{"id":5916,"date":"2025-09-01T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/54.162.83.219\/?p=5916"},"modified":"2025-08-31T22:19:38","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T05:19:38","slug":"aliexpress-fake-discounts-fine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/guru.today\/?p=5916","title":{"rendered":"South Korea Hits AliExpress With $1.5 Million Fine Over Fake Discounts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"447\" src=\"http:\/\/54.162.83.219\/wp-content\/uploads\/Aliexpress-3-1024x447.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5919\" srcset=\"https:\/\/guru.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/Aliexpress-3-1024x447.png 1024w, https:\/\/guru.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/Aliexpress-3-300x131.png 300w, https:\/\/guru.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/Aliexpress-3-768x335.png 768w, https:\/\/guru.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/Aliexpress-3.png 1321w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(Photo=AliExpress)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">South Korea has slapped AliExpress, Alibaba\u2019s global shopping platform, with a $1.51 million fine after regulators uncovered a widespread scheme of fake discounts that misled thousands of Korean shoppers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), AliExpress subsidiaries OceanSky and MICTW manipulated prices on nearly 7,500 products between May 2023 and October 2024. The playbook was simple: invent an inflated \u201coriginal price,\u201d then show a steep discount to make shoppers believe they were getting a bargain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In one case, a tablet listed at $193 appeared to be marked down 58% from a supposed original price of $474. But regulators found that $474 had never been used in an actual sale\u2014it was just a number designed to trick buyers into thinking they were saving big. OceanSky alone used this tactic on 2,422 products, while MICTW applied it to 5,000 more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The watchdog called the strategy a direct distortion of consumer behavior, saying it created \u201cfalse perceptions of economic benefits.\u201d To make matters worse, AliExpress also failed to provide legally required information on its Korean website, such as company details, customer service contacts, and merchant verification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The $1.5 million fine, while small compared to Alibaba\u2019s global scale, highlights growing scrutiny of foreign e-commerce platforms operating in South Korea. Regulators made clear that domestic and foreign companies will face the same standards when it comes to misleading advertising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AliExpress said it has already fixed the issues flagged during the investigation, stressing that compliance with local rules is a \u201ctop priority.\u201d But the case underscores a broader truth: even the world\u2019s largest online shopping platforms aren\u2019t immune to regulatory pushback when consumer trust is on the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">South Korea Hits AliExpress With $1.5 Million Fine Over Fake Discounts<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">South Korea has slapped AliExpress, Alibaba\u2019s global shopping platform, with a $1.51 million fine after regulators uncovered a widespread scheme of fake discounts that misled thousands of Korean shoppers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), AliExpress subsidiaries OceanSky and MICTW manipulated prices on nearly 7,500 products between May 2023 and October 2024. The playbook was simple: invent an inflated \u201coriginal price,\u201d then show a steep discount to make shoppers believe they were getting a bargain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In one case, a tablet listed at $193 appeared to be marked down 58% from a supposed original price of $474. But regulators found that $474 had never been used in an actual sale\u2014it was just a number designed to trick buyers into thinking they were saving big. OceanSky alone used this tactic on 2,422 products, while MICTW applied it to 5,000 more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The watchdog called the strategy a direct distortion of consumer behavior, saying it created \u201cfalse perceptions of economic benefits.\u201d To make matters worse, AliExpress also failed to provide legally required information on its Korean website, such as company details, customer service contacts, and merchant verification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The $1.5 million fine, while small compared to Alibaba\u2019s global scale, highlights growing scrutiny of foreign e-commerce platforms operating in South Korea. Regulators made clear that domestic and foreign companies will face the same standards when it comes to misleading advertising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AliExpress said it has already fixed the issues flagged during the investigation, stressing that compliance with local rules is a \u201ctop priority.\u201d But the case underscores a broader truth: even the world\u2019s largest online shopping platforms aren\u2019t immune to regulatory pushback when consumer trust is on the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Korea has slapped AliExpress, Alibaba\u2019s global shopping platform, with a $1.51 million fine after regulators uncovered a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[38,28,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-stories","category-biz-beyond","category-top-section"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.0 (Yoast SEO v28.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>AliExpress fake discounts fine: South Korea\u2019s $1.5M penalty<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"South Korea fined AliExpress $1.5M for fake discounts on 7,500 items, signaling tougher rules for foreign e-commerce platforms.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/guru.today\/?p=5916\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"South Korea Hits AliExpress With $1.5 Million Fine Over Fake Discounts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"South Korea fined AliExpress $1.5M for fake discounts on 7,500 items, signaling tougher rules for foreign e-commerce platforms.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/guru.today\/?p=5916\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GURU TODAY\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-01T16:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/guru.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/Aliexpress-3.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1321\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"577\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jin Lee\" \/>\n<meta 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