news

according to china voice of china, a well-known blogger recently posted on a social platform:jingtaotao, an online shopping platform software that claims to "only refund for all people", is suspected of running away with the money, with the amount involved reaching 2 billion yuan. the "only refund" model may be a "ponzi scheme"。

many netizens commented that "the freeloaders were only refunded but were instead fleeced by the platform."

jingtaotao responded to the media saying: the company is operating normally and the rumors of "running away with the money" are untrue; the platform recently discovered that some users took advantage of platform activities to maliciously place orders and cash out, and the risk control department is currently checking each order one by one.

some users were identified as "freeloaders" and their refunds failed

platform: about 180 million yuan was taken away by the wool party

according to poster news, on the afternoon of september 19, a staff member from the general department of jingtaotao responded that the content circulated online was a rumor and the company is currently operating normally.

the above-mentioned staff member said that the online content was malicious smear. "after jingtaotao was fleeced by a gang, the platform began risk control review. the gang found out that we were investigating and we were also taking legal action. after receiving the lawyer's notice, this group of illegal users suddenly left messages all over the platform. as a platform that was fleeced, we wanted to recover our losses but were smeared on a large scale."

according to red star news, on september 19, two jingtaotao users said that they applied for a refund after placing an order on the platform but failed, and the platform did not refund the money.ms. wang said that she purchased a membership for 888 yuan, and the "refund only" amount was 120,000 yuan for one quarter.mr. hu purchased a membership for 18,888 yuan, and the "refund only" amount was 900,000 yuan per quarter.。

the above users all told the red star capital bureau thatthe "refund only" request was unsuccessful because jingtaotao determined that i was a "freeloader"。on september 13, ms. wang received a text message from jingtaotao.it was alleged that he "repeatedly arbitrages the discounts of order activities on the app, with huge amounts of money, for the purpose of possession, and 'plunders the wool' through improper means, maliciously exploits loopholes in the e-commerce platform to obtain profits, and the amount has reached 3,000 yuan。”

according to china national radio, a jingtaotao user who sought to defend his rights told reporters that his application for a refund after placing an order on the platform was unsuccessful and the platform did not refund the money.

jingtaotao users:the money was not refunded! they are just dragging their feet.

reporter:what did you buy on the platform?

user:cell phones and the like.

reporter:how much?

user:hundreds of thousands.

the user admitted that rumors that the platform had run away would only make things worse. currently, jingtaotao is negotiating with them about a refund. he said: "(the company's) legal department has already intervened and is still in the negotiation stage. it's not like we don't have to spend any money, we also need memberships and the like.we follow the rules of the platform. it's not called "薅羊毛", we can only say that we are too greedy. we are already taking legal action.”

on the 21st, a reporter from china radio international called the customer service number of jingtaotao, and the customer service said: "if you need it, just buy it normally. all business is normal now."

however, the customer service did not give a positive response to the reporter's question about whether members could just get a refund.

on the evening of the 21st, jingtaotao related personnel told china radio international thatjingtaotao was fleeced of about 180 million yuan by the wool party“we want to make it clear thatjingtaotao didn't run awaywe have an unshirkable responsibility for the security of users' funds and the quality of our services. regarding the situation where some users reported that they could not get a refund,this is because jingtaotao was fleeced of around 180 million yuan by the wool partyafter discovering this incident, we immediately issued a risk control warning and conducted an internal risk control investigation, which delayed the refund of some users. we have arranged a special technical team to investigate and ensure that all applications that meet the refund conditions have been processed one after another. we also reserve the right to pursue legal liability for any false rumors. "

jingtaotao said,the “refund only” model aims to pass on the benefits to consumers, allowing more people to experience the value of the platform, and is also part of brand promotion."we understand that users may have different views on this. as a business model, this model encountered some unforeseen problems during its implementation, especially some bad elements exploiting loopholes in the rules to make improper profits.the initial promotion of e-commerce platforms is very expensive. we use "refund only" as our way of attracting traffic and retaining user reputation.we will further optimize platform rules and strengthen risk control mechanisms.”

5 packs of wet toilet paper cost 200 yuan, an iphone costs more than 50,000 yuan

"all people only get refunds" but also need to pay for membership

however, jingtaotao, which claims to "give consumers benefits", is not cheap. in particular, the price of the "all-people only refund" channel is several times higher than the market price.

in july this year, jingtaotao’s official website announced that “new customers can get a refund for any item purchased below 600 yuan.”

the layout of jingtaotao app is similar to that of e-commerce platforms such as taobao and jd.com. the homepage consists of product cards with a "refund only" logo under each card. clicking on the product card will reveal thatitems are divided into "all refund only" price and "buy now" price, and the difference between the two is huge。

take a certain brand of wet toilet paper series wet wipes (40 pieces * 5 packs) as an example.the "buy now" price shown on jingtaotao is 30.9 yuan, while the "all-people refund only" price is 207 yuan. the same number of wet toilet paper wipes from the brand costs about 18 yuan on taobao.。

taking the newly released iphone 16 pro (128g) as an example,the official price of apple is rmb 7999, and the price on jingtaotao is the same, but the market price is claimed to be rmb 19498.50.the price of choosing the "all-people refund only" channel is as high as 53,327 yuan, the arrival time is 60 days.

according to the jingtaotao membership activity rules,only users who have activated membership can purchase products at the "all-people refund only" price and apply for the refund only service. after signing for the product, they need to complete the supporting membership tasks or supporting points tasks before they can initiate a refund only application.。

currently, jingtaotao has nine levels of membership to choose from:membership activation fee is 188 yuan to 28,888 yuan。depending on the membership level, the refund amount per quarter, month and item will also vary.。

screenshot of jingtaotao app

in a post on xiaohongshu on september 2, a corporate certified account named "jingtaotao business alliance" responded to users' questions about "being under review and unable to withdraw cash" by saying that the system was under maintenance and asked users to wait patiently.

the announcement on refund only for all users released by jingtaotao on september 16 shows that in view of the recent emergence of some arbitrage and wool-pulling behaviors, jingtaotao will solemnly initiate the corresponding processing procedures. for users who shop normally, jingtaotao will strictly follow the normal process to carry out refund only for all users.

it is understood that jingtaotao is affiliated to shanghai jingduobao e-commerce co., ltd. industrial and commercial data show that shanghai jingduobao e-commerce co., ltd. was established in may 2019. the legal representative is lin jinfan, with a registered capital of 10 million yuan. it belongs to the retail industry and its business scope includes internet sales, domestic trade agency, information consulting services, etc.

in june this year, a press release involving jingduobao stated that the company has two wholly-owned subsidiaries, as well as jingtaotao convenience store co., ltd. and jingtaotao business school co., ltd. the company's technology research and development headquarters is located in tongzhou district, beijing, and has gathered a large number of top technical talents including overseas phds in economics, statistics, computer science and other disciplines.

in july this year, jingtaotao’s official website stated,jingtaotao, an innovative e-commerce platform that successfully implemented the "all-people only refund" rule, recentlycompleted angel round financing of 500 million yuaninvestors include accelcapital, sequoia capital, and zhongqing investment. after this round of financing,jingtaotao's valuation has reached about 5 billion yuanjingtaotao's official website also stated that in the first month, jingtaotao app had 20,000 high-end users and more than 1.5 million mass users, with a retention rate of 96% in the second month, among which the average customer spending of high-end users reached 50,000 yuan.

however, some media reported that regarding the financing event,sequoia china said the news was untrue and they even warned the company over the phone。

the "all-people only refund" model has caused controversy

experts: this pattern is beyond the normal trading range

regarding the "universal refund only" model launched by jingtaotao, some industry insiders believe that this model is not new, but more like a way to attract traffic.

according to red star news,cui lili, professor of the department of digital economy and executive director of the institute of e-commerce at shanghai university of finance and economics, said:this model is more like a way to attract traffic, which achieves traffic and monetization by only refunding and combining high membership fees.whether the platform can make a profit depends to some extent on the game between the platform and consumers. whether consumers can make full use of the high membership fees they pay depends on whether there are refund-only products on the platform that consumers like, and the difference between the total amount of "free" products that can be obtained during the membership period and the membership fee.

cui lili also mentioned that this is more like a model of recharging and exchanging for goods (similar to a single-purpose prepaid card), and the gameplay may be more complicated.this new model is worthy of attention in terms of consumer rights and membership fee fund pool management.。

according to china national radio, an industry insider said:its original model was to cut off these wool parties, it will definitely not last long. because it claims that everyone can only get a refund, as long as you feel it is not suitable, you can only get a refund. many people who want to get something for free will go to it to place an order.after many people get some benefits, they think there is something sweet in it, so they will buy more and more, and the price will get higher and higher.after a certain point, it may suddenly disappear.。”

in the view of tang jiansheng, deputy secretary general of the shanghai consumer rights protection committee,the so-called "refund only" seems to be beneficial to consumers, but it actually violates the principle of fair trade。

luo tianxuan, associate professor at the school of law of tongji university, analyzed that the "universal refund only" model has exceeded the scope of normal transactions.

luo tianxuan pointed out that, first of all,whether a buyer who simply wants a “refund only” is considered a consumer.the transaction price is far higher than the normal value of the goods. it is hard to believe that the buyer went for the product. it is more like getting the goods for free through the "refund only" route.it is worth discussing whether the buyers in this case can be considered as "consumers". secondly, the merchant's responsibility and rights protection. if there is indeed a problem with the product, the merchant should bear the responsibility; if it is not a product liability issue,e-commerce platforms advertise "refund only", but this harms the interests of merchants, and the rights of merchants should also be paid attention to.. third, how to identify the "all-people only refund" membership agreement,in normal transactions, "refund only" does not require a membership threshold. the platform distinguishes the amount of "refund only" by setting membership agreements with different recharge amounts, which is more like a single-purpose prepaid card transaction model., the supervision method should also be different from traditional goods trading.

luo tianxuan also said,it is difficult to determine whether the refund-only model is illegal based on the reported superficial problems.she believes that there are several points to focus on. first, is it vicious competition? second, does it damage the rights of consumers and merchants? if so, the civil code has corresponding provisions to protect them.

a senior lawyer told daily economic news》reporter: under normal circumstances, consumers will not buy goods at a price several times higher than the market value. under the business model of this platform, it can be reasonably inferred that the ultimate purpose of most consumers to become members is not to purchase goods normally, but to obtain goods for free through the "universal refund only" channel. moreover, the higher the membership level, the higher the "refund only" amount, and the more "refund only" is required to "make money".to some extent, this model is encouraging "wool party"。

the above lawyer stated,the platform should have foreseen this situation when adopting this business model. if the platform does not publicly inform consumers of the reasonable criteria for determining "wool party" under this model (for example, "only refund" amount exceedscorrespondinglevel membership quota, etc.), still onlyrefusing to refund on the grounds of "freeloading" may be suspected of defrauding consumers。

according to southern metropolis daily, in the opinion of wang hao, an independent lawyer at shanghai zhonglian guangzhou law firm, the platformthe above behavior is suspected of price fraud. by setting unreasonably high prices and false market prices, the app may also constitute unfair competition to other e-commerce platforms and disrupt the market order.。“such behavior may also infringe on consumers’ rights to know and fair trade.when purchasing goods, consumers have the right to obtain true and accurate price information and product value information, and the behavior of jingtaotao app may cause consumers to make wrong consumption decisions without knowing it."wang hao said. 

edit|duan lian yi qi jiang gai yuanyuan

proofreading|lu xiangyong

cover image: visual china (image and text are unrelated)

daily economic news is compiled from china national radio, poster news, red star news, jingtaotao, southern metropolis daily, public information, etc.

daily economic news