"Bitterness" and "Pleasure" of Student Purchasing Agents

　　"The product you asked is now being promoted, buy a free shipping, and get a sample and mask..." At 11 o'clock in the evening, Zhang Ting also responded to customer inquiries on her personal social platform.

A few hours before going to bed, the female college student packed the 23 express items to be sent out, and ran out of a whole roll of tape.

　　Every holiday, Zhang Ting spends in the busy purchasing agent.

China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily reporters found in an interview that nowadays, college students like Zhang Ting are engaged in purchasing agents. Because of the freedom of personal time and the need to make pocket money, they have started purchasing sideline businesses in their social network circles. , Purchase goods at low prices, and then expand the customer base through "lottery" and other methods.

While making money, they also have to bear the business and academic risks that follow.

From "self-use" to "purchasing"

　　Xu Luoluo's idea to be a purchasing agent originated from a trip.

When she was in graduate school, because she was unwell, the counselor and family members advised her to take a trip to relax. After determining the budget, Xu Luoluo started her own trip to Thailand.

　　Before leaving, her friend heard that some products in Thailand are cheaper, and asked her to help bring the goods. Her idea of ​​"purchasing" began to sprout.

After the trip, she brought back not only the goods ordered by her friends, but also a brand new "career".

Although the parents did not support it, Xu Luoluo chose to persist.

　　She invested 30,000 to 40,000 yuan to purchase the goods. In the first month, she sold more than 100 skin care and beauty products, and successfully made a profit.

In the following two years, her net profit as a purchasing agent exceeded 100,000 yuan.

　　Five years ago, Zi'er was a freshman in Hubei Institute of Technology. Because she likes to buy Daigou products, she accidentally came into contact with Daigou management staff and started to work as a Daigou.

"On the one hand, getting the goods is cheaper and convenient for your own use; on the other hand, there are some commissions for selling to others."

　　Unlike Xu Luoluo, apart from agency fees, Zier didn't invest too much money to purchase goods, but instead made some pocket money by relying on the price difference of each order.

　　Xiao Li, a graduate student in a university in Henan, has also experienced the process from "self-use" to "purchasing".

Xiao Li knew the word "haitao" for the first time when he checked the WeChat Moments.

While questioning the authenticity of Haitao, she was attracted by the low price of Haitao and started to do her homework and try to buy some products.

　　"The feature of Haitao is that the more you buy, the more gifts. I can't use up the purchased items, so I can resell them in the circle of friends." At the suggestion of his sister, Xiao Li created a special group to sell the inventory to his own. friends.

During graduate school, Xiao Li's income as a daigou was enough to support her living expenses.

　　Compared with other purchasing agents, college students purchasing agents have their unique advantages.

Xu Luoluo said: "We have a better understanding of the needs of our peers, a stronger control over communication channels, and a higher level of media literacy." Compared with the elders, Xu Luoluo can always master the App faster. The method of use is more sensitive to new products.

"Slopes" and "Humps" on the way of purchasing

　　There are also natural "hurdles" on the way college students purchase agents.

The opposition from family members and teachers is the first, and the lack of start-up funds is the second. Many college students’ ideas about purchasing agents come to an abrupt end here.

　　After crossing these two hurdles, there are still a series of troubles waiting for them.

A college student daigou confessed to reporters that when he first entered the industry, he was like a headless fly. He had a little understanding of the complete process of daigou, and there were many problems from choosing logistics to choosing products.

　　Zi'er, who was just starting out, had a “black eye” when he chose the logistics route.

Because I didn't understand the shipping route in the express, the first time I sent out eyeshadow with a total price of tens of yuan, I paid more than 60 yuan in tax.

　　The "selection antennas" of college students' purchasing agents will occasionally fail.

Once, because a certain product was discounted very heavily, Xiao Li took advantage of the low price to buy a lot of goods, but in the end he had to face the dilemma of unsalable sales.

　　In the process of engaging in purchasing agents, my own lack of social experience also makes college students purchasing agents become a fat meat in the eyes of some "deception experts".

　　After deciding on purchasing agents, Xu Luoluo followed many "well-known purchasing agents" on Weibo.

By chance, she added the WeChat account of a daigou blogger with tens of millions of fans. After some exchanges, she believed the daigou and agreed to be his agent.

　　After paying the agency fee, she did not directly sell as required by the blogger, but kept her eyes on her mind and paid for the sample and asked to see the sample.

This time of attention also prevented her agent from causing a major disaster, because these samples were finally confirmed as fakes, and she lost 4,000 yuan as a result.

　　Like other purchasing groups, after-sales service is also a headache for college students.

Since most of their sales targets are classmates, acquaintances, or relatives and friends, they are "more embarrassed to refuse after-sales requests from friends" than other strange purchasing groups.

　　Zhang Yue, a purchasing agent from a college in Wuhan, said that she has to deal with about five or six items that require return and exchange every month, while her colleagues who already work often only deal with one or two items.

The industry rule of the daigou industry is "no refunds for non-quality problems", but Zhang Yue will always be forced to refund because the buyer's skin is not suitable and other reasons.

　　The breakage rate of Daigou products is also an unavoidable problem.

Express delivery from the United States back to China requires multiple customs clearance inspections, coupled with the long distance, there are many uncertainties.

In a purchase from the United States direct mail back to China, Zhang Ting purchased 10 bottles of lotion, and only 5 bottles were intact when she got it.

　　These amounts due to damages and requests for refunds, returns or making up the difference in price are often only borne by college students themselves.

　　Higher incomes have brought a large number of young people into this industry, but problems such as black agents, fakes, and fraud are stubborn diseases that are difficult to eradicate in the industry.

　　In the past three years in the purchasing agent industry, Xiao Li has seen too many counterfeit incidents caused by black agents.

These black agents deliberately selected the students to start, and after receiving the agency fees, they issued fakes, or simply slipped away.

　　In addition to black agents, "acquaintances" often let these college students mess around on their behalf.

　　Xu Luoluo has a little sister who has known each other since childhood. The other party said that there is a shopping mall at home, and they can get trial kits from counters at low prices.

After Xu Luoluo learned about it, without any doubt, he immediately ordered 7000 yuan of products, only to find that they were all fakes.

She couldn't help sighing, "A person who wants to lie to you doesn't care who you are."

The impact of purchasing agents on "academic"

　　Under the impact of a series of market environments, some college student agents began to take a rational view of this "side job."

Xiao Li, who has graduated this year, is currently looking for a "right career."

She placed Daigou's position very low, "Daigou is just a blind regulator of my life."

　　Xu Luoluo is considering the possibility of becoming a beauty and skin care video blogger, "People around me are not very supportive, so I'm still considering it."

　　At the busiest time, Zhang Ting had to process more than 500 consultation messages in one day.

In order to reply to these messages, she had to take out her mobile phone frequently in class, and couldn't concentrate on listening to the class at all.

　　The conflict between busy purchasing agents and academic work should not be underestimated.

In an overseas news article, an overseas student agent named Cha Yizhou said, “Because there is a time difference between foreign and domestic, you have to stay up until two or three in the morning to go to bed. The phone keeps ringing. The next day you go to bed. Being forced to skip class too far, this kind of thing has happened."

　　When I learned that my student Liu Yue started to work as a part-time agent, the first reaction of the counselor Liu Hongmeng was that her studies would be affected.

　　During the monthly talks thereafter, Liu Hongmeng will pay special attention to this girl.

She gradually learned that Liu Yue is doing the work of a purchasing agent, which is equivalent to an "intermediary" of purchasing agents. He is only responsible for contacting customers, not for delivery and purchase.

Compared with other purchasing agents who need to do it personally, the agent purchasing agent saves a lot of time and energy, allowing her to take care of her studies to the maximum extent.

　　"At the same time, I also found that Daigou makes her better at communicating with others, and she is also more confident and daring to speak." Liu Hongmeng told reporters, "Daigou will definitely squeeze your free time, but will it affect your studies? It varies from person to person."

　　In the first semester when she started as a purchasing agent, Liu Yue's academic performance was not satisfactory.

At the end of the semester, classmates were scrambling to review, but she was dealing with a large number of orders in the circle of friends.

"At that time, the promotional activities were particularly strong. I couldn't reply to the news every day, and I didn't have time to review." As a result, she failed one of the courses in that exam, which made her very upset.

　　After this incident, Liu Yue withdrew from all interest clubs and student organizations, leaving all the time outside of study to the purchasing agent, and ensured that the study time was not compressed as much as possible.

　　On the issue of balancing the purchasing agent and academic work, Liu Yue believes that there is only one gain.

"It's really impossible to take care of everything. At this time, you have to give up part of it. As for which part to give up, it depends on your personal choice."

　　(At the request of the interviewee, college students in the text are all pseudonyms)

　　Chen Wanyin, China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily reporter Lei Yu Source: China Youth Daily