The Commerce Ministry has threatened to take legal action against online traders who do not disclose their price tags and opt to relay prices through online messages.
A source from the Commerce Ministry who requested anonymity said the ministry has received lots of complaints from customers about online purchases, especially via Facebook, where the sellers choose to inform buyers of the prices via online messages.
"This is tantamount to concealing the prices of products to consumers," said the source. "More importantly, many buyers were exploited by buying at exaggerated prices, or bought the same products from the same sellers at different prices. Such practices violate the 1999 Price of Goods and Services Act, which carries a fine of up to 10,000 baht."
The source said people who discover product sales without prices labelled should inform the Internal Trade Department's hotline at 1569. Informants are entitled to a reward equivalent to 25% of the fine.
With regard to selling fake products via Facebook, the source said the Intellectual Property Department has been inspecting and teaming up with copyright owners to issue reports to the Facebook administrator to shut down these accounts.
The department has also cooperated with copyright owners and police officers to take legal action against the sellers, inspect the warehouses and arrest violators.
Digital lifestyles have led to Thais spending 10.05 hours a day online, according to the Thailand Internet User Survey 2018 conducted by the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA). Thais are spending 3.41 more hours online this year than last.
Generation Y (18-37 years old) and Gen Z (younger than 18) are spending the most time online, at 10.22 hours, while Gen X (38-53) and baby boomers (54-72) spend 8.21 hours.
Thais on average spend 3.3 hours per day on social media, two hours chatting, 2.35 hours on TVs/movies/music, 1.51 hours for online gaming and 1.31 hours reading books or articles.
The survey found the most popular social media forums for Thais are YouTube, Line, Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Pantip, Twitter and WhatsApp.
The top three social media platforms -- YouTube, Line and Facebook -- have been at the apex for three straight years, but Line beat out Facebook for No.2 for the first time this year.
Line, YouTube, Facebook, Messenger and Pantip are the most popular social media platforms for baby boomers and Gen X users, while Gen Y and Z use YouTube, Line, Facebook, Messenger and Instagram the most.
The top five online activities are social media, email, searching, TV/music and shopping. Online shopping ranked fifth for the second year. These factors will drive Thailand's e-commerce segment to reach 3 trillion baht in 2019, especially when the electricity required for blockchain and cryptocurrencies is included, said ETDA.