “one-glance fake” products. Additionally, the high sales volume brought by low-priced goods benefits the platform through commission fees or advertising revenue, further weakening the platform’s governance motivation and leading to instances of “selective blindness.”
Chen Yinjiang warns consumers that the falseness of “one-glance fake” products has distinct characteristics, such as significantly lower prices than reasonable costs, the use of misleading promotional language, and appearing prominently on the homepage.
In response to the widespread proliferation of “one-glance fake” products, many netizens have raised questions such as: “There are so many similar products online, why isn’t anyone regulating them?”