Express blind boxes should not be bought, beware of surprises into fright
Our reporter Sun Qiru
After the blind box craze was the first to set off in the trendy play field, many industries have seen the blind box trend.
Unlike trendy blind boxes, beauty blind boxes, clothing blind boxes, ticket blind boxes, etc., which have clearly defined types, there is a quite arbitrary blind box on the market-some claiming to be returned by buyers and unclaimed Express delivery for other reasons is dubbed "Express Blind Box" and sold on e-commerce and short video platforms.
The reporter's investigation found that the express blind boxes purchased by many consumers with gambling mentality have become a means and gimmick for merchants to clear inventory and make high profits.
Since this year, the State Post Bureau and other departments have cleaned up and rectified such behaviors as express delivery blind boxes.
"International Express Blind Box" 1 kg 24 yuan
10 couriers for 9.9 yuan, 40 couriers for 28 yuan, but what's in the courier will only be known the moment the package is opened.
"Playing is the heartbeat", "Come and pick up the leaks", "Take a piece and send 40 surprise blind boxes"... On Taobao, Pinduoduo and other platforms, many express blind boxes with such slogans have sold thousands of monthly sales. Tens of thousands, and the total sales of some products even exceed 100,000.
The selling methods of these express blind boxes are mainly divided into "by catty" and "by individual", ranging from 1 catty to 5 catties, 10 to 50, and the price ranges from 10 yuan to 70 yuan.
On the short video platform, some businesses also use express blind box unboxing live streaming to divert traffic.
A store owner of a Douyin account named "Lao Xia Hao Hao Hao Hao Open the box" said that too many customers inquired about the blind box in the backstage, "I will receive tens of thousands of private messages every day."
In the live broadcast room of the store, the reporter saw that during the unpacking of the "International Express Blind Box" with a unit price of 24 yuan per kilogram, some buyers remotely opened aquarium aerators, Halloween haunted house decorations, Car amplifier speakers, life jackets and other items.
"You can choose to open the box live, or you can choose to send it directly to your home to open the box yourself. Just make a clear note when placing the order." The owner said.
A merchant "revealed" that there are many sources of express blind boxes, such as unowned express delivery caused by orders, returns, unclaimed and other reasons.
Taking returned shipments as an example, some extremely low-priced products will not be recycled by the seller after the buyer returns them. The shipments will always be piled up in the warehouse of the courier company and be packaged and processed privately through unofficial channels.
It is very common to take out chicken ribs
In all kinds of blind box consumption, buyers are looking forward to spending a small amount of money to buy value-for-money items.
However, many express blind boxes purchased with the mentality of "small and big" are the "garbage" of others.
"There are really such good things. Why are the merchants so stupid to sell them to you cheaply?" Mr. Hu, who chose "out of the pit" after buying two express blind boxes, said that the things he received contained snakeskin bags, Screws, small packets of ketchup provided by fast food restaurants, disposable gloves, cotton swabs for one dollar and two packets from the two-yuan store, etc.
In the evaluation of buyers on the e-commerce platform, the reporter found that unusable mobile phone accessories, unexplained mothballs and other tasteless goods are very common, and some people even received a box full of rags.
The worrisome blind boxes of express delivery have also attracted supervision.
At the beginning of this year, the State Post announced at a press conference that it would clean up and rectify the purchase of orders and the sale of blind boxes for express delivery.
E-commerce platforms and short video platforms have also begun to crack down on blind express boxes that are suspected of gray production.
"We have already exploded several accounts." The staff of the Douyin store of "Lao Xia Out of the Box" frankly said in the live broadcast that in order to avoid platform censorship, they must be very careful in wording the live broadcast, such as when introducing the price of blind box units. "Kilogram" is called "KG", and cannot be linked in the live broadcast room, but guides customers through private messaging transactions.
"Guerrilla-style" shop is difficult for consumers to defend their rights
"They usually just shoot a shot and change places, earn a few days and make quick money, and if there are too many bad reviews, they just close the store and open another one." said an industry insider who is familiar with the delivery of blind box sellers.
On platforms such as Taobao and Pinduoduo, the reporter collected and followed 10 shops selling blind express delivery boxes. A week later, many of them showed that they no longer exist.
The guerrilla-style shop opening method of the seller of the express blind box with a shot to change a place, so that consumers can not make a return, exchange or claim when they discover that it is a "three-no product" after opening it.
"We guarantee that the value of the goods is higher than the price paid, but we do not guarantee that they are favorites, so we do not accept returns!" "Xiaoyu Xiaoxiao Buy Blind Box Demolition", the customer service staff of Taobao Store told reporters that the blind box It is of entertainment nature, and what buyers experience is the fun of unpacking blind boxes. If they unwrap anything they don't want, they can give it to relatives and friends.
Hu Gang, deputy secretary-general of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Internet Society of China, believes that based on the uncertainty of the product category in the express blind box, and the express blind box originated from the secondary sale of returned express and unowned express, this behavior may violate consumption. The legitimate rights and interests of the person.
Unlike Chaowan Blind Boxes, which limit the categories of products in the blind boxes, if the sellers of express blind boxes do not inform consumers of the categories of the products in the blind boxes and the place of origin, producers, and main ingredients of the products, as required by the Consumer Rights Protection Law The basic product information of the express delivery blind box is directly opposed to the consumer’s right to know.
Financial analyst Wang Chikun reminded that the number of truly unowned express mails is limited. It is most likely that merchants will catch some marketing gimmicks that consumers are greedy for cheap. You should keep in mind that there will be no pie in the sky when buying, so as to avoid being greedy for cheap.