Is it really easy to make money by opening an online store without a source?
Reporter investigates unsourced e-commerce startup projects
□ Our reporter Han Dandong
□ Our intern Guan Chuyu
At the beginning of May this year, Lin Jia (pseudonym) from Dongguan, Guangdong saw an advertisement of "58 yuan to open an online store with no supply" on a short video platform. She clicked on the video because she had planned to open an online store. The link below, add the social account of the institution's admissions teacher for consultation.
The institution's admissions teacher told Lin Jia: "As long as you spend 388 yuan, we can teach you to open an online store with no supply, help you connect with the supply, and there is no secondary charge." After paying the fee, the other party instructed Lin Jia on an e-commerce platform. The online store was successfully registered on the website, but when looking for the agency for the source of goods, the other party said that "it will cost 1,000 yuan to buy the source software, otherwise you need to find the source yourself".
A reporter from the "Rules of Law Daily" recently interviewed and found that advertisements similar to the claim that "you can open an online store with zero foundation, no supply, and no understanding of operation, including opening a store, supplying supply, and operation" exist in large numbers on web pages and short-view screen platforms.
What exactly is this so-called "no-source e-commerce startup project", can it really make money easily?
In this regard, the reporter launched an in-depth investigation.
original commitment to supply
Not paid after payment
Beijing resident Wang Peng (pseudonym) is a tourism practitioner. Since the tourism industry has not been very prosperous in recent years, his income has dropped significantly. He plans to find a side business to increase his income.
In April 2022, Wang Peng saw a no-supply e-commerce advertisement placed by Chengdu Shengmaikun Network Technology Co., Ltd. on the short video platform, advertised that it is possible to do e-commerce without a supply.
Because he felt that this model was very suitable for him, Wang Peng clicked the link below the advertisement video and added the social account of the training teacher of the institution for consultation.
At first, Wang Peng was not in a hurry to sign up, but later, the training teacher would share some very attractive information with him every day, such as "the student's daily turnover is more than 2,000 after three days of registration."
Therefore, Wang Peng spent 500 yuan to sign up, of which 400 yuan is the cost of using the non-supply system, and 100 yuan is the training cost.
However, after signing up, Wang Peng found that it was not as good as advertised.
"I operate the store registration and certification by myself, and it is very simple and does not require their training. The training they do is to refer to the free courses of the e-commerce platform. These courses are readily available online, and they just share these links for me Look, these training sessions are of no use to me," Wang Peng said.
The reporter entered Wang Peng's online store and saw that the store has been open for more than a week, and only one person has paid attention to it. It mainly sells some daily necessities, such as trash cans and household storage.
"Not to mention orders, there is not even a single visitor." Wang Peng also did not enjoy the "supply supply" service that he cared about most, because the agency said that it must first achieve a certain sales volume.
"If there is no actual supply, I can't do event promotion and publicity. Even if I know how to operate, there is no way to implement it, and the store will not be profitable." Wang Peng said helplessly.
Wang Peng said that he has not enjoyed the services mentioned by the agency in the contract, such as "providing a system without supply, which can be put on the shelf, selected and shipped with one click". He is currently contacting the agency to protect his rights, but the other party said that Wang Peng had If you take courses and enjoy related services, you can only refund up to 200 yuan.
"I paid 500 yuan, which is relatively small. I know that some people have been deceived by more than a few hundred yuan, and even tens of thousands of yuan." Wang Peng said.
Known as package shop package source
accused of false advertising
"Do you want to make money easily? Do you believe that opening an online store for a month can make a qualitative change in your income? Opening an online store with zero basis has low cost and low risk. From opening a store to promoting one-stop services, it allows you to You can open an online store at home, you only need to spend an hour or two a day processing orders, and the products you sell will be shipped directly from the manufacturer, no need to stock up, no need to worry about logistics, use other people's goods to make your own money, and be your own boss ."
This is a promotional advertisement for an e-commerce without a supply that the reporter saw on a short video platform. The video advertisement also reads "New Opportunity, an online store project without a supply. Open a store, supply supply, and operation".
In order to find out, the reporter clicked the link at the bottom of the video and added the social account of Mr. Zhang, the shop opening consultant of Qizhong Vocational Training.
As soon as he came up, Mr. Zhang warmly introduced to the reporter their organization's "Taobao Store Entrepreneurship Project without Supply".
The so-called non-supply mode is one-click delivery. There is a special source software, which contains pictures of the products and introduction detail pages, etc. Online shop owners who do not have a source can paste the products in the source software directly on their own stores.
Organizations can also help students collect and load goods, and after the buyer pays successfully, the buyer's delivery address and phone number are provided to the seller in the source system, and the seller will deliver the goods, and the owner will earn the difference as a middleman.
In the meantime, the store owner has no access to any goods, and even if the goods can be loaded and shipped smoothly, there is no way to know the quality of the goods.
When the reporter asked if he could provide the source of goods, Mr. Zhang said, "We can recommend the source of goods for you from manufacturers, covering men's clothing, women's clothing, shoes and socks, bags, small commodities, toys, furniture and other categories of high-quality manufacturers' sources of supply." All product pictures and detailed introductions have been prepared in advance. The store owner can directly choose the products he likes to upload for free, and these products all support one-click shipping from the manufacturer.
According to Mr. Zhang, according to the different situations of the students, the institution has 3 discount packages for opening a store, namely the bronze package of 498 yuan, the silver package of 798 yuan and the gold package of 998 yuan.
Among them, the service of the bronze package is to provide basic teaching of opening a store, and the overall construction and optimization of the store can be used to set up the store to operate normally.
However, the bronze package does not include supply, and only the higher-priced silver and gold packages have added supply services.
The reporter's investigation found that there is no cost to register an online store, and there are ready-made tutorials on the Internet. You only need to be 18 years old to go to the e-commerce platform to register an online store for free.
In order to get the reporter to sign up, Mr. Zhang told the reporter that as long as the plan is strictly followed by the teacher, the order can be issued on the same day.
The stores they support earn a few hundred yuan every day. If they operate carefully for a long time, the daily turnover is about 1,000 yuan, and the profit is between 20% and 30%.
Afterwards, Mr. Zhang sent reporters some screenshots of chats with other students, mainly the online store of registered students.
When the reporter said that the profit was so considerable, when Teacher Zhang opened a shop, he said that he was teaching, and practitioners could not open a shop.
Subsequently, the reporter entered "Qizhong Education" on the black cat complaint platform to search and found that many consumers complained that it was suspected of false propaganda.
One of the consumers said that he bought a 998 yuan gold package under the guidance of a store opening consultant, but he simply walked through the store opening process without any professional guidance in the middle, and the promised services were not achieved.
The traffic of the newly opened store was not as good as its promotion, so the teacher of Qizhong Education began to recommend him to buy an investment plan of 3888 yuan to 13888 yuan, saying that only in this way can the store get on the right track.
Investing should be rational
Do not believe in the so-called high returns
Regarding the no-supply e-commerce model, Ye Lin, a professor at the Law School of Renmin University of China, said that in today's rapid development of the Internet and technology, if you just pay the registration fee and learn how to open a no-supply e-commerce business, it is not enough for a user to open a store only. It may be profitable to operate, and this may only be a tool for training institutions to make money.
The reporter's investigation found that the advertisements of some unsupplied e-commerce companies were promoted under the banner of "58 yuan for supply, store opening, and operation", but after consulting, many netizens found that they had to pay 388 yuan for teaching fees, and the follow-up supply software You have to pay for learning operational knowledge.
After refusing to pay the fee for the second time, the teacher of the institution began to disappear.
In this regard, Zhao Zhan, a lawyer from Beijing Yunjia Law Firm, believes: "This is a false advertisement, because the advertisement promotes all-inclusive 58 yuan, but there is a second consumption in the follow-up. After the consumer refused to pay the second fee, the agency originally The promised essential services should also be provided. If the agency loses contact and no longer provides services, it constitutes a breach of contract and may constitute fraud.”
In addition, the reporter's investigation found that in practice, there are still cases where agency shop opening consultants induce minors to use their family ID cards to sign up for online stores without supply.
"Although minors use their family ID cards to open an online store, in fact, the user who specifically handles opening an online store is still a minor. The contractual relationship formed between the minor and the organization is a civil legal act. A minor is a restricted act. Capable people cannot carry out the civil legal act of opening a store and signing a contract that is not suitable for their age and intelligence, so this contract can be revoked." Zhao Zhan said.
At present, in addition to the advertisements of "no-supply e-commerce entrepreneurial projects", there are also many advertisements under the banner of "low investment and high return" and "easy money".
Ye Lin reminded that this violates basic common sense. When "low investment, high return" or similar words appear, it means that this is "deception", and consumers should stay away.
Consumers can complain about such advertisements, and regulators should supervise them in a timely manner or issue relevant reminders to reduce the risk of investors being deceived.