The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) reported consumer complaints against online sellers on transactions made through the biggest electronic commerce websites Shopee and Lazada and other platforms like Facebook have risen exponentially this year.
DTI Undersecretary Ruth Castelo at a forum of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines on Friday, said in 2019, complaints received by the DTI on online transactions surged six times as of September to 13,674 from 2,457 in the whole of 2019.
The data showed nearly 9 in 10 of the complaints made between September 16 and 25 were lodged against Shopee and Lazada.
According to Castelo, more than half of the complaints were related to the Price Act such as overpricing, profiteering and hoarding ; 21 percent for defective products and; 13.86 percent were due to deceptive, unfair or unconscionable sales acts or practices.
Between Shopee and Lazada, the former was the subject of more complaints at 3,000 against the latter’s 2,830.
According to Castelo, most of the complaints were endorsed to appropriate agencies for action but the DTI has so far acted on 551 complaints.
