Flipping Chinese water purifier game into “European technology Vietnamese goods”

At a water purifier distribution facility in Ha Dong district, the shop owner instructed how to paste counterfeit stamps made in USA on Chinese RO filters, to deceive consumers. Clip: TK.

Reveal the origin of the product

The market of water purifiers in Vietnam is now very exciting, besides familiar names, some new brands such as Safia, Ecosoft, I.Galaxy … with the words “winged” introduce “number. 1 World, European technology “fascinating

In order to get a close-up look at the origins of the water purifiers with very new names, but being sold for a high price, we found some agents based in Hanoi.

The first address is a general agent based on Quang Trung street (Ha Dong district). At a 4-storey house with a floor area of ​​about 80m2, many water purifiers are packed waiting to be sold.

Through conversation, after knowing that we had a need to open a product distribution agent, the owner named Trung (SN 1985) excitedly introduced: “There are many famous brands here, reaching European standards. Most notably, Wasy pro water purifier comes in Vietnam, has an assembly capacity of 5,000 units / year at a factory in Dong Anh district. In which, 80% is produced in Vietnam, own circuits and pumps account for about 10% from China, the rest of the filters are imported from the US ”.

The introducer, the most advanced type is worth more than 9 million VND, just filtering water and heating. If you act as a distribution agent, you will be entitled to 50% commission of the product price, enter 10 donations of 1 machine and take delivery car. The products have been tested by General Department of Standards, Metrology and Quality to ensure the quality of filtered water.

RO membrane filters were introduced to the USA and Japan, but were manually stamped at the facility in Ha Dong. Image TK

After excitedly introducing, this person brought out a membrane of water stamped USA (USA), stored in nylon bags to prove more about product quality. But right away, like our observation, a woman is sitting pasting “American” stamps on other water filters, just like the product we just saw.

We continue to question more about the proof that 80% of water purifier components are manufactured in Vietnam, the boss cleverly replied, “Due to the factory, competitors and new contacts. each other, so it is impossible to show it ”.

Taking the excuse of needing more time to think, we would like to withdraw and make an appointment to discuss more specifically after a few days.

Sophisticated tricks

Just four days later, PV returned to this facility. Here, when there was a little more confidence, Mr. Trung began to share the “secret” tricks in the profession.

The owner of the water distribution facility instructs how to stamp made in USA on RO water filter in China. Image TK

Specifically, water filter cores are imported in large quantities from China, stored in containers and transported to Vietnam by sea. Each carton has about 60 filter cores, packed with China (Made in China) packaging. However, when importing to general agents, they often peel off Made in China stamps, replaced by branded stamps and originated from USA (Made in USA).

Stamps originated from USA are pasted inside a Chinese water purifier, to create more quality reputation with consumers. Image TK

The owner also shared, fake stamps of USA origin are fully reflective, when pasted into the product, peeled off will be “broken” like genuine genuine stamps. If buying in bulk will cost 60,000 VND / unit, plus 5,000 VND / stamp and USA printed nylon bag. After changing stamps, sell to consumers from VND 300-500,000 / unit.

Although introduced as a water filter imported from the US, with genuine warranty stamps, these stamps are now manually hand-glued. Photo: TK

Continuing to investigate another general agent, Reporter Lao Dong Newspaper was present at an address introduced “specialized distributor of the world’s No. 1 water purifier, cooperating with leading US corporations” with Goodlive brand.

Located on My Dinh Street, representative office and display of Goodlive products only about 30m2. Starting the story by wanting to open a distribution agent for water purifiers, PV was told by the director: “My side machine purifies 99% of domestic bacteria, meets US standards, origin in Vietnam. This item is selling well, which agent is the best thing to import. ”

Although it is said to be Vietnamese, the director said that the main filter is imported from the United States, the internal cooling fan of China, and the shell produced in Taiwan (China). The main product of the company is the versatile version 3.1 which costs nearly 7 million VND, if being a distribution agent will receive 45% commission.

When we raised the issue of going to the factory to visit, the director said: “The product was assembled in Dong Anh district a long time ago, due to security issues, customers could not see it.”

Continue to ask more questions about how to prove this is a product of Vietnam origin, the director quickly affirmed, with 10-year experience in trading this item, never heard of sanctioning or being authorities check the origin of components inside the machine. Most importantly, according to this person, there was a purchase invoice showing the origin of the goods.

Before leaving, the PV was told by the man the secret: “When I import goods, I will give you an invoice about 10 pieces, and the goods will be imported normally. If anyone checks, I give the bill and say, this is still an unsold inventory. ”

Thus, on some brands of water purifiers, the main components being copied are very sophisticated, making it difficult for consumers to identify. When launched, low-quality products have been “transformed” into USA or Vietnam origin at a high price.