Fans have taken celebrity peripherals to a new level - the "small card" collection has formed a scale among them. The reporter learned that a thin three-inch card with a celebrity photo printed on it can be sold on a trading platform for tens to hundreds of yuan, and rare cards can even be sold for thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan. Behind the popularity of fans is the frequent chaos in the issuance of small cards and second-hand transactions. (Beijing Youth Daily, April 14)
The so-called "celebrity photo card" is one of the most popular peripheral products among fans at the moment. Most of them are gifts from artist albums or peripheral products sold by artist management companies and fan clubs. Unlike various animation and game cards circulating on the market, these small cards cannot be purchased directly and mainly rely on second-hand trading platforms for circulation. Due to the different popularity of the artist, the price at which a small card is sold varies greatly. A huge fan base and a wide variety of photo card styles have spawned a card circle for buying and selling photo cards.
According to reports, in the process of fans’ enthusiastic collection of “celebrity cards”, they are often prone to buying fake cards and sellers running away from orders. Due to huge profits and lack of relevant restrictions, "fraud" incidents involving small cards have occurred from time to time on trading platforms by some merchants and individuals. Cases of card collectors "losing money and cards" are even more common in the card circle. For example, some fans buy a large number of albums in a group in order to get a certain photo card from a certain artist. There are often hundreds of people in a group buying group, and the number of albums purchased is large. However, such groups usually have to pay for the goods in advance. When a "leader" runs away, the amount involved usually amounts to tens of thousands of yuan.
What we need to be particularly vigilant about is that there are many underage fans in the card circle. Due to their immature minds, lack of consumer rationality and social experience, they are more likely to be deceived in the process of collecting "celebrity cards". There have been cases before where minors in our country were defrauded of millions of dollars by "purchasing agents" through overseas purchasing of "celebrity cards". According to media disclosures, the defendant claimed through Twitter and other channels that he could purchase and sell rare cards from a girl group, but after receiving money, he refused to deliver the goods and sold the cards and disappeared, which is suspected of fraud. After dozens of victims reported the crime, the total amount of fraud amounted to approximately 5.28 million yuan, of which nearly half of the victims were teenagers.
Some social workers said that the essence of the fan economy is based on capital profit. The photocard itself and the photocard collectors are neither scourges nor need to be demonized. They are a kind of emotional sustenance for young people. The fan economy has developed to this day, and links such as brokerage companies, celebrities, related practitioners, and fans have formed a chain. Capital needs returns. As a link in this industry chain, what fans like is what capital wants to chase. Obviously, we cannot make the "star photo card" disappear, nor can we stop fans from pursuing it, but we must not allow the photo card market to become chaotic.
my country’s Consumer Rights Protection Law stipulates that when purchasing goods or receiving services, consumers have the right to obtain fair transaction conditions such as quality assurance, reasonable prices, and correct measurement, and have the right to refuse forced transactions by operators; the Price Law stipulates that business operators Investors’ pricing should follow the principles of fairness, legality and good faith. The process of collecting small cards is similar to drawing blind boxes. At the government supervision level, it is necessary to learn from the "Guidelines for the Standardization of Blind Box Operations (Trial)" issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation in June 2023, improve the small card market mechanism as soon as possible, and issue regulatory details , put a tight spell on the wildly running "Celebrity Card".
For small card issuers and trading platforms, key information such as the issuance volume, winning rate, extraction rules, and transaction prices of small cards should be disclosed in a conspicuous manner to ensure that card collectors know the true situation before purchasing and protect small cards. The market operates in a regulated manner. In particular, effective measures must be taken to prevent irrational consumption by minors, such as setting transaction thresholds for minors and imposing restrictions on minors' individual and single consumption behaviors. Relevant departments should strengthen the supervision of small card issuance and trading platforms, strictly investigate and deal with illegal and criminal activities such as selling counterfeit goods, running away, and committing fraud. At the same time, they should open channels for complaints and reports to effectively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
text/Fu Biao
editor/Ji Yuan
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