Illegal e-cigarettes still being sold in hidden corners? Even shipped disguised as "toothpaste"

Data shows that illegal products currently account for about 40%-50% of the domestic e-cigarette market, becoming the biggest obstacle to the industry's development.

Recently, in hidden corners of social media platforms, illegal e-cigarettes are "rising", with sellers using names like "milk tea cup", "self-operated fruit", and "cola cup" to target e-cigarette users, showing no concern for buyers' identities or ages. These unregulated products are being shipped into schools via express delivery. Offline, illegal vendors are moving non-compliant e-cigarettes out of stores to evade regulation, endangering the health of minors.

According to reports from Zhengguan News, illegal products like the "milk tea cup" and fruit-flavored pods have issues such as excessive heavy metals and the use of illegal additives, which can seriously harm the physical and mental health of users, especially minors. So, how are these unregulated e-cigarettes being sold online? And how should they be regulated?

Toy-like e-cigarettes

Entering certain social media groups like the milk tea cup group, wdg milk tea cup group, and milk tea cup collision group, one finds various advertising posts filled with phrases like "full range of flavors", "quality is proportional to price", and "genuine kills everything", accompanied by images of e-cigarettes, while the original poster directly shares their WeChat ID below these posts.

Advertisements for selling e-cigarettes

The reporter added several sellers of e-cigarettes, who would recommend products based on the buyer's smoking habits. Besides indicating "not for use by those under 18" on posters of e-cigarette types, sellers do not inquire about the buyer's age before shipping.

However, selling such e-cigarettes is illegal. The mandatory national standard for e-cigarettes officially came into effect on October 1, 2022, which stipulates that all fruit-flavored e-cigarettes must be removed from shelves, and the national unified e-cigarette trading management platform only provides tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes and devices with child locks. The "E-cigarette Management Measures" also clearly state that the sale of flavored e-cigarettes other than tobacco flavor and e-cigarettes that allow the addition of vaporizing substances is prohibited. Yet, driven by profit, some manufacturers and sellers still take risks.

Packages labeled as "toothpaste"

Two days after purchasing online, the reporter received a package containing a violent bear e-cigarette. Upon opening the package, there was only a transparent cylindrical container wrapping the e-cigarette, with no product introduction or origin information on the exterior. Some liquid was also leaking from the end of the e-cigarette. When contacted, the seller stated that currently, all e-cigarettes other than tobacco flavor are prohibited, and are secretly produced, with the production address not being labeled on the e-cigarette. Regarding the leaking liquid, the seller claimed it might have been caused by bumps during shipping, assuring that the product was fine.

E-cigarette leaking from the end

Industry insiders told Zhengguan News that "the production sites of these unregulated products are mostly small workshops, and safety cannot be guaranteed. The specific dangers depend on the additives used."

According to news from Jiangxi Wangjing's inspection and law enforcement, the production threshold for e-cigarettes is low, allowing ordinary people to mix different proportions of e-liquids and add various dangerous components. Novel flavors like fruit, candy, and mint, combined with attractive and cool packaging, have successfully attracted many impressionable youths seeking novelty.

The shipping information provided by the seller to the reporter was labeled "toothpaste". The seller claimed to have a partnership with the courier, and the package was packed by the seller themselves. When contacted, a courier worker confirmed that such phenomena do exist, with some shops using false information to bypass inspections.

"E-cigarettes are often disguised as other electronic products or included with some daily necessities, then delivered by the seller themselves or transported across cities in bulk," said an industry insider.

According to the "E-cigarette Management Measures", the transportation of e-cigarette products, vaporizing substances, and e-cigarette nicotine must be supervised by the tobacco monopoly administrative department. The delivery and cross-regional transportation of e-cigarette products, vaporizing substances, and e-cigarette nicotine are subject to quantity management, not exceeding the limits set by the relevant state authorities.

Explanation from the seller on why they can ship#p#分页标题#e#

Mixed bag: Is it a "seller" or a "scammer"?

However, it is difficult for buyers to discern whether the person behind the network is a seller or a scammer. In March, a netizen posted that they transferred 420 yuan to someone, who only sent two milk tea cups, with the shipping information also being fake. The person neither shipped the product nor refunded the money.

Industry insiders indicated that both situations of no stock and scams could exist. Some are micro-businesses without stock finding a supplier for dropshipping, leading to unstable supply; others are pure scams, where the money is transferred, the friend is deleted, and they disappear.

Zhengguan News found that several sellers of e-cigarettes had similar posts in their social media circles, but the prices for the same product varied. Industry insiders explained that these illegal products generally reference pricing from upstream suppliers and peers, with profits exceeding 50-60%; price differences may arise from different suppliers or varying order quantities, with larger orders having relative advantages. Each region has a few "leaders" supplying local micro-businesses, and promotional images in social media circles are often borrowed from each other, with some industry chat groups also existing.

Advertisements from sellers' social media circles

"To combat illegal products, all platforms should contribute and strengthen regulation. Illegal products like fruit-flavored pods and milk tea cups primarily thrive online, making evidence collection difficult," industry insiders told reporters.

Pressuring the market for compliant national standard products

Minors can easily access e-cigarettes online, and the offline situation cannot be ignored either. A middle school teacher told reporters that they had repeatedly found students purchasing e-cigarettes resembling milk tea cups, with sellers being nearby small shops.

The illegal sale of non-compliant e-cigarettes not only endangers health but also impacts legitimate businesses. Industry insiders stated, "The illegal fruit-flavored pods and milk tea cups circulating in the market are indeed attractive in terms of price and flavor, and these products will squeeze the market for compliant national standard products."

Mr. Liu, who runs several chain stores in Guiyang, told Zhengguan News that he has only sold national standard products since October 1 last year, believing that business would improve as the market for fruit flavors diminished. However, after the national crackdown in April this year, illegal fruit flavors have resurfaced.

"Currently, inspections at stores are the main method to discover the sale of fruit flavors, but many stores still selling fruit flavors do not keep the products directly in the store; they often keep them in their bags, cars, or nearby stores. It is understood that many retailers, when shipping via express delivery, do not send directly from the store but use multiple different addresses or take them to express collection points for shipping," Mr. Liu said.

Some industry insiders suggested that the limited variety of compliant national standard flavors might be the root cause of the rampant illegal fruit-flavored e-cigarettes. "If there were more national standard products, the situation of illegal products might improve. Therefore, for e-cigarette regulation, a combination of loosening and tightening measures is recommended, gradually allowing some flavors to give consumers more choices."