The money paid to the shared bikes is divided into two parts, one is the deposit, and the other is the recharge fee. Deposit & income Regarding the deposit, the issue that has attracted attention is how to manage it and how to deal with the (possible) income generated, especially after the deposit was deducted from the Kara Bike. Regarding the management of the deposit, after being questioned by CCTV some time ago, Mobike responded that it has opened a bank account for depositing the deposit, and 100% ensured that the deposit funds are safe and used for specific purposes. It further explained that "at present, China's laws and regulations have not made specific provisions for shared bike deposits. We will conduct business in strict accordance with laws and regulations, and strictly supervise with the highest standards higher than the industry level." Ofo also stated that the deposit is for a specific purpose and has been sealed, and it is not currently used in other aspects. Since it is placed in a bank account, it will generate interest. How to deal with the income? According to the report of The Paper, neither Mobike nor ofo responded positively to this. In fact, deposits are a very common phenomenon. For example, when renting a house, the interest and other income generated by it generally belong to the lender, which is protected by property law. Therefore, there are no compliance barriers for shared bicycle companies to collect deposits and generate interest. However, the special thing about shared bicycle deposits is that it is not one-to-one, and the bicycles are not always in the hands of users, but only the right to ride them is obtained. Generally, if you rent a bicycle, you will temporarily occupy a bicycle, and if you rent a house, you will live alone in a house, and the deposit will be returned when you return it. But after paying the deposit for the bicycle, there will not be a bicycle dedicated to you (unless you pay the deposit when you want to ride the bicycle, and the refund will be made immediately after riding). Moreover, on average, one bicycle will correspond to the deposits of multiple users (the deposit does not correspond to a specific bicycle), so when the number of users reaches a certain scale, the total deposit will exceed the total value of all bicycles. In theory, it is more risky than general rental services. This should also be the reason why Mobike said that domestic laws and regulations have not yet made specific provisions for shared bicycle deposits. Regarding deposit and interest management, some netizens said that the People's Bank of China issued new regulations in mid-January this year, clarifying that the customer reserve funds generated by third-party payment institutions during transactions will be uniformly deposited in designated accounts in the future (the average proportion of the first deposit is about 20%, and all customer reserve funds will eventually be centrally deposited), supervised by the central bank, and payment institutions shall not misappropriate or occupy customer reserve funds. The People's Bank of China or commercial banks do not pay interest on the reserve fund accounts of non-bank payment institutions. However , a payment industry practitioner told reporters that deposits and reserve funds are two different things. Deposits are not regulated , while reserve funds are regulated by the People's Bank of China. The reserve fund deposit ratio fluctuates with the business ratio of payment institutions. There is no need for a payment license to collect deposits. It can be understood as a leasing model, which is a transaction initiated by the user. Only payment institutions in the transaction link (such as WeChat and Alipay) need to have a license. In addition, many people also mentioned another thing, the deposit for transportation cards. Leifeng.com found that from 2006 to the end of last year, there were news reports about the deposit of transportation cards, and most of them were about the whereabouts of the deposit, such as in Hefei and Nanjing. After so many years of discussion, the use of public transportation card deposits in some cities has been made public and transparent, and some places no longer collect deposits. Shanghai's approach is more professional. The "Shanghai Public Transportation Card Management Measures (Revised)" stipulates that the deposit in the special account is only used to return the cardholder, and the interest income shall not be used for other purposes except for the system's own expenses such as card procurement, production, issuance, card return, and equipment maintenance. Shanghai Public Transportation Card Co., Ltd. has announced the cost and deposit of ordinary transportation cards, and audited by a third-party intermediary agency. Perhaps companies such as Mobike and ofo will also adopt this method. In addition, some people believe that the income obtained by shared bicycle companies from deposits will be an important source of income, but according to the analysis of Curiosity Daily, this part of the income is actually nothing, it can only be regarded as a drop in the bucket. Recharge & Income After paying the deposit, users need to recharge their accounts to use shared bicycles. This part is relatively simple. Ofo only has three options: 20, 50, and 100 yuan; Mobike allows users to choose to charge only 1 yuan at a time, and then charge when they want to ride, and there are also options for larger amounts. In this way, in most cases, users' accounts often have a certain balance. This is of course a trick for the company to retain users, but if you think about it in detail, some people may ask, the amount of money recharged by so many users is also not a small amount, we just put the money there, how can this part generate interest, and how should the income be divided? Unfortunately, the recharged bicycle account is considered a pre-deposit account, which can be imagined as a prepaid card for barber shops and restaurants. It belongs to the company's operating income and can be used for investment and financial management. There are no compliance obstacles, and there is no need to think about income . However, if shared bicycles want to do more with the account balance, they need the corresponding license. Of course, the account balance can be refunded, but it is a bit troublesome to contact customer service. Leifeng.com reported that Mobike explained the balance setting as follows: "The purpose is to balance user experience, administrative costs and operational innovation, etc." "We will have a customer agreement on the recharge page in the App, and a 'recharge instruction' will pop up to remind users: 'Recharged fares can only be used for riding and cannot be refunded.'" As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity. |
>>: Rest of World: BYD will lead Tesla in ten markets by October 2024 with its low-priced models
Audit expert: Lu Bin Deputy Chief Physician and A...
It is very simple to place ads on TikTok, just fi...
Before writing a competitive product analysis rep...
The Asian Winter Games not only provides a fierce...
[[222139]] One of the key decisions we programmer...
[[130623]] About the author: Liu Xin, founder and...
In addition to enjoying the flowers blooming all ...
What are the things that must be done during the ...
Since some companies don’t know much about biddin...
Maybe one day when you are walking on the road an...
Media Boss Episode 3: Exploding IP Wealth Creatio...
If we talk about the two most popular traffic cha...
As of May 11, 2014, the official stable version of...
Today, when I was browsing the Blog Park, I saw a...