Caveat emptor: China’s ‘personal shopping services’ may get you a quality fake, not a quality brand

Personal shopping services offering to help buy designer goods at lower prices have mushroomed on popular messaging app WeChat in China, but users would do well to heed the time-honoured Latin phrase caveat emptor: let the buyer beware.

According to an article by Chinese online news portal Sina Tech, often goods sold to customers are counterfeits produced on an industrial scale in the country. The article, based on conversations with customers and suppliers, did not give details or statistics on the amount of fake goods sold through personal shopping services.

Personal shoppers, once a feature of online market places like Taobao, either list goods for purchase on WeChat online stores or post photos of the items via the app’s Moments feature, which allows users to share text, photo or video updates with their contacts.

Buyers then contact the shoppers directly to place orders and arrange payment. The shoppers charge a nominal fee, usually a percentage of the product’s cost, for their services.

Others catering to customers in China say they are students studying in Europe, the USA or Britain and can offer goods at a lower price than items sold in stores in China, which are stiffly taxed.  

In a report on counterfeit goods last year, Sina Tech said some vendors claim the items are factory extras, while others pass them off as seconds that have failed quality inspections. However, these products are high-quality replicas that customers may not be able to tell apart from the genuine article, the report said.