After packaging and beautification, can "dead stores" work?
The reporter investigates the tricks of the operation industry
● With the development of the Internet economy, more and more people have opened online stores and registered self-media accounts, but it is difficult to improve due to limited energy or materials.
Some businesses saw business opportunities and focused on helping others to carry out online sales and other operational activities, and the agency operation industry came into being
● Some agency operating companies have many violations of laws and regulations when providing services, such as false propaganda, setting overlord clauses, hiring navy to pay bills and even suspected fraud
● In view of the irregularities in the agency operation industry, relevant departments need to carry out multi-pronged supervision, such as formulating agency operation service standards, clarifying service content, providing standardized format contracts, and forming a linkage mechanism with judicial organs to promptly investigate and deal with violations of the law behavior
□ Our reporter Han Dandong
□ Jiang Xiaorui, an intern of our newspaper
"The new store has no traffic? The old store has no orders? The Hardware Crown operation team will help you make the 'dead store' work."
In reality, it is not uncommon for businesses to claim that they "can operate e-commerce and self-media accounts well" like this.
With the development of the Internet economy, more and more people have opened online stores and registered self-media accounts, but it is difficult to improve due to limited energy or lack of materials.
Some merchants saw the business opportunities contained in them and focused on helping others to carry out online sales and other operational activities, and the agency operation industry came into being.
However, a reporter from the "Rules of Law Daily" recently investigated and found that some agency operating companies have many violations of laws and regulations when providing services, such as false propaganda, setting up overlord clauses, hiring navy troops to brush orders, and even suspected fraud.
A number of experts interviewed by reporters pointed out that agency operation is a new business model under the market mechanism, and its healthy development should be encouraged.
Contract Implies Overlord Clause
Obstacles to defending rights
E-commerce platforms, social platforms, short video platforms... The range of services operated on behalf of them is quite wide. Some of them are widely advertised, and some are dormant in some post bars, where they publish relevant operational information.
The reporter contacted several representative operators. According to the customer service staff of one of the companies, their company specializes in providing representative operations for customers, including short video platform operation, live broadcast, etc. "We have been doing this business since 2013. Qualification and strength, you can rest assured that the service content has everything."
Then, the reporter told the customer service about his short video platform account.
Soon, the other party began to plan how to operate the account, and said that it would be operated by a team of 8 people, and a detailed operation plan would be given 3 days later.
In addition, the other party also promised that if short videos and live broadcasts are operated at the same time, the exposure rate can reach more than 100,000 times a month, and the number of fans will reach about 20,000.
The next step is the charging link. The basic service fee for live broadcast operation is 10,000 yuan per month, plus short video operation, 15,000 yuan per month is charged.
After placing an order, a contract is generated based on the order number, and then the signing is completed.
In the contract sample sent by the other party, the reporter noticed that Party A, the account owner, has no right to unilaterally terminate the transaction, and the basic service fee is not the entire cost of the agency operation.
If Party A requests to suspend a related service due to subjective reasons, the responsibility shall be borne by Party A, and Party B shall not bear any responsibility and will not refund the service fee it has collected.
Wang Dan, who is an e-commerce company, signed such a contract with the above-mentioned agency operating company, and it is difficult to ride a tiger at present.
Wang Dan told reporters that the company promised him a 3-month performance of 100,000 yuan before signing the contract, but it only reached 2,332 yuan in actual operation.
According to the contract, part of the 30,000 yuan he had paid in advance should be refunded, but the other party said that the two parties signed a gambling agreement, and he could either choose to terminate the contract and terminate the contract, but could not refund the service fee, or suspend the service or continue to sign the contract renewal fee.
The reporter checked the contract signed by Wang Dan and found that the place where the agreement was signed was "Xiongfei Center, No. 1 Admiral Street, Qingyang District, Chengdu", and it was clearly stated that "if an agreement cannot be reached through negotiation, either party may file a lawsuit with the people's court where the agreement is signed. ".
"But I don't live in Chengdu. It's easier said than done to defend my rights?" Wang Dan was very helpless.
Sun Lei, who opened a restaurant, also encountered a similar problem.
Since the total number of orders could not increase, he found an agency operating company to order related services through an e-commerce platform, and then conducted follow-up communication through a social platform and signed a contract.
According to the contract, the company is responsible for the monthly sales of the store on two well-known e-commerce platforms reaching 3,000 orders and 2,000 orders respectively, and promises to refund at any time if the effect is not satisfied.
In the first month after starting the agency operation, the company told Sun Lei that the first month was the "commissioning period", and the team would conduct a comprehensive survey of its store, so there was no actual agency operation service in the first month. At the same time, it promised again that the order volume of the second month will rise to the previously agreed amount.
In the second month, Sun Lei's store orders have not risen, but have fallen.
He approached the company for a theory, but the other party shied the responsibility for various reasons, and refuted the content of the contract that "the customer has no reason or right to request a termination of cooperation and a refund", saying that Sun Lei's request to terminate the contract in advance was a unilateral breach of contract.
Sun Lei went to the customer service of the ordering platform to complain, and was told that his ordering platform was inconsistent with the daily communication platform of the two parties, so the proof materials he provided could not be used as evidence.
"I really suffered from a dumb loss. I can't tell the pain." Sun Lei was annoyed and regretted that he did not read the contract carefully. Fortunately, after repeated negotiations, the company refunded part of the operating fee.
False propaganda induces an order
mercenary navy brush traffic
In addition to contract issues, some agency operating companies also have behaviors such as false propaganda and illegal billing.
Li Yang, from Anqing, Anhui, recently purchased a short video operation service from a company.
The company promises to provide 150 original video scripts including post-editing clips, and then use the video to attract traffic and increase fans.
After negotiation, Li Yang purchased a full set of services at a price of 7,000 yuan a month.
But a week later, he found that the video script provided by the company was plagiarized, and the video editing was very crude.
Li Yang then proposed to the company to terminate the contract, but the other party denied plagiarism and refused to negotiate and refund.
The reporter noticed that many generation operating companies will mention one point in their promotions. The traffic involved is all attracted through legal channels, and there is no such behavior as hiring navy troops or brushing good reviews.
But is this really the case?
In a certain social group, the reporter found that someone had posted an advertisement suspected of being a navy army. After adding him as a friend, he learned that the other party was specially providing navy army services for the operating company. The illusion of the popularity of the product.
"At present, many people are bloggers, and the agency operating company is also eyeing this piece of 'fat', so I often deal with the agency operating company. Usually the agency operating company will send me the requirements, and I will be responsible for the water army. The group recruits sailors, and then these sailors pour into the blogger accounts that are being operated on behalf of them and start to write comments." The above-mentioned person responsible for brushing comments for the acting operating company told reporters.
Such a phenomenon is not an isolated case.
In October 2021, the law enforcement officers of the Market Supervision Bureau of Huqiu District, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, based on clues, found that a generation operating company in Suzhou High-tech Zone was in order to improve the customer satisfaction of the agency operation, expand the agency operation business, and help the online store it operates to improve its sales. The traffic, transaction volume and other data in the e-commerce platform are suspected of helping the online store operator to brush orders and speculate in the operation process.
After investigation, the parties have been helping online shop operators to swipe orders since 2018. The main steps of swiping orders are: formulate a targeted swiping plan, and the company's professional swiping operators will purchase "empty orders" through the swiping platform. , generate express information in the form of "empty package" or find a brush operator to generate express information in the mode of "shoot A and send B" for brushing. The platform or the brush hand, the commission difference is handed over to the main person in charge of the company for settlement and profit.
From 2018 to the incident, the parties completed more than 121,000 false transaction orders.
The parties were fined 300,000 yuan for violating the Anti-Unfair Competition Law.
Packaging and beautifying to defraud property
Attempt to get rich
The reporter combed and found that there are still operating companies suspected of fraud.
Recently, the police in Linyi, Shandong broke down a large fraud crime group and arrested 133 people at the scene.
The gang specifically looks for online stores with low sales, falsely claiming that it can increase sales on behalf of operations, and defraud victims of property.
Coincidentally, not long ago, the Tai'an police in Shandong reported that in January 2022, Xie reported to the police that due to the poor sales of his online store, he found an agency operating company on the Internet to package and beautify his store to increase sales.
After spending more than 7,000 yuan, the store not only did not increase its sales, but was also banned, and the agency operating company also required to pay the fees for diamond promotion and drainage.
After investigation, the police arrested Gao and other criminal suspects, and Gao and others confessed to their crimes.
At present, Gao and others have been under criminal detention.
Hua Lin, from Cixi, Zhejiang, was also almost "pitted" by the operating company.
It turned out that he registered a store on an e-commerce platform in June 2021. Due to no operating experience, the store's sales were bleak.
Just when Hua Lin was desperate, a self-proclaimed "operation officer" contacted him through a private message, claiming that his company was a physical company that had been in business for 11 years.
Soon, the other party sent the "company business license" and "legal contract sample".
Hualin looked at the license and contract, dispelled his doubts, and quickly paid the operating fee of 11,999 yuan.
In the following week, the other party repeatedly analyzed accounts for Hualin, and frequently sent "success stories" of the company's operation, but never actually operated Hualin's account.
At this time, Hua Lin is still looking forward to "monthly income exceeding 10,000 yuan and making money while lying down".
It was not until a friend reminded him to check the situation of the agency operating company that he found that the company could not be found through all channels.
When Hua Lin questioned the other party with various evidences, he realized that he had been blocked by the other party and deleted all contact information.
Multi-pronged approach to strengthen supervision
The client must keep his eyes open
What legal responsibilities should the operating company undertake if the above-mentioned acts are carried out on behalf of the operating company?
Zheng Ning, director of the Law Department of the School of Cultural Industry Management, Communication University of China, analyzed that a contractual relationship is formed between the agency operating company and the entrusting party, and the corresponding obligations should be performed in accordance with legal provisions and contractual agreements.
However, in practice, some agency operating companies have insufficient qualifications, conduct false propaganda, falsify or exaggerate their own operating capabilities, and neglect to provide services after charging high agency operating fees. This behavior violates the relevant provisions of the Civil Code and constitutes a breach of contract. Should be liable for breach of contract.
Regarding the act of hiring navy to brush traffic on behalf of the operating company, Zheng Ning believes that this move disrupts the market order and violates the Anti-Unfair Competition Law.
The Anti-Unfair Competition Law stipulates that business operators shall not make false or misleading commercial advertisements on the performance, function, quality, sales status, user evaluation, and honors of their products, so as to deceive and mislead consumers.
If a business operator violates the regulations by making false or misleading commercial propaganda for its products, or helping other business operators to carry out false or misleading business propaganda by organizing false transactions, the supervision and inspection department shall order it to stop the illegal act and impose a penalty of two A fine of not less than 100,000 yuan but not more than 1 million yuan shall be imposed; if the circumstances are serious, a fine of not less than 1 million yuan but not more than 2 million yuan shall be imposed, and the business license may be revoked.
Zhao Zhanzhan, a lawyer from Beijing Yunjia Law Firm, also reminded that if the agency operating company engages in illegal activities during the operation process, taking the infringement of others' reputation or privacy rights as an example, the infringed party will pursue the legal responsibility of the account registrant, and It is not the legal responsibility of the agency operating company, which requires the account registrant to make an agreement in advance on some situations that may affect their own rights and interests when signing the agency operation contract to protect their legitimate rights and interests.
"If you really need to find an agency operating company, you should keep your eyes open and choose a regular company. After handing over the account to the agency operating company, you should also frequently track the progress. Once illegal information is found, you should immediately ask the agency operator to delete it." Zhao Zhan suggested that when signing a service contract, the entrusting party must carefully read the content of the contract, and negotiate with the operator on behalf of the operator in a timely manner if it is found unreasonable, and beware of contract fraud.
In Zheng Ning's view, agency operation is a new business model under the market mechanism, and its healthy development should be encouraged. In view of the existing irregularities, a multi-pronged approach is required to supervise.
"It is recommended that regulatory authorities or industry associations formulate service standards for agency operations, clarify service content, and provide standardized format contracts. At the same time, a linkage mechanism is formed with judicial organs to investigate and punish illegal acts in a timely manner." Zheng Ning said.