(Yicai Global) March 16 -- East Buy Holding’s has been taken to court by a disgruntled customer after the Chinese livestream firm, which used to be an online education provider, was found to have been selling farmed shrimp instead of the advertised wild shrimp, and the case garnered widespread attention online during World Consumer Rights Day yesterday.

A man surnamed Wang from eastern Jiangsu province bought what he thought were imported white shrimps from Ecuador on East Buy’s livestreaming channel last year. But he found no import label on the packaging and discovered that the shrimps were farmed, rather than wild. After half a year of fruitless complaints, he took the company to court.

East Buy, formerly known as Koolearn Technology, said it has been deceived by its supplier Qingdao Langhaiqing Trade. East Buy sold a lot of Langhaiqing Trade’s products in June and July last year, but stopped in August that year, when the livestreamer§       started to sell shrimp from its own product line, according to data analysis platform Canmama.

Strangely, Langhaiqing Trade, which was formed in 2019, has no employees registered for social security benefits, according to corporate information platform Tianyancha.

Beijing-based East Buy had no further comment to make as of press time.

East Buy began to sell its own brand of products in April last year, and earned over CNY1 billion (USD144.8 million) from such sales in the first half of the 2023 fiscal year. Sausages were a best seller.

East Buy is hiking investment in its own brand of farm produce and will launch up to 10 of its own products a month, with the aim of having around 100 within a year, Chief Executive Sun Dongxu told Yicai Global in June last year.

East Buy’s share price [HKG:1797] was trading down 5.6 percent at HKD33.95 (USD4.33) as of 1 p.m. China time today.

Editors: Shi Yi, Kim Taylor