Coupang sells 'life-threatening' products despite AliExpress controversy

Seen above is a pistol-style crossbow sold on Coupang. Screen capture from Coupang

Coupang is facing growing criticism for selling dangerous items without any restrictive measures — such as age verification — sparking concerns over their illicit usage, some of which could be public safety hazards, according to industry officials, Thursday.

Korea's largest e-commerce firm currently lets consumers order hunting bows and sharp tipped arrows on its online sales platform without requiring additional documentation.

Hunting bows and other items that can be used to injure people are available to minors as well, as Coupang doesn't ask for age verification when ordering such items.

Officials from the nation's consumer groups said that Coupang should implement monitoring procedures for items that can pose a danger to the public, even if their sales are not prohibited in Korea.

"Regardless of the legality of their sales, Coupang should suspend sales of dangerous products and any other menacing items," Choi Woo-sung, general manager at the Korea National Council of Consumer Organizations, said.

Choi said the biggest problem is that Coupang has not taken measures to prevent minors from ordering items that can be used as weapons to injure other people.

"If Coupang wants to keep selling the items on its platform, the company must take restrictive measures, but our stance is that the company should stop selling all such items," he said.

Other overseas e-commerce firms also faced a huge public backlash for listing such products on their platforms without regulating their sales.

AliExpress, a Chinese e-commerce platform that is rapidly expanding its presence in Korea, also took heavy flak on Wednesday after it was revealed to have allowed sales of items such as melatonin pills, crossbows and toothpick launchers. Selling and buying melatonin supplements are prohibited in Korea as the sleeping aid is a prescription drug here.

"Coupang wants to keep engaging in its autonomous business activities without being swayed by a platform act, which regulates industry-leading big platform companies, but the company leaves much to be desired [due to its] weak monitoring practices," Choi said.

Coupang also sold some sleep supplement products whose names are similar to melatonin. When customers search for melatonin on Coupang, they get a set of related products that are on sale on the platform. However, they do not actually include melatonin, according to Coupang.

"If melatonin or any other forms of prescription medicine are not allowed for sale online, the e-commerce platform operator should not have allowed customers to find the items when they type in the keywords on the platform," Choi said.

Coupang's spokesperson declined to comment on the latter and said it is internally reviewing whether to take any actions as the products in question can be sold in Korea legally.