Daigou

Daigou syndicates are often involved in illegal hoarding and stockpiling of goods in large quantities, often infuriating local customers for the shortage of goods and disruption incurred to the markets.[14][15] This has also prompted several governments to take actions against Daigou smuggling and hoarding. Starting from 2012, the New Zealand government has been regularly cracking down and sometimes outright banning unauthorized export of consumer goods through unregistered channels.[16] The Australian government has rolled out numerous rounds of policies several times and imposed multiple restrictions on Daigou purchases of baby formula, and yet many Daigou smugglers would still come up with new ways to circumvent those restrictions.[17][18]

Regular Asian customers often became subject to gratuitous suspicion and even outright discrimination due to the disruptive nature of the rampant purchases of luxury goods and other consumer goods made by Daigou hoarders and smugglers, who are mostly Asians. Asian-American sales associates at Macy's Herald Square sued Macy's for racial discrimination in September 2017, alleging that store managers instructed sales associates not to sell more than one unit to any single Asian customer, and that they were fired when they spoke up about the alleged discrimination.[19]

Some Daigou service providers fraudulently sell counterfeit products that have been altered to appear purchased abroad from legitimate sources.[20]

The illicit Daigou business has been thriving for some time in Australia and New Zealand, but recently both the Australian and the Chinese governments have started cracking down on this form of smuggling. In early 2019, six of these so-called "Daigou" were arrested in Australia over a baby formula smuggling ring.[2] In early 2017, 23 so-called "Daigou" were arrested for involvement in a smuggling ring in the US.[10] In late 2017, Melbourne police cracked down on a syndicate of "Daigou" smugglers and arrested seven suspected smugglers after a months-long investigation.[4] In 2012, a former flight attendant and professional Daigou smuggler was sentenced by a Chinese court to 11 years in prison convicted of cross-border smuggling, domestic smuggling of overseas goods through unregistered channels, defrauding the customs authorities, willful violation of Customs laws, and evading more than 1,000,000 RMB worth of taxes.[13]

On January 1, 2019, China officially rolled out a new e-commerce law, the first of its kind to directly regulate Daigou activities. Under the new law, all Daigou participants will be legally required to register as e-commerce operators and acquire licenses in both China and the country where they shop, making their business subject to taxation in both China and the region where they purchased goods. Any e-commerce platform and seller could be fined 2 million yuan and 500,000 yuan respectively, and possibly face criminal charges, if they are found guilty of smuggling, tax evasion and willful violation of the new e-commerce law.[21]

Daigou sales across sectors total $15 billion annually.[22] In 2014 the value of the daigou business just in luxury goods increased from CN¥55 billion to CN¥75 billion yuan (US$8.8 billion to $12 billion).[11]

A 2015 survey of Chinese online luxury shoppers found that 35% have used daigou to purchase luxury goods online, while only 7% used the website of the brand they are buying, or think they are buying.[23] Approximately 80% of Chinese luxury purchases are made abroad.[24]

Daigou purchases are often made in luxury brand boutiques in major fashion cities like Paris, London, New York City, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul. Some daigou operators use Weibo and WeChat to communicate with their clients.[25] The large demand for daigou service is due to perceived high import tariffs on luxury goods[25] and concern over unsafe products, especially food safety problems,[26]

In June 2019 naval personnel from a Chinese warship berthed in Sydney Harbour, Australia were photographed unloading boxes of baby formula and other products from a large van to carry onto the ship.[27]

• Tax evasion
• Tax avoidance
• Smuggling
• Pengci
• Crime syndicates
• Gireogi appa

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• JINGDAILY: daigou