AN online shopper who sued after failing to get a refund for an unused deal he purchased from a group-buying company lost his appeal in a Beijing court yesterday.

    The verdict in the high-profile case came a day before China’s popular Singles’ Day shopping festival that generated more than US$9 billion in sales last year.

    Dong Hongtao had sued two companies in Beijing Haidian District People’s Court after he bought a 376 yuan (US$59) coupon from Nuomi, a popular online group-buying platform, March 23, 2014, but didn’t use the deal on time, the court said.

    Dong applied for a refund from Nuomi, which was rejected, as the company said the coupon was purchased on Baidu Inc., China’s leading Internet search engine, the court said.

    Dong claimed fraud and sought 1,128 yuan, three times the money he paid for the coupon, in compensation, the court said.

    During a first trial, the verdict went against him. He appealed to the intermediate people’s court for a second hearing, which was held in October.

    Fan Shuwei, the judge responsible for the case at the intermediate people’s court, citing insufficient evidence, affirmed the original judgment.

    While the two companies provided Dong with a “failure” Web page response when he applied for the refund, this “does not prove that the two corporations would not give back the money to him,” Fan said.

    Luo Liang, the two companies’ lawyer, said the companies, which had repaid Dong after the first trial, did not cheat consumers.(China Daily)