Online floor management increases fees, preventing the risk of "harvesting unripe rice"?

VTV.vn - The fact that trading floors continuously adjust fees has created great pressure on sellers, raising questions about the role of management in ensuring a transparent and fair business environment.

Illustration photo.

Seller's profits are "eroded"

In the context of the e-commerce market racing to grow, many sellers have expressed frustration at the fact that profits are being eroded by successive fee increases. The lack of transparency and unpredictability of these costs has reduced sellers' trust in foreign-origin e-commerce platforms, increasing risks for the market. In the long term, if small sellers - who make up the majority - disappear, the market risks being dominated by a few large brands, reducing competition and consumer choice.

This fact was brought up at the National Assembly's discussion session on the draft Law on E-commerce, delegate Doan Thi Thanh Mai (Hung Yen) emphasized that this is a very important law because e-commerce is currently the infrastructure of the national digital economy . She said that currently more than 90% of the Vietnamese e-commerce market belongs to foreign-invested platforms. The worrying thing is that many foreign e-commerce platforms are charging very high fees, ranging from 15% to 30%.

According to Ms. Mai, some Vietnamese businesses have implemented a platform model that does not charge sellers, making goods cheaper, more competitive, and directly benefiting consumers. For example, Hi1 Thuan Viet platform is applying the "F2C" model - from factory to consumer, with no seller fees.

This high fee not only reduces the profits of domestic enterprises but also increases the retail price of goods. Ms. Mai suggested that the law should have a solution to reduce the floor fee to reduce the price of goods, bringing benefits to both sellers and buyers, while at the same time encouraging floor models that do not charge sellers fees, making goods more competitive.

Prevent the risk of "harvesting unripe rice"

Explaining the situation where platform fees in Vietnam are significantly higher than in some major markets in the region, Mr. Vu Trung Thanh, an expert in the field of e-commerce, said that this situation stems from the high dependence of sellers.

"The market is currently in a state of 'high concentration' with the dominance of a few big names, making the pressure to reduce fees to attract sellers not strong enough. In particular, sellers who have built their brands and customers on a certain platform have to bear huge 'switching costs' if they want to move to another platform. This dependence has created a certain 'monopoly' for large platforms, giving them little incentive to reduce fees or dialogue with sellers," Mr. Thanh analyzed.

Objectively, the Vietnamese e-commerce market is in a period of "capital race" and rapid growth, forcing platforms to spend huge amounts of money on technology infrastructure, logistics and marketing. Collecting fees is the main way for them to maintain operations.

But the rapid increase in fees has a vital impact on businesses, especially small retailers who account for a large proportion of e-commerce platforms. According to experts, their profit margins are severely eroded. For products with a profit margin of only 10-15%, a 2-3% increase in floor fees can make actual profits almost zero.

Small sellers are forced to face a difficult choice: increase prices (but lose competitiveness) or accept losses to retain customers. According to Mr. Thanh, this unintentionally fosters a serious power imbalance, creating an unsustainable business environment. The one-sided behavior (announcement and enforcement) of the platforms is very similar to the image of "harvesting unripe rice", that is, taking advantage of the immature market stage and the high dependence of sellers to gain maximum profits in the short term.

Avoid abuse of dominant position

Regarding the management of fee collection and fee increase of e-commerce platforms, experts said that Vietnamese law needs to be amended to ensure transparent and fair management of business activities in the electronic environment.

According to Lawyer Dang Van Cuong, Hanoi Bar Association, the fact that e-commerce platforms continuously adjust fees in a short period of time shows that the market lacks a suitable monitoring mechanism. Accordingly, the State needs tools to control acts of abusing its dominant position, especially when the fees can cause direct damage to small sellers.

In essence, e-commerce operates on a competitive market mechanism. Platforms have the right to adjust fees as part of their business strategy. However, when the market shows signs of concentration, with most large platforms holding the majority of sellers and buyers, increasing fees is no longer entirely a 'market problem' but can create more serious impacts. Illustration photo.

Lawyer Cuong believes that the law should set a warning threshold, a duty to disclose and be transparent, and a consultation process before increasing fees, instead of letting the exchanges adjust them arbitrarily at any time. The management agency may not need to intervene by setting a specific fee level, but it should force the exchanges to prove the basis for the fee increase: what costs are the fee increased to cover, what services are upgraded, and what benefits are provided to the seller.

Sharing the same view, expert Vu Trung Thanh said that fee adjustments should be carried out based on three core principles: transparency, dialogue and responsibility. Exchanges need to fully disclose their fee structure, change roadmap and clearly explain which services will be improved after the fee increase.

Mr. Vu Trung Thanh, founder of PBS E-commerce Consulting and Development Company Limited.

In parallel, it is necessary to establish an official consultation mechanism with the seller community and associations before (at least 60 to 90 days) issuing policies. The management agency can deploy some additional support tools to ensure the harmonious development of the market. Such as building a Code of Conduct in coordination with associations and businesses to create voluntary standards on fee collection policies and relations between platforms and sellers; establishing an independent and transparent dispute resolution mechanism; encouraging the development of new platforms or multi-channel sales models, to reduce dependence on a few large platforms.

In fact, increasing floor fees is not an unusual issue but a part of the development cycle. However, the important thing is how to do it. If the platforms set long-term investment goals instead of taking advantage of their position to "reap the unripe rice", and the legal framework is completed in a transparent and healthy direction, combined with the proactive diversification of sales channels from businesses, the Vietnamese e-commerce ecosystem can absolutely grow more sustainably and balanced in the coming time.

Source: https://vtv.vn/quan-ly-san-online-tang-phi-ngan-nguy-co-gat-lua-non-100251201190952632.htm