Blind box market supervision cannot leave "blind spots" (letters and interviews)
In recent years, there has been a "blind box fever" in the consumer market.
From toy blind boxes, stationery blind boxes, beauty blind boxes, book blind boxes, even ticket blind boxes, pet blind boxes, etc., businesses continue to change patterns to attract consumers.
However, behind the popular blind box consumption, there are many hidden worries: some merchants sell substandard products as shoddy; some entice minors to buy and make them addicted to it; some even illegally operate and sell Contraband.
A few days ago, this newspaper received many letters from readers, reflecting the problems and risks in blind box sales, and called on relevant departments to pay attention to it as soon as possible and strengthen supervision.
Opening the blind box is like buying a lottery ticket. Some consumers are addicted to buying in pursuit of a stimulating experience
There are many places to sell blind boxes online and offline.
The reporter searched an e-commerce website using "blind box" as a key word, and found more than 4,400 related product information, and there were as many as tens of thousands of toy blind boxes with the highest sales volume.
Offline, toy blind boxes are also very common.
There are various styles of toy blind boxes. Character dolls are the most common. Some use characters from well-known animations and movies, and some are cartoon versions of myths, legends, and historical figures.
Blind boxes are often launched in series, and there are usually more than 10 products in the same series, with certain differences in shapes and patterns.
Although the products sold in other blind boxes are different, the gameplay is roughly the same.
Blind boxes cannot be purchased directly according to consumers' preferences, but must be bought "with one's luck."
"Just look at the box and don't know what style the doll is in. Whether you can buy one you like depends on luck. This kind of exciting experience, similar to buying a lottery ticket, is just a pleasure of opening a blind box." Mr. Xu is blind. Box enthusiasts, he said, the excitement of buying blind boxes lies in uncertainty, excitement and the fun of collecting, which is a consumer experience commonly pursued by blind box enthusiasts.
In order to cater to the psychology of consumers, blind box operators attract consumers by increasing the difficulty of product collection. "For example, in addition to the regular models, each series of blind boxes has a hidden model with a small probability, a limited model, etc. ".
"If you get rare hidden or limited editions, you will feel very lucky and have a face." A reader from Wuhan, Hubei said Gao Ya, "Sometimes I don’t want to buy them, but I can’t help but want to try again when I see someone else has drawn a limited edition. Try.” According to media reports, some consumers bought 500 blind boxes at one time in order to win a limited edition doll, and the single consumption amounted to more than 30,000 yuan.
Shanghai reader Yu Yuankun started collecting a complete set of blind toy boxes last year.
He said: "The unit price of the blind box is not cheap. It usually costs tens of yuan. A single purchase may not have any psychological burden. But the blind box is played similarly to gambling. I always want to buy my favorite style, so I always want to' Try again'. A few days ago, I had calculated it. After more than a year, the total amount of money spent on blind boxes was nearly 10,000 yuan, and I was shocked."
It's not just that adults are obsessed with blind boxes and can't extricate themselves. In some places, blind boxes have gradually become popular among minors.
According to Zhang Aixia, a reader from Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, her child buys a stationery blind bag every three days. “I saw my daughter keep bringing stationery home and thought it was a spare. Later I found out that she was buying more and more. When I asked, I realized that these stationery were in blind boxes, and they weren’t bought for use, but for a complete set.”
The reporter visited some stationery stores and small shops around the school and found that some businesses were selling stationery blind boxes and stationery bags of different brands.
According to the owner, the unit price of a stationery blind bag is about 8 yuan to 10 yuan. There are gel pens, erasers, rulers and other stationery in it. There are bright and cute cartoon images on the stationery. "In order for the children to collect a series of cartoon images, Most of them will be repeated purchases."
The Consumer Protection Committee of Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province issued a consumer warning in May, stating that it has received many inquiries and complaints related to blind stationery boxes. Some students have successively purchased blind stationery boxes with a total price of more than 2,000 yuan in order to collect hidden stationery.
The Ningbo Consumer Protection Committee reminded that children should be wary of blind boxes of stationery causing addiction to children's purchases.
Merchants use information asymmetry to sell inferior products, and even sell contraband through blind boxes
Consumers can only know what they bought after opening the box. This excitement is the biggest selling point of the blind box, but because of this, consumers often don't know much about the contents of the blind box.
Some illegal businesses use this information asymmetry to exaggerate the value of goods or sell inferior products.
Ms. Li is an active user of a video website and has produced multiple periods of blind box unpacking videos.
She said that some of the more mature blind box brands on the market have also encountered problems such as incorrect versions and defective products. "I myself have bought second-hand goods that have been off the shelves, and some products still have quality problems."
Some consumers have participated in an online sales event for blind boxes of books. Each blind box is priced at about 40 yuan, which contains two books and several cultural and creative products.
When he opened the blind box, he discovered that one of the two books was an old book published 20 years ago, with obvious creases on the cover and back cover, and the cultural and creative products were also shoddy.
This consumer said: "When consumers buy blind boxes, they have a certain degree of mental preparation and cannot buy what they like. However, there is obviously a problem with the quality of the goods this time. I suspect that the blind box is just a cover. The real purpose of the business is to Clear inventory."
Some businesses also sell substandard products through blind boxes, infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
The Consumer Protection Committee of Shanghai Pudong New Area commissioned a professional testing agency to test 10 blind toy box products of different brands, and found that 8 of them contained safety hazards, which could cause blockage of the children’s respiratory tract and lead to suffocation.
In recent time, express blind boxes have gradually become popular. Consumers can purchase some unclaimed express parcels or discarded after returning to the merchant at a very low price.
According to an online shop customer service, these express blind boxes are all purchased from express companies. Consumers can buy 30 to 40 packages for only 20 yuan. Packages are generally classified according to size and weight, but they are even sold. The merchant does not know what product is in the package.
In addition, some businesses borrow blind boxes to sell goods that are prohibited by laws and regulations.
Some businesses have launched so-called blind pet boxes to send live animals such as dogs and cats by ordinary express delivery. Some animals are dying or even die during the delivery.
According to relevant national laws and regulations, live animals are items that are forbidden to be delivered or contained in mail. Even if you use a special live animal consignment channel, you must provide an immunization certificate, an animal quarantine certificate, etc.
However, some pet blind box sellers do not have any licenses, and the transportation is carried out through the ordinary express delivery process, causing serious public health safety hazards.
Targeted regulatory measures should be formulated for blind box sales, and consumers should also consume rationally
Feng Kuan, a reader from Yangquan City, Shanxi, said that blind box, as an emerging business model, lacks targeted regulatory measures, and that blind box consumption should be introduced into the track of healthy development through strict supervision and industry self-discipline.
Many readers mentioned that the rule of law is indispensable to clean up all kinds of chaos in blind box sales.
Xie Xianglong, a reader from Panjin City, Liaoning, said: “Innovation in business activities cannot break through the bottom line of the law. For example, sending the'blind pet box' by ordinary express delivery looks fresh, but it is suspected of violating relevant laws and regulations and should be resolutely rectified.”
Some readers also believe that while adhering to the bottom line of the law, it is necessary to improve and refine the supervision rules in a timely manner to avoid "supervision blind spots".
"New business models are emerging in an endless stream. It is necessary for relevant departments to continuously improve the regulatory rules based on the characteristics of the new business models to avoid blind spots that are unruly." Said Zou Xiao, a reader from Xuancheng City, Anhui.
"Uncertainty" is the main selling point of blind boxes, but it is also the main risk faced by consumers.
Some unscrupulous merchants conceal key information such as manufacturers and production dates, sell substandard products, and evade responsibility under the pretext of "maintaining mystery and enjoying surprises."
Experts believe that to achieve healthy development of blind box consumption, it is necessary to achieve openness and transparency in business activities and fully protect consumers' right to know.
"Without transparency, there will be no sustainable development of blind box consumption." Professor Liu Junhai from Renmin University of China Law School believes that through effective supervision, businesses should be urged to increase business transparency and integrity, and solve the problem of information asymmetry between buyers and sellers.
In response to this, some places have already taken measures.
The Chengdu Municipal Market Supervision Bureau of Sichuan Province recently issued the "Notice on E-commerce "Blind Box" Compliance Operation and Rational Consumption", which clearly stated that "Internet trading platforms and operators on the platforms shall not make false, exaggerated or misleading publicity, and ensure The key information such as the commodity value, the probability of occurrence, and the distribution method of the items in the blind box is true and transparent. It is advocated that the production and operators of the "blind box" products clearly indicate to consumers the probability of winning the hidden or limited edition products in the product draw."
In some places, special actions have been launched to strictly investigate and punish the "three noes" blind box products around primary and secondary schools and kindergartens in accordance with the law.
In response to the excessive marketing of some blind box operators, Cai Yiming, a reader from Jiaozuo City, Henan Province, suggested that merchants should strengthen self-discipline and focus more on improving product quality. “In the final analysis, blind boxes are a kind of commodity, and ultimately rely on quality to win. Blindly use consumers’ Consumers will get bored sooner or later by over-marketing and hunger-hunting. For a brand, this is not a long-term solution."
Yu Yuankun recalled the experience of buying blind boxes for more than a year, hoping that consumers will remain rational and do what they can. “Buying blind boxes and opening blind boxes is originally a kind of entertainment. But if you indulge in this, it wastes time and money. It has become a burden. I hope that consumers can consume rationally according to their own economic capacity and hobbies."
Our reporter Shen Tongrui
Our reporter Shen Tongrui