A business owner shows the backstage of paid listing on ele.me. (Photo/Beijing News)
(ECNS) -- Online restaurants without licenses or sanitary certification were listed on the first page of major Chinese meal delivery sites by paying for the privilege, Beijing News reported.
Any kind of online business can be placed in the top results and promoted if they pay ele.me, a major online meal-ordering portal, 3 to 5 percent of their earnings, the report said. Some restaurants that refuse to pay for rankings might be delisted.
Waimai.meituan.com also uses paid listings to display information about restaurants. The highest bidder in terms of payment can top the site's list each day. Kao Rou Fan, a restaurant in the Caofang area of Chaoyang district, which reportedly has no certification to sell meals, said it once paid 226 yuan ($34) to be ranked fifth in the area on waimai.meituan.com.
Paid rankings became a new model for online meal sites since the beginning of this year, experts noted. But customers have the right to know more about the bidding process, said Zhao Zhanling, a legal adviser to the Internet Society of China.
Online meal sites should investigate certificates and the sanitary information on restaurants that join this process, it was added.
Because it is advertising promotion, the websites must label restaurants that pay to rank on the first page of listings, said Chang Sha, a lawyer in Beijing. Restaurants without licenses or certification are forbidden to advertise, it was noted.
