HPDBC Chapter 128 Secondhand dealers taking advantage of the chaos
Chapter 128 Secondhand dealers taking advantage of the chaos
Chapter 128 Secondhand dealers taking advantage of the chaos
The trading of second-hand goods began to flourish on local life websites, but problems arose when there were more than 20 transactions.
A user named Zhao Fang posted a "90% new" Sony Ericsson phone for 850 yuan. When the buyer inspected the phone at the verification point, they found a slight color difference in the phone's casing, suggesting it wasn't an original casing.
The buyer hesitated, and even the shopkeeper, Mr. Liu, was unsure, so he told them to decide for themselves. The buyer, finding it troublesome, didn't confront them on the spot, paid, and took the phone.
After returning home, he became increasingly suspicious. He asked a knowledgeable friend to take it apart and discovered that the motherboard had been replaced.
The buyer contacted Sun Hao to complain the very next morning.
Following the rules of the credit scoring system, Sun Hao contacted the seller, Zhao Fang, to verify the situation.
When the call connected, Zhao Fang first said, "It's a second-hand item, nothing is perfect," then she said, "I don't know if the motherboard has been replaced or not," and then she stopped answering the phone.
Sun Hao didn't argue with her. He compiled the buyer's complaint records, the on-site description from the inspection point owner, and the problems found by the buyer's friend after disassembling the machine into a written report and submitted it to Zhang Ming.
After reviewing the information, Zhang Ming immediately cleared Zhao Fang's account credit score in the backend, banned her posting privileges, and marked all the product pages she had previously posted with the message "This user has been reported and verified, and the information has been removed."
On the buyer's side, Sun Hao paid 100 yuan out of his own pocket as compensation. The buyer refused once, but Sun Hao said, "This is our platform's responsibility; the information verification wasn't strict enough," and the buyer accepted it.
Lin Feng later found out about the money and had Zhao Ling get it reimbursed through the company, mentioning it briefly at the monthly employee meeting.
"Sun Hao's attitude of personally compensating users is correct, but his method is wrong. When a platform has problems, the platform's rules should cover the issues, not rely on the personal goodwill of an employee."
We deal in secondhand goods, and similar disputes will frequently occur in the future. The rules need to be improved. Under what circumstances will the platform compensate, under what circumstances will the seller compensate, and under what circumstances will the buyer bear the responsibility? If these things aren't clarified, we won't be able to control the situation as the business grows.
After the meeting, Lin Feng instructed Wei Zejun to take the lead, in conjunction with the legal and financial departments, to immediately draft a "Method for Handling Disputes in Second-hand Goods Transactions on Tongcheng.com".
There are three core points:
First, if a seller is found to have posted false information, their credit score will be reset to zero, their account will be permanently banned, all completed orders will be fully refunded, and the seller will bear the buyer's inspection costs.
Second, for any non-appearance-related hidden problems discovered by the buyer after completing the transaction at the inspection point, the platform will provide compensation first and then seek reimbursement from the seller.
Third, for disputes arising from private transactions between buyers and sellers without inspection of the goods, the platform provides mediation channels but does not assume liability for compensation.
On the day the regulations were announced, Sun Hao printed out the document and posted it on the counters of the sixteen inspection points.
After reading it, Boss Liu said, "It's good to have rules. I used to be afraid of encountering things that were hard to explain, but now I know what rules to follow."
By the first week of December, the secondhand goods channel had expanded from the Science Park area to the Nanshan and Futian districts.
The number of inspection points has increased from ten to forty-one. The number of newly posted second-hand goods has exceeded one hundred per day, and more than half of them support transactions at inspection points.
The data looks impressive, but there are risks hidden behind it.
That afternoon, Wu Wenjie had just returned from Longhua Xinfa Electronics Factory and was browsing information on the second-hand channel in his office.
The vendors in Huaqiangbei started posting information about used mobile phones on local online platforms, which was initially a good sign. The platforms had stock, and users had more choices. But Wu Wenjie frowned as soon as he saw the prices.
Ma Wangcai, at stall C087 on the third floor of Yuanwang Digital City, is selling a "90% new Nokia N95" priced at 1200 yuan.
Meanwhile, Mr. Chen, the owner of stall D095 next door, was selling the same model for 1150 yuan.
Wu Wenjie knew both of them; they got their refurbished phones from the same supplier, and the purchase price was no more than four hundred.
They secured over a thousand bids online, doubling their profits.
Wu Wenjie doesn't think refurbished phones can't be sold. He's been in this business for several years and knows that at least half of the secondhand phones in Huaqiangbei are refurbished.
However, if Tongcheng Life Network's second-hand channel wants to gain a foothold, it must not follow the old path of Huaqiangbei.
The buyer paid the full price for a refurbished machine, and after realizing he had been scammed, he didn't blame the stall owner, but the local online marketplace.
He went to find Lin Feng.
Lin Feng was reviewing the technical proposal submitted by Zhou Bin in the housekeeping section. Wu Wenjie briefly explained the situation.
The stalls in Huaqiangbei that sell refurbished phones are using local online marketplaces as a new distribution channel.
They never mention the word "refurbished" in their product descriptions, the photos are brighter than brand new ones, and the prices are a few hundred dollars cheaper than genuine products.
The buyer placed an order because of the high cost-performance ratio and arranged to complete the transaction at an inspection point. Some of the technicians at the inspection point could tell that it was a refurbished machine and pointed it out on the spot, causing the buyer to turn around and leave.
But there are always those who cheat at the inspection points, and there are always those who conduct transactions privately without going through the inspection channels. These people earn a few hundred yuan per order, and can handle dozens of units a month. They cheat whoever they can.
Without saying a word, Lin Feng asked Wu Wenjie to take him to Huaqiangbei.
That evening, the two stood at the entrance of the Yuanwang Digital City. In Shenzhen, it gets dark early in winter, but the stalls in Huaqiangbei were bustling with activity.
Backpackers crowded into the aisle, copying down prices for parallel imports, the sizzling sound of packing tape filling the air.
The stalls selling phone cases and accessories on the first floor are already closing up shop, but the telecommunications market on the second, third, and fourth floors will remain bustling until 9 or 10 p.m.
Wu Wenjie had been working in Huaqiangbei for many years, and everyone in every alley knew him. He led Lin Feng through the first-floor lobby and directly up to the third floor.
Unlike SEG Electronics and Huaqiang Electronics World, Yuanwang Digital City is a wholesale mobile phone market. The stall owners don't display their goods on counters; they're all locked in metal cabinets behind them.
When a buyer comes to inspect the goods, the shopkeeper takes out a sample machine from the cabinet. You touch it a couple of times, and if you think it's okay, he'll take the actual product out of the cabinet for you.
If one doesn't work, try opening another cabinet. These metal cabinets contain original second-hand phones, refurbished phones, grey market new phones, and stolen phones of dubious origin.
Laymen can't tell the difference, but experts can tell just by looking at the screw marks.
"Ah Jie!" A middle-aged man with a shaved head poked half his body out from behind the stall. "Long time no see. I heard you're working on some kind of website now?"
This person's surname is Ma, and he is the Ma Wangcai from "Stall C087 on the third floor of Yuanwang" that Wu Wenjie saw on the report.
A man from Chaoshan, he ran a mobile phone business in Huaqiangbei for six years. He originally sold grey market new phones, but later found that refurbished phones were more profitable, so he shifted his focus to refurbishing them.
He wasn't the biggest in Huaqiangbei, but he had a wide network of connections. Several stall owners on the third floor were related to him.
Wu Wenjie ignored his enthusiasm and cut to the chase: "Brother Ma, those Nokia N95s you put on our website, labeled as 90% new and original, don't you know what kind they are? We do business with integrity!"
The smile on Ma Wangcai's face hadn't faded when the worker at the stall next to him slowed down his packing pace and pricked up his ears to glance in his direction.
"Ah Jie, what are you saying? I, Ma, am a man of integrity in business." Ma Wangcai took a demo unit out of the metal cabinet, placed it on the glass counter, and tapped the screen with his fingernail.
"Take a look at the condition. What's the difference between this and a brand new machine? I'll give you a three-month warranty on the motherboard. If there's a problem, just bring it back for a replacement."
Lin Feng stood behind Wu Wenjie without saying a word, his gaze sweeping over the items under the glass display case at the stall.
An ultrasonic cleaner was humming on the table, with several disassembled mobile phone cases soaking inside.
Next to it was a bottle of "silver paint pen," a gadget specifically used to repair scratches on the casing and paint chips on the frame; everyone in Huaqiangbei had one.
In the corner, there were several unopened "original Nokia" boxes stacked up, the printing blurry, clearly counterfeit. Two IMEI code stickers lay spread out on the glass shelf, yet to be affixed.
"Brother Ma, the way Tongcheng Life Network operates is a little different from the way Huaqiangbei operates." Wu Wenjie picked up the prototype and gently ran his finger along the edge of the charging port.
A small patch of silver paint peeled off, revealing the scratches underneath.
The shop owners around the stall stopped what they were doing, and backpackers coming and going to pick up goods also slowed down. In Huaqiangbei, it's a big taboo to expose someone's true colors or the contents of their goods in person.
Ma Wangcai's face darkened. He glanced at Wu Wenjie, then looked at Lin Feng with unfriendly eyes.
"Ah Jie, everyone has their own way of doing business in Huaqiangbei. You also had a stall in Yuanwang, and now you've turned it into a website? Don't you recognize your old brothers anymore?"
Wu Wenjie said with a wry smile, "Brother Ma, it's not that I don't want you to sell refurbished phones. But you have to make it clear in the product description that they are refurbished."
If you clearly label it as a refurbished unit and the buyer is willing to buy it, that's a mutually agreeable transaction. But if you label it as an original unit when it's actually a refurbished unit, isn't that fraud?
Ma Wangcai's face turned ashen, and he did not answer.
A round-faced, chubby man squeezed in from the side. This man's surname was Cai, and he worked on the second floor selling mobile phone accessories. He was usually very close to Ma Wangcai.
"Ah Jie, are you saying we should ruin our own reputation? Who would buy from us if we put 'refurbished' on the label? I haven't seen you put up a 'refurbished machine' sign on your own stall, have I?"
Wu Wenjie turned to look at him: "Brother Cai, things are different now. Every transaction on online platforms is recorded now, and every negative review is seen by hundreds of thousands of people. Some of the methods we used to use can't be used anymore."
Ma Wangcai sneered: "Ah Jie, do you think that now that your website platform has grown so big, we small stalls in Huaqiangbei are begging to do what you do?"
To be honest, I didn't take your secondhand channel seriously at first.
With that little traffic, how many phones could you sell in a day? A few backpackers told me your inspection point could help ship the goods, so I had someone ship them. If you think my place is too small, I'll have all the goods taken down right now.
Wu Wenjie didn't back down an inch: "Take it down now, so we don't have to ban your account."
These words were like a stone thrown into the glass counter. Several stall owners who were crowding around looked at each other in surprise, and one of them took the cigarette butt out of his mouth and put it out.
But the atmosphere in the entire corridor had changed.
"Wu Wenjie," Ma Wangcai stopped calling him A-Jie, "you're determined to make trouble for us. Well, I'll put it this way: if you're going to mess with us, I won't let you have it easy either."
Lin Feng took half a step forward, facing the other party directly: "Ma Wangcai, there are so many people in Huaqiangbei, why are we the only ones willing to come and talk to you face to face? Because we don't want to condemn everyone with one blow."
Refurbished phones aren't necessarily bad to sell, and Huaqiangbei isn't just about refurbished phones. There are a group of honest secondhand phone dealers willing to cooperate with us; their products are genuine, and they earn honest profits. If you don't want to do that, then forget it.
He turned and gestured for Wu Wenjie to leave.
The two turned and walked towards the elevator. Dozens of workers from stalls on both sides of the corridor were watching them.
A backpacker with a shoulder bag stepped aside to let them pass, a strange excitement in his eyes.
In a place like Huaqiangbei, the fact that someone dares to stand up to you is itself a signal.
Behind them came the whispers of Ma Wangcai and Boss Cai; several stall owners were huddled together discussing something.
After leaving Yuanwang Digital City, Lin Feng lit a cigarette and handed the lighter to Wu Wenjie.
"Old Ma won't let this go easily." Wu Wenjie also lit a candle.
Lin Feng exhaled a puff of smoke and stood silently on the street for a while.
Over the next two days, things took an unexpected turn for the better.
On the morning of the third day, an organization called "Huaqiangbei Communications Alliance" suddenly emerged.
It was called an alliance, but it was actually Ma Wangcai who spearheaded it. A dozen or so stall owners on the third floor who sold refurbished phones, along with some other people who were close to each other in the electronics market, gathered about twenty small stalls and jointly sent an open letter to the Shenzhen branch of the local life website.
The letter was strongly worded! Merchants in Huaqiangbei are the core suppliers for the second-hand channel of Shenzhen Tongcheng.com. The platform's unilaterally set inspection standards do not respect the interests of merchants. They demand the abolition of the inspection system, the cancellation of credit points, and that the "refurbished/original" category not be forcibly marked on merchant information.
If the website does not agree, Huaqiangbei merchants will collectively remove all their products from the platform and notify other stalls in the industry not to cooperate with Tongcheng Life Network.
After reading the contents of the letter, Wu Wenjie cursed.
The fact that Ma Wangcai was able to get twenty stalls to sign a joint statement shows that many people in Huaqiangbei are indeed very angry about the rules of the local life website.
Lin Feng was not surprised, but he also noticed that most of the stalls in these twenty-odd shops, and even those out of five or six hundred, did not have signatures.
Wu Wenjie didn't just drift around in Huaqiangbei all these years for nothing. Some of the people who were legitimately in the used phone business, the grey market new phones business, and the parts wholesale business had drunk with him, and some had played cards with him.
Wu Wenjie started making phone calls that afternoon.
The first call was to a chubby boss in Block B who sold grey market Nokia phones. His surname was Lu, and he was from Northeast China; he was known for his generosity. When Wu Wenjie's stall first opened, someone stole half a box of goods, and it was Boss Lu who helped him get it back.
As soon as he explained the situation, Boss Lu started cursing on the phone: "I've had a problem with those bald-headed guys for a long time. Don't worry, I'll put in a good word for you in Area B."
Later, Wu Wenjie learned that Boss Lu and Ma Wangcai had a falling out a year ago over a major client from Guangxi, and the two almost came to blows at the elevator entrance.
They've maintained a facade of harmony over the years, but deep down they're all unwilling to submit to each other.
The second call was to Mr. Cai, who made throat machine parts on the second floor. It wasn't the fat guy who was close to Ma Wangcai; it was another Mr. Cai, a tall, thin guy who specialized in original parts.
Wu Wenjie had taken a lot of goods from his stall, and he always settled the bill on the same day without delay.
After listening, the skinny boss Cai sighed and said, "Ah Jie, most of the people who signed this are big players in the counterfeit machine business. They're afraid that if you make the market transparent, they'll lose their jobs."
"Isn't transparency a good thing?" Wu Wenjie said. "You sell original parts, are you afraid of being transparent?"
The skinny boss, Cai, laughed: "I'm not afraid. But I can't openly take sides either, so you'd better resolve this through negotiation."