The new business model of ＂barbaric growth＂ of social e-commerce platform has been repeatedly questioned by pyramid schemes.

　　At present, the domestic social e-commerce models are divided into four types: group assembling model, distribution model, SAAS tool model and community model.

　　Due to the barbaric growth and unclear hierarchy, the social e-commerce platform with distribution stores has been mixed, and it has been frequently disputed and questioned by suspected pyramid schemes.

　　● The so-called social e-commerce refers to the business behavior of selling goods or services based on interpersonal networks and using Internet social tools.

　　● At present, the biggest problem exposed in the development of social e-commerce is pyramid selling, and it also involves false propaganda, especially e-commerce in webcasting. However, the laws and regulations in the field of e-commerce are still not perfect, and the e-commerce law does not stipulate the particularity of social e-commerce

　　● Consumers should pay attention to two aspects when judging whether social e-commerce belongs to pyramid schemes: first, whether the website has real commodity transactions, and the regular website is based on real commodity transactions, and rebate is only a marketing means; Second, whether the source of funds for website rebate is legal, the main source of rebate funds for regular websites is the operating income of the platform (including consumption income and advertising income), rather than relying on attracting people and paying fees.

　　Social e-commerce has been in constant turmoil recently, which has aroused social concern.

　　Recently, the E-commerce Research Center released the China E-commerce Law Report for 2018-2019, and "social e-commerce pyramid scheme" was included in the top ten e-commerce legal keywords.

　　The so-called social e-commerce, according to the definition of "2017 China Social E-commerce and Wechat business Behavior Development Report", refers to the business behavior of selling goods or services based on interpersonal networks and using Internet social tools.

　　At present, domestic social e-commerce models are divided into four categories: group mode, distribution mode, SAAS tool mode and community mode. The research from NetEconomy shows that the distribution-store-based social e-commerce platform has been frequently disputed and questioned by suspected pyramid schemes because of its barbaric growth and unclear hierarchy.

　　Nowadays, social e-commerce is more and more closely connected with people’s lives. The reporter of Legal Daily interviewed whether it was suspected of pyramid schemes.

　　Develop members to make money.

　　Claim free actual charge

　　According to the national enterprise credit information publicity system, on March 14th, Guangzhou Municipal Market Supervision Administration made a penalty decision on the illegal pyramid selling (direct selling) of Guangzhou Peanut Diary Network Technology Co., Ltd.. The contents of administrative punishment include: ordering rectification and fines, ordering a fine of 1.5 million yuan, and confiscating illegal income of 73.0658 million yuan, totaling 74.5658 million yuan.

　　It is understood that this is by far the biggest ticket for social e-commerce in China, and it is also one of the few "sky-high tickets" in the 20-year history of e-commerce in China.

　　The administrative punishment decision of Guangzhou Municipal Market Supervision Administration shows that as early as September 25, 2018, the illegal act of "Peanut Diary" suspected of pyramid schemes was investigated. It is found that during the period from July 28th, 2017 to September 25th, 2018, Peanut Diary developed a number of traffic operation companies with a large number of fans as its branches (also called operation centers) on the bait that platform operators can get a certain percentage of the commission of the products purchased by its developed members, and these branches will manage the operators, who will be responsible for developing the members and extracting the remuneration according to the levels.

　　During the above-mentioned period, the parties set up a "platform (branch) — Operators — Svip — Svip … … Svip’s hierarchical management structure adopts multi-level commission accrual system and membership upgrade fees. As of September 25, 2018, the peanut diary App platform has formed 31,530 pyramid structures with operators as the spires, with a total of 21,534,555 members, of which 21,496,085 members have reached the third level and above, accounting for 99.82% of the total members, and the chain with the most levels has grown to 51 floors. Members spread all over the country, and the amount of commission received reached 456,744,401.69 yuan.

　　Chen Min (pseudonym) used to be a user of Peanut Diary, but now she has moved to another social e-commerce platform and become a VIP user.

　　When asked whether VIP members charge, Chen Min told reporters that "68 yuan is only charged every month, and it costs more than 300 yuan to pay annually, and it will be cancelled automatically when it expires".

　　It is understood that this social e-commerce platform claims to be an independent free App shopping guide platform, which collects coupons from various e-commerce platforms and businesses. The VIP members of this platform have a high percentage of self-purchasing rebates, which is much higher than that of ordinary members, and they can get different amounts of commissions after being promoted in fission form, and the allowances of VIP members are assigned according to the split level.

　　The reporter noticed that after the peanut diary was fined, the users of the above-mentioned social e-commerce platform declared on different online platforms that this social e-commerce platform was "safe" and "no money was deducted and no money was collected".

　　Guo Jie (pseudonym) is a VIP user of another social e-commerce platform. To become a VIP user of this social e-commerce platform, he needs to pay 399 yuan, and he needs to make money by "draining" and attracting members.

　　When the reporter asked about the actual situation of promotion, Guo Jie said, "It is more difficult for ordinary people to do it. Those with strength and capital can try to do it."

　　Guo Jie also told reporters that friends around him are using this social e-commerce App after their own introduction.

　　Regarding the rationality of charging social e-commerce members, a long-term user of social e-commerce platform told reporters: "Some platforms don’t need to charge, and some need to charge. In fact, there is no charge in essence."

　　"The fees are from 68 yuan and 399 yuan. I have also seen 2,500 yuan." This long-term user said.

　　Scan invitation code to build training group

　　Teach experience and skills by special personnel.

　　In order to further understand the situation of social e-commerce development members, the reporter contacted Wang Hui (a pseudonym), a member of the social e-commerce platform described as "no charge for the whole process".

　　The reporter first tried to search this social e-commerce platform in the app store and found that there were several softwares with the same name.

　　Wang Hui told reporters: "Be sure to download the genuine version, and everything else is pirated. There are many companies and teams, and whether to make money is related to the platform. If I had entered this industry early, I would have been a rich woman. "

　　When the reporter wanted to know more about the operation of this social platform, Wang Hui provided her invitation code to the reporter and invited her to be a promotional user. Subsequently, its internal training materials were sent to reporters.

　　According to the data, this social e-commerce platform makes money through three channels: promoting products to earn commissions, promoting registration to make money, and upgrading to become a team leader. Among them, no matter how many levels the agent of the head of the delegation develops, he will receive 20% commission reward, and the commission will increase by 44% if he buys it himself.

　　There are also differences in the levels of heads of delegations. The first-level heads need to draw 100 people and the second-level heads need to draw 200 people. In addition, senior leaders need to train 10 first-level leaders and 20 second-level leaders, and have basic salary, travel abroad and other benefits. Beginners have detailed and specific template requirements, and you can also see internal information such as "Beginners must see" and "Partners must see", which provides a variety of skills for adding people and skills for many businesses to interact with each other.

　　Later, Wang Hui pulled reporters into a training group, lectured on accounting, and told his own experience and skills, covering the whole day’s operation steps and forms.

　　Wang Hui reminded reporters several times that it is early to make money, and quickly join his own team, and you can send the invitation code to more people around you.

　　Social e-commerce is true and false

　　Beware of falling into the pyramid scheme trap

　　In addition to the controversial business model of social e-commerce, there are also some lawless elements engaged in pyramid schemes under the banner of pseudo-social e-commerce platforms.

　　On March 18th, Shenzhen police issued a notice saying that they had launched a network-closing operation against the "Yunjipin" mega-network pyramid scheme criminal gang and arrested several major suspects. According to the circular, this gang set up Shenzhen Qianhai Yunjipin E-Commerce Co., Ltd. under the guise of "sharing economy" and "new sales", requiring its members to pay a certain fee to obtain the qualification to join. By setting up a multi-level membership system to form a hierarchy, the number of development personnel is used as the basis for reward and rebate, which induces others to continue to participate, defrauds property, seriously disrupts economic and social order, and is suspected of organizing and leading pyramid schemes.

　　The reporter learned that as early as the beginning of 2018, the "e-commerce consumer dispute mediation platform" received complaints from users about "TPS products", saying that the purchased goods could not be refunded after being returned.

　　According to the complaint, Ms. Tang’s mother bought a suitcase far exceeding the actual value in TPS products in January 2017. After inspection, she found that the price and quality did not match, so she contacted to return it. After returning the goods, the refund could not be put forward, and many times contact with customer service was shirked.

　　The model of this website is to develop offline participation and pay dividends to online participation. After half a year’s online "brainwashing" publicity, Ms. Tang’s mother joined the platform. After buying several things, she found that most of the goods on this website were high-priced and low-quality. After realizing that she was deceived, she contacted the return, and the other party agreed, but in the end, the other party never accepted the refund. (Reporter Du Xiao, intern of this newspaper, Yuan Xiaocun)