Beijing Issues Warnings to Illegal E commerce Markets
The Beijing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games have issued several dire warnings to a an alarming number of online shops making profits from selling illegal Olympic merchandise. Reportedly, here were around 80 websites illegally distributing Olympic merchandise, which consequently caused a significant decline over the past two months in the sales of www.2008eshop.cn which was the only official Olympic e-commerce website, having been in operation since July 2007.
The spokesperson of BOCOG, Xie Funing repeated emphasized the said websites validity as the only legal e-commerce site authorized by BOCOG, and proceeded to slam other online shops for selling either pirated goods or selling legitimate goods without a business license. According to BOCOG, the official e-commerce website had lost a total of 1 million yuan (or $135,000) in sales per month during the last two months, making the total loss to an approximate 2 million yuan ($270,000).
Some of the websites even had the gall to copy the sales page of the official website but with changes in the contact information and online payment methods. It was also reported that many of the shop owners failed to provide bills to serve as proof that they have legitimate suppliers. Xie Funing also stated that some shops take advantage of the consumers' urgency and impatience to purchase goods, and arbitrarily raised prices and even deigned to sell imitations.
Legal action was promised by Li Yanjun, a BOCOG official in charge of legal affairs, who asserted that these illegal websites will be duly punished depending on the degree of their profiteering. He also said that those who made huge illegal gains will be dealt with by local public security departments for the determination of their criminal responsibility.
