【Focus on "3·15"】Have You Fallen Into These Traps in Consumer Sectors?

On March 13, in Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province, a themed publicity event for the “3.15” International Consumer Rights Day was held. Our reporter Geng Yuhe took photos.

Have you ever fallen into these traps in consumer fields? Price protection requests denied after price drops; precious metals with insufficient purity, fake jade; shared power banks that are hard to borrow and difficult to return… According to data released today by the State Administration for Market Regulation, in 2025, market regulators across the country handled a total of 20.366 million consumer complaints through the 12315 platform, phone calls, and other channels, a 9.3% increase year-on-year.

Looking at the issues reported, after-sales service (5.347 million cases), quality problems (3.972 million cases), and others are relatively prominent, accounting for 26.3% and 19.5% of total complaints respectively.

Price protection requests denied for various reasons after price drops

In 2025, the nationwide 12315 platform received 15.067 million online shopping complaints and reports, a 14.3% increase. Among these, after-sales service and quality issues are the two most reported areas, with 3.486 million and 2.886 million complaints respectively, making up 42.3% of total, far exceeding other categories. Despite continuous improvements in transaction convenience and product variety on e-commerce platforms, fulfillment guarantees and product quality remain the shortcomings of online shopping.

Among these issues, complaints about clothing, shoes, and hats are the highest. Problems mainly involve difficulty in returns and exchanges, inaccurate size descriptions, and quality issues such as poor fabric, rough workmanship, fading, and pilling.

Notably, price disputes during shopping festivals are prominent. During the 2025 “Double 11” shopping festival, 99,000 complaints and reports about pricing were received, a 17.4% increase month-on-month and a 9.5% increase year-on-year. Among these, 22,000 involved price guarantee complaints, a 3.3-fold increase compared to the previous period. The core conflicts center on: consumers paying deposits during pre-sale periods discovering that the final payment or peak period prices are lower. Although platforms offer price protection services, consumers are often denied when applying due to reasons like link changes or different coupon types.

Counterfeit products and rapid growth in complaints about natural jade

With the booming jewelry market, especially the surge in young consumers’ demand for personalized and daily accessories, a large fashion jewelry market has formed. However, market prosperity also brings significant consumer pain points.

In 2025, the 12315 platform received 380,000 complaints and reports about jewelry, a 16.4% increase. Among these, gold jewelry (142,000 cases) and natural jade (102,000 cases) are the main focus, accounting for 87.9% of total jewelry complaints, along with silver jewelry (45,000), alloy jewelry (28,000), and natural gemstones (17,000).

The fastest-growing complaints are about natural jade, with a 35.6% increase year-on-year, followed by silver jewelry and natural gemstones, with increases of 34.2% and 25.1% respectively. Consumers mainly report three issues: first, some products have insufficient precious metal purity, counterfeit jade, or excessive harmful substances; second, “fixed-price” gold jewelry often lacks clear weight labeling, with actual unit prices far exceeding market gold prices, and undisclosed exchange restrictions; third, issues with online sales channels, which account for 60% of jewelry complaints, involve false advertising, mismatched products, and “customization non-return” policies.

Overstated functions of smart products lead to large consumer expectation gaps

The current consumer market has entered the era of smart consumption, with smart features becoming a core marketing point for many merchants. Some mature, practical smart products genuinely provide consumers with convenient and efficient experiences, improving quality of life. However, some products’ functions do not match their promotional claims, and poor user experience leads to frequent disputes.

In 2025, the 12315 platform received 152,000 complaints and reports about smart devices, a 26.6% increase. Issues mainly involve after-sales service (51,000 cases), quality problems (51,000 cases), and violations of consumer rights (12,000 cases).

Consumers report problems mainly focus on: first, overhyped “smart” labels, with actual functions limited to basic networking or simple remote control, failing to address real needs, causing expectation gaps; second, software issues such as failed system updates, app crashes, poor compatibility, and data synchronization failures, often intertwined with hardware faults; third, the lack of unified technical standards and quality standards in emerging smart device fields, incomplete after-sales systems, and high thresholds for returns and exchanges.

Complaints about charging piles for new energy vehicles increase by 47.8%

As digitalization and electrification accelerate, power endurance has become a fundamental need supporting public mobility and green travel. However, “charging anxiety” has not eased; it has extended from mobile phones to vehicles, becoming a pain point throughout daily consumption and travel experiences.

In 2025, the 12315 platform received 156,000 complaints and reports related to power banks, a 62.5% increase. Issues mainly involve product quality, return disputes, difficulty borrowing and returning shared power banks, and abnormal billing.

Meanwhile, with the rapid increase in the number of new energy vehicles and expanding charging infrastructure, service quality of charging facilities is increasingly highlighted. In 2025, complaints about charging infrastructure for new energy vehicles reached 61,000, a 47.8% increase. Problems include difficulty in refunding recharge balances, some operators “running away” and disappearing, opaque charging standards, and unresponsive customer service.

Overall, whether it’s small-scale power banks or large charging stations supporting new energy vehicle travel, the speed of product and service quality improvement lags behind market expansion. Relevant operators need to strengthen compliance management and optimize service processes to fundamentally alleviate consumer “charging anxiety” and improve consumption and travel experiences. (Reported from Beijing on March 15)