Uncovering the secrets of online train ticket purchasing: The most hated thing is the "cheap" tickets

On December 20, 2014, the day before the 2015 New Year's Eve, when train tickets were released online, Zou Mei (pseudonym) arrived early at her company in Dashi Town, Panyu. She took out her phone and opened the memo, which showed the 12306 ticket purchase accounts of five people. This was the task of purchasing tickets for her and three other friends that day. The pre-sale period for the 2015 Spring Festival train tickets was advanced to 60 days compared with previous years, which allowed the people who returned home for the New Year to enter the Spring Festival travel state earlier - scrambling for tickets, and online purchasing agents also appeared on some forums related to the Spring Festival travel. Recently, a reporter from Southern Metropolis Daily, posing as a ticket buyer, learned about the current purchasing market from eight online purchasing agents: According to statistics, the commission for purchasing a ticket is mostly around 80 yuan per ticket, but some train tickets are more popular, and the commission can rise to 100 yuan per ticket.

The commission for purchasing tickets to Sichuan, Hunan and other places can reach 100 yuan per ticket

In December, when work is not busy, Zou Mei, an employee of a small IT company, will work part-time as a train ticket online agent. She has been doing this for more than half a month, and she and three Hunanese have taken over 100 orders. The commission for purchasing a train ticket is usually around 30 yuan, and 80 yuan per ticket during the Spring Festival travel rush. However, if some train tickets are more popular, such as train tickets from Guangzhou to Hunan, Sichuan and other places, the fees will be higher, and the commission for some tickets can reach 100 yuan per ticket.

Compared with Zou Mei, Li Wei has more experience in online purchasing. At the beginning of this month, he started posting on some forums. Since his daily work is related to computer programming, he has high requirements for Internet speed and has done some research on ticket grabbing software, which has become his "innate advantage" when soliciting business. How to charge is also "clearly marked" method: 30 yuan for hard seat; 50 yuan for hard sleeper; 80 yuan for soft sleeper; 100 yuan for first class high-speed rail; 80 yuan for second class.

Seven of the eight purchasing agents said that their role was just a temporary one during the Spring Festival travel rush, and four of them were students. "Because purchasing agents often need to stay in front of the computer. Compared with office workers, students have more time," said the owner of a railway station sales outlet in Tianhe District, who said that several of the online purchasing agents he had met were college students.

The most times I swipe a train ticket is 100 times

At present, as the pre-sale period of train tickets approaches the peak period of the Spring Festival, more and more buyers are looking for Zou Mei and Li Wei to buy tickets on their behalf. How much commission can a purchasing agent earn in a day? Although the purchasing agent did not disclose it directly, since the peak period of Spring Festival train tickets has arrived, the commission for purchasing a ticket sold at the railway station on the same day is basically 80-100 yuan per ticket; the highest fee for buying train tickets that have passed the pre-sale period will be 100-150 yuan per ticket. According to the purchasing agent's introduction, at least 3 orders can be completed in a day, and the daily income is at least 240 yuan, and a total of 1,200 yuan for 5 days during the peak period of the Spring Festival. If you find a bargain, the income will be higher.

But Zou Mei said frankly that what she least wants to receive is "leakage" purchases, which means that the buyer did not pay within the specified time and the ticket was returned by the website. "It is best to apply for the purchase of tickets on sale on the same day one day in advance. If it is a "leakage", it is best to contact me after 5-10 days." Zou Mei explained that the result of train tickets released normally on the same day can be known within 5 minutes of the release time. But if it is a "leakage", it will be affected by objective conditions such as the return location and the number of daily refunds. Sometimes, in order to swipe a "leakage" ticket, you can't take care of breakfast, and you have to stay in front of the computer and swipe hundreds of times before you can get the ticket.

The battle for tickets in Guangdong is particularly fierce

Among the eight purchasing agents contacted by the reporter, four work in Guangzhou or the province. Through the Internet, they do business nationwide. Li Wei also set up a professional purchasing agent Q group. After joining the group, the reporter found that half of the 160 members were purchasing agents and half were buyers. From December 18 to 20, a netizen kept asking for a high price in the group for the high-speed rail from Shenzhen North to Hengyang East on February 16, but a purchasing agent directly responded: "We don't want to accept purchasing agents from Guangdong."

Why is this so? Li Wei cited his own experience as an example: On December 15, he received five orders from buyers who were going back to Zhengzhou, Henan from Guangzhou to celebrate the Chinese New Year. The buyers have more time to go home, as long as they buy ordinary train tickets before February 12 next year (including that day). "But tickets from Guangzhou to Zhengzhou have always been in high demand," Li Wei recalled. After Guangzhou Railway Station and Guangzhou Railway Station released tickets at 11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., they tried to grab tickets but failed. At 1 p.m., they moved to Guangzhou South Station and still had difficulty getting tickets. It wasn't until 7 a.m. the next day that they discovered that there were refunds for February 10, but there were not enough tickets for five people, so they had to continue to swipe for other dates. Zou Mei and Li Wei concluded: At present, compared with going north, Guangzhou has released fewer "leaky" tickets, and the scramble for tickets is also more "intense," making purchasing on behalf of others more challenging.

Purchasing Service

Non-Spring Festival peak season

Hard seat 30 yuan; hard sleeper 50 yuan; soft sleeper 80 yuan;

High-speed rail first-class seat 100 yuan; second-class seat 80 yuan

Spring Festival travel rush

Tickets sold on the day are 80-100 yuan per ticket

Tickets for sale: 100-150 yuan/ticket

Purchasing Procedure

Before purchasing, the buyer first registers on the 12306 website and then gives the 12306 account and password to the purchasing agent.

Submit the passenger's name, boarding location (starting station and destination station), train number, seat (hard seat, hard sleeper, etc.) and ticket release time.

After the purchasing agent grabs the ticket on the 12306 website using the buyer's account and password, he will notify the buyer immediately.

The buyer logs on to the 12306 website and pays the ticket.

After the buyer gets the ticket, he pays the commission to the purchasing agent through Alipay or other means.

Which train ticket grabbing software is the best?

Purchasing agent: Internet speed is more important than "artifacts"

At present, the time for the sale of train tickets before the festival is coming to an end. For a time, how to choose online ticket grabbing software has become a hot topic... So now the question is, which ticket grabbing software is the best? Nandu reporters interviewed professional ticket grabbing experts and tried to answer you.

What are the most common ticket grabbing software currently?

Zou Mei (online purchasing agent): The computer software is mainly 360 and Baidu ticket grabbing plug-ins. The principle of ticket grabbing software is actually to be able to record the information of passengers and automatically repeat the login until the login is successful, replacing the slow manual operation. And by constantly refreshing and monitoring the 12306 website, once someone refunds the ticket, the ticket grabbing software can detect it relatively early. In addition, some software can directly check from inquiry to order, without filling in any information.

Li Wei (online shopping agent): 3 computer software, Sogou high-speed browser, Cheetah safe browser and 360 safe browser. The most familiar software is 360 ticket grabbing software, which recently claimed that the software can check the first ticket sale and remaining tickets every 0.1 seconds.

Are these softwares currently circulating on the Internet useful?

Zou Mei: I think it's average. But it's definitely better than going to the 12306 website to buy tickets. For example, Sogou browser users can register multiple accounts and log in to buy tickets at the same time, and support cloud offline ticket purchase, but currently only supports pre-sale tickets for the next 20 days.

Zheng Wen (owner of a ticket agency): To be honest, the free software on the Internet will be more effective in grabbing tickets during the non-Spring Festival peak travel period, but during the Spring Festival travel period, the paid software will be more effective.

Which paid software is better?

Deng Jun (online purchasing agent): I really can’t tell you this. First, this is the “rice bowl” of the purchasing agent. Second, it is very easy to be banned by the Ministry of Railways. I can only say that everyone should not listen to the exaggerated words about the magic of grabbing tickets on the Internet. If there is a really useful software, I usually won’t tell you about it, otherwise how can you grab tickets in the future?

Song Hai (online purchasing agent): In fact, Internet speed is more important than any "magic tool". For example, I didn't use any special software. I just bought tickets on the official website, but the prerequisite is that the Internet speed must be fast.

Which channels can obtain uncommon ticket-grabbing software with better results?

Zou Mei: This is just my personal opinion. Ordinary people can join some train ticket groups. The software shared in these groups may be better than the common software currently. I have tried it myself. In fact, it is better than the common ticket grabbing software.

Statement: Non-compliant purchasing may be suspected of illegal operation

Regarding online purchasing, railway personnel said, "This is not compliant." There are strict regulations for selling train tickets on behalf of others: first, there must be a qualification issued by the railway station, and second, it is absolutely not allowed to charge more than 5 yuan. The current purchasing agents do not meet these two requirements.

In addition, some lawyers said that online purchasing and booking services involve clear buyers and sellers, and they do not intentionally purchase tickets or resell them at high prices. They only charge a small handling fee. However, this behavior may be suspected of illegal business operations because ticket-selling requires relevant licenses to operate.

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.