Last year, consumer complaints exceeded 20 million for the first time, with online shopping complaints and reports accounting for more than half.

In 2025, the national market regulation departments received a total of 20.366 million complaints, a 9.3% increase year-on-year. The total number of complaints surpassed 20 million for the first time, with consumers’ awareness of rights protection continuing to strengthen. Online shopping complaints and reports accounted for 56.9% of the total, resulting in the recovery of 4.35 billion yuan in economic losses for consumers and effectively safeguarding their legal rights and interests.

After-sales service complaints have ranked first for three consecutive years

Looking at the types of complaints, after-sales service issues have consistently been the top concern for three years, highlighting that some merchants do not sufficiently prioritize after-sales guarantees and fail to meet consumers’ basic service demands.

In terms of growth rate, contract-related issues increased by 40.3% year-on-year, making it the fastest-growing core problem. Consumers mainly reported difficulties with refunds, unclear contract terms, hidden “霸王条款” (unfair terms) in standard contracts, merchants not fulfilling their commitments, and discrepancies between promotional promises and contract content.

Online shopping for clothing, shoes, and hats accounts for the highest proportion of complaints and reports

In 2025, the 12315 platform nationwide received 15.067 million complaints and reports related to online shopping, a 14.3% increase year-on-year, accounting for 56.9% of all complaints and reports. Of these, 11.447 million were complaints, and 3.62 million were reports, recovering 1.07 billion yuan in economic losses for consumers.

Regarding issues, after-sales service and quality problems in online shopping are the two most frequently reported areas. After-sales service issues are highly concentrated in clothing, shoes, hats, food, cultural and entertainment services, home goods, and internet services, which together account for 41.5% of after-sales complaints.

Quality issues mainly involve clothing, shoes, hats, home goods, household appliances, communication products, and cosmetics, which together make up 54.6% of quality complaints. Complaints about clothing, shoes, and hats are the highest, mainly involving difficulties with returns and exchanges, inaccurate size descriptions, etc., reflecting a lack of experience in “try-on” during online shopping and an underdeveloped after-sales response mechanism. Quality problems include poor fabric quality, rough workmanship, fading, pilling, and other issues.

Delivery app complaints show significant fluctuations, drawing social attention due to “involution” competition

As online and offline integration accelerates and real-time retail competition intensifies, the “involution” competition among delivery platforms has attracted social attention.

In 2025, the platform received 505,000 complaints and reports about delivery services, a 14.1% increase year-on-year. The main issues include food safety (262,000 cases), after-sales service (63,000), contract issues (24,000), unfair competition (23,000), and quality problems (19,000), together accounting for nearly 80%.

In the third quarter, major platforms continued “subsidy wars” to attract users, leading to a surge in orders. However, service guarantees could not keep pace, causing demands to rise sharply. Complaints and reports increased by 23.8% year-on-year and 19.2% quarter-on-quarter, marking the period with the largest annual increase.

Entering the fourth quarter, as subsidy policies receded and the market gradually “cooled down,” complaint volumes also declined by 22.8% quarter-on-quarter. Overall, consumer demands in the delivery industry fluctuate with market conditions, and industry competition needs to shift toward more rational and sustainable development.

Complaints and reports about new energy vehicle charging facilities increased by 47.8%

With the acceleration of social digitization and electrification, power endurance has become a fundamental need supporting public mobility and green travel. However, “charging anxiety” has not eased; instead, it has extended from mobile phones to vehicles, becoming a pain point in daily consumption and travel experiences.

In 2025, the platform received 156,000 complaints and reports related to power banks, a 62.5% increase year-on-year. Main issues include product quality problems, return disputes, shared power bank borrowing and returning difficulties, and abnormal billing.

Meanwhile, as the number of new energy vehicles rapidly increases and charging infrastructure expands, the quality of charging services is increasingly highlighted. In 2025, complaints and reports related to EV charging infrastructure reached 61,000, a 47.8% increase. Specific problems include difficulties with refunding recharge balances, some charging station operators “running away” and losing contact, opaque charging standards, and inadequate customer service.

Smart consumer products see significant growth in complaints and reports

Smart products with mature technology and practical functions have provided consumers with convenient and efficient experiences, effectively improving quality of life. However, some products have issues such as exaggerated marketing claims and poor user experience, leading to frequent consumer disputes 【Download Black Cat Complaint Client】.

In 2025, the 12315 platform received 152,000 complaints and reports about smart devices, a 26.6% increase year-on-year. Among these, complaints about smartwatches, smart home devices, drones, smart accessories, and smart robots are the most common, accounting for 87.5% of the total.

In terms of growth, drones, smart wristbands, and smart glasses saw increases of 45.5%, 39.4%, and 37.7%, respectively.

Consumers mainly report issues such as overhyped “smart” labels that only offer basic connectivity or remote control functions, failing to address real needs, leading to large expectation gaps; software problems like failed updates, app crashes, poor compatibility, and data synchronization issues; and the lack of unified technical standards and quality standards in emerging smart device fields, with underdeveloped after-sales systems and high thresholds for returns and exchanges.

Source: Beijing Daily Client

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