Ma Kejia The "New Year gifts" frequently sent and received are now returning to the market through a special channel, forming a "grey industrial chain" of acquisition, distribution, and resale. This chain has even "upgraded" to e-commerce, with online and offline synergy, making the business quite prosperous. How much money do Chinese people spend on gifts each year? There are no authoritative statistics, as this is a cross-industry, complex, and relatively hidden market. It includes various festival gifts such as tobacco, alcohol, shopping vouchers, precious tonics, digital electronic products, etc. The China Gift Industry Research Institute used data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the Ministry of Commerce, and industry reports to conduct individual and group classification statistics in the gift industry. The resulting data shows that the annual gift demand for individuals in China is 505.5 billion yuan, while the annual gift demand for groups is 262.9 billion yuan, adding up to an annual domestic gift market demand of around 768.4 billion yuan. The gift recycling market has also gradually formed a complete industrial chain as the gift industry's pie continues to grow. Gift Card Industrial Chain A front desk staff member of a Beijing-based internet company, Sun Meng (pseudonym), recently made a small deal: selling the shopping cards given to employees as pre-holiday welfare at a 95% discount to card buyers. Sun Meng told the *First Financial Daily* (Weibo): "Now there are many companies buying all kinds of shopping cards, and the more cards sold at once, the higher price the buyer will offer." The reporter contacted Mr. Zhang, the card buyer, via the phone number provided by Sun Meng. Mr. Zhang told the reporter that the consumption cards he buys mainly include four types: one is Sinopec and PetroChina fuel cards; the second type is Shangtong cards that can be used for consumption in various malls and restaurants; the third type is shopping cards provided by individual supermarkets or brands, such as Walmart and Carrefour shopping cards; the fourth type is online mall shopping cards, such as Dangdang (Weibo) and Amazon (Weibo) website shopping cards. Different shopping cards have different purchase prices ranging from 40% to 95% of their face value. For example, Haagen-Dazs pickup coupons are bought at 50% of their face value, while Sinopec fuel cards can be purchased at 96% of their face value. Subsequently, the reporter searched online and found that there are a large number of websites specializing in gift card recovery, with fierce competition. On a website named "Xiaoming Shopping Card Recovery," shopping cards are categorized by purpose and type. On this website, each card has a detailed recovery number, indicating a significant volume of transactions. In terms of reselling shopping cards, Taobao and scalpers both hold a place. In a certain Taobao store, a 500-yuan Carrefour shopping card was sold 138 times within the last month. In malls, scalpers' sales methods are also quite clever. Outside a certain mall on the outer ring of Beijing's northern third ring road, there were many scalpers asking consumers if they wanted to buy or sell the shopping cards in their hands. Some scalpers can buy at a 50% discount and sell at a 95% discount. A few scalpers even wait near the checkout counters [Yongkang Website Construction http://yongkang.tuoqing.com]. As soon as a consumer goes to check out, the scalper offers their unused shopping card, hoping the consumer will help. If the consumer agrees to use the scalper's shopping card, the consumer can get a 95% discount. Some scalpers even directly contact the mall to recover the shopping cards, earning a profit from the difference. Gift Recovery Conceals Filth Of course, gift cards are just one of the many gifts during the Spring Festival, and the range of recovered gifts is even more extensive [Suzhou Google Optimization http://suzhou.tuoqing.com]. Outside a small shop on Youth Road in Chaoyang District, Beijing, the glass door has a sign that reads "Recycling high-end cigarettes and alcohol." The shop owner told the reporter that the scope of recovery includes Lafite, Louis XIII, Maotai, Wuliangye, and Zhonghua cigarettes, among other high-end cigarettes and alcohol. In many online stores, the range of recovered gifts is even broader [Zhoushan Internet Company http://zhoushan.tuoqing.com], including Cordyceps sinensis, bird's nest, sea cucumber, Apple series products, Brainwhite Gold, jade and emerald, gold products, etc. The shop owner even promises confidentiality and will not disclose the identity of the seller. In fact, the buyers clearly know that those who can receive high-end gifts are mostly people with high positions and power. An unnamed person in charge of a Beijing-based company told the reporter that every year, especially during the "year-end" period, it is necessary to bribe up and down, particularly in public security, procuratorate, and court departments, with annual gift-giving expenses exceeding 1 million yuan. Regarding these issues [Yongkang Internet Company http://yongkang.tuoqing.com], relevant national departments have never stopped efforts to ban "shopping vouchers" and "shopping cards." As early as 1991, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Notice on Prohibiting the Issuance and Use of Various Substitute Shopping Vouchers." In 1993, 1998, and 2001, relevant regulatory authorities issued rectification notices, but the effects were not ideal. By the time the real-name system for shopping cards was introduced, the regulation of shopping cards had been ongoing for 20 years. Moreover, recovered gifts cannot be sold arbitrarily. For example, tobacco and alcohol: According to the provisions of the *Regulations Implementing the Tobacco Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China*, enterprises or individuals with tobacco monopoly retail rights should purchase goods from local tobacco monopoly wholesale enterprises and accept supervision and management from the issuing authority of the tobacco monopoly license. Enterprises or individuals with tobacco monopoly retail licenses who fail to purchase goods from local tobacco monopoly wholesale enterprises will have their illegal gains confiscated by the tobacco monopoly administrative department and may be fined between 5% and 10% of the total purchase amount. Share to: > Related Reports: Gift Recovery Goes E-commerce Grey Industry Urgently Needs Regulation Gift Recovery Upgrades to "E-commerce" Low Cost Becomes Catalyst for Online Gift Transactions Post-Festival Gift Recovery Business Booms Cameras and Computers Also Listed Weibo Recommendation | Sina Technology Official Weibo