Donation 1 yuan was deducted 3 yuan, and many Internet platforms began to charge "support fees"

Recently, many netizens have reported that a number of Internet serious illness fundraising platforms charge "support fees" to donors, and even donations of 1 yuan are also charged 3 yuan; in addition, Waterdrop Chip has recently begun to pilot service fees in some cities and charge fundraisers. Why are various fundraising platforms with public welfare colors starting commercial charging initiatives? Why did Waterdrop break the "serious illness fundraising 0 service fee" model that has been insisted on for a long time since its launch? What impact will this have on the Internet personal serious illness help industry? The reporter investigated.

Test the waters

Drop Chip trial charge 3% service fee

"Inexplicably, I was deducted 3 yuan, which is very unpleasant!" Recently, a number of netizens broke the news on the complaint platform that when they donated on the Internet serious illness fundraising platform, they accidentally paid 3 yuan more, and even a donation of 1 yuan was also charged 3 yuan. Many netizens complained: "I just want to donate some money, who has time to study the rules of the platform?" ”

The reporter found in a number of serious illness fundraising platform tests that charging "support fees" has gradually become an industry practice, and users can avoid deductions without checking relevant options, and fees can be refunded. However, some platforms charge this fee by default, and users will be overcharged without carefully reading the rules.

In addition to collecting "support fees" from donors, there are also platforms that extract a certain fee from the funds raised by fundraisers. Since January 17 this year, Shui Di Chip has been collecting service fees on a pilot basis in more than a dozen cities across the country, including Guangxi Baise, Jiangsu Xuzhou, and Shandong Linyi. In addition to the 0.6% payment channel fee previously charged by the third party, Waterdrop Chip charges a platform service fee of 3% for each fundraising in the pilot city, and the maximum service fee for a single project is 5,000 yuan.

Prior to this, The Water Drop Company's financial report showed that Water Drop Chip did not contribute any revenue. In fact, the 0.6% channel fee deducted by the third-party payment platform has been there since the launch of Waterdrop Chip, and this fee has been borne by Waterdrop until January 2020. It is understood that the water drop chip has not yet considered a large-scale rollout, or for the purpose of obtaining more suggestions.

The reporter consulted the relevant person in charge of easy fundraising and learned that the easy fundraising platform currently does not charge any fees on the fundraising business of serious diseases; according to the customer service staff of The peace of mind fundraising, when the fundraising is withdrawn, the platform deducts 2% of the handling fee, and the third-party payment platform deducts 0.6% of the fee.

Probe for causes

Diversion monetization "business is difficult to do

"We don't want to make a profit by charging a service fee, but we want to maintain reasonable operating costs and ensure the normal operation of the platform." Guo Nanyang, head of the water drop chip business, said that water drop chip is often considered a public welfare organization, and in essence, the platform itself is a commercial company.

In the early days of the development of Waterdrop Chip, zero service fees and fundraising consultant teams were the "sharp weapons" for WaterDrop Chip to rapidly expand its scale and catch up with its peers. Waterdrop Chip announced that it would not charge service fees, which won a large number of users for the platform, and other fundraising platforms have followed up, and no service fees have become the industry practice. Waterdrop Company has brought the business model of "fundraising + mutual aid + insurance" diversion to the extreme, and with the shutdown of Waterdrop Mutual Aid last year, fundraising has become the main traffic entrance of the insurance business.

"The fundraising scenario for serious illness can stimulate users' willingness to purchase insurance, users often receive insurance product recommendation content after donations, and the insurance business relies on the traffic brought by fundraising." A practitioner and reporter of a serious illness fundraising platform revealed. In order to quickly and large-scale traffic, it is necessary to "burn money", and the industry usually uses the proceeds of selling insurance to support the operating costs of fundraising teams. The practitioner said that in August last year, the Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the "Notice on Carrying out Special Rectification Work on Internet Insurance Chaos", and the business of "diversion and realization" is difficult to do, and the fundraising business must consider the operating costs of "hematopoiesis" subsidies, and many platforms have opened the charging model.

point of view

The platform shall set a service fee standard

The Internet fundraising platform for serious diseases is one of the important components of the social forces for the relief of major diseases in mainland China in recent years, and has formed an effective supplementary channel for the supply of medical funds in addition to medical insurance and commercial insurance. It has the aura of "public welfare charity" at the beginning, but it is actually a commercial service, and between the boundaries of public welfare and business, as a new thing, the Internet serious illness fundraising platform urgently needs to explore its own development path.

Song Zhanjun, deputy secretary-general of the Insurance Research Center of Beijing Technology and Business University, said that at present, whether it is the Charity Law or relevant regulatory documents, there is no prohibition on the Internet personal serious illness help model, and both the civil affairs department and the medical insurance department at the national level are paying close attention to the standardized development of the online serious illness fundraising platform. This type of platform is related to the relief of millions of vulnerable groups, and it still relies mainly on corporate self-discipline to constrain. He suggested that in the next step, on the basis of further expanding the quality of corporate information disclosure by various platforms, the Internet fundraising platform for serious illnesses should be included in the scope of supervision by amending laws and regulations such as the Charity Law.

"The free service method is not enough to support the sustainable development of the business, and it will hinder the platform to further exert the role of social force relief." Zhao Wanping, a deputy to the National People's Congress and vice president of the Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said that as an Internet platform with efficiency advantages, it can refer to the current foundation management fee standards and set up reasonable industry service fee standards, so as to promote the benign and lasting development of the industry. Professor Xie Qiong, director of the People's Livelihood Security Research Center of Beijing Normal University, also believes that charging service fees is more beneficial to a certain extent than the "commercial feedback" model, but it is necessary to carefully stipulate the charging rates to ensure sustainable development.

Source: Beijing Daily (reporter Pan Fuda)

Photo/ Guangzhou Daily, Xinhuacheng Reporter: Chen Youzi

Guangzhou Daily New Flower City Editor: Ye Bijun