Online marketplace rife with illegal items and unethical sellers
A post offering to sell a mixed breed dog was uploaded Tuesday on Joonggonara, an online marketplace for secondhand items. / Screen captured from Joonggonara
By Lee Hyo-jin
“Cute puppy for sale for 60,000 won ($53), free packaging, additional charges for delivery.” An internet user uploaded a post offering to sell a mixed breed dog on Joonggonara, one of the country's largest online marketplace for secondhand items, Tuesday.
Another user offered to sell a British shorthair cat for 200,000 won as they could not keep it anymore due to allergies.
The online sale of pets not only seems inappropriate and unethical, but it may also be infringing on the Animal Protection Act, which requires registered business licenses for pet dealers.
Illicit drug trades were easily spotted on Daangn Market, another popular peer-to-peer flea market app. Any users of the app can sell or purchase prescription medications such as pills for diabetes, steroid ointment, hair loss treatment and dietary supplements.
The app was embroiled in controversy last month after a woman offered to sell her newborn baby for 200,000 won. A similar post selling a baby for 3 million won was spotted again the same month, but this turned out to be a “prank” by a teenager.
Criticism and concerns are rising over such illicit trades and unethical sellers, with people calling on the government and the platform operators to come up with stricter regulations and monitoring systems.
Following the incidents, Daangn Market recently began using an AI learning system to automatically filter banned items. It also released a set of specific guidelines for users and clarified the list of illegal products, warning that violations of the guidelines would result in the removal of posts, forced logouts, temporary or permanent bans on the use of services, as well as possible police investigations depending on the severity of the issue.
Kim Han-ki, a member of Citizens United for Consumer Sovereignty (CUCS), a consumer advocacy group, said the government should step up and actively engage in regulating illegal practices as self-regulation by market operators may not be enough.
“The government has remained somewhat hesitant to crack down on online marketplaces, as it may be perceived as excessive regulation against free trade between individuals. But if we fail to ban illegal trading now, we won't be able to eradicate them in the future,” said Kim.
He expected the open market system to get bigger and more platforms to emerge.
“The related authorities such as the Fair Trade Commission and the Korea Consumer Agency should cooperate and adopt a monitoring system for illegal practices on a regular basis. Based on the collected data, they should provide unified guidelines applicable to all open market platforms.”
Lee Eun-hee, a professor of consumer science at Inha University, stressed the importance of properly guiding users by instilling consumer ethics.
“Many people don't seem to realize that their deals are illegal, and teenagers uploading random things think of it as a joke. The platform operator needs to post the guidelines clearly visible to all users and show a strong response to rule breakers by permanently banning them,” Lee said.