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how scary are the wool party?

in the early morning of august 28, a small shop with only 6 employees in a county town in anhui province suffered a "catastrophe". due to the wrong price setting by the e-commerce operator, the shop "sold" goods worth more than 70 million yuan at a price of 40%-50% off the purchase price within 20 minutes, resulting in a loss of up to 30 million yuan.

due to the price setting error, the loss was tens of millions, and the operation sent a video to ask for a refund

recently, many netizens broke the news on social media that they bought washing machines at a super low price due to a price setting error at the "little swan dongshan store" on the evening of august 28, and many people even placed four or five orders at that price in hopes of reselling the products. these "wool orders" directly pushed a small county store that had been open for nearly ten years to the brink of bankruptcy.

according to an announcement from the "little swan dongshan store", due to incorrect price settings by operating staff, the store's washing machines were sold at prices far below the market price, causing huge losses to the store. in just 20 minutes, there were more than 40,000 orders, most of which were for one person with multiple units. according to calculations, the order amount for this incident was nearly 40 million yuan, and the value of goods exceeded 70 million yuan, which means that if the store ships according to regulations, it will suffer direct losses of more than 30 million yuan.

for a small shop in a county town with only 6 employees, this can be called a "catastrophe."

after the incident, the store has now removed all product links and posted a video apology from an operator on the homepage. in the video, the operator said that 20 minutes had passed when the store discovered the abnormality, and that the store’s deposit compensation has exceeded hundreds of thousands, and hopes that the buyer will agree to a refund.

it is reported that there are many cases of being fleeced due to incorrect price setting.

it is understood that other stores involved in similar price errors include vatti and lin's. on august 21, jiahua food flagship store also made a mistake in setting prices. it set a product originally priced at 39.9 yuan to a flash sale price of 1 yuan. in just a few hours, sales reached nearly 6 million units. according to the store, this move is expected to cause hundreds of millions of yuan in economic losses.

e-commerce operations: platform activities are becoming more and more complicated, and most of my colleagues have made similar mistakes.

in the "little swan incident", the e-commerce operator who bore the main responsibility recorded a video to apologize and request a refund from consumers. it is understood that this type of operational error has become the "sword of damocles" hanging over the heads of e-commerce operators due to the wide variety and high frequency of promotional activities on the platform in recent years.

xiao lu, who used to work as an e-commerce operator for a domestic home appliance brand, told reporters that e-commerce operations are actually very stressful because the activities on the platform are becoming more and more complicated, with coupons stacked on top of coupons. if you don’t really understand the rules, it’s easy to make mistakes and cause huge losses. "every time there is a big promotion, all kinds of coupons will not only make consumers dizzy, but also make us operators dizzy. previously, a colleague in our store set a machine that cost more than 4,000 yuan to more than 2,000 yuan, which scared all of us. fortunately, he only sold 5 units, and he called people one by one to beg for a refund before the problem was solved."

xiao lu said that the probability of price setting errors is very high. basically 80% of e-commerce operators have encountered similar problems. "everyone in our company has made similar mistakes." he said that the high frequency of such errors is related to the complex activity rules of the platform, as well as the high-frequency liquidity and messy work content of e-commerce sales. "in fact, e-commerce operation is a disguised form of e-commerce sales. everyone is burdened with heavy kpis and is under great pressure. moreover, the scope of operation is getting wider and wider. not only are we responsible for the launch of these activities, but also the main pictures of the store and various details of customer service are also included in the work of operation. it's okay in the off-season, but in the peak season or big promotions, it's basically multi-threaded and long-term work, and it's difficult not to make mistakes."

the e-commerce operator said that there is currently no regulation in the industry on whether operators need to bear joint liability for similar mistakes, but the career of an operator who suffers such a huge loss as the "little swan incident" is basically over.

the freeloaders are everywhere: sharing information in group chats and walking on the edge of crime

after the "little swan" incident occurred, many netizens expressed on social platforms that they understood that the store had refunded the order, but there were still many users who placed multiple orders seeking to "ship" on second-hand platforms and social platforms.

behind the "little swan" incident is the "wool-grabbing party" that has been growing in size in recent years. it is understood that many people, in order to get the maximum discount from platforms or stores, often form "wool-grabbing groups/goods-grabbing groups" in the form of communities, with more than 100 people in the group. once there are super low-priced discounted products or promotional activities, they will mobilize all group members in the group to "grab the wool".

initially, the starting point of this behavior was to save money for "personal use", but in recent years, "professional wool party" has become a presence that cannot be ignored. the reporter searched the social platform with "薅羊毛" as the keyword and found that many accounts on the social platform were positioned as "薅羊毛". the larger accounts have multiple communities with a total of more than 600 people. randomly entering several groups, it was found that the groups constantly updated information and links of various internet discount activities, among which the discount activities of several major e-commerce platforms, cash red envelope games, etc. were the key "wools".

an organizer of a "薅羊毛社区" told blue whale news that larger "薅羊毛群" must have their own channels to obtain discount information. "it is definitely impossible to monitor it purely by manpower. sometimes there are technical means, and sometimes there are connections."

due to the wide variety of promotional activities launched by various platforms in recent years to attract new customers, it is not difficult for the "wool-pulling" to "get the wool". the real difficulty lies in how to cash in the "extra wool". just as in the "little swan" incident, many "wool-pulling" parties have already exceeded their "self-use needs" in multiple orders at a time, so how to "ship" the extra orders has become the most critical link. several "wool-pulling" group members told blue whale news reporters that unless it is a market-recognized commodity like moutai, most shipments are difficult. "we will look for second-hand platforms with low prices or specializing in recycling, but there is no way to ensure shipment. just like getting the wool, it depends on luck."

in fact, many acts of "fleecing" are actually on the edge of crime. in the "white paper on criminal prosecution of fraud crimes in changning district, shanghai from 2018 to 2020", there is a case in which a person was sentenced for "fleecing" more than 5.1 million yuan from an e-commerce platform.

for consumers, pursuing "discounts" is understandable, but using illegal means or relying on luck to "take advantage of the situation" is likely to violate legal restrictions.

source: blue whale news