Shopping traps that must be avoided on Double Eleven

Another "Double Eleven" is coming. Many consumers say that they find it difficult to control themselves under the temptation of low prices on "Double Eleven". Many consumers also find themselves deceived after participating in several large-scale "promotional" activities of e-commerce.

Before the rise of e-commerce, physical stores were keen on discounts to attract consumers. E-commerce moved promotional activities to the Internet to facilitate consumers, but they also copied the "scams" used in physical stores. When consumers fall into these traps, they will not be able to enjoy the benefits of promotions.

Today, we have listed a few traps that you must beware of during the "Double Eleven" shopping season, to give a shot of prevention to those who like online shopping or are about to try it.

1. Commodity prices “rise first, then fall”

In the early stage of 11.11, the price is raised, and then consumers are lured to buy through discounts, promotions, coupons and other activities. This is the most commonly used method for e-commerce promotion. In fact, this method has been widely used in previous physical store promotions. After packaging, it can indeed attract consumers' attention. It is no secret that this method is prevalent in various e-commerce shopping festivals. The reason is simple: simple + easy to use.

Anti-fraud tips: "There are still a few days left before 'Double Eleven'. You can save the items you want to buy and wait until Double Eleven to see if the price will drop. In addition, if conditions permit, you can go to the mall first to check it out so that you have a better idea.

2. There is a high probability that old styles of clothing products will appear

Clothing off-season promotions take advantage of consumers' indifference to the time period of clothing production to clear out stock, offering super low prices during the promotion period to attract consumers to buy, but in fact they are just clearing out their own inventory. Fortunately, this method will not cause too much loss to consumers, at most they will not save money.

Anti-fraud tips: Since it is 11.11 shopping, the purpose is to save money. If you can't save money, you might as well choose other time periods to buy. For electronic products that are sensitive to production batches and years, you must check the model before buying; if it is clothing, you can go to a physical store to see if it is a popular style before making a decision. Placing orders with a purpose can avoid this trap.

3. Merchants are popular and earn enough money, so "special price" out of stock is a rip-off.

Using ultra-low prices to lure consumers into buying, and then using the excuse of out of stock to avoid losing money, can be seen as a hype tactic of a merchant, the purpose of which is to attract consumers' attention to their own store through a "low-priced" product and attract popularity. If you negotiate with the service staff, you will often get recommendations for other products. Although this practice is a means of publicity, it has actually deceived consumers.

Anti-fraud tips: To deal with this trick, you can only try to minimize the waste of time. After choosing a product, collect several stores, compare them during promotions, and then place an order.

4. The flash sales format is unreliable

At present, the form of flash sales can indeed attract some attention, but it is extremely difficult to sell them in seconds. Some unscrupulous merchants will operate in the background after releasing the flash sale information and buy the flash sale products themselves, giving users the illusion that they are all sold out; even if the merchants honestly provide flash sale products, scalpers will use flash sale software to constantly refresh the link, causing network congestion at the same time. Therefore, flash sales look beautiful, but they are just appearances.

Anti-fraud tips: There is no perfect identification method for flash sales, only some practical experience to discuss with you. If the flash sales activity is only one or two products, then you don't need to consider it. Basically, if the merchant is sincere in the flash sales activity, he will offer a certain number of products. If the network freezes during the flash sales, don't rush to refresh the page, wait for a while and maybe a miracle will happen. Finally, you'd better have an invincible network.

5. Fake "customer service" calls and claims refunds are available

A real case of a consumer being deceived: "After successfully paying on 'Double Eleven', I received a call from a fake Taobao customer service representative, saying that there was a problem with the payment system and that a refund was needed to the buyer."

Anti-fraud tips: If you encounter this situation, open Taobao and confirm with the seller first.

6. “Express delivery” becomes “slow delivery”

When "Double Eleven" meets APEC, I'm afraid no one can do it without delay. Although express delivery companies have made preparations for 11.11, it is impossible to transport so many goods at the same time, and "slow delivery" is also helpless.

Anti-fraud tips: The most fundamental preventive measure is to avoid the peak period. As we said before, not all products will have huge discounts. After doing research, consumers can choose to avoid the peak period (preferably in advance) to avoid the peak period of express delivery. Of course, if there are really affordable items that need to be purchased during peak periods, users should remember to negotiate with customer service to choose designated couriers.

The "Double Eleven" promotion is indeed a boon for the majority of users, but I hope everyone can also adjust their mentality when shopping. If you just want to get a bargain on that day, you may fall into the trap of the merchants. In addition, during shopping festivals such as "Double Eleven", I hope that the hosting e-commerce platform can strengthen supervision and protect the rights of consumers.

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.