The golden season of hairy crabs has long come to an end, and those crab cards that are full of dust have not yet been successfully cashed! Ms. Qiao from Shenzhen has recently been troubled by the difficulty of crab card delivery.
According to Ms. Qiao, after she bought a certain brand of crab cards this year, she recently encountered trouble when picking up the goods. The crab card shows that the annual pick-up date is until December 31, but when Ms. Qiao picked up the goods on December 27 this year, she was told by WeChat customer service that "this year's hairy crab season has ended" and can only "pick up the goods next year". "It's a pit!" Ms. Qiao helplessly told the Shell financial reporter.
The experiences of these consumers are not uncommon. Recently, Shell financial reporters learned from a number of consumers that the crab card that should have been "picked up with the appointment" is difficult in the actual exchange - the merchant's custom pick-up period, the crab card appointment has been full for a long time, even if the crab is mentioned, the crab size is different, the rope of the crab is long and thick, and the water is used as the weight of the crab.
Shell financial reporter contacted the shop that sold crab cards on an e-commerce platform in the name of consumers, and learned during the conversation that according to the "official regulations", the crab season exceeding the store regulations cannot be reserved even if there is a spot. The so-called "crab season", different stores responded to reporters differently. At the same time, shell financial reporters also found that on some idle item platforms, posts on the acquisition of crab cards can be seen everywhere, and some posters told reporters that crab cards can be purchased at a 20% discount at the model price, and there is no upper limit to the number.
In response to all kinds of crab card chaos on the market, some experts told Shell Financial Reporter that the securitization operation of reselling crab cards and other commodities will make merchants no longer pay attention to the product itself, and ultimately damage the interests of consumers. If consumers need to buy crab cards, they should try to buy from e-commerce with high reputation, and when they find that merchants use routines, stop losses and returns in time and complain.
Under the thousand-layer routine, the crab card that cannot be exchanged, the crab that is "injected with water"
Ms. Qiao's experience is not alone. Another consumer, Xiao Wang, told Shell Financial Reporter that he had had a similar experience and that the situation was worse than Ms. Qiao.
Xiao Wang said that in the past two years, he has received a single crab card with a face value of 3888 from a friend, but "he has not redeemed it once." The crab card shows that consumers can pick up crabs through online reservations, telephone reservations, etc., but Xiao Wang logged on to the website and found that the reservation was full, and no one answered the customer service phone calls many times. Later, Xiao Wang searched the crab card company on the Internet and found that the Internet was full of the company's complaint posts. Because it was a gift from a friend, Xiao Wang did not investigate the matter deeply. The crab card is only valid for two years, plus the annual exchange shows that the reservation is full, and xiao wang throws away the crab card after expiration. Recently, after seeing the hot search of #Crab Card Long-term Appointment Has Been Filled and Can't Pick Up," Xiao Wang reacted that his experience was not unique. "I was also amazed at how common this phenomenon is when I first saw the news."
In fact, even if the appointment is made to mention the crab, consumers may not be able to eat the crab that they are happy with.
The details of the products in the package are often marked on the crab card, such as 4.0 two *2 male crabs, 3.0 two *2 female crabs, etc. However, after the actual receipt of the goods, the goods are often not on the right board. CCTV once reported that the quality of mailed crabs is a very common phenomenon, such as crabs marked with 4.0 taels, and the quality of rope soaked with water can reach one or two. Consumer Xiao Chen told the shell financial reporter that the crabs mentioned in his annual appointment are visible to the naked eye of different sizes, and the ropes of the crabs are soaked with water and the weight is not light. When consulting customer service, customer service explained that "there will be a certain amount of water consumption in the transportation of aquatic products".
A brand of crab card quotation.
On September 14 this year, the China Consumer Association specifically pointed out in its "double festival" consumption tips that consumers should pay special attention to preventing the "crab coupon" routine, avoiding the imbalance between supply and demand of "one coupon in hand, crabs are difficult to find", and the serious problem of crab shrinkage.
The store has a crab card in stock but cannot pick it up
Behind the difficulty of redemption: merchants issue cards excessively, controlling the proportion of pick-up period and pick-up
For the problem behind the difficulty of exchange, the shell financial reporter consulted the customer service of a store that sold crab cards on an e-commerce platform in the name of consumers. The store customer service told reporters that the store crab nationwide multi-warehouse nearby delivery, every day tens of thousands of single delivery volume, the appointment to pick up within 24-48 hours after the dispatch, absolutely there is no continuous 2, 3 months of reservation can not be the situation.
Different from the customer service statement, some consumers in the comment area of the product said that after purchasing the goods at the end of September, they wanted to make an appointment to pick up the goods during the National Day, and the resulting system showed that the reservation was full, and the earliest had to wait until November 20 to make an appointment. Customer service responded to this comment to the shell financial reporter said, "A date appointment is full of a change date."
Although it is possible to change the date, the merchant is controlling the pickup date. The customer service said that there is a restriction on the annual pick-up date of the crab card, and it cannot be picked up after December 20th every year. However, shell financial reporters found that the spot crab gift boxes sold in this store can be "shipped during the New Year". When the Shell financial reporter further asked why there was a spot but could not make an appointment to pick up the goods, the customer service only replied that this was an "official regulation".
A conversation between a shell financial reporter and the customer service of a shop that sells crab cards.
Why can't I make an appointment to pick up the crab card when I still have a crab card in stock? In fact, this is related to the proliferation of crab cards, and the merchant controls the proportion of the pick-up period and the pick-up ratio.
On the one hand, it is difficult to exchange, and on the other hand, crab cards are flooded. The number of card coupons issued by enterprises is greater than the inventory amount, which is the unspoken rule of the industry. According to CBNData statistics, the proportion of expired and invalid crab cards accounted for 5% of the total circulation every year.
"It's 'profound' in this. Merchants know that many people buy crab cards for gifts and will not pick up the goods immediately. In the end, the crab card in the hands of the pick-up person did not know how many hands were transferred, and even if there was a problem, the source could not be found, and it was likely that it would not be solved. Relevant industry insiders said that to some extent, crab cards and crab coupons have been monetized, and some merchants rely on paper crabs to "empty gloves white wolves".
Most crab cards on the market are valid for about 2 or 3 years, and can only be redeemed each year during the designated crab season (around September to December). Once the consumer does not make an appointment during the crab season, he can only wait until September of the following year to make another reservation. In the second year, the crab card in the gift, waiting for the link, it is easy to be forgotten or miss the pick-up time, and finally the crab card is invalidated, the loss is paid by the consumer, the merchant can make a fortune in vain.
However, the specific time of the crab season varies from one shop to another. Shell financial reporters have contacted three e-commerce customer service to inquire about this year's crab season, and got three different replies: mid-to-late September to December 20th, September 22nd to mid-January, mid-September to December 31st.
In addition, there is also a large amount of moisture in the list price of "paper crab".
Mr. Li, an employee of a certain enterprise, told Shell Financial Reporter that he would be responsible for ordering crab cards for the company every year around the Mid-Autumn Festival and sending them to the company's customers and senior leaders. Every year, Mr. Li will order about 600 crab cards from shops that sell crab cards, each with an original price of around 4,000 yuan. Due to the large number of orders, the store will give a certain discount, and will actually buy it at a price of about 50% off, that is, 2,000 yuan per serving.
On the e-commerce platform, many crab cards are sold in the form of gift packs. Most of these crab cards are beautifully packaged, and the card surface is printed with words ranging from 1999 type and 3999 type, and these so-called models do not represent the actual price, and consumers often buy it at a price of 4-5 discounts on the model.
The bubble in the gift market behind the inflated price can be seen, which also means that the quality of the crabs behind it cannot be guaranteed, such as the above-mentioned lack of pounds and short two is also inevitable.
Not only that, the Beijing News investigation found that the popularity of crab card crab coupons has bred outsourcing companies specializing in exchange services, and the existence of outsourced customer service has exacerbated the problem of exchange difficulties. As far as brand operators are concerned, some companies sell crab cards without filing qualifications, and finally run away with the money, resulting in consumers having no way to exchange; in the aquatic products wholesale link, some merchants have inflated prices and pretended to be famous and excellent production areas, which in turn led to consumer complaints.
Crab card securitization operation gradually becomes an industrial chain, who is making money?
Controlling the pick-up period and controlling the proportion of pick-up is one of the means for merchants to form capital precipitation, which also makes crab coupons idle and increasingly securitized.
When crabs exist in the form of crab cards, consumers buy crab cards for gift giving reasons, and customers who receive gifts also have a high probability of changing hands with others. Under this premise, the merchant can even not sell a single crab, but only make money by reselling it.
This also gave birth to the business of crab card scalping.
Shell financial reporter found on an idle item platform that there are still many people specializing in the business of recycling crab cards. A crab card buyer only receives a certain brand of crab card and buys it at a price of 20% off the model. Consumers need to spend 50% off the price of the model when buying the brand's crab card.
Search results related to crab card recycling on an idle platform.
According to some analysts, the resale of crab cards has gradually become an industrial chain - the merchant prints 2,000 crab coupons with a face value of 500 yuan, sells them to the enterprise procurement personnel at 400 yuan, the recipient sells to the enterprise recycling personnel at a price of 250 yuan, the recycler sells to the merchant at a price of 300 yuan, the merchant buys back the crab coupon at a low price and earns 100 yuan each, and the crab coupon easily earns 200,000 yuan after the market is idle.
Chinese food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng said in an interview with Shell Financial Reporter that the pre-sale business model such as food coupons, shopping cards, crab cards and so on is behind the synthesis of high profits, high gross profits and the entire interest chain organization. Every year is the crab season has not yet begun, many merchants have begun to sell a large number of crab cards, and futures crabs can bring large advance receipts to enterprises, thereby reducing the operating pressure of enterprises. After the crab card commodity securitization operation, the profit model of the merchant is diversified, the profit is shorter and faster, and the consumer will no longer be regarded as the core group. Therefore, many merchants who sell crab cards will gradually ignore the consumer's purchase experience, and the quality of goods will become worse and worse. "The securitization of the entire crab card is bound to be detrimental to consumers." Zhu Danpeng said.
So, when consumers encounter difficulties in exchange and crab quality problems, how to protect their rights? In this regard, Zhang Liang, a lawyer at Beijing Yingke Law Firm, told Shell Financial Reporter that if the above situation is encountered, consumers can call 12315 to complain or expose the dishonest behavior of merchants on the Internet to protect their rights. In view of the crab card has a "long exchange cycle", "overlord clause" and other routines, consumers should try to go to the high reputation of the e-commerce to buy, when found that the merchant uses the routine, timely stop loss return and complaint; at the same time, before the purchase of the card, leave a good transaction evidence materials; after the purchase of the card merchant defaults, consumers first actively communicate, communication is not smooth, through the Consumer Association complaints, network exposure processing. The amount of loss is serious and can be handled by filing a lawsuit.
Beijing News shell financial reporter Li Menghan Editor Yue Caizhou Song Yuting Proofreader Guo Li