THE Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court said yesterday that nearly one fifth of shopping disputes over the last two years took place online.

The court said it had dealt with 202 complaints from consumers between October 2015 and end of 2017, and 39 of them involved online disputes.

The court found that some of the online retailers sold imported goods to buyers that were banned in the country.

In one case, a retailer on Taobao e-commerce site sold Japanese baby food made of chicken and beef, which is banned in China over concerns about bird flu and mad cow disease.

The retailer was ordered to refund and compensate the buyer.

In another case, a Taobao retailer was found selling Vietnamese-made edible bird’s nest, an expensive delicacy. But China only allows imported bird’s nest from Malaysia and Indonesia.

The Chinese have turned to Internet to buy luxury goods from Europe, health products from Australia and beauty products from Japan.

According to the Shanghai Commission of Commerce, e-commerce is set to increase by 20 percent, with online transactions expected to exceed 1 trillion yuan (US$158 billion) this year.