‘Net bargaining’ service booms amid China’s fast-growing online-shopping industry

NEW DELHI - What most people hate while shopping is the bargaining part, but now even that will be a thing of the past as more and more “net bargainers” are coming up in China.

The middlemen or “net bargainers” will only take a cut of the discount they get you as they bargain on your behalf for lower prices with e-retailers, Xinhua reported.

Their service is booming amid China’s fast-growing online-shopping industry, and a search for “net bargainer” on taobao.com, which is the country’s largest online shopping website, gives 2,186 search results.

“I thought 120 yuan would be a fair price for a pair of shoes priced 150 yuan at an online store,” Wang Huan, a 25-year-old white-collar worker in Hefei City in east China’s Anhui Province, said.

“But a net bargainer took half an hour to get me the shoes for 100 yuan,” Huan stated.

After the deal, she paid the bargaining fee, 20 percent of the 50-yuan price gap, which she thought was “absolutely worth it”.

In total, she paid 110 yuan, 100 yuan for the shoes and 10-yuan as bargaining fee.

Wu Chen, a university student in east China’s Nanjing City, said she was a “net bargainer” during her summer vacation, earning her 3,000 yuan per month.

Wang Yu, a white-collar in Beijing, said it takes time and energy to compare prices on the Internet. That is why people are willing to pay for the bargaining service.

Zhang Zhongjie, an owner of a “net bargaining” business, said he was self-employed with the business after he graduated from college in 2008.

Guo Wenlong, a businessman-turned “net bargainer”, said he is good at his job because he has direct contact with producers.

The 30-year-old had business experience selling sanitary products. He now offers a bargaining service for those buying building materials via taobao.com.

He started his bargaining service last October. He now earns more than 10,000 yuan per month on average.

Wang Kaiyu, a sociologist in Anhui, said the new career has created a lot of job opportunities for unemployed college graduates.

But it is also important for “net bargainers” to be aware there is not yet any regulation of the profession.

“It is a legal vacuum. The rights of both bargainers and customers are unclear and unprotected,” the expert warned. (ANI)