[2021 National Audit] Jeong Tae-ho "6 out of 10 Online Platform Dispute Resolutions Involve Coupang"

In the Last 5 Years, Coupang Accounted for 108 of 177 Dispute Resolutions
"Failure to Properly Operate Internal Grievance Handling System"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] It has been revealed that 6 out of 10 online platform dispute applications are related to Coupang.

According to data submitted by the Korea Fair Trade Mediation Agency to Jeong Tae-ho, a member of the National Assembly's Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Business Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, among 177 online platform dispute mediation cases received from 2017 to August this year, 108 cases (61.0%) were related to Coupang, including Coupang Inc. and Coupang Pay.

Following that, there were 36 cases related to Naver and Naver Financial, 18 cases related to Baedal Minjok (Woowa Brothers), 14 cases related to Kakao including Kakao Mobility and Kakao Games, and 1 case related to Yanolja. The number of cases related to Coupang was 8 times that of Kakao and 3 times that of Naver.

Over the past five years, 9 out of 10 disputes (89.8%) arising on online platforms were fair trade disputes. Among them, "disadvantages related to payment and settlement" accounted for the largest number with 95 cases (53.6%). The most common reason for Coupang's dispute mediation applications was also related to payment and settlement.

The high number of dispute mediation applications means that conflicts between sellers and platforms, as well as between sellers themselves, occur frequently and a significant number are not resolved internally.

Kim Eun-jung, secretary of the People's Livelihood Hope Headquarters at the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, said, "Coupang introduced a system called ‘Item Winner,’ which makes conflicts between the platform and sellers, and among sellers, more likely to occur, but it does not properly operate a grievance handling institution to resolve problems internally." The Item Winner system is a policy on Coupang where only the seller offering the cheapest and best-reviewed product is exclusively exposed when searching for a specific item.

Meanwhile, the number of online platform dispute mediation applications has been increasing every year. It was 10 cases in 2017, 13 in 2018, 33 in 2019, and 66 in 2020, showing a continuous rise each year. As of August this year, the number of dispute mediation cases increased by 14.5% (7 cases) compared to the same month last year.

Assemblyman Jeong said, "As online platforms with growing social influence have committed unfair trade practices, they must be promptly corrected," and added, "Platforms should take a more active role in coexistence with small and medium-sized merchants."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.