Article introduction: WeChat’s luxury goods purchasing agency is almost 100% genuine. The difference is just the high-end and low-end goods. Unlike Zhang Hua’s luxury goods purchasing agency, which only forwards pictures, he has stock. Friends can come and pick the goods and ship them like this. The speed is also relatively fast. He said that the reason for doing this is because he has been doing it for a long time and has a stable sales circle. Generally, it is no problem to make more than ten or even dozens of orders a week.
Behind the luxury purchasing agent in Tencent WeChat Moments, fake goods are being sold openly
This is how Zhang Hua, who is 2 years old, starts his day by opening his eyes, picking up the mobile phone on the bedside and browsing his WeChat or Weibo. Her own WeChat Moments are updated much faster than usual, and most of them contain pictures of brand-name bags and clothes. The reporter randomly interviewed several mobile phone users and found that most of them have people in their WeChat friend circles who are doing this kind of WeChat business, focusing on international famous brands, Chanel, Cartier and other luxury goods. They call themselves luxury purchasing agents.
Is this a new sales model for e-commerce friends? Or is it a hidden fake goods market? What is the process behind purchasing luxury goods? Our reporter investigated this.
When the reporter entered the word "purchasing agent" in the WeChat search column, a series of public marketing accounts appeared, ranging from red wine and glasses to clothing and bags. The reporter saw that these WeChat stores mainly focus on purchasing luxury goods and are full of various international famous brands of clothing, bags, and watches.
An acquaintance’s business sold over 10,000 yuan in one month
A month ago, Zhang Hua’s knowledge of e-commerce was only the shopping websites he often visited. Now in front of reporters, Zhang Hua proudly said that after working for a while, she would have a stable customer base and she would try to open a physical store. She skillfully turned on her mobile phone and sent some pictures of the products to her WeChat circle of friends.
Zhang Hua is an employee of a public institution in Taiyuan. During the National Day holiday, she learned about the new business of purchasing luxury goods at a party with friends. A friend recommended her to come and she refused. At first, I didn’t understand at all. I felt that I didn’t understand luxury goods and didn’t have so much capital. But my friend dispelled her doubts in just a few minutes. I didn’t need a store or inventory. No money is needed to open a store. It turns out that this is not the traditional way of opening a store to purchase goods and sell them, but rather opening a store on WeChat.
Zhang Hua said that she had once considered the idea of opening an online store, but she didn’t know what to sell first. Secondly, opening an online store requires Alipay real-name authentication, releasing the above products, taking a store opening test, etc. She also needs to build and beautify the store page. She was daunted by buying traffic to upload pictures and answer purchase inquiries online every day. To open a WeChat store recommended by a friend, you only need to register an account. If the business recommended by a friend is luxury goods purchasing, just join several manufacturers' groups and WeChat, and then pick up the pictures of luxury goods sent by the manufacturers every day and forward them to your circle of friends.
They are all luxury goods from big brands. I don’t know the price or specifications. Zhang Hua said that whenever a WeChat friend sees the pictures she sent and asks about the goods, she will say to send pictures to inquire about the price, and then she will This picture is forwarded to the manufacturer, who will quote and explain the problem. She adds some money based on the quotation and reports it to the consulting friend. In fact, what it does is a forwarding platform. After the buyer pays me, I will let the manufacturer deliver the goods. I don’t need warehousing costs, logistics costs, or even delivery costs. The difference between the selling price and the ex-factory price is pure profit.
Zhang Hua told reporters that when doing business on WeChat, the payment is made first and then the goods are delivered, and since they are all acquaintances, they generally do not need third-party payment platforms such as Alipay and the money is directly transferred to their own bank accounts. In Zhang Hua’s eyes, purchasing marketing on WeChat is a new marketing method compared to traditional marketing and Taobao-style marketing. Both parties purchasing on WeChat are friends on WeChat and may also be friends in reality. Products purchased on WeChat have a friendship and help friends. Purchasing on behalf of others relies on friendship. She told reporters that her sales exceeded 10,000 yuan in the first month.
Circle marketing sells fake goods openly
When the reporter entered the word "purchasing agent" in the WeChat search column, a series of public marketing accounts appeared, ranging from red wine and glasses to clothing and bags. The reporter saw that these WeChat stores mainly focus on purchasing luxury goods and are full of various international famous brands of clothing, bags, and watches. The reporter found one of the famous watch agents in Taiyuan City and applied to join his friends as a buyer. Then he saw that his WeChat Moments were updated at a rate of about 10 posts every day. Each updated picture was of a big-name product, among which famous brands. Most of the watches are Breguet, Rolex, Vacheron Constantin, and IWC
The reporter asked about the price of one of the Rolex watches on WeChat and immediately replied that there are three colors available. The reporter asked about the source of the watch and the reply from the famous watch purchasing agent was that the watch came back from Hong Kong and Macau and said that it had an invoice and complete packaging. The reporter took a picture of this watch and saw the same watch at a Rolex counter in a high-end shopping mall in Taiyuan City. What is the mystery behind such a huge difference in price?
The reporter and the watch purchasing agent asked whether it was possible. Come to see the goods and choose a watch. After repeated communication, the watch purchasing agent finally agreed to let the reporter see the goods but did not tell the location and just asked the reporter to contact him via WeChat. One day in late March, under the guidance of the WeChat voice of the famous watch agent, the reporter found a residential building near the Taiyuan Railway Station. After repeatedly confirming the reporter's buyer's identity on WeChat, the seller directed the reporter to a room.
The small room is filled with various packaging boxes. The seller is a man about 10 years old. He skillfully took out a box. The reporter opened it and saw that it was the Rolex watch he had seen before. The packaging was a solid wood box with invoices, warranty cards, and instructions included. The reporter asked why the price of his product was so different from the market price for the same watch. The seller told the reporter bluntly. The so-called goods are fakes, which are high imitations of fakes.
He told reporters that WeChat’s luxury goods purchasing agency is almost 100% genuine. The difference is just the high-end and low-end goods. Unlike Zhang Hua’s luxury goods purchasing agency, which only forwards pictures, he has stock and friends can come and choose. The goods are shipped faster this way. He said that the reason for doing this is because he has been doing it for a long time and has a stable sales circle. Generally, it is no problem to make more than ten or even dozens of orders a week.
I have a lot of experience in using WeChat to do fake brand-name watch business for purchasing watches in a physical store. It’s too risky. If you are caught, you will be fined and bankrupt. A common method on Taobao is to erase Chanel from the picture and call it Little Champagne< br/>Da Mingjia, but there are regulations on Taobao. Business is not easy to do, and the prices on Taobao are difficult to go up. Alipay also faces risks such as returns and negative reviews. He told reporters that the content on WeChat was added because the content is only visible in Moments. If your friends do a little evaluation, such as looking through their photo albums, the possibility of being investigated and punished by the industrial and commercial authorities is very small. How can others believe you when a watch that sells for tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands outside sells for two to three thousand yuan here? The reporter asked him. Replying to the agent for buying famous watches, most of the people who came to buy knew that they were genuine watches at such a low price. Everyone also knew fake watches and bought fake ones, but as long as the service was good, they basically never had any disputes with customers. He said that the watches he sells have a two-year warranty and customers can even order them based on the famous watch albums in magazines or websites and he will forward them to the manufacturers. Due to the good business and mutual introductions in WeChat Moments, many new customers are now introduced by friends.
Providing original packaging and Hong Kong invoice
Through reporter Zhang Hua, I got the contact information of the manufacturer she mentioned and added it to a WeChat ID called Luxury Manufacturer Wholesale. The reporter obtained the phone number of Dai Sheng, the person in charge of the manufacturer, in the name of a newbie in the industry who wanted to purchase luxury goods. It was shown as a Guangzhou area phone number.
After several phone calls, Dai Sheng asked the reporter to call to discuss the matter after 1 p.m. Later, the reporter called Dai Sheng's phone number. In response to the reporter's inquiry, Dai Sheng seemed very cautious and just told the reporter that he could repost the pictures every day like Zhang Hua did. The reporter asked if a complete product list could be provided so that the reporter could publish products according to the preferences of his circle of friends. Dai Sheng said that they would not give you a quotation at the beginning. If you can do more than one order in a month, you can consider it.
When the reporter asked him what tips he had for purchasing luxury goods, he told the reporter that there were two ways or that he had a large circle of people. For example, if you are a TV station director, stylist, or a staff member of a well-known shopping mall, everyone trusts you to release some products, and everyone will think that you can really afford the price. He said that there is a stylist in Beijing who uses his identity to sell products. Many people who posted about buying luxury bags in their circle of friends thought they really made a lot of money.
In addition to his own personal connections, Dai Sheng revealed that he can also use the feature of WeChat identity authentication for promotion and marketing. He can find some photos of fashionable and trendy boys and girls claiming to be international students, flight attendants, etc., and then publish products on WeChat in addition to products. In addition to the directory, you can also send some pictures of express delivery orders, customs, and airports to give people the feeling that you are really purchasing on behalf of others. This mode is suitable for adding strangers. Just go to a public place such as a shopping mall and open WeChat to search for people around you. As long as you are beautiful and handsome, a large group of people will definitely add you. If you think about adding people in a place, you can add enough people in less than a week. When publishing, attach the invoice and write that the counter is authentic and supports inspection, which makes people more trustworthy.
Dai Sheng told reporters that although the goods they provided were all fakes, they were divided into several grades, original and authentic. The highest grade was almost exactly the same as the real thing. Then he sent several pictures to the reporter, and indeed they had invoices and Exquisite outer packaging. The reporter asked customers if they would really pass the inspection if they took these invoices and packaging to a counter for inspection? Dai Sheng said this was a publicity strategy. The invoice provided to reporters by Dai Sheng was a machine-printed invoice with the name of a Hong Kong jewelery firm printed on it. The invoice amount is almost the same as the market price of the goods. Dai Sheng told reporters that this kind of invoice cannot be reimbursed and recorded in the account. It is mainly for the convenience of giving gifts or to make customers believe it is true. . The reporter called the service number of the Hong Kong merchant listed on the invoice and found that the call could not be connected.
In addition to how to promote, Dai Sheng reminded reporters that no matter what, payment should be made in advance without refund or exchange. Dai Sheng said that the sellers who do better here only have a maximum return quota of one or two items a month. Under normal circumstances, there is absolutely no refund. The payment is made first and then the goods are shipped. This is also for this purpose.
The regulatory dilemma behind zero complaints
Tang Hong, the person in charge of an international brand-name bag in Tianmei Xintiandi, a high-end commercial brand in Taiyuan, said that there are indeed customers who come to them with the brand-name bags purchased on behalf of them to inspect the goods, but they generally do not Providing identification services. Our insiders can tell the authenticity of the details, which is a very important identification method, but we will not clarify this result. Tang Hong said that this is the legal requirement of the brand to avoid unnecessary disputes. He estimated that more than half of them were obvious fakes.
Luo Yi, deputy director of the Consumer Complaints and Reporting Center of the Taiyuan City Industrial and Commercial Bureau, was interviewed by reporters on this matter and pointed out that they have been paying attention to luxury goods purchasing agents on WeChat. However, so far, the Taiyuan City Consumer Complaints and Reporting Center has not received a single complaint. Complaints about WeChat marketing purchasing agents. Luo Yi analyzed that on the one hand, WeChat is a social networking tool based on friends. Both the seller and the buyer are friends. Even if there are some disputes, most of them will be resolved privately and will not be made public. On the other hand, this kind of purchasing agent is more of an unspoken rule of knowing fake products and buying fake ones. Even if the product is defective, consumers will not go through the complaint channels. When talking about how to manage such purchasing agents, Luo Yi said that the sellers purchasing agents are suspected of infringing the intellectual property rights of famous products and operating illegally. If there is a warehouse for their goods, the Industrial and Commercial Bureau has the obligation to investigate and deal with it. However, it is difficult to define this if they only forward photos on WeChat. More effective supervision of this behavior should start from the source of production.
WhatsApp
