Research On The Protection Of Consumers' Rights And Interests In Online Group Purchase

During the era of big data,the Internet has been part of people’s lives and the transaction mode of online group purchase is increasingly prosperous.Online group purchase can not only bring benefits for group-purchasing websites,but also greatly reduce the cost of living for consumers and increase the profits and market popularity of merchants.While the group-purchasing market is booming,the number of consumers’ rights infringement is escalating.In the process of online group purchase,consumers often encounter behaviors that infringe upon their legitimate rights and interests,such as personal information disclosure,fraudulent advertising of merchants’ products or services,discriminatory consumption,hidden consumption,and merchants’ anticipatory repudiation.In order to effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers in online group purchase,the author of the thesis firstly clarifies the civil legal relationship among group-buying websites,merchants and consumers through thorough analysis: there is the commission contract between group-buying websites and merchants;there is the sales contract between merchants and consumers.Based on the civil legal relationships among the three parties,the author of thesis states the corresponding rights and obligations of the three parties.In the existing legal system,the author analyzes merchant’s liability for customers,such as the contracting fault liability,the liability for breach of contract,the causes of exemption and the forms of relief for consumers when the merchants breach the contract.Finally,through the analysis of China’s existing Law of the People’s Republic of China on the protection on the customer’s rights and interests and the administrative code related to the protection of the rights and interests of consumers.Author comes up with some practical legal recommendations base on the study and comparison of American statute: enhancing the level of transaction security and personal privacy,standardizing the group-purchasing business methods,standardize the websites rating mechanism,identifying the online group purchasing litigation jurisdiction and setting the minimum standard of online group purchasing market access.