Advanced Search

The story appears on

Page A15

October 21, 2014

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » City specials » Hangzhou

Warning over online purchasing agents

By Wu Huixin | October 21, 2014, Tuesday | Print Edition

THE online purchasing agent business is receiving more scrutiny in Hangzhou after a couple was sentenced to prison last month for selling 250,000 yuan (US$40,837) worth of Thai weight-loss pills containing banned substances.

Many Chinese are no longer satisfied with the products available in local stores, especially luxury items, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. High tariffs on imported goods also mean some brands sell at significantly higher prices here compared to other countries.

This has opened a gap in the market and numerous so-called online purchasing agents have swooped in to fill the needs of consumers.

The agents establish online shops on e-commerce or social websites like Taobao, Tmall and WeChat. Owners often claim to live overseas and offer to help customers buy what they want. They charge an intermediary fee plus the cost of the purchases.

Even with the intermediary fee, the products are often cheaper than what they sell for in China, creating a steady stream of customers who want both convenience and a fair price.

Nonetheless, the booming online purchasing agent business sometimes operates on the margins of legality.

The couple sent to prison was selling Thai brand weight-loss pills named Yanhee and Dermcare. Neither pill has been approved by the national food and drug administration. Authorities also tested the pills and found they contained banned substances.

So many fake products

Last year, a girl in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, suffered renal and heart failure after taking weight-loss pills she purchased from an online purchasing agent shop, which they had claimed were imported.

Buying cosmetics and luxuries through online agents seems to be much safer when compared with the risk of pharmaceuticals, but cheap copies and fake products still annoy consumers.

Half of the respondents on a tencent.com questionnaire admitted they have bought counterfeit products from such agents.

“Jurlique rosewater costs A$49 (US$42.8) in Australia, but some Taobao purchasing agent shops sell if for only 100 yuan. I’m pretty sure it’s fake,” said Yoyo Hu, who has a Taobao shop specializing in Australian products.

According to a CCTV report last month, police in Liyang, Jiangsu Province, caught a ring selling counterfeit Ochirly purses through a couple of online purchasing agent shops.

The counterfeiters alleged online that they received the products wholesale through a special channel, which was nearly 80 percent off the price of those sold in regular stores. They promised all of the purses were genuine. They have successfully cheated numerous customers and police estimate they may have earned as much as 30 million yuan.

“Some were lured by the low price and driven by sheer vanity, notwithstanding knowing they might be fake,” a Liyang police officer said.

People who want to buy genuine luxury products through online purchasing agents have also encountered problems.

Hangzhou 1818 Golden Eyes reported early this month that a Hangzhou women surnamed Wen bought a Chanel purse for 34,000 yuan from a WeChat purchasing agent shop. Wen figured it was fake when she compared it with a genuine one. The shop owner’s reply was that she bought it in Paris and Wen could fly to France to check.

In Hangzhou, most luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Burberry do not help customers examine goods bought from online agents. Upscale cosmetic brands like Lancôme, La Mer and Estee Lauder have the same policy.

Due to the risk of counterfeits, consumers are turning to shops owned by people they know or are recommended by family and friends.

Hu runs a shop in cooperation with her sister, who lives in Australia and makes purchases based on the requests of customers.

100,000 purchasing agents

Even including tariffs and international shipping fees, their products are still about 20 percent cheaper than what they sell here, which attracted her friends and relatives at first.

“During the startup period, the business was not as good as expected, but now it is getting better,” Hu told Shanghai Daily. Since she and her sister insist on purchasing products from Australia without any fakes, their reputation has grown along with their customer base.

Numerous agents like Hu have developed their business with the help of overseas relatives or friends.

According to the China E-commerce Research Center, purchasing agents sold 74.4 billion yuan in goods last year. Industry insiders forecast that it could surpass 100 billion yuan this year.

Beijing Business Today reported the number of Chinese purchasing agents is now about 100,000, of which 5,000 specialize in cosmetics.

The General Administration of Customs has responded by inspecting cross-border e-commerce individuals and enterprises. Customs officials are also working to educate shoppers about the risks of buying fake products or cheap copies.

“The thriving purchasing agent industry reflects a lack of confidence in domestic products,” an online poster identified as Eternal wrote on Tencent. “High tariffs and food safety scandals have motivated people to turn to overseas markets and foreign products.”

Hangzhou


 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend