VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) is setting up strict regulations on e-commerce to prevent trade fraud, but businesses say this would cause serious problems for them.

Selling goods on Facebook is the preferred choice of small businesses and business households.

“I know a man who spends VND10 million a day on ads on Facebook. However, he can sell 30 mobile phones a day and fulfills 1,000 orders a month, so his revenue is up to billions of dong a month,” said Le Duc Anh, head of the online service development division of the E-commerce Agency, an arm of MOIT.

Anh cited the example to prove that online sales can bring huge profits.

He said MOIT, as a management body, supports the development of online sale models, but added that it is necessary to put the business models under control.

Huynh Kim Tuoc, director of Facebook Vietnam, also cited several examples to show that Vietnamese can take full advantage of the internet to do business.

He said a young businessman in HCM City started his online business by setting up Fanpage Saigon Flea Market. After that, he opened a website online, and then an offline flea market in the Phu My Hung urban area.

“His flea market now has 150 kiosks and attracts 2,000 visitors every market day,” Tuoc said.

“Also, Fanpage Shop Tinh Nhan in HCM City, a souvenir trader, targeting young couples, can also earn several billion dong a month,” Tuoc said.

Trade fraud

Anh from MOIT said that it was a difficult task to control online sale activities, and that trade fraud and counterfeit goods have blackened the e-commerce environment.

“You may see an ad for a Vertu phone priced at VND5 million, but everyone knows this ‘Vertu’ is counterfeit. However, the ad and the trade cab still exist,” Anh said.

He went on to say that in the first 10 months of 2014 alone, MOIT discovered that many online sale websites were not registered with the watchdog agencies. The websites were fined a minimum of VND30 million.

In the long term, he said, in order to put online sale activities under management, it is necessary to create new policies which allow both effective management of e-commerce activities and control of trade fraud.

A new circular, to replace circular No 12 issued in April 2013 that guides the implementation of Decree No 52, will be released in 2014 to restore order in the e-commerce market, Anh said.

However, Tuoc of Facebook does not think setting strict regulations on online sales is a good idea.

He said that even developed countries like the US do not have such strict regulations.

“The watchdog agency tends to issue more decrees and circulars to tighten market management. If so, all would have to ask for permission to trade online. This is really not feasible,” he said.

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