Be careful not to buy 'junk' on Facebook

These products often have strange elements, are made in China, break after only a short time of use, and when the customer contacts to return them, the seller "disappears".

Ms. Hoa, in District 3, shared that a few months ago, she saw an ozone sterilizer advertised on social media, with many uses, including the ability to remove most preservatives, pesticide residues and plant protection drugs in vegetables, and even growth hormone residues in food. The product also comes with a one-year warranty, a clear contact phone number, and a selling price of nearly 700,000 VND.

“Seeing that, I immediately texted to order, but the delivered product was not as beautiful as the picture and was made in China. After using it for more than a month, the device malfunctioned. At that time, I called the hotline to exchange the product but could not get in touch. Recently, there has been a lot of information saying that this product is toxic, so I no longer use it,” said Ms. Hoa.

Also buying poor quality goods, Hang, an office worker in District 7, said that recently, when she saw a pretty cute fish-shaped pencil case advertised as a Korean product, she immediately ordered it. However, when she received the product, she was shocked to find that it was a Chinese product. Because she had already transferred money to the seller, she could not return the product.

“When the delivery person arrived, the item was packed in a box so I didn’t notice. When I went on Facebook to discuss with the seller, no one responded. More than a week later, the page disappeared,” said Ms. Hang.

Fish-shaped pencil cases made in China were once widely sold online. Illustrative photo.

“These products have very low cost of goods sold. Usually, the cost of goods sold is 1/10, even 1/20. In one day, junk sellers often sell 100-200 orders for one product. To have high revenue, they sell many products at the same time,” Hanh revealed, adding that to make customers aware of the products, fanpage owners selling “junk” products often spend a lot of money on advertising on Facebook and the results are quite high.

Also quite knowledgeable about "junk goods", Thanh, the owner of a large shoe store in Ho Chi Minh City, said that the trend of selling Chinese goods is increasingly widespread on social networks. In particular, in Hanoi, people are inviting each other to trade Chinese goods. Not only that, experienced individuals in the Chinese goods trading world also open courses on buying goods directly from this market. The formula for successful sales is to grasp the trends and new, strange ideas from developed countries such as the US and Europe. Then, track down the source of counterfeit goods in China and bring them back to sell in Vietnam.

Usually, this group will have a large source in China to get the goods at the source at a cheap price and bring them back to Vietnam to sell at a high price. For example, the fish-shaped pencil case product first appeared in Korea, but Chinese businesses caught on to the trend very quickly and produced it in large quantities. The original price of this product in China is only about 10,000-20,000 VND, but when brought back to Vietnam, they sell it for 120,000-150,000 VND.

To avoid getting upset when buying “junk” products of Chinese origin, Thanh advises consumers to choose products with a brand, reputation and a clear address. They should ask the seller to let them see the goods before receiving them.

According to VNE