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Perhaps, scalpers themselves did not expect that in the new energy vehicle market, they could even get wool.
Entering 2022, the raw material market for new energy vehicles has "risen", with battery prices, chip prices, metal raw materials... Under heavy pressure, car companies could not bear it and began to adjust the price of cars one after another.
Following Tesla's 3 rounds of growth on March 10, BYD, Xiaopeng and Nezha have followed up, and on March 19, Zero Run, Euler, and Weima also joined the price increase army. According to different models, the price increase of each new energy vehicle is generally in the range of 3000-10000 yuan.
The price of new energy vehicles increases, most car companies follow the principle of "fixed" customers not to increase prices, that is, customers who pay a deposit or deposit before the official price increase, in principle, the purchase price of the car remains unchanged. This creates a certain space of interest.
Many people are not in a hurry to use the car, so they transfer the order to the user who has just needed to buy a car, and earn the difference. A salesperson at a NIO store explained, "More than 50% of our customers buy NIO cars out of additional purchase needs, and these customers already have 1-2 cars at home. ”
On the other hand, although the price has risen, the enthusiasm for buying a car is still high. Future Auto Daily found that due to the shortage of supply, including Tesla, Xiaopeng Motors, BYD and other car companies, the pick-up cycle of its popular models has exceeded 3 months, and the pick-up cycle of Tesla Model Y and Model 3 is as long as 16-20 weeks.
The interest space spawned by the price increase has attracted all-pervasive scalpers to the scene. They actively expand the channels for acquiring orders through second-hand trading platforms and "informants" at the sales end of car companies, and after taking down orders, they will transfer orders at high prices through social networks and even sales networks built by scalpers themselves.
Taking advantage of this wave of markets, scalpers have made a lot of money. "For each transaction order, we draw commissions ranging from 2,000-8,000 yuan, and some people earn more than 80,000 yuan in just one week." Wu Ran, a scalper who has recently been obsessed with the order transfer business of new energy vehicles, told Future Auto Daily.
Scalpers don't scalp anymore
New energy vehicles originally belonged to bulk consumer goods, and now under the influence of various special factors, they have turned into wealth management products.
Chen Yu, who holds tesla orders in his hands, personally feels the joy brought by "order appreciation". In December 2021, Chen Yu ordered a Tesla Model Y standard endurance version on Tesla's official website, the purchase price at that time was 288,700 yuan (choose a 20-inch wheel), after more than three months of waiting, Chen Yu's set model can now be delivered.
However, Tesla has recently frequently raised the price of its models, breaking Chen Yu's car pick-up plan. According to Tesla's official website, the current subscription price of the Model Y standard endurance version (choose a 20-inch wheel) has risen to 324,900 yuan.
In the three months that Chen Yu held the Model Y order, the price of the car rose by about 36,200 yuan, and the rough estimate of the annualized yield was as high as 50.9%, far exceeding the stable wealth management products such as treasury bonds and monetary funds (annualized yield of 3%-5%).
"If you go to the delivery center to pick up the car now, you always feel that you have lost more than 30,000 yuan, so it is better to take this opportunity to transfer the order to make a difference." The little abacus in Chen Yu's heart crackled.
The owner puts the order on the second-hand trading platform Source: Photo provided by the interviewee
In addition to the Tesla Model Y that has not yet arrived, Chen Yu also has a BMW 5 Series at home, for Chen Yu, buying a Model Y is not just needed, and changing hands on it can undoubtedly maximize the value of this order.
Therefore, Chen Yu hung the order on the second-hand car trading platform, and the transfer price was listed at 15,000 yuan. "On the first day of listing, nearly 10 users came to inquire, of which about two-thirds were scalpers." The way to identify scalpers is simple, "Most scalpers will report their homes and invite you to place your order on their platform for consignment." "Of course, scalpers will drive down the price of car owners and earn the difference by handing back.
"I don't specialize in order transfer, some places don't understand, it is better to leave it to 'professionals' to do, so that I can also worry about it." In the end, Chen Yu entrusted the order to the scalper agent at a price of 10,000 yuan.
In fact, with the rising price of new energy vehicles, there are not many users like Chen Yu. On the relevant second-hand goods trading platform, enter the relevant keywords such as "order transfer", and the information on the transfer of new energy vehicle orders abounds, and the transferred models include Tesla, Extreme Kr, Xiaopeng and BYD and other popular brands.
In the wave of order transfers spawned by the price increase of new energy vehicles, a large number of scalpers are active. "80% of the users of successfully traded orders are scalpers." Wu Ran told Future Auto Daily.
Compared with ordinary users, scalpers have a more "professional" advantage. First of all, in terms of sales channels, every order received by scalpers will be shared in the circle, which greatly promotes the conversion rate of orders. "The channels for private users to transfer orders are relatively single, and the transfer area is limited to the user's locality, which makes it difficult for private users to transfer orders smoothly."
And some car companies do not allow private users to resell orders, which requires car owners to add an additional transfer procedure in the process of picking up the car. "We will bring professionals to provide transfer services throughout the process, compared to the transaction between ordinary users, scalper trading is more convenient and worry-free."
According to Wu Ran, the current middleman price difference fee for transfer orders is about 8,000-10,000 yuan. "I currently have more than 20 orders in my hand, and if I sell all the orders, I will ideally guarantee a bottom income of 150,000 yuan." Moreover, before that, Wu Ran had made a profit of nearly 60,000 yuan by transferring orders. That is to say, since the beginning of March to resell new energy vehicle orders, in the past month and a half, Wuran's total income has exceeded 200,000 yuan.
But high incomes are often accompanied by high risks. "At present, scalpers have a number of transfer orders per capita, and some orders have paid a deposit to the consignor in advance, if the new energy vehicle suddenly reduces the price, then these orders will fall in their hands."
New energy used cars raise their eyebrows
The price of new energy vehicles has risen wildly, and new energy second-hand cars have ushered in the spring.
"The price of used cars in the store is adjusted according to the changes in the guidance price of its new car, and (after this wave of price increases) we will raise the price of used cars accordingly." The sales manager of a second-hand car dealership in Huaxiang, Beijing, revealed that in the case of Tesla Model 3, a quasi-new car with a mileage of 15,000 kilometers was priced at 219,000 yuan at the end of February, and now the price has risen to 228,000 yuan.
"Model 3 underwent two price adjustments in March, with a cumulative increase of 25,000 yuan. This naturally affects the pricing of used cars. The sales manager said that there are 4 Tesla models with different conditions in its store, and there are currently different degrees of price increases.
Bydir, Weilai, Xiaopeng, Euler and other popular brand models, the same is true, the price of second-hand cars rose between 4,000-8,000 yuan, some of the short mileage of quasi-new cars, the price is even comparable to the price of new cars.
"Users who buy used cars pay attention to cost performance, oil prices have experienced several rises, and the price of new energy vehicles is also rising." New energy second-hand cars (low cost of car use), the price increase is relatively small, so the current quasi-new car is very popular with consumers. ”
The above-mentioned sales manager concluded, "The price of new energy second-hand cars that are not too bad has generally increased by 5%-10% this year." ”
Even Ideal Auto CEO Li Xiang couldn't help but sigh, "The cost of batteries rose by a very outrageous amount in the second quarter." War, politics, the epidemic (and other factors) have allowed the purchase of cars to appreciate in value, and the overall price of used cars in the United States has increased by 30%. ”
Prices have risen and circulation has increased. Taking the Beijing area as an example, "In the past, new energy second-hand cars wanted to sell, it took as little as one or two months, and as many as three or four months could not find a buyer." But since the beginning of this year, the sales manager of a second-hand car dealer in Huaxiang, Beijing, has found that new energy used cars have suddenly sold well, "less than a month can be sold."
New energy used cars began to be sought after by consumers Source: Future Auto Daily
At the same time, the retention rate of new energy used cars has also risen.
According to data from the China Automobile Dealers Association, in January this year, the three-year age retention rate of plug-in hybrid (PHEV) models and pure electric (EV) models increased to 61.5% and 49.5% respectively. In the same period last year, the data of the two were 52.1% and 40.5%, respectively.
In this regard, the China Automobile Dealers Association believes that the improvement of new energy vehicle ownership, market recognition and use experience is a macro factor in the rise of new energy used cars; recent factors such as the "difficulty of delivery" in the new car market have contributed to a significant increase in the retention rate of new energy used cars in February.
The dividend has bottomed out
In the face of scalper chaos, Tesla took the lead.
Tesla officials said that the company has required the owners of multiple Tesla vehicles to sign the "Letter of Commitment not to resell" and promise not to resell to a third party within one year, and the violators will pay liquidated damages according to 20% of the fare of the vehicle.
For the signing of the "Letter of Commitment not to resell", the sales staff of the Tesla experience store explained that this is a measure to prevent scalping orders in specific circumstances, with the purpose of maintaining the fairness and transparency of the car purchase environment, protecting the rights and interests of real car buyers, and will not have any impact on the normal car purchase experience of ordinary consumers.
Tesla does not resell the electronic version of the commitment letter Source: Image courtesy of the interviewee
The sales staff of a number of new car-making forces also told Future Auto Daily that the order contracts signed by car companies and customers are real-name registration systems, and after signing the contract, customer information will be entered into the sales system. "It's equivalent to binding the order to the customer, and the order can no longer be transferred."
"We do not allow customers to change the orderer information, and do not advocate customers to transfer orders in the form of transfer immediately after picking up the car." Weilai automobile sales staff said that many new car-making forces, including Weilai, provide free charging for the first car owner, free installation of charging piles and other additional services, "if the transfer, the system will determine that the new owner is not the first owner, naturally can not enjoy these additional services."
Auto analyst Zhang Xiang believes that this round of new energy vehicle price increases will last for about half a year. "Half a year is an adjustment cycle of the industrial chain. At the beginning of this year, the power battery raw materials ushered in a wave of price increases, after the price adjustment in the first half of the year, the price of raw materials in the second half of the year will tend to be stable. ”
The price of raw materials for power batteries, which is a headache for car companies, may really usher in an inflection point.
Liu Jincheng, chairman of Yiwei Lithium Energy, judged in an interview with Future Auto Daily that the price of power batteries on the supply side is close to the high point. "Some of our important customers have clearly put forward price red lines, and it may not be possible to do more than a certain price."
Car companies will also extend their tentacles to the source of the supply chain to ensure stable supply. For example, recently, Volkswagen Group said that it intends to form a joint venture with Huayou Cobalt and Tsingshan Group to ensure the supply of nickel and cobalt and help Volkswagen further optimize battery costs.
Perhaps the crackdown measures of car companies have played a role, from the perspective of reality, the dividends of this wave of orders for reselling new energy vehicles have bottomed out. "In order to prevent the price of new energy vehicles from falling again after the price increase, most users have already transferred their orders at the beginning of the price increase, and by the end of March, we can only receive a small number of orders."
This business came suddenly and ended quickly. Recently, Wu Ran "has been helping customers with the transfer procedures every day, and this week has been full."
(At the request of the interviewee, Chen Yu, Wu Ran is a pseudonym)
The author | Su Peng
Edit the | Li Huanhuan