Before Department Store VIP Performance Deadline, Resale Platforms Thrive
Customers Buy Receipts of Luxury Purchases to Accumulate Points Under Their Own Names
Industry Strengthens Monitoring but Actual Detection Remains Difficult
[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] "Selling department store performance. I bought a Rolex, and cash receipts are available."
As the year-end approaches, marking the closing of VIP performance at department stores, the buying and selling of department store VIP performance has become rampant on luxury brand cafes and secondhand trading platforms, prompting the industry to pay close attention.
According to the industry on the 7th, illegal performance trading involving buying and selling receipts for high-priced items is rampant as the year-end VIP performance closing approaches. Typically, the department store industry begins closing VIP performance from this month through January of the following year.
In fact, since early this month, posts seeking and selling VIP performance for the four major department stores including Lotte Department Store and Shinsegae Department Store have been intensively posted on luxury brand cafes. Most of these involve purchasing receipts from customers who bought high-priced luxury goods and registering the performance under their own mobile phone numbers. Customers lacking performance buy receipts with cash to register performance and maintain VIP status, while VIPs with sufficient performance can earn extra income, facilitating these transactions.
Prices vary by department store, but the market price is usually around 3% of the payment amount. However, it rose to 5% approaching the year-end. Currently, receipts worth 9 to 10 million KRW are traded at around 500,000 to 550,000 KRW, and receipts worth 5 million KRW are traded at around 200,000 to 250,000 KRW.
The reason proxy purchases like this are rampant appears to be the benefits of department store VIP status. Since benefits such as department store lounges, valet parking, and various holiday gifts are diverse, customers are willing to buy receipts with money to meet the performance requirements.
Department stores including Lotte Department Store consider such transactions as fraudulent acts and have regulations to revoke qualifications if caught. They have also requested secondhand trading platforms to suspend related posts and conduct continuous monitoring by each department store, but the industry states that it is difficult to actually detect these transactions. Recently, a new purchasing method has emerged where the performance seller accompanies the buyer like an acquaintance on the day of purchasing luxury goods to register the performance proxy, avoiding detection.
An industry official said, "As luxury consumption increases and resellers grow, performance trading is naturally increasing," adding, "We are making efforts to eradicate fraudulent registration by strengthening monitoring ahead of the year-end, but in reality, there is no way to distinguish it."
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