A toy shop owner was sentenced to imprisonment for 16 days suspended for one year at Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts today (July 15) following earlier conviction for wrongly accepting payment in the course of selling toy models, in contravention of the Trade Descriptions Ordinance (TDO). He was also ordered to offer a total of $31,560 in compensation to the victims involved.
Hong Kong Customs earlier received information alleging that a toy shop owner had engaged in unfair trade practices in the sale of toy models through a social media platform page.
After investigation, it was revealed that the owner had sold a total of 75 types of toy models to seven consumers through the page. Being well aware of his inability to procure and supply the toy models due to financial difficulties of his business, the owner still accepted payments from consumers and eventually failed to provide the relevant goods to the consumers.
Customs reminds traders to comply with the requirements of the TDO and consumers to procure products at reputable shops.
Under the TDO, any trader commits an offence if at the time of acceptance of payment, the trader intends not to supply the product or intends to supply a materially different product, or there are no reasonable grounds for believing that the trader will be able to supply the product within a specified or reasonable period. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for five years.
Members of the public may report any suspected violations of the TDO to Customs' 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).
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