Andrea Heng:
So, here’s one space that we don’t often talk about when we talk about when we talk about making protected purchases. That is the online space. I’ve been influenced into buying something on TikTok Shop before. I made sure it costs no more than S$5, just to be on the safe side.
Others, though, (are) not so lucky, not so prudent. They are spending a lot more money on livestream shopping, what they call “shoppertainment”. And I noticed a lot of these retailers, they are either not based in Singapore, or they are distributed through these TikTok influencers and these businesses. Because they’re home-based and small, they’re not really registered.
So how do we navigate this really blurry shopping space here? What kind of aid is available if we want to seek redress for something unsatisfactory that we bought online.
Linus Ng:
Now this is the trend that we have actually seen in recent years. And you’re very wise to cap your damage to a relatively small amount, like S$5.
We have actually received a lot of complaints for this kind of claims, which is actually (when) they walk through what we call the social media kind of business. That in itself, we wouldn’t encourage, but we can see that (it’s) not something that someone can stop. Because when it comes to the ease of buying, you sit back, you look at a computer, you know, and if someone is actually entertaining you with that kind of livestream, and there is this little bit of FOMO (fear of missing out) kind of mentality, you know, “I don’t want to miss out.”
There are like, five (products) left, and you have 15,000 people asking for it, and then they are pushing for it.
