"At present, online shopping gets so many complaints because the country now lacks strict regulations and supervision of such service providers," said Wu Xuefei, a senior researcher at the institute.

In May, gaopeng.com, a Chinese group buying portal launched by Groupon Inc and Tencent Holdings, fired a vice-president after discovering that some of its employees were found to have cheated in an iPhone lottery on weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter.

The scandal drew online queries about the credibility of the website when the "lucky winners" turned out to be gaopeng employees.

Analysts said the latest circular is timely and will boost a sound development of the online group buying industry.

"I spent 400 yuan to purchase a spa treatment service through online group buying last year. Since so many consumers bought the product in such a short time, I could not have my spa service within the specified date and my payment finally became invalid," said Wang Xin, a 28-year-old Beijing consumer.

Such complaints may be avoided if group buying websites are required to clarify details on delivery, payment, exchange and the return of goods and services before trading, according to the circular.

The circular prohibits online group buying providers from refusing to return an advance payment when the time limit is exceeded and the service becomes invalid. It also bans unfair competition, Wu said.

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