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Earlier this month, Chinese authorities raided Pandabuy’s offices in Changzhou and several warehouses and seized goods. The company faces accusations that it massively distributes counterfeit goods, Bloomberg reported.
Pandabuy describes itself as a “purchasing agent”, the company acts as an intermediary that provides a sales platform and services, which is also confirmed by Veronika Blablová, analyst of the Association for International Issues.
“Czech customers most often know Temu and Shein. With its business model, Pandabuy is closer to Temu, as it also functions as an intermediary between product manufacturers and end customers, and therefore takes care of the sale of products via the website, their promotion and transport,” answered SZ Byznys Blablová’s question. “In addition, the online store also determines the prices of the products, which can mean very sad conditions for individual manufacturers.”
Blablová thinks that every platform, from Temu to Shein, deals with different allegations, whether it’s human and labor rights violations or environmental impacts. “In the case of Pandabuy, it is mainly a violation of intellectual property and the production of fakes from various global brands,” adds the analyst.
She said that these platforms can also be a threat to the privacy of users’ data. “Analysis indicates that both Shein and Temu have hidden spyware in their applications that allows them to collect information about users,” he adds. The competitor Temu, which is also dealt with by the National Office for Cyber and Information Security, is also having difficulties.
Rights holders involved in the Pandabuy investigation include Nike, Adidas and Supreme, sources told Bloomberg. Also noteworthy is the huge increase in popularity of Pandabuy, which results from the Google Trends application.
“Their aggressive marketing has helped increase demand among young Britons for luxury products,” Alastair Gray, director of the International Trademark Association, told Bloomberg.
According to Gray, Pandabuy supports “panda haul” videos along with providing discount codes distributed by influencers. The term “panda haul” refers to bragging about catches bought through Pandabuy.
@frickinalexnguyen I finally caved in with a 6kg Pandabuy haul. It was only right I had to cop something for the one time with all this hype.
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