Open the shopping page and the message "Support 0 yuan ordering" appears. Enter the payment page and select "Buy first, pay later" to purchase goods for 0 yuan. After confirming receipt, pay for the goods... In recent years, this new consumption model called "Buy first, pay later" has rapidly emerged, initially appearing in e-commerce shopping scenarios and now extending to hundreds of convenient scenarios. With the popularization of convenient payment and postpaid habits, the number of users and transaction frequency of "buy first, pay later" in China have grown rapidly. According to international market research companies, the size of China's "buy first, pay later" loan market is expected to reach nearly one trillion yuan by 2025. What impact does' buy before pay 'have on consumer behavior? What are the risks behind convenience? The reporter conducted an investigation into this matter. Effectively enhancing consumer willingness and achieving a win-win situation for platforms, users, and merchants. From food priced at tens of yuan, to skincare products priced at hundreds of yuan, to clothing priced at thousands of yuan, online shopping expert Zhang Lin swiped her shopping list on her phone and said, "These are all the results of 'buy first, pay later'." Zhang Lin felt that she had become "bold" in her actions - she tried buying three different sizes of the same clothes; Hesitation about the lipstick color, we have already placed an order and will see the actual product before making a decision. I bought it first and tried it out. Anyway, you don't need to pay yet. If you return it, you don't need to pay for the whole process, and it also reduces refund disputes with the merchant. "Zhang Lin said that this feature actually fills the gap between online consumption and physical consumption that cannot be tried for free. The "buy first, pay later" policy is also popular among many merchants. It's good news for quality merchants like us. After implementing the 'buy first, pay later' function, the sales of our products have increased by more than 30%, "the person in charge of a pants e-commerce enterprise in Shenzhen, Guangdong, told reporters on Xiaohongshu. Although the return rate has increased, the retention of products has also increased." Some customers originally thought they would buy one item, but with this service, they ordered several items at once and tried them out well, and then kept them all, "said the owner of a skincare e-commerce store on Taobao." Our live streaming room has a long pre-sale cycle, and with this function, we don't need to occupy consumer funds for a long time, which has promoted a significant increase in last year's order volume Up to now, major e-commerce platforms such as Pinduoduo, Taobao Tmall, Xiaohongshu, Tiktok, and Dewu have all been connected to the "buy before pay" function. This exotic product originated from overseas has been integrated into the life of consumers in an all-round way by combining with the development practice of Chinese e-commerce. The two most important factors in e-commerce consumption scenarios are consumption ability and consumption willingness. Unlike foreign countries, which mainly focus on enhancing consumption ability, the core function of 'buy first, pay later' gradually evolved into enhancing consumption willingness after entering the domestic market around 2018. ”The person in charge of the "buy first, pay later" business on a domestic e-commerce platform introduced that at that time, there were already mature consumer finance products in China to solve the problem of insufficient consumption ability. Therefore, "buy first, pay later" was initially somewhat "out of place", but later transformed in a timely manner and developed into the main tool to solve the problem of insufficient consumption willingness. For example, consumers were afraid to place orders rashly due to uncertainty about the quality of goods or whether they met their own needs. "Buy first, pay later" effectively reduced the decision-making threshold for consumption and the cost of trust in merchants. In addition to deepening the cultivation of e-commerce consumption scenarios, the localization of "buy first, pay later" has been accelerated, with a continuous stream of applications such as "use first, pay later", "eat first, pay later", "borrow first, pay later", and "send first, pay later". The application scenarios have been expanded to various aspects of daily life services such as food delivery, shared bicycles, shared power banks, and express delivery. To increase user activity on the platform, bring more purchasing intentions to merchants, make consumer consumption and payment more convenient, and achieve a win-win situation through the "buy first, pay later" policy. Of course, the "buy before pay" service has a certain usage threshold and is not open to all merchants and consumers. According to Hui Xiaoren, the online business manager of WeChat Pay, taking the "buy first, pay later" service through WeChat Pay as an example, for users, the open standards are based on WeChat Pay scores. When the user's WeChat Pay score reaches a certain point (usually above 550 points), and meets the conditions of complete identity verification information and stable payment behavior, they can choose to use the service among merchants that support it. For merchants, the platform will conduct multiple rounds of evaluations on their business qualifications, return and exchange service capabilities, complaint rates, etc. to ensure consumer experience. 'Buy before pay' has played a role in promoting consumption, and the number of active users and transaction scale of this service will increase significantly in 2025 compared to 2024, "said Hui Xiaoren. The "buy first, pay later" policy requires careful consideration, and the accumulated risks should not be underestimated. After experiencing the "buy first, pay later" policy for a year at the beginning of the year, Xiaoliuguo suddenly closed this service: "It's a bit like a credit card, but there is no clear bill. At the end of the year, I realized that I had spent so much, which was a shock." Xiaoliuguo's experience is not uncommon. Although the "buy first, pay later" policy brings about a slippery "no feeling" consumption, it may also lead to the trouble of "no feeling" debt, and some users unknowingly accumulate consumption that exceeds their own affordability. Many people are concerned that if they cannot complete the "post payment", they may have to pay additional fees or even affect their personal credit? After investigation by reporters, it was found that the operating mode behind the "buy first, pay later" policy varies, mainly divided into two categories: credit sales services and consumer credit. The impact of default depends on the situation. Because the domestic "buy first and pay later" is more aimed at improving consumption willingness, the first type of models are in the majority, including the "buy first and pay later" service based on WeChat credit score and Alipay sesame credit score. Unlike financial services such as consumer loans and credit cards, this type of model essentially involves the platform providing credit sales services as collateral, without involving borrowing or lending. The platform calculates users' credit scores through big data generated from transactions and other behaviors, and uses risk control models and technical support to identify consumers and merchants who meet the "buy first, pay later" criteria. The flow of funds mainly occurs between these two, without going through financial institutions. "This kind of model is more of an Internet life service, which aims to reduce the transaction friction between merchants and users. If consumers fail to pay in time, there will be no overdue charges in the short term, nor will it be linked to the personal credit information system of the Central Bank. ”Hui Xiaoren stated that the system will remind users to pay and fulfill their obligations through WeChat messages, and will continue to attempt deductions at a certain frequency. If the user fails to fulfill the contract for a long time, their WeChat Pay score may decrease, which will subsequently affect the use of services such as deposit free and 'buy before pay'. The second type belongs to consumer loans, which can simultaneously enhance consumer ability and willingness. The platform provides scenario based consumer loans to consumers by relying on its licensed online small loan companies or collaborating with financial institutions. If the user breaches the contract, it will incur overdue fees, affect personal credit, and may even face legal litigation risks for long-term non repayment. Although 'buy first, pay later' is convenient, it is fundamental to act within one's means. ”Huang Xingchao, a partner at Beijing Anjie Shize Law Firm, believes that "contactless" payments are more likely to encourage consumers to consume irrationally, increase personal debt and credit risks, and at the same time, some platform behaviors objectively contribute to these risks. For example, some platforms default to enabling "buy now pay later" for eligible users, and consumers are authorized to use related services without their knowledge; Some people set "buy first, pay later" as the default or priority option, which increases the possibility of misoperation; Some service agreements are obscure and difficult to understand, with unclear definition of default risks, which are easily misunderstood and ignored by consumers; One click activation is easy, but closing the service cannot find the entrance... From a more macro perspective, "buy first, pay later" may also accumulate and form certain financial risks. Chen Wen, a researcher at the School of Economics and Management of Inner Mongolia University, analyzed that some platforms pursue "extreme convenience" and rapid commercial transformation, and evade regulatory requirements for consumer finance in terms of interest rate disclosure, user suitability management, data reporting, and other aspects by using "payment tools" and other appearances, which belong to the consumer loan model. The combination of "buy first, pay later" and a large number of consumer scenarios is accelerating its expansion, and the hidden financial risks cannot be ignored. Under the joint loan model, the risks of these underlying assets may penetrate into the broader financial system through cooperative banks, especially small and medium-sized banks with weaker risk resistance capabilities. Always putting consumers at the core and keeping risks in the regulatory "cage" of "buy first, pay later" is gradually improving in the process of growth. The Implementation Regulations of the Consumer Rights Protection Law, which will come into effect on July 1, 2024, and the recently released Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Online Trading Platform Rules, have refined the obligations of platform enterprises in online transactions, consumer rights protection, and other aspects. This has strong guiding significance for platforms to legally and compliantly provide "buy before pay" services. Relevant industry associations actively issue self-discipline initiatives and reminders. For example, the Shanghai Consumer Protection Commission proposed that the platform should allow consumers to choose whether to activate the "buy before pay" policy. The platform should inform consumers of their rights and obligations in detail through service agreements, and fully explain the advantages of the "buy before pay" policy, as well as the consequences of overdue payments and related risks. The platform continuously improves its services based on user feedback. We will work with merchants to strengthen prompts in the 'buy first, pay later' interface, including order time, expected deduction amount, expected delivery time information, and other prompt information. At the same time, we will encourage merchants to avoid behaviors such as induced consumption and activation, and protect consumers' independent choice rights, "said Hui Xiaoren. To promote the further standardized and healthy development of "buy first, pay later" and block "risk points", multiple parties need to work together. Experts suggest that a comprehensive governance system covering regulatory authorities, e-commerce platforms, and industry institutions should be gradually established. Strengthen the main responsibility of the platform and build a strong risk control defense line. Fan Yunpeng, an associate researcher at the Institute of Finance of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, stated that when providing "buy first, pay later" services, platforms should clearly indicate if financial services are involved, avoid packaging credit arrangements as simple payment tools or promotional methods, let consumers clearly know the total payment cost and maturity time, and give clear consent at the confirmation stage to prevent irrational liabilities due to insufficient information. Regulatory authorities strengthen compliance management and increase law enforcement efforts. Chen Wen suggested that "buy first, pay later" should be included in a unified credit management framework, with a reasonable total limit and monthly cumulative upper limit. For users with repayment risk characteristics, the system should automatically trigger strengthened audits or take restrictive measures to avoid accumulating low-quality credit risks in the process of expanding consumption scenarios. Huang Xingchao believes that financial regulatory authorities and market regulatory authorities should develop more targeted rules and guidelines for related new payment and credit services, unify authorization processes, information disclosure standards, and responsibility allocation. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen law enforcement inspections on behaviors such as induced opening and opaque automatic lending, and implement normalized supervision based on complaint data and transaction monitoring. The core of the 'buy before pay' service is always the consumer, and convenience is based on safety. No matter how powerful the technology and business model are, they cannot replace consumers in thinking and making decisions. ”Chen Wen stated that only through strict supervision, solid risk control, and sufficient consumer protection measures can "buy before pay" truly become a "lubricant" for promoting consumption, rather than a "booster" for inducing risks and social problems. (New Society)