Source: Beijing Evening News Weibo
Can an empty bottle of skin care products sell for 1500 yuan? Alcohol bottles and cigarette packs are also collected? What the hell does it use? After the cream is used up, the bottle can also be sold for 300 yuan on the second-hand platform. Recently, the small empty bottle suddenly tasted good. Who is in the business of empty bottles? An investigation by a reporter from the Beijing Evening News found that there were special people who recycled empty bottles of cosmetics and famous wine at high prices. They not only have a clear brand direction, similar acquisition techniques, but also hide the clues of counterfeiting and selling.
Empty bottles of various cosmetics
Strange phenomenon: cream as long as "shell" not "puff"
Because it does not suit her skin type, Cortana hangs the 50ml Helena Black Bandage Cream, which has been used only three or four times after opening, on the fish for sale. This brand, known as the "noble lady cream ceiling" by fans, sold for 3880 yuan at the counter, and Cortana hung 900 yuan. However, she did not wait for buyers, but waited for a wave of people who wanted to buy bottles. "Less than half a day after hanging out, several people asked me if I could sell empty bottles, up to 300 yuan, and if I brought a packaging shell and cream spoon, I could add another 200 yuan." To Cortana's surprise, everyone said that as long as the bottle was empty, no paste.
Coincidentally. A few days ago, Ms. Yu had just posted a note on the use of black bandages in Xiaohongshu, and someone immediately sent a private message and offered 500 yuan to buy her empty bottle. "Selling an empty bottle is enough to exchange for two big-name lipsticks, and the money picked up in vain, why not earn?" Ms. Yu said.
"Don't throw empty cosmetics bottles! Can sell for money! "On social platforms such as Weibo and Xiaohongshu, this has become an open secret. The reporter saw that in the sharing post, some people said that the empty bottles of used brand-name skin care products were successfully hung out, and some people suggested that the skin care products could be directly bottled after they arrived, so that the "appearance" of the empty bottle was better and the selling price was higher.
On September 17, the reporter opened the second-hand platform of Xianyu and found a large number of personal accounts selling empty bottles of cosmetics with "empty cosmetics", "empty bottles" or "high-end skin care product names plus empty bottles". 100ml Helena Black Bandage Empty Bottle sells for 600 yuan, La Mer Gilt Series 3-piece set empty bottle sells for 1500 yuan, 20ml Lai Peni Caviar Eye Cream empty bottle sells for 180 yuan, 100ml Guerlain Rejuvenated Honey empty bottle sells for 120 yuan... The price of a few empty bottles is worth a whole set of ordinary skin care products.
Test: Say it is a table, but the old model has to be returned
Can empty cosmetic bottles really sell for money? In order to find out, the reporter tried to hang out 9 empty bottles of skin care products from 5 brands at one time in the form of idle item posts on idle fish, involving Helena, La Mer, Estée Lauder, Lancome, SK-II and many other well-known brands. In less than 2 minutes, the buyer "Amo" directly took a picture of the link: "Dear, Helena Black Bandage Cream and La Mer Repair Essence These two bottles took a close-up photo to see the bottle body and the bottom of the bottle." After receiving the photo, "Amo" gave an offer online: "250 yuan and 50 yuan to receive." ”
Within 3 days of the post's listing, a total of 29 buyers took the initiative to inquire. Just like discussed in advance, the process of buying empty bottles is the same: first pat the bottle, then pat the bottom of the bottle, and finally bid. The "sales" of different brands are also uneven: Helena Black Bandage Cream is the most sought-after, with 22 inquiries; followed by La Mer Mystery Concentrated Essence, with 9 inquiries; La Mer Essence Cream followed, with 5 inquiries; SK-II "Fairy Water" Serum and "Little Light Bulb" Essence were inquired about 2 times and 1 time respectively, while Estée Lauder and Lancôme were never asked.
What do you do when you buy empty bottles? During the chat, the buyer gave or displayed or used for his own use: some said that they would display empty bottles in display cases or windows for setting up tables; Some said that they want to get the model room of high-end real estate for decoration; It is also said that it is to put it at home to fill the scene. However, when the empty bottle was found to be "defective", the two buyers who claimed to take it to the counter reneged on the spot. "How did this bottle bottom number get ground up? Then I can't ask for it. Buyers who originally wanted empty bottles of "small light bulbs" changed their minds after seeing the actual photos. Another buyer who auctioned an empty bottle of "Fairy Water" for 30 yuan offered a refund one hour later, reasoning that "this is not the most recent empty bottle, and the number on the bottom of the bottle shows that it has expired." ”
"If you really use it for setting up a table, you don't care about the date of production and the appearance of the bottom of the bottle." Dong Sheng (pseudonym), who has been engaged in cosmetics cross-border e-commerce business for 9 years, said that the bottom of high-end skin care products is usually printed with a number or letter batch number, representing the country of origin, batch number, production date and other information, which is one of the key bases for identifying authenticity. But as long as there is a batch number, it means that it is genuine. "It is more likely that if you want to buy an empty bottle to match the existing outer packaging in your hand, such as a cream, if the outer packaging shows that the origin is the United States, and the bottle shows that the origin is the United Kingdom, it is not right, so it is so detailed."
Extension: Wine bottles and cigarette boxes are also collected
It is not only empty bottles of skin care products that are hot on e-commerce platforms. On the Pinduoduo platform, a "light bottle without box" Fenjiu is on sale, but there are empty bottle buyers in the comment area. "Want to buy a few empty bottle ornaments" "Hello, after drinking, can the empty bottle be sold?" When the ornament is replaced with "... One netizen left a message under other comments. Other netizens found that the original drinking bottles were still collected, and said cheerfully: "Sell!" ”
In addition to the sporadic messages, there are also buyers who use platforms such as Xianyu to buy a large number of various wine bottles. "We don't want too old bottles, such as Kweichow Moutai, we currently only accept 2022 and 2023, the newer the bottle, the more expensive." A buyer told reporters that the purchase price of ordinary Moutai Feitian welcome wine bottles in 2023 is 80 yuan each. In addition, Suntory Yamazaki, Macallan, Hennessy and other empty bottles of foreign wine are also popular recycling varieties.
It is worth noting that some empty bottles have reappeared online after being centrally acquired. On the Pinduoduo platform, the reporter saw that a store called "Tuohai Empty Bottle Ornaments" sold empty bottles, supporting boxes and certificates in batches, involving Moutai Feitian Welcome Wine, Guotai Wine, National Cellar 1573, Honghualang Wine and other liquors, as well as Penfolds 389, Martell Le Cordon Bleu and other foreign wines, and the sales volume has reached 4296 pieces. Among them, the whole set of empty bottles with boxes of Moutai Feitian welcome wine is priced at 127 yuan, and 17 pieces have been put together.
It seems that cigarette packs that are only for one-time use have also been acquired in large quantities, and even derived some "investment opportunities" and platforms. "As long as it is more than 15 yuan, a cigarette box with a QR code can be collected." Xiaowei, who promotes the sales of a cigarette box recycling platform, said that the reporter can register as a partner of a cigarette box platform after paying a partnership fee of 128 yuan, collect the cigarette box offline, and then sell it to the platform, and the price of a single cigarette box ranges from 0.6 yuan to 2.9 yuan, "but it must be a cigarette box printed with a QR code, and those without a code do not." ”
Behind the scenes: The cost of real bottle filling is only 100 yuan
Are the empty bottles sold really on the counter or sales office? Will it flow to the channels for making and selling counterfeits? During the interview, many consumers were suspicious about the buying and selling of empty bottles. "I'd rather wrap it in newspaper and smash it with a hammer than give it to someone." White-collar Xiaoxia worries that these empty bottles of sold skin care products will return to her hands as fakes.
This is not unfounded. During the investigation, the reporter contacted a "high-imitation" merchant specializing in high-end cosmetics and skin care products in Guangzhou. The merchant said that in addition to ordinary "high imitation goods", the store also provides "real bottle filling goods", the price is about twice that of ordinary "high imitation goods", "There is no problem with gifts, I can also provide offline counter receipts or shopping bags and commodity traceability codes from Hainan duty-free stores for free." ”
"1-to-1 replica guarantees infrared spectroscopic detection that can judge authenticity." Another Guangzhou manufacturer engaged in the wholesale of skin care raw materials told reporters that it can provide high imitation material bodies according to weighing weight or milliliters, and the quotation list involves 20 high-end brands such as La Mer, Helena, Leiboni, SK-II and so on. For example, La Mer Eye Concentrated Eye Cream, the price of 1 pound is 310 yuan; Helena Black Bandage Cream, 500ml for 340 yuan. At the same time, professional filling services are also provided.
Rough estimates, based on the cost of an empty bottle of 300 yuan plus the cost of 34 yuan of cream, a 50ml high imitation black bandage cream, the cost price is only about 334 yuan, but the market price is as high as 3880 yuan, and the gross profit margin is as high as 1006%.
The means of "filling fake goods with real bottles" have been reported. In April 2022, the Guangling District People's Court of Yangzhou City announced a typical IP case. According to the investigation, from 2016 to early July 2020, the defendant Han and others manufactured cosmetics counterfeiting the above brands by purchasing empty bottles of cosmetics from La Mer, Sisley, SK-II, La Prani and Estée Lauder, genuine cosmetics, raw materials used in the manufacture of cosmetics, etc., and then sold them through online stores, with an illegal business turnover of more than 31 million yuan between July 2018 and July 2020.
Tip: Empty bottles can be recycled environmentally friendly
In fact, after the empty bottle of cosmetics after use, there is also an environmentally friendly treatment method. The reporter learned that at present, many skin care brands have launched empty bottle recycling programs, such as Lancome, Biotherm has launched an empty bottle recycling exchange point plan, a Lancome formal empty bottle can be exchanged for 200 points, 3,000 points can be exchanged for 3 tubes of 5 ml of makeup foundation, Kiehl's, Helena also opened empty bottle recycling public welfare activities, the empty bottles used by consumers into recycled plastic for the construction of public welfare facilities.
