"Free photo editing" with paid export, "low-cost flights" bundled with the project—have you encountered these?

“I just wanted to edit a picture, but the platform required me to spend at least 28 yuan on a one-week membership.” On April 3, Xiao Zhou from Beijing told a reporter that recently she had been looking for a job. In a recruitment process for a state-owned enterprise, she needed to upload an ID photo with a plain white background. Since she only had a blue-background ID photo, Xiao Zhou planned to process it with a photo-editing app. She didn’t expect to fall into a “free photo editing” trap.

Following an ad for “online free photo editing,” Xiao Zhou opened a webpage. However, after she uploaded the image and converted the background color, the resulting ID photo was extremely blurry and also had a watermark from the website, so it couldn’t meet the application requirements. Xiao Zhou tried clicking “HD quality,” but the page immediately popped up a payment option. “So-called free is just a cover—if you want a clear picture, you have to buy a membership,” she said helplessly.

The reporter’s investigation found that digital services promoted with “free” or “low-price” claims are not uncommon—ranging from online shopping to watching movies, from traveling to working—yet in reality they require payment and additional add-on consumption.

Wang, a woman from Dalian, Liaoning, told a reporter that in early April she wanted to travel to Guilin, Guangxi. When she bought flight tickets on an online platform, she encountered one trap after another. She said that on the quote page, the two options pinned at the top were priced at the lowest rates, both at 1,060 yuan. But when she filled in her information and went to the payment page, the ticket price for one of the 1,060-yuan options became 1,178 yuan. After carefully checking, Wang found that besides the airport construction fee and fuel surcharge, the ticket price also included an additional 48 yuan “all-around protection,” covering benefits such as delay compensation, airport pickup and drop-off coupons, video and audio membership, and other perks, and it could not be canceled. Wang then clicked the other booking option. Because it was bundled with a 40-yuan air delay insurance and accident insurance, the flight ticket price became 1,170 yuan.

After making a comparison, Wang ultimately found that the platform’s truly 1,060-yuan low-price flight was hidden in the dropdown under “Other Prices” on the page—very well concealed.

On the Black Cat Complaint platform 【Download Black Cat Complaint client】, many consumers have filed complaints about similar upselling behavior. One consumer bought a phone in installments, and when it came time to repay, the amount was incorrect; upon closer inspection, they discovered that while they were buying the phone, they also “bought” a supermarket gift card. Another consumer started a “Kids video and audio monthly package” service on TV, only to find after paying that they had also been charged for an “e-sports acceleration” service…

“Such ‘forced bundling’ disrupts market order and erodes trust in transactions.” Zhang Qingxin, a lawyer at Beijing Yingshan Law Firm, said that according to the E-Commerce Law, when e-commerce operators bundle goods or services, they should draw consumers’ attention in a clear and conspicuous manner. Under the Consumer Rights Protection Law, operators may not force or disguised-force consumers to purchase goods or accept services. Setting the bundling as the default option, or hiding it at the end of the process and displaying it in small text, already violates relevant regulations and infringes on consumers’ right to know, right to independent choice, and right to fair transactions.

Zhang Qingxin suggested further refining the standards in relevant regulations for determining “conspicuous notice” and “disguised coercion,” while also keeping complaint and reporting channels open, strictly cracking down on business practices such as hidden charges and bundled sales, and guiding the industry toward fair competition and healthy development.

Source: Workers’ Daily Online (app)

Author: Chen Xi

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