Recently, Suning International and China Life Property Insurance Company launched the "Imported Motor Oil Authenticity Insurance", promising that if consumers buy non-genuine products on the platform, they will "compensate ten for every fake product"; if the fault is caused by fake motor oil, If the vehicle repair costs are incurred, the maximum compensation is RMB 300,000, and the compensation can be obtained within 5 working days.

Before the online publicity has subsided, there are media reports that Mr. Li, a car owner in Zhengzhou, recently purchased two barrels of Shell Helix Ultra fully synthetic engine oil online from Suning International, but was judged to be fake engine oil by an auto repair shop master.

It is understood that after comparing with "genuine licensed products", the bottle cap of the engine oil purchased online does not have a one-time anti-counterfeiting laser seal, the bottle mouth does not have a white sealing film, and the material of the oil drum is also relatively small. hard. Scanning the QR code on the oil barrel only leads to the official website of Shell China, which cannot prove that the oil is genuine.

Shell China also came to "fight counterfeiting", saying that genuine Shell oil has sealing film and anti-counterfeiting stickers, and does not have official cooperation with Suning.com.

On July 8, Suning.com officially explained the above "evidence" one by one to refute the rumors. On the afternoon of July 9, Suning International posted the test report issued by the Zhengzhou Branch Testing Center of Sinopec Lubricant Co., Ltd. through its official Weibo. The report shows that all items of Shell European imported engine oil sold by Suning International meet the standards.

01. Frequent counterfeiting and counterfeiting of engine oil

So far, the above disputes have not yet seen the car owners speak out. However, in the market, engine oil has always been the hardest hit area for counterfeiting and counterfeiting in the automotive aftermarket.

Among the cases disclosed in the first half of 2020, the Guangxi Laibin police announced a fake motor oil case on March 14. The funds involved amounted to 2.2 billion yuan and were spread through more than 20 provinces across the country through online channels.

In June alone, the media exposed many cases of fake engine oil. Especially recently, the Huangtang Police Station of Danyang Public Security Bureau in Jiangsu Province successfully solved a counterfeiting case involving nearly 10 million yuan, and seized more than 500 counterfeit lubricants and refined oil products of various brands such as Great Wall, Mobil, Shell, and Kunlun on the spot. bucket.

It is not difficult to see that the common characteristics of this type of fake engine oil cases are that they have high case value, many provinces where they are distributed, big brands have repeatedly "laid the gun", and online e-commerce and social software have become tools for selling counterfeit goods.

First of all, offline counterfeiting: Among the counterfeiting dens seized by the police, there are processing plants, residential buildings, rental houses, warehouses and other places. They are dirty and simple, and only use two small machines for canning and labeling. Complete the production of fake engine oil, the operation is simple, and it is easy to hoard a large number of fakes.

In June, Jieyang City seized 40 barrels of discarded engine oil and 107 barrels of processed oil from an illegal lubricating oil processing factory. The net weights were 5,600 kilograms and 14,368 kilograms respectively. The amount involved was as high as 20 million yuan.

Secondly, there are fakes in online purchases: In the huge fake engine oil case in Zengcheng, Guangzhou in 2019, the suspect sold the fake engine oil to customers through online sales and then transported it through logistics. Due to the wide scope of the Internet, the large number of people, and the huge demand, the counterfeit sales methods are hidden, the cost is low, and the relative profits are higher.

At the same time, major e-commerce platforms also have disputes over fake engine oil. During the "618" promotion, a customer had doubts about the 3 bottles of "Castrol Multi-Polar Titanium Protective Fluid" 5W-40 imported engine oil purchased from Tmall Supermarket, and asked the merchant for a quality inspection certificate. There were differences between the two documents sent before and after. . Customer service even said that not every product can be traced. It is difficult for consumers to defend their rights.

In addition to being quickly sold through online e-commerce and social software channels, fake engine oil also flows into offline auto repair shops. During inspections by law enforcement agencies or reports from consumers, many cases of irregular auto repair shops using fake engine oil have been investigated and dealt with in various places, mainly under brands such as "Shell" and "Castrol", with high value and repeated bans.

A store owner told AC Cars that the current fake engine oil can be almost flawless and needs to be sent to a professional testing agency for testing to distinguish the genuine from the fake. After using fake engine oil, the vehicle will not have obvious problems in a short period of time, leaving a lot of room for counterfeiting.

02. Why take risks?

According to relevant data, as of the end of 2019, the number of motor vehicles in the country has reached 348 million, and each vehicle needs maintenance twice a year on average (based on 4L (unit: 4L), the total annual demand for engine oil is at least 2.7 billion liters, and the market demand is huge.

Where there is pursuit of interests, there are rivers and lakes. Due to fierce market competition, profits from genuine and counterfeit engine oils are extremely uneven, causing criminals to frequently take desperate risks.

On the one hand, the increasingly transparent prices of e-commerce platforms have caused offline stores to lose the space to earn price differences with products; and the frequent and frequent discounts online have also hit dealers hard.

On the other hand, due to the impact of the epidemic, some operators have worsened their situation and are eager to minimize losses in a short period of time.

It is understood that dealers can earn increasingly thinner profits from genuine engine oil from manufacturers to consumers. In contrast, fake engine oil can earn high profits of more than 50%.

Let’s take a look at a case: On March 3, as work and production were resumed across the country, Changshu City investigated and dealt with a large warehouse of counterfeit engine oil.

According to the counterfeiting party, as long as you purchase low-quality engine oil, empty bottles with counterfeit registered trademarks, packaging and labels, you can can them yourself and produce "finished products" for sale at only 15% of the price of the genuine product. -20.

For example, more than 9,500 boxes of engine oil have been sold, with a sales amount of more than 2.09 million yuan, but the estimated retail value is more than 9 million yuan; there are 1,979 boxes of on-site inventory, and the estimated retail value is as high as more than 2.87 million yuan.

As can be seen from the picture, the difference between the retail price of genuine products and the ex-factory price of counterfeit products is as high as 6 times.

Driven by profit, counterfeiting gangs and unscrupulous traders hit it off, taking advantage of loopholes in the lax supervision of e-commerce platforms to harvest consumers at low prices.

03. Is e-commerce platform insurance practical?

In fact, major e-commerce platforms in the sales process have a stronger desire to survive. They all provide product liability insurance for motor oils that are easily counterfeited.

However, product liability insurance is different from Suning International's "fidelity insurance": the former only covers third-party liability caused by the product; the latter only covers genuine products and does not involve quality.

Take the official direct-operated store of car maintenance parts on Tmall as an example: most motor oils on the platform come with product liability insurance, which has a wide coverage. On the payment page, the "Taochebao" product liability insurance is directly displayed. Click to enter and browse the specific terms.

In the terms, it is clearly stated that there are three ways to check the policy. One is to log in to Ant Insurance on Alipay; the other is to log on to the official website of Cathay Property & Casualty Insurance Company Limited; the third is to call Cathay Pacific’s 400 customer service number.

Take JD.com as an example: Although there is a "worry-free quality" service column on the product selection interface, it is marked as underwritten by Ping An Insurance, and the maximum compensation is 5 times the original price.

However, clicking "Learn More" shows that the page is disconnected and no specific terms can be seen. It is impossible to inquire about the compensation standards, compensation procedures and electronic insurance policies.

Let’s take Suning as an example again: “Authentic product traceability” is mentioned in the “Service Description” item on the product purchase interface, and product traceability is carried out through Suning’s control in the supply chain.

The "Overseas Authentic Product" in the "Suning International Service" item shows that Suning International promises that the product is 100% overseas authentic, and will compensate you 10% for any fake product.

Although "fidelity insurance" is promised, there is only one promotional photo. The relevant details are similar to JD.com and do not show the query path.

Some industry insiders pointed out that most self-operated e-commerce platforms use agents to purchase goods. In the past, only Level 3 agent qualifications were required. Later, due to the continuous incidents of fake engine oil, the agent qualifications were improved and the quality of oil products was also guaranteed to a certain extent. However, in fact, there is still the possibility of fakes.

Similar "fidelity insurance" launched by the platform has enhanced consumers' confidence in online shopping to a certain extent, but if the details are not implemented, such as insurance details, compensation procedures and standard display, once it is related to the consumer When disputes arise, both parties may easily fall into a quarrel.

It is undeniable that counterfeit goods circulating in the aftermarket are like viruses, attached to people and poisoning them. The automotive aftermarket market does have huge potential. If leading companies are irresponsible and let things go their own way, the entire industry will eventually slide into the abyss.

Time will speak, and the results will not lie. Although it seems that the force to "eliminate counterfeit goods" is not strong enough now, the water will accumulate, and those companies that respect the market and respect consumers from the bottom of their hearts will surely be favored and favored.