To encourage healthy industry growth, Chinese authorities on Sunday released draft guidelines for public consultation aimed at curbing opaque pricing and unfair charges by e-commerce platforms.

Issued by China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), the guidelines contain 28 provisions across five key areas including clarifying fees, easing merchants’ operational burdens, and enhancing supervision.

They also identify eight unreasonable fee practices, such as duplicate charges and forced participation in paid promotions, addressing common issues faced by sellers.

The draft was unveiled amid the annual 618 mid-year shopping festival, which this year kicked off on May 13 and will run for 37 days — marking the longest promotional period in the event’s 17-year history.

With China’s platform economy encompassing tens of millions of online businesses and over 900 million consumers, the guidelines aim to standardize fee practices and improve transparency in platform charging practices.

A Shanghai-based merchant surnamed Wang, who has over a decade of experience on China’s major e-commerce platform Taobao, told Sixth Tone that she objects to the platform’s arbitrary fee structures. Expressing her concerns, Wang questions how the rules will be enforced without proper notification or clear standards.

When it comes to platform fees, she calls for significant reductions or complete elimination. “Order-based commissions alone should be adequate to sustain platform operations,” she said. “Inventing endless additional charges is unfair.”

According to the guidelines, platforms will be encouraged to adopt flexible pricing strategies to support the development of small- and medium-sized enterprises.

To improve transparency, the rules would force platforms to prominently display fee structures on their home pages and specify promotion charges. Any fee rule modifications would require an on-platform, seven-day period for public discussion, with three-year version histories maintained for reference.

Professor Wang Xianlin from KoGuan Law School of Shanghai Jiao Tong University told the state-run Xinhua News Agency that the draft guidelines directly address industry pain points by further standardizing platform fee practices. Their core significance lies in balancing interests and reshaping a healthy market ecosystem, he added.

Implementation of these guidelines should help standardize platform charging protocols and protect the rights of platform merchants and consumers, the Xinhua piece continues, contributing to the sustainable development of the platform economy and maintaining fair competition.

Launched in 2008 by e-commerce giant JD.com, 618 shopping festival was created to celebrate the company’s founding — on June 18, giving it its namesake — and has since been adopted by many of China’s e-commerce platforms, including the Alibaba-backed Taobao.

This year’s extended promotion gives shoppers the chance to snag more deals and reflects a broader shift in the e-commerce industry from short-term sales spikes to long-term engagement strategies.

JD.com has already had a brush with the SAMR this month. Following its recent entrance into the food delivery market, intensifying competition with established players Meituan and Ele.me, the regulator summoned the companies to ease tensions and promote sustainable growth.

Editor: Tom Arnstein.

(Header image: VCG)