H. was proud for his swift seizure of the Blackberry 8700 at an online deal he made at www.tinhte.com. The young man bought the almost brand-new cell phone for only VND 3 million, at least VND 2 million lower than the market price, just before another buyer offered to own it at VND 3.3 million.
Buying online has increasingly become common for Vietnamese consumers, especially young people, who can now have cheap items delivered at their doors simply with a mouse click.
Despite the current economic downturn, sales through an e-business website surged from VND 500 million in January to over VND 800 million in March, said its director.
Visits to another popular e-commerce website in the first quarter were also 5-6 times the same period last year, according to a representative of the website.
Lam Thi Ngoc Nga, director of toy maker Hong Ngoc in Ho Chi Minh City, said e-business transactions now accounted for as high as 60-70% of her company’s total.
Market surveys found that some 70% of businesses are selling goods via telephone and internet, of which 40-50% directly sell goods at their own or through other websites. Goods on sale are diversified, from electronics, consumer goods, vehicles, materials and supplies, furniture, office equipment, handicraft to air tickets, tours, books, music discs and even pets and decorative fish.
Vietnam currently has around 18 million regular internet users, accounting for over 21% of the population, according to a survey by the Vietnam Internet Network Information Center. The figure is expected to grow 20-30% yearly.
Convenience is the main factor drawing consumers to e-business, which saves them both cost and time.
Time to get an item bought online was just within a day from the time sale agreement was reached while prices were usually 3-5% lower than those ordinarily quoted because online sellers could save much costs for personnel and shop renting, said Ho Tan Duong, in charge of online sale at sieuthinhanh.com. To lure buyers, many of 500 shops opened at sieuthinhanh.com also offered discounts from 5-10% to as much as 40-50% or other gifts together with goods.
Online fraud
However, convenience also means risks for consumers in favor of online business because the very simple procedures required of involved parties had loopholes for swindlers to abuse.
To register for an online transaction at an e-business website, an internet user is required to open an account, just giving some personal information such as name, address and telephone number which are merely virtual and subject to no control over their truthfulness.
Huy, a member of muare (buy cheap) forum, fell victim to a swindler named Tran Minh Tuan who advertised himself as a seller of quality digital cameras, offering sale prices 20-40% lower than market prices. Through his account camera_japan123, Tuan gave a host of contact telephone numbers as well as numbers of bank accounts at different commercial banks such as Agribank, Vietcombank, VIBank and ACB, requesting buyers to advance half of the payment before receiving goods. Huy transferred VND 2.7 million to the bank account given by Tuan who vanished into thin air together with the money.
Unlike victims of Tuan, buyers of an online seller of perfumes with account Milano received perfumes of well-known makes such as Channel, Gucci and Boss after transferring money, but the goods were all… fake. Kieu Hoa in Hanoi said she bought from Milano a bottle of perfume at VND 5 million which turned out to be valued at less than VND 1 million.
Online buyers also face risks of buying goods with quality much poorer than advertised or at much higher prices than real values or with delayed delivery. Yet, it was almost impossible to get the money back because most payments are made online prior to the goods delivery.
Tran Quang Hieu in Ho Chi Minh City was excited to buy online a water heater at a 30% discount for VND 2.6 million, which turned out to sell for VND 2.6 million on the market without any discounts yet.
In fact many websites are for advertisement rather than for truly e-business, which give no binding between sellers and buyers, posing risks to buyers, experts pointed out.
Legal protections
Where could online buyers lodge complaints when they had problems? Lamented Vu Nguyen in Ho Chi Minh City, who ordered goods through online sale website amazon.com and did not receive the items more than one month after his payment, blaming for the lack of a legal framework to protect online buyers.
Analysts agreed that the possibility for an online client to initiate a lawsuit is slim due to the absence of specific laws.
Lawyer Nguyen Van Tu of Khanh Hung Law Firm pointed out that even though an online buyer might initiate a lawsuit for damages, he could hardly secure evidence because e-contracts, messages, notifications and vouchers could be easily deleted while most buyers did not pay attention to keeping such proofs.
He said the Ministry of Industry and Trade should set up intermediary institutions to provide such services as e-signature authentication, data transmission and storage and e-payment to facilitate e-business.
He also suggested that the judicial, finance and customs sectors and businesses should be trained in the law on e-commerce and related skills.
In fact, e-business was backed by the promulgation of the Law on E-Transactions in 2005. The Government also launched a decree on e-commerce in 2006 and three others in 2007 on authentication of e-signatures and e-transactions in finance and banking. In 2008, three circulars were issued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Information and Communication to guide the supply of information and conclusion of e-business contracts, e-financial transactions and supply of information on personal blogs. In 2008, the Ministry of Industry and Trade also set up the E-Commerce Agency and issued a decision to gather statistics on e-business transactions.
Analysts however said these documents merely provide a general legal basis to promote e-commerce, pointing to the need to complete the legal framework to enable a comprehensively developed e-commerce.
While awaiting a complete legal system, consumers could do nothing but protect themselves, experts said, advising them to buy goods at direct sale or lawfully registered websites or those accredited by a prestigious organization.
Buyers should also seek information on sellers before making payments or choose to pay cash at the time of goods delivery. They are advised to buy online only products with specific technical specifications or standards to reduce the risk of getting poor quality goods. (VLLF).-