Before the low tide was publicized on the Internet, some media reported that Mr. Li, the owner of Zhengzhou, recently bought two barrels of Shell Extraordinary Heineken all over synthetic engine oil on Suning Internet, which was judged as fake engine oil by the garage master.
It is understood that compared with "genuine licensed goods", there is no disposable anti-counterfeiting laser seal on the bottle cap of online shopping engine oil, and there is no white sealing film on the bottle mouth, and the material of the oil drum is relatively hard. The QR code on the scanned oil drum only entered Shell China official website, which can't prove that the oil is genuine.
Shell China has also come to "fake", claiming that genuine Shell engine oil has sealing film and anti-counterfeiting sticker, and has not cooperated with Suning.cn officials.
On July 8th, Suning.cn officials explained the "evidence" one by one. On the afternoon of July 9th, Suning International exposed the test report issued by the test center of Zhengzhou Branch of China Petrochemical Lubricant Co., Ltd. through the official Weibo. The report shows that all Shell's European imported engine oil projects sold by Suning International meet the standards.
0 1, frequently making and selling fake engine oil.
So far, the above disputes have not seen the voice of the owners. However, in the market, engine oil has always been the hardest hit area for counterfeiting and selling in the automotive aftermarket.
Among the cases disclosed in the first half of 2020, the counterfeit engine oil case announced by Guangxi Laibin police on March 14 involved 2.2 billion yuan and fled to more than 20 provinces across the country through online channels.
In June alone, many cases of fake engine oil broke out in the media. Especially recently, the Tanghuang Police Station of Danyang City Public Security Bureau in Jiangsu Province successfully cracked a case involving nearly 10 million yuan in counterfeiting and selling, and seized more than 500 barrels of various lubricating oil and refined oil from counterfeit brands such as Great Wall, Mobil, Shell and Kunlun on the spot.
It is not difficult to see that this kind of fake engine oil case is characterized by high case value, many provinces in circulation, repeated gun laying by big brands, and online e-commerce and social software becoming tools for selling fakes.
The first is offline counterfeiting: among the counterfeiting dens seized by the police, there are processing factories, residential buildings, rental houses, warehouses and other places, which are messy and simple. The production of fake engine oil is only completed by two small machines, canning and labeling, which is simple to operate and easy to hoard a large number of fakes.
In June, Jieyang seized 40 barrels of waste engine oil and 107 barrels of refined oil from an illegal lubricant processing plant, with net weights of 5600 kg and 14368 kg respectively, involving more than 20 million yuan.
Secondly, online shopping is fake: in the case of 20 19 Guangzhou Zengcheng extra-large fake engine oil, the suspect sold the fake engine oil to customers through online sales and then transported it through logistics. Because of the wide network scope, large population, large demand, hidden means of selling fake goods, low cost and high relative profit.
At the same time, there are also fake oil disputes in the big e-commerce platform. During the promotion of "6 18", a customer was suspicious of three bottles of imported engine oil of "Castrol Multipolar Titanium Protective Liquid" purchased by Tmall Supermarket, and asked the merchant for quality inspection certificate. The two documents sent before and after are different. The customer service even said that not every product can be traced back. It is difficult for consumers to defend their rights.
In addition to rapid sales through online e-commerce and social software, some fake engine oil flows into offline garages. In the inspections of law enforcement departments or reports from consumers, various localities have investigated and dealt with many cases of illegal use of counterfeit engine oil by auto repair shops, mainly brands such as "Shell" and "Castrol", which are of high value and have been repeatedly banned.
A store owner told AC Auto that the fake engine oil can be almost flawless now, and it needs to be sent to a professional testing institution for testing to distinguish between true and false. After using fake engine oil, the vehicle will not have obvious problems in a short time, and it will also leave a lot of operating space.
02. Why take the risk?
According to relevant data, by the end of 20 19, the number of motor vehicles in China has reached 348 million, and each vehicle is maintained twice a year on average (in 4L units). The total annual oil demand is at least 2.7 billion liters, and the market demand is huge.
Where there are interests, there are rivers and lakes. Due to fierce market competition, the profits of genuine and fake engine oils are extremely unbalanced, which leads to criminals taking risks frequently.
On the one hand, the increasingly transparent price of e-commerce platform makes offline stores lose the space to earn the price difference with products; Moreover, the big discounts on the Internet have also dealt a great blow to dealers.
On the other hand, due to the impact of the epidemic, some operators are even worse, eager to minimize losses in a short time.
It is understood that from manufacturers to consumers, the profits that dealers can earn are getting thinner and thinner. In contrast, fake engine oil can make a high profit of more than 50%.
Let's look at a case: On March 3rd, with the resumption of work and production in various parts of the country, Changshu City investigated and dealt with a big warehouse who faked engine oil.
According to the counterfeiters, as long as you buy inferior engine oil, empty bottles with fake registered trademarks, packaging and labels, you can can can them into "finished products" and sell them at a price of only 15-20% of the genuine price.
If more than 9,500 cases of engine oil have been sold, the sales amount is more than 2.09 million yuan, but the estimated retail value is more than 9 million yuan; On-site inventory 1979 boxes, with an estimated retail value of 2.87 million yuan.
As can be seen from the figure, 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 interests, fake gangs and unscrupulous traders hit it off, using loopholes in the lax supervision of e-commerce platforms to harvest consumers at low prices.
03. Is e-commerce platform insurance practical?
In fact, the major e-commerce platforms are more "survival first" in the sales process, and product liability insurance is attached to the oil that is easy to be faked.
However, product liability insurance is different from Suning International's "fidelity insurance": the former only covers the third party liability caused by products; The latter only guarantees the authenticity, not the quality.
Take the official direct store of Tmall auto maintenance parts as an example: most of the oil on the platform is given product liability insurance, covering a wide range. The product liability insurance of "Amoy Auto Insurance" will be displayed directly on the payment page. Click Enter to browse the specific terms.
In the terms, three ways to inquire about the insurance policy are clearly written. One is the ant insurance that logs in to Alipay; The second is to log in to Cathay Pacific Property Insurance official website; The third is to call Cathay Pacific 400 customer service.
Take JD.COM as an example: Although there is a "quality-free" service column in the product selection interface, it is marked as being underwritten by Ping An Insurance, and the maximum compensation is five times the original price.
But clicking "Learn More" shows that the page is missing and you can't see the specific terms. There is no way to inquire about the payment standard, payment process and electronic insurance policy.
Take Suning as an example: in the "service description" item of the product purchase interface, "authentic traceability" is mentioned, that is, through Suning's control in the supply chain, the product can be traced back.
The "overseas authentic products" in the item of "Suning International Service" shows that Suning International promises that the products are 100% overseas authentic products, and if they are fake, they will lose ten.
Although promised "fidelity insurance", there is only one publicity photo. The relevant rules are similar to those in JD.COM, and the query path is not displayed.
Some insiders pointed out that most self-operated e-commerce platforms are also looking for agents to purchase goods. In the past, only three-level agent qualification was needed, but because of the constant incidents of fake engine oil, the agent qualification has been improved and the quality of oil products has been guaranteed to some extent, but 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 details are not implemented, such as insurance details, payment process, standard display, etc., once there is a dispute with consumers, both parties will easily fall into a dispute.
Undeniably, fake goods in the aftermarket, like viruses, attach themselves to people and poison them. The aftermarket does have great potential. If leading enterprises are irresponsible and let themselves go, the whole industry will eventually slide into the abyss.
Time can talk, but the result will not lie. Although it seems that the power to promote "putting an end to counterfeit goods" is not strong enough now, enterprises that truly fear the market and respect consumers will certainly be favored and cared for.