Author | Lehar
Edit | Wending
In recent days, the e-commerce platform Jingtaotao is suspected of "running away". Arouse the attention of the industry.
On September 18, a blogger broke the news that Jingtaotao, a shopping app with the slogan of "refund only for all", was suspected of running away with 2 billion yuan. And consider this a "typical Ponzi scheme".
Source: Red Star Capital Bureau
According to reports, a consumer said that he bought more than 300,000 yuan of mobile phones in Beijing Taotao at the end of August, but still has not received a refund from the platform today, and the system shows that "the upgrade is being made, and it will arrive in 30 days".
Another consumer said that his 400,000 refund was withheld by the platform, and he applied for it many times but could not return it for a long time.
For a while, doubts arose, and Jingtaotao responded urgently, "There is no escape, the company is in normal operation, in order to deal with the professional wool party, so the closure and control management has been strengthened." ”
Sent to the company to consult customer service, the staff also unified the caliber with the company, and the relevant authorities have not yet intervened.
Does Jingtaotao run away with money? We don't know yet, but behind this arrears turmoil, it's far more complicated than we think.
12 million in a single day, a new profit model of "national refund only".
"Spend 28,888 yuan to buy my membership card, let you earn 7,000 yuan in half a month, and stabilize the cash."
What Buffett can't do, it's easy here in Jingtaotao, and it all starts with its "refund only" model.
At the beginning of its establishment, it put forward the concept of "refundable for all", claiming that this is a new type of e-commerce model, on this platform, as long as it is a member, any purchased goods support unconditional refund.
The goods are given to the consumer, and the money is also given to the consumer. Losing money and making money, is Jingtaotao a charity?
As the saying goes, there is no free lunch in the world, and it seems to be a good thing to earn by lying down, but behind it is often followed by huge hidden conditions.
First of all, if you want to have a refund-only right, you must open a Jingtaotao membership, and the membership price ranges from 188 yuan to 28888 yuan.
In the past Mid-Autumn Festival, Jingtaotao upgraded its membership rules, and it is not enough to pay the membership fee, you must complete the tasks corresponding to the level to receive a refund.
Taking the most expensive level 9 membership card as an example, if consumers want to apply for a refund amount of 480,000 yuan per month, they must open several additional membership cards of 888 yuan to 18,888 yuan per order in the first three months.
The higher the monthly refund amount, the more difficult the tasks that need to be completed.
Source: Jingtaotao APP
Paidai noticed that before initiating a refund application, consumers need to pay for the goods first, and then complete the task, and the platform will accept refunds only.
If it is a low-priced or affordable product, it is fine, but when you open the Jingtaotao app, the price of the goods in it far exceeds the price of other platforms.
The price of a wok displayed on the recommendation page of Jingtaotao is 512 yuan, and the market price is as high as 5115 yuan, while the same type of wok is only 188 yuan on other e-commerce platforms.
Source: Jingtaotao APP
There are many products with inflated prices like this, and consumers have already paid out of their own pockets for expensive membership cards and goods that far exceed the average market price before receiving a refund, and if the refund cannot be redeemed, it will lead to huge financial risks.
However, in the early stage, Jingtaotao has made many "white prostitution parties" taste the sweetness, immersed in the dream of getting rich, and many people are crazy bets.
As of June, Jingtaotao has attracted 20,000 high-end users, and 1.5 million mass users have participated in it, and the revenue can reach about 12 million yuan in just one day.
Source: Weide Home Furnishing Video Account
At present, many consumers claim that the platform cannot refund money, afraid that the money will be swept away, and have united to defend their rights, and have established a WeChat group for rights protection.
Jingtaotao characterized the incident as a "rumor" and promised that it would refund after the consumer mechanism was restored. True or false, it is not clear for a while.
He Menglin, a partner at Yingke Law Firm, said in an interview that Jingtaotao's behavior of guiding consumption with "national refunds only" may be suspected of fraud.
Whether Jingtaotao can "prove its innocence" and whether consumers' money can be returned depends on the follow-up development.
With a five-year valuation of 3 billion, what is the origin of Jingtaotao?
In May 2019, a company named "Shanghai Jingchobao Business Co., Ltd." was successfully registered, and Jingtaotao is an e-commerce APP under it.
As an emerging e-commerce platform, Jingtaotao is no less than the old e-commerce platform in terms of product categories and visual presentation.
Paidai found that Jingtaotao covers shoes and clothing, fashion, luxury, beauty, home furnishing and other categories of daily public needs, which can be seen on other platforms, and can be purchased in Jingtaotao without landing.
When you open the Jingtaotao app, the visual presentation is also high-definition and natural, and the product display is neat and orderly.
Especially in the digital product classification area, there are not only new trailers of Apple mobile phones, but also detailed introductions of big-name electronic products such as Huawei, Xiaomi, and Samsung.
Source: Jingtaotao APP
However, some careful netizens found that the seemingly professional and high-end Jingtaotao actually has many doubts.
The first is the corporate information section.
Although the enterprise investigation shows that Jingtaotao has not had any problems in operation in the five years since its establishment, the composition of personnel is very unreasonable.
Earlier, some media reported that Jingtaotao was valued at 3 billion, but in fact, there are three people in the company, one of whom is finance, as an enterprise with a volume of hundreds of millions, the organizational structure is obviously controversial.
Source: West Lake E-commerce Douyin account
The second is whether the company is really valued at 3 billion?
In April this year, media reported that Jingtaotao had completed an angel round of financing with a scale of 500 million yuan, and its market valuation was said to have reached 3 billion yuan.
Among the institutions that invested was the well-known Sequoia Capital, but according to Sohu Finance, Sequoia China denied the existence of this investment.
Based on past experience, Sequoia Capital rarely invests in Chinese projects, let alone such e-commerce companies.
Sequoia China also disclosed that it had warned Jingtaotao, and it is not yet known how the financing came about and who invested in it.
However, from Jingtaotao's "national refund only" model, we seem to be able to see some shadows of previous experiences.
In 2018, the e-online shopping platform adopted a high rebate model to attract users, promising users to get cash back for shopping on the platform, which swept away 26 billion yuan in just 48 hours, affecting about 12 million users.
In 2021, Dapai Buy Plus will allow users to become store owners and share goods through the form of social e-commerce, combined with the distribution model, and the multi-level distribution system is suspected of pyramid schemes.
In the past few months, Guangdong Pan Tea has also been unable to pay because of the promise of high returns to consumers, but the capital chain has been broken, causing an uproar in the financial tea scam.
Source: Mr. Gao loves to drink tea video number
Looking at the enterprises that have exploded in recent years, all of them are innovative traffic models, charging in advance and delaying payment.
If the platform is not well managed, the capital chain will be broken in an instant, or run away or liquidate, and it will always be difficult for consumers' money to come back.
The 500,000 refund was deducted, should the consumer's money be returned?
The refund turmoil in Jingtaotao is getting more and more intense, and many consumers are already complaining everywhere to find a solution.
Douyin account @西湖電計 said that a consumer made money by refunding his Apple mobile phone in Beijing Taotao, but was unexpectedly deducted 500,000 yuan by the platform.
At first, he had a capital of 100,000 yuan, and he didn't dare to buy expensive goods, but later found that the platform really refunded him, and his courage gradually increased.
But since September 7th, the platform has not given refunds, and the 500,000 goods and 100,000 principal that have been bought so far have been trapped.
Source: West Lake E-commerce Douyin account
What if this consumer wants to know the current situation? Will this money be returned? How do you want to come back?
There is nothing that professionals can do about this, and it is advisable to wait.
In the Pai Dai group, some merchants said that they had swiped this refund-only platform very early and thought it was a rumor, but they didn't expect anyone to believe it.
There are also merchants who have been hurt by the Wool Party, and they feel that this time the Jingtaotao reverse routine of the Wool Party is very happy, and the professional Wool Party needs to be cured. (Taobao, Douyin, TikTok and other merchants join the group, add v: paidai2102)
So for the operation of "refund only", should the funds that consumers are trapped in be returned? How to define the responsibility of these "victims" who have bad intentions in the first place?
Chen Moyu, a lawyer at Zhejiang Kenting Law Firm, pointed out that if a small number of consumers apply for a refund only without a reasonable basis, this may cause unfair economic losses to the merchants.
Malicious refunds will be considered a violation of the principle of good faith under the Civil Code, and may be subject to criminal liability if the circumstances are serious. In this case, the merchant can request compensation from the consumer.
Therefore, the so-called "victims" above Jingtaotao may also be "perpetrators". was on the verge of breaking the law in the first place.
In April this year, a similar case occurred in Guangxi, where the consumer Wu bought a 11.9 yuan dress, because he was not satisfied, he applied for a refund without consulting with the store, and the shopkeeper Hu took it to court in anger, and finally the court ruled that the consumer Wu returned the payment of 11.9 yuan and compensated the shopkeeper for the loss of 800 yuan.
Although the amount involved in the case is not large, it has shown the principles and methods of dealing with malicious refunds at the legal level. Looking back at the "wool party" who only made a refund on Jingtaotao, the plot may be more serious.
Just like the consumer who was deducted 500,000 yuan by Jingtaotao said, "I don't dare to call the police now", he also knows in his heart that there is a legal risk in making profits by only refunding them.
This is the fulfillment of the old saying: greedy for small gains, suffer big losses.