PDLP Chapter 118 The Double 11 Battle
Chapter 118 The Double 11 Battle
Chapter 118 The Double 11 Battle (2)
Qiao Kai immediately contacted customer service. He had assumed that at this late hour, customer service would either be resting or would reply very late, but to his surprise, they responded immediately: "Dear customer, shipping is not free to remote areas."
Qiao Kai was taken aback, then exclaimed with delight, "Huh? Free shipping?" He quickly gave his home address and asked, "Hello, is my address considered a remote area?"
Customer service quickly replied, "Dear, shipping is free here!" They then added, "Dear, because it's a large item, we've chosen Shentong Express. The courier doesn't deliver to your door, so you might need to carry the washing machine back yourself. We recommend you discuss with the courier beforehand and pay a fee for door-to-door delivery; the price is usually under 10 yuan."
Qiao Kai was astonished by the customer service's reply. It was the first time he had ever encountered such a dedicated customer service representative. Not only did they quickly resolve his question, but they also anticipated the trouble he might encounter in the future and provided a solution.
Just after Qiao Kai finished buying the washing machine and chatted with customer service for several rounds, a wail suddenly came from beside him.
"Damn it! My internet's lagging, I can't get in!" Zeng Wen yelled in frustration. "My page just crashed, it keeps crashing as soon as I try to log in, what's going on? How's it going on your end?"
My roommate, who was in charge of the online shopping spree on Youa.com, frowned and said, "I'm stuck on the payment page, it's not moving at all, it's driving me crazy!"
My roommate, who was planning to buy the complete works of Jin Yong on eBay, sighed: "The webpage is working fine on my end, but these people are typing way too fast! All the books I want are sold out! Is that all they have? Isn't this just playing games with them?"
Zeng Wen turned to Qiao Kai: "Qiao Kai, how's things going on your end? No issues, right?"
Qiao Kai smiled and nodded: "The internet speed is normal, and I even managed to snag that limited-purchase washing machine."
"Damn, you're incredibly lucky!" Several roommates immediately gathered around, all wanting to see the order Qiao Kai had snagged.
Qiao Kai happily showed them the order, her tone tinged with amusement: "I bought this with money I saved up over half a year while working. I'm planning to give my mom a surprise so she won't have to hand-wash clothes anymore."
Zeng Wen was genuinely happy for him: "Your mom will be ecstatic when she finds out!"
The other roommates chimed in, "Yeah, yeah, that's great! You can earn money to buy things for your family now, while we still have to struggle to ask our parents for living expenses. Qiao Kai, you're awesome!"
Qiao Kai knew his brothers were flattering him, and he couldn't help but feel a surge of joy. Suddenly, as if he had thought of something, he said, "Oh right, I think I just saw some really popular music phones. I'll go see if I can snag one, and while I'm at it, I'll ask how much it costs."
Qiao Kai opened the Tmall page and found that Tmall had thoughtfully integrated all the products participating in the Double Eleven discount into a single list, with the top few items being subsidized large items.
He saw the phone link at the first position of the second row of the list. When he clicked on it, he found that it was a phone from the official vivo flagship store, named i18, originally priced at 1600 yuan, but sold for only 800 yuan after the discount.
Qiao Kai had a doubt: After all, a mobile phone is a big purchase, and it's being sold so cheaply, could there be something wrong with it?
The washing machine he just bought was one he had looked into beforehand; it's called Jinling washing machine, very popular in third- and fourth-tier cities, and a well-established domestic brand, so its performance is at least guaranteed. But what brand is this 0V? He'd never even heard of it.
Qiao Kai turned to his roommates and asked, "Do you guys know about OV phones? Selling smartphones this cheap, is it a scam?"
Zeng Wen's eyes lit up, and he said, "Huh? It changed its name? It used to be called BBK, a brand under BBK. Do you know the Blue and White Porcelain phone? It's the flip phone with a Chinese style design, the one endorsed by Jay Chou."
Qiao Kai nodded repeatedly: "I know, I know! So they're from the same brand!"
"Yeah, right!" Zeng Wen urged, "Hurry up and grab it! Even if you get scammed, you can just return it. What's there to be afraid of?"
Qiao Kai had wanted his own mobile phone for a long time. He was still using a PHS phone and originally planned to switch to a Nokia-like feature phone, but recently smartphones have become very popular, and many people at school have switched to smartphones. He felt quite envious and wanted to buy one too.
Qiao Kai gritted his teeth, thinking to himself: Alibaba is such a big company, it shouldn't lie to me. Besides, he works in the e-commerce industry and knows that Tmall's deposit is particularly high, starting at 2 yuan. If he really got scammed, he would go to Alibaba to argue his case.
Having made up his mind, Qiao Kai clicked on the phone link and selected to purchase. The payment page quickly popped up, and he murmured in surprise, "Huh? They still have it in stock!"
Qiao Kai quickly entered his payment password and clicked "Confirm Purchase." The page immediately displayed "Order Payment Successful."
"I got it!" Qiao Kai stared at the screen in disbelief. He had spent a lot of time buying the washing machine and chatting with his roommates, and several tens of minutes had passed since the sale started. He couldn't believe he still managed to get one! Did they have a large stock of this phone?
Because he was still worried, Qiao Kai specifically asked the customer service of the vivo flagship store, his tone very straightforward: "Store, how many of these phones do you have in stock? How did I manage to snag one so easily? Will there be any quality issues with the phone? If there are any quality problems, can I return it?"
His roommate Zeng Wen peeked over and, seeing his question, couldn't help but retort, "Are you stupid? How could the merchants possibly tell you the truth? They wouldn't reveal secrets like how much stock they have."
Unexpectedly, the merchant replied very quickly, and actually told the truth: "Dear customer, we are an OPPO..."
This is the official flagship store for the mobile phone. The positioning of this i18 phone overlaps somewhat with the i6 Blue and White Porcelain phone. When we were developing this phone, we thought some users might not like the blue and white porcelain ceramic design, so we designed this model with a metal body. But unexpectedly, the market feedback wasn't good; the metal body was unpopular, resulting in a large number of unsold units.
The seller added, "Please rest assured, the product quality is absolutely guaranteed! If you're still concerned, you don't need to confirm receipt immediately upon arrival. You can use it for a week first. If you're not satisfied with the phone within that week, you can return it for a refund, and we'll cover the return shipping costs."
Zeng Wen stared wide-eyed in disbelief: "Hey? This merchant really dares to tell the truth! So honest!"
Just then, one of my roommates wailed, "Damn it! I still can't get into Youa.com. I'm giving up on trying to buy it; I'll try Taobao and Tmall instead!"
Zeng Wen also chimed in, "I also go to Taobao and Tmall! These websites are really trash. They're all over the place, but when it comes to the crucial moment, they all fall apart and fail miserably, unable to even hold onto a single page."
Seeing that Qiao Kai had a very successful shopping spree on Tmall, managing to snag a washing machine and a mobile phone, his roommates abandoned their original goals and instead logged onto Tmall to try and buy other items.
Qiao Kai had nothing left to buy. He leaned back in his chair, silently anticipating the surprise and joy his parents would feel when they received the washing machine.
Meanwhile, in a small town with a population of several thousand, Zhao Caihua, who runs Zhao Jie Convenience Store, was also staying up late to prepare for Singles' Day. Her preparations were meticulous: she opened four websites—Youa.com, Paipai.com, eBay.com, and Taobao.com—and had dozens of multiple accounts on each site, all waiting to snag a big bargain. If she could manage to grab limited-purchase items like washing machines, refrigerators, and air conditioners, she'd make a fortune.
Soon, it was midnight. Zhao Caihua immediately clicked to refresh the webpage, only to find that, apart from Taobao, which could be opened normally, the other three websites were stuck in a loading loop and she couldn't access the page.
Taobao was the first website I visited. A pop-up window immediately appeared with a straightforward and humorous message: "For Singles' Day, shop on Tmall!"
Zhao Caihua was amused: "These e-commerce websites are really interesting, they can type in GG language so fluently."
Despite her complaints, she immediately rushed to Tmall to start her shopping spree. After a flurry of activity, she used multiple accounts to place orders. Although she failed to snag large appliances like washing machines and refrigerators, she did manage to purchase quite a few daily necessities, such as Semir clothes, Spring Diary pearlescent stockings, and Qingfeng brand tissues.
Using dozens of different accounts, she spent a total of four to five thousand yuan to snag items worth over ten thousand yuan. These items were all ones she had already selected and added to her shopping cart, and were relatively easy to resell. With this operation, she made at least a 4000 yuan profit, and was overjoyed.
After she finished her work on Tmall, she checked the other three websites: eBay was now able to refresh normally, but Youa.com and Paipai.com were still down.
Without any hesitation, Zhao Caihua immediately rushed into eBay. She had long been eyeing eBay's book section, which had many best-selling books, such as martial arts novels by Jin Yong and Gu Long, as well as some popular online novels, intending to grab a batch and resell them.
But when Zhao Caihua selected her favorite books and clicked "Buy Together," she was so angry she laughed. All the selected items had already been sold out.
"Seriously?" Zhao Caihua couldn't help but complain, "eBay is so stingy! They can't even spare this little bit of money, and they only have this few items? What a garbage website!"