Consumer advocate pinches crab sellers

The local consumer advocate investigated 16 hairy crab products purchased from popular shopping websites and found 14 weighed less than their labeled weight, the Shanghai Consumer Council said in a press release Tuesday.

The consumer rights advocate bought the products from 14 shopping or group purchasing websites, including the popular jd.com and yhd.com.

The 688-yuan ($113.89) hairy crab products sold by jd.com were up to 12 percent below the labeled weight, according to the consumer advocate. The 1,088-yuan product from yhd.com was 8 percent lighter than labeled. The most problematic was the product priced at 368 yuan on gaopeng.com, a group purchasing site, which was about 25 percent lighter than labeled.

The advocacy group vowed to meet with the websites' representatives and urge them to make changes before the next World Consumer Rights Day on March 15.

The group warned that shopping websites will be graded on their credibility and the results will be open to the public after a new consumer law comes into effect in March.