"Paper Crabs" Hidden Three Consumption Trap
Insiders: Regulators should include crab coupons into the scope of prepaid card supervision
As a seasonal aquatic product, hairy crabs are sold for a short time and are not easy to store, so crab coupons came into being and became a substitute for physical products.
"Buy coupons before redeem" has brought great convenience to consumers and businesses, but now this consumption model has gradually changed.
A reporter from Beijing Youth Daily noticed that crab coupons called "paper crabs" have become a kind of "futures" products. Some unscrupulous merchants use shoddy goods, recycle arbitrage, and even use the overlord clause to "empty gloves and white wolves."
How do businesses deal with consumers?
A reporter from the Beijing Youth Daily found three major pitfalls in the "paper crab" transaction.
Trap 1: Imposter
Suzhou Yangcheng Lake Hairy Crab Industry Association issued an announcement in September that this year’s Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs are scheduled to be caught and listed on September 22.
However, in early September of this year, various crab card sellers have become active and claimed that this is a "pre-sale."
As the "star" among hairy crabs, the value of Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs is much higher than that of hairy crabs in other producing areas, and sometimes even more than twice as high as that of hairy crabs in northern producing areas.
So are they selling real Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs?
On September 27, a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily searched for "Yangcheng Lake Hairy Crab Pickup Card" on the e-commerce platform.
Except for the products of a Yangcheng Lake food flagship store, the top rankings are all occupied by a brand called "Mrs Crab".
On its page, the store claimed that its hairy crab coupons had the largest sales volume on the platform last year.
At present, there are all kinds of crab coupons in the store, and the top product name of its sales ranking is "Spot Extra Large 10 Hairy Crabs Fresh Crab Gift Box Yangcheng Lake Town Female Crab Official Flagship".
However, a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily searched the product webpage but did not see a description of the place of origin.
In this regard, the store’s customer service stated that the real crabs redeemed for crab coupons are “good quality crabs selected from various lake areas in Jiangsu, not all crabs from Yangcheng Lake or its basin”.
When asked if there is a crab card in Yangcheng Lake, the store customer service said that there is no.
A reporter from the Beiqing Daily clicked on the top 50 hairy crab coupon products with "Yangcheng Lake" in the name. Most of the merchants cannot promise that the crabs that can be picked up must come from Yangcheng Lake.
Some businesses even avoid this, saying that hairy crabs are equipped with anti-counterfeiting locks.
A reporter from the Beijing Youth Daily found that the lock on display was not the "anti-counterfeit button of origin" of Yangcheng Lake.
The origin lock can be said to be the "identity card" of Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs. It was originally created to distinguish Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs from hairy crabs from other producing areas.
Trap 2: "Idling" Crab Coupons
"Receive Crab Card, only accept King of the Lake 2288", "High-priced Receiving Su Crab Crab Coupon Crab Card", "Receive Crab Champion Crab Card"... Open some second-hand e-commerce platforms, and it is not difficult to find some posts about receiving crab cards. The above all indicate one by one that only XX brand crab cards are accepted.
A reporter from the Beijing Youth Daily consulted some users who received crab cards, and the other party said that they would not accept cards from other companies because it was "difficult to do".
Prior to this, CCTV exposed the routine of "securitization" of crab coupons: a merchant issued a crab coupon with a nominal value of 500 yuan and sold it to consumers in need at a price of 400 yuan; consumers wanted to sell this one. When the crab coupons are discounted, there is a special scalper that will be collected at a price of 250 yuan. At the same time, the scalper will sell the crab coupons back to the issuing merchant at a price of 300 yuan, and the merchant will take the same crab coupon for a second sale.
In the entire profit chain, hairy crabs as a commodity have no “play” at all. After consumers discount the crab coupons, the recyclers make a net profit of 50 yuan, and the merchant earns 100 yuan out of thin air, and the same crab coupon can be used again. Continue to generate benefits.
In order to stimulate sales, some businesses have played word games. Now every hairy crab gift voucher has some numbers printed on the back of the page, such as "1688", "1888", etc., and each combination is 8 packs, which makes many consumers Misunderstood that this is the price.
However, the selling price of the merchants is only a few hundred yuan, and the lowest is even 188 yuan, which is 1/10 of the label "1888". This is to make consumers mistakenly think that they have picked up a bargain.
It is reported that there is a "type" behind these numbers, and the numbers only represent different types of packages and have nothing to do with the price.
Regarding this kind of idling selling method of hairy crabs, this year Yangcheng Lake Hairy Crab Industry Association advocated more than 200 member units to provide one-time redemption of crab cards (vouchers) for unactivated pickup within 30 days from the date of sale, and provide promise services for refund without reason. .
This is the first time that the domestic hairy crab industry has included one-time redemption of crab coupons (cards) into unreasonable returns, which has played a leading role in demonstration.
Trap 3: One ticket is hard to find
Among the routines of many crab voucher merchants, the deepest trap is that the crab voucher cannot be exchanged for hairy crabs in hand, and the merchants eventually run away.
"The crab card I bought last year was redeemed at the end of October last year. The merchant said that the crab season was over early due to the impact of the epidemic. I would redeem it again this year. First, the phone could not be reached, and then even the merchants on the e-commerce platform could not be found." On the black cat platform, consumers complained about Suzhou Xingyu Ecological Agriculture Development Co., Ltd.
A reporter from the Beijing Youth Daily noted that there are still many complaints like this on the Black Cat platform, involving brands such as Fang Qi, Su Yu, and Yuzhou Sing Wan.
Why does this happen?
Some industry insiders said that some businesses may not have crabs in their hands or they have over-issued crab coupons.
When consumers want to redeem, they will "drag" with various excuses until the card is postponed to the next year.
Then he used the non-crab season to transfer funds in the middle of the nine months, closing the shop and running away.
To put it bluntly, these unscrupulous merchants are playing "Empty Glove White Wolf".
Previously, the company's App information showed that many hairy crab companies in Suzhou were included in the list of abnormal business operations, including Suzhou Ruifeng Hairy Crab Co., Ltd., Suzhou Yangcheng Lake Suwu Hairy Crab Co., Ltd., etc.
The reasons for listing are all registered residences or business premises cannot be contacted, and the decision-making authority is Suzhou Xiangcheng District Market Supervision Administration, Suzhou Industrial Park Market Supervision Administration, etc.
In addition to "running", there is another routine called "dragging". A consumer said that the crab card in his hand had been held for 3 years. Although the merchant said it was "permanently valid", it was necessary for the first year. The official account is scheduled to be "full" forever until the end of the crab season that year.
Although the appointment was made in the second year, there was a dispute between the merchant and the shipper, and the delivery was not possible. Finally, the hairy crabs were very small, which was totally inconsistent with the four-two crabs promised on the card.
In the end, the merchant promised to compensate, and said that the crab card could be redeemed this year.
This year, the consumer made the redemption as soon as he entered the crab season, but it also showed that the appointment was "full" in the past month.
Text / reporter Zhang Xin
Coordinator/Yu Meiying
hint
China Consumers Association issued tips to prevent "crab coupons"
The China Consumers Association previously issued consumer reminders, which specifically reminded consumers to "pay attention to crab coupons" routines to avoid the imbalance of supply and demand of "one coupon in hand, crabs are hard to find" and the problem of shrinking individual size of crab products.
Some analysts said that with the development of e-commerce and express logistics, hairy crabs can now be "buy at any time", and some e-commerce companies can even supply hairy crabs from different producing areas for 8 to 10 months a year.
In this case, the "convenience" of the crab coupon itself has been weakened, and the attribute as a gift has been enhanced.
For consumers, directly choosing to buy hairy crab products instead of crab coupons will further reduce the living space of "paper crabs" and force the hairy crab industry to self-discipline.
Regulatory departments and industry associations should also include crab coupons into the supervision of prepaid cards to prevent merchants from running away with money.