Abstract: "Governance initiative is in the hands of enterprises"
The author | Gong Chenqian
Editor| Zhang Shuo
Affected by the launch of popular new models of new energy, the sales of new energy vehicles will double in 2021, and at the same time, it will also "breed" alternative ways to make money.
"Phoenix WEEKLY Finance" noted that on the idle platform Idle Fish, xiaopeng P5, Tesla Model 3, Model Y and other popular new energy models order prices sold at high prices, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. Among them, the sellers are both individuals and professional "scalper" teams.
In fact, most models mention in the subscription agreement after the user places an order, and the deposit is non-refundable and the order is non-transferable.
Even with official crackdowns, "scalpers" are everywhere. What's more, in the form of a team to do the "business" of new energy vehicle orders, as long as it is a new model launched by a well-developed car company, it will "insert a foot" in the trend, grab the first order and sell at a high price.
With the vigorous development of new energy vehicles, there will be more popular new cars entering the market in the future, has "scalper" ushered in a "new spring"? In order to maintain normal market order and protect the rights and interests of users, how should enterprises respond?
01 Resell orders get several times the profit
Wang Guo did not expect that the order of Tesla Model Y would not only be smoothly transferred out within 1 week, but also let him make an extra small profit.
In early October, under the "Amway" of a friend, Kingdom ordered a Model Y. But after a day of deep test drives, Kingdom thought the Model Y suspension was too hard and chose to give up buying the car. However, in December, as the delivery period of the Model Y approached, the idea that he did not want to give up paying the deposit began to bubble up.
So he hung the order on the idle fish platform with the mentality of trying it out, "The original sales and I said that the order could not be transferred, the deposit could not be refunded, I thought there was no play." But after hanging up on the platform, a bunch of people came to teach me how to transfer orders." For an order of 1,000 yuan, Kingdom eventually sold for 2,000 yuan.
It is reported that if consumers want to buy a Model Y, they need to pay a deposit of 1,000 yuan under the guidance of tesla apps or sales, and sign a "car subscription agreement". The agreement clearly states that the user's order is prohibited from resale, and the cancellation of the order is considered a breach of contract, and the deposit paid by the user will be automatically converted into liquidated damages for compensation of the enterprise.
Li Ming, the buyer of the kingdom, is a "veteran" of Tesla's sales orders.
On the homepage of Li Ming's personal trading platform, he posted 4 posts on model 3/Y order receipt (sale) and pinned it, one of which sold Model Y that was inquired by 622 people. In the dynamics of his sale, the front foot resold the Model Y order to a buyer in Hangzhou for 10,999 yuan, and the back foot successfully obtained a profit of 7,000 yuan from a Hainan buyer.
In the comment area, nearly 70 buyers were "speeding up" and commented that "the boss is reliable and powerful".
It is worth mentioning that on December 28, 2021, when Phoenix WEEKLY Finance inquired about the model sold by The Kingdom, it said that the resale price was 9999 yuan, and the profit had increased by 8 times in two weeks.
Li Ming assured reporters, "Our team will never do fraudulent things, can ensure that the vehicle information registrant is you, the process is formal and reliable, in addition to the handling fee is to pay me through idle fish, other funds go to the public account."
Li Ming is just a microcosm of the "scalper party" of new energy vehicles.
After sorting out phoenix WEEKLY Finance, it was found that there are two main types of "scalpers" who focus on the new energy vehicle order business: one is the same as Li Ming, focusing on only one car brand; the other is to integrate all popular new models, and the latest model orders launched by mainstream new energy vehicle companies such as Extreme Kr 001, Xiaopeng P5, and Weilai ET7 are all reselled objects.
In addition, there are individuals who "sniff" new business opportunities: "Occupy a pit first, and then you can sell for a good price in the order of the next order." What's more, it also said that "the high price in the first half of next year will turn krypton 001 order, the SECOND half of the year will sell the ET5 order before delivery in September, and then order a new BYD car, if the progress is smooth, I can earn extra money on the order every year."
02 Market demand attracts "scalpers" to intervene
Where there is demand, there is "scalper".
The approaching of the Spring Festival, coupled with the shortage of chips has led to an extension of the delivery cycle of new cars, resulting in the tight demand for new energy hot cars hanging on the Internet.
The lessons of the first impulse consumption have allowed the kingdom to gain a lot of experience; after abandoning the Model Y order and test driving other different models, he chose the Extreme Kr 001. "The sales said that it will take at least half a year to order now, but before that, I have agreed with my fiancée to drive a new car to her home in the New Year", which has also become the most important reason for the kingdom to abandon the official booking channel to find online "scalpers".
"4.26 (April 26 deposit) orders, has been pulled to deliver the group, before the Spring Festival can definitely be picked up on the car; 12,000 yuan orders to the whole country, you make up your mind as soon as possible, after the New Year's Day all the orders will increase the price." A "scalper" seller in Wuxi told the kingdom. Judging from the seller's personal homepage, in addition to selling different versions and delivery dates of The Krypton 001, he also sells a variety of used cars.
Enterprises generally deliver cars in order of order, so the higher the order pick-up date, the higher the resale price.
Judging from the orders of new energy models resold on Idle Fish, the current delivery date of orders before the Spring Festival can double the price, and sellers are also keen to write "delivery before the Spring Festival" as a highlight in the post.
In addition to buyers' demand for delivery cycles, the official transfer of model prices is also one of the important factors affecting the resale price of orders.
Just on December 31, Tesla's official website in China showed that the starting price of the Model 3 rose by 10,000 yuan to 265,600 yuan, and the starting price of the Model Y rose by 21,000 yuan to 301,800 yuan. Both models are expected to be delivered in 12-16 weeks. Not long ago, the rear-wheel-drive version of these two models just raised the price by 4752 yuan.
However, orders that have already paid a deposit before the price adjustment are not affected by the price increase. Just after Tesla announced the news of the price increase, Phoenix WEEKLY Finance once again inquired about the aforementioned Model Y model, and Li Ming said that the previous "handling fee" of 9999 yuan had risen to 29,000 yuan, "The price is decided by the team, and I cannot intervene."
"The adjustment of car companies to the price of models is not necessarily a good thing", Lang Xuehong, deputy secretary-general of the China Automobile Dealers Association, said that Tesla has also reduced the price of its models many times, which will bring a lot of losses to scalpers who hoard orders, and she believes that scalpers have certain risks.
Why can auto orders that are explicitly prohibited from being resold still circulate on idle trading platforms at high prices? In addition to the demand itself, it is also inseparable from the sales of some cars to complete the performance, which implies that the order can be transferred when inducing users to place orders.
When "Phoenix WEEKLY Finance" visited the store offline, the sales of Ji Kr and Xiaopeng said: Now orders can enjoy the last batch of preferential activities in 2021. Even if there is an "extreme" situation, you don't want the car when you pick up the car, but if friends and family need it, the name of the vehicle registration can be renegotiated, as long as it is a friend you approve, the order can be transferred.
In fact, "scalpers" can help the buyer and seller of the pre-sale order to complete the change of identity registration information, which is also inseparable from the assistance of sales. Some buyers even suspect that some of the "scalpers" are sales in themselves, but Phoenix WEEKLY Finance has not obtained relevant evidence.
03 "Governance initiative in the hands of enterprises" Recently, the China Automobile Association (China Association of Automobile Manufacturers) made a prediction on the trend of the new energy vehicle market in 2022: the sales of new energy vehicles are expected to reach 5 million, an increase of 47% year-on-year. If this goal can be achieved, new energy vehicles will continue to achieve rapid growth.
2022 will also become a year of "explosive" development of new energy brands. According to incomplete statistics, Changan Automobile's high-end brands Avita 11, Xiaopeng G9, Ideal X01, Nezha S, Ziyoujia NV, Zhiji L7 and other new models will be listed and delivered in 2022.
When the surging market meets new models with diverse styles, will 2022 become the "new spring" of "scalpers"? In order to maintain normal market order, how should enterprises respond?
"I personally believe that the emergence of 'scalpers' is not directly related to the sales model of car companies, but is mainly related to the tightness of products." This kind of speculation has also appeared in traditional car companies, such as tanks. Lang Xuehong, deputy secretary-general of the China Automobile Circulation Association, said that the industry has not yet thought of a good solution, and can only remind the main engine factory to make the car condition more transparent as much as possible, and let consumers understand that the private circulation of orders may bring losses to themselves through various publicity means.
Public information shows that since the second half of this year, the tank 300 and 500 orders under the Great Wall Motor tank brand have been extremely hot, of which the effective orders for the tank 500 to open the pre-sale for half a month have reached 26,000 units, and the demand for tank 300 is far greater than the production capacity, which also allows some dealers and "scalpers" to see the benefits and begin to increase the price of scalping orders.
In order to put an end to "scalper scalping", the tank issued notices at the end of November 2021 and the end of December 2021 to severely punish dealers and strictly investigate the source information of the order, and also implemented an electronic contract system for the tank 300. It is reported that after the electronic contract is launched, the newly placed customer order can only modify the order within 72 hours after signing the agreement, but it can only be modified twice (the appearance, interior, configuration, and optional equipment can be modified). The difference is that new customers cannot modify the order status after they show "Order information confirmed".
The relevant person in charge of Xiaopeng Automobile also told Phoenix WEEKLY Finance: "Once the official is verified, it will cancel all the rights and interests of the transfer order." ”
In the view of Fu Bingfeng, executive vice president and secretary general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the initiative of governance is in the hands of enterprises. "If the OEM strictly traces the source of the order and the order modification information, it will definitely be able to find out the problem." However, OEMs will also measure the losses caused by 'scalpers' to the brand and the cost of special remediation, and if the former is greater than the latter, they will send a governance team to crack down."
Speaking of countermeasures, Fu Yuwu, honorary chairman of the Society of Automotive Engineers of China, also expressed the same view, he said: "First of all, enterprises must have a clear attitude, strictly violate the rules of the market, and if necessary, publicize the overall market. In addition, enterprises need various ways to protect themselves, such as introducing relevant management measures to adapt to the new situation and strictly managing the marketing system. Of course, a mature legal system can also provide great help to enterprises. ”
Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the Association, believes that the increase in the price of the order amount is one of the ways to effectively curb the spread of the scalper phenomenon, "Tesla deposit only needs 1,000 yuan, even if the order cannot be transferred, the loss borne by the scalper is small." If the amount is larger, scalpers may consider reducing the risk of hoarding, and the orders circulating in the market will be reduced accordingly."
"We have zero tolerance for 'scalper' behavior." Fu Yuwu stressed that "China's automobile industry has become stronger from big to strong, especially in the transition period of new energy, we need more legal management, and the entire industrial chain will be included in the track of legal management."