Money

Merchants pass old off as new

By Wu Wencong (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-13 09:48

A store selling Apple products in the Zhongguancun area. [Zou Hong / China Daily]

Merchants at the Zhongguancun electronics market in the capital are scrambling to buy second-hand high-end electronics products and pass them off as new in their stores in one of the year's busiest times for the scam.

"The first boom always takes place around the Spring Festival, while the second one comes after the college entrance examination," said Chang Xiaowen, a salesman claiming to be from an authorized seller of Apple products at Zhongguancun.

He said the two periods are peak times in the year for the giving of high-end electrical products as gifts.

"Some kids get lots of electronics products as rewards if they manage to get enrolled at prestigious universities," said Chang.

He said those students often want to cash-in their gifts for money and retailers are only too happy to oblige, with the chance of then selling them to another unsuspecting customer as if they were new.

All of the 10 agents interviewed by METRO showed great interest in buying second-hand upscale electronics products, including iPhone, iPad, Thinkpad and Sony VAIO P.

Duan Yumu, a salesman claiming to be from an agent selling Sony VAIO, said he could offer up to 3,500 yuan for a second-hand Sony VAIO P, which costs 5,999 yuan new in the store.

"We will send the retrieved computers back to the factory for repackaging and then sell them as new ones again," he told METRO.

Duan said more stores at Zhongguancun would accept second-hand iPhones than would accept computers because the profits are larger with iPhones.

"All they need is to change the outer casing of the iPhone," he said. "Then, it is almost impossible for customers to tell the difference between the new and the second-hand ones."

Tian Yongfu, a salesman from another company claiming to be an agent for Apple, said they no longer accept iPhone 1, but other types are welcomed, especially the iPhone 4.

"Whether the package is still complete or not is no big deal," he said. "Just bring it along and I'll sell it as a new one."

Currently, Tian's store has no iPhone 4s in stock, but it was being advertised in the window.

"The unlocked iPhone 4, which can be used normally on the Chinese mainland, will cost at least 12,000 yuan at Zhongguancun right now," Tian said.

He offered a price of between 8,000 and 10,000 yuan to buy a used unlocked iPhone 4.

Wang Shuai (not his real name), sales manager from a company claiming to be an agent for Canon, said he has lots of friends at Zhongguancun in the electronics business. He said the sellers are not the only ones to blame for the practice of passing off used products as new ones.

"Zhongguancun is now known as the 'cheapest place for smuggled electronic products', so many consumers force the price down, even though they know it is already very low," he said.

"As a result, the agents have to think of new variations on the theme of fraud, to cater to the customers' demand for prices that seem to never be low enough."

Wang suggested customers stop forcing down the price blindly, but let franchisers have a reasonable profit if they want fair business practices at the location.

"An ordered market requires effort from both the customers and the merchants," he said.