Pudong business heavily fined for price gouging
Authorities said they were tipped off by residents who received vegetable packages that were much smaller than they should have been.
A fine has been imposed on a business in the Pudong New Area for price gouging related to group buying, according to Shanghai's market regulators.
Authorities said they were tipped off by residents who received vegetable packages that were much smaller than they should have been.
An investigation found that a woman surnamed Yan who supplied the vegetable packages received 1,720 orders in total.
Based on the order, each package should have contained celery, turnips, cucumbers and tomatoes weighing a total of 3,000 grams.
However, among 200 orders, she only supplied 1,750 grams of vegetables and the varieties were different from the original order, officials found.
For violating China's pricing regulations, Yan was fined 11,000 yuan (US$1,725), five times her illegal gains, according to the Shanghai Administration for Market Regulation, which exposed the case on Sunday night.
Shanghai's market watchdog will tighten supervision and management of group buying with combined measures to crack down on those financially exploiting the lockdown, regulators announced on Sunday.
These measures include reminders, education, policy guidance and administrative penalties.
Residents can report group-buying pricing irregularities via the 12345 public-service hotline, or 12315, China's market watchdog's hotline.
