(Yicai Global) Nov. 29 -- The total turnover during this year's Double-11 (Nov. 11) online shopping festival in China reached CNY253.97 billion (USD38.4 billion). However, a market survey shows that the prices for nearly 80 percent of the merchandise sold on that day were not reduced in real terms.

This is especially bad news for China's shopaholics, or 'hand choppers' in local slang, who splurge on things they don't need to buy, then regret that they did not sever the hand that wielded the credit card. 

Some 78.1 percent of the 539 kinds of products sold on 16 e-commerce platforms can be bought at the same or lower prices on other dates, Beijing Youth Daily reported, citing a survey by the China Consumer Association.

The price survey covers taobao.com and Tmall.com, the trading platforms of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. [NYSE:BABA], as well as JD.Com, Inc. [NASDAQ:JD], Amazon.com, Inc. [NASDAQ:AMZN] and some other major online shopping platforms. A total of 668 kinds of products in nine categories were selected, involving clothing, shoes and hats, digital devices, food, cosmetics, textiles, baby products, luggage and accessories, household appliances and other daily necessities. 539 samples were found valid.

During the "Double-11" online shopping fever, some e-commerce outlets raised the prices and then made discounts for promotional effects, the survey noted.