Corrective Order and Fine of 1 Million KRW Imposed
Carrot Market has been sanctioned by the Fair Trade Commission for failing to provide consumers with information such as the business name and address of sellers on its secondhand trading platform.
On the 5th, the Fair Trade Commission announced that it would issue a corrective order and impose a fine of 1 million KRW on Carrot Market for violating the Act on Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce (Electronic Commerce Act).
It was investigated that Carrot Market did not provide consumers with identity information such as the name, address, and business registration number of sellers who sell goods and services through advertisements on the platform.
According to the Electronic Commerce Act, telecommunication sales intermediaries must verify the identity information of sellers and provide it to consumers before the consumers make a transaction (offer). This is intended to enable quick resolution of consumer complaints or disputes arising during transactions.
A decision to end the review process was made regarding the failure to inform consumers of how to verify and view the identity information such as the name of individual sellers who are not businesses.
It was judged that it is difficult to separately distinguish only non-face-to-face transactions subject to seller information provision, and that excessively requesting personal information and requiring buyers to view it could cause side effects from the perspective of personal information protection.
Song Myung-hyun, head of the Electronic Transaction Monitoring Team at the Fair Trade Commission, said, "Carrot Market has about 40 million members, and providing identity information to transaction partners could lead to crime victims such as stalkers."
Carrot Market was also sanctioned for not notifying on the platform’s initial screen that it is not a party to the telecommunication sales transaction.
Failing to display Carrot Market’s business name and representative’s name and not linking the terms of use screen to the initial screen were also judged to be violations of the Electronic Commerce Act.
A Fair Trade Commission official said, "We plan to continuously monitor online platform operators for violations of the Electronic Commerce Act and strictly take action against any legal violations."
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