Once a symbol of celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival, mooncakes are now at the center of an unexpected underground economy. This season, it’s not just the cakes being exchanged, but the vouchers used to buy them.

The simple tradition of gifting mooncakes has evolved into a thriving resale market, where vouchers pass through manufacturers, dealers, consumers, and scalpers, with each party earning a profit — often without a single mooncake being bought or sold.

A traditional pastry enjoyed during the Mid-Autumn Festival, mooncakes — usually made from lotus seed paste, red bean, or other fillings — symbolize unity and family reunion. In recent years, however, instead of giving the cakes directly, many companies and individuals exchange mooncake vouchers, which can be redeemed for the pastries at specific stores or brands.

Intended to simplify gift-giving, these vouchers have now given rise to a gray market on social media and e-commerce platforms. Consumers often sell their vouchers to scalpers at 40% to 70% of their face value, who then resell them for a small profit, according to an investigative report by the Shanghai-based outlet The Paper.

Sixth Tone found that searches for “recycling mooncake vouchers” yielded dozens of results on secondary trading platforms. One account from Shanghai advertised vouchers for popular brands like Haagen-Dazs and Starbucks, promising significant discounts for bulk purchases.

A voucher originally priced at 698 yuan ($98) was being sold for as low as 320 yuan, with additional discounts if 10 or more were bought at once. The seller even offered electronic invoices, allowing buyers to claim reimbursement at the voucher’s full face value.

Another seller on a secondhand platform offered mooncake vouchers at 65% for one brand and 55% for another. When asked why one brand had a higher discount rate, the seller responded, “Because more people like it.”

The practice often leaves consumers vulnerable to inflated prices and challenges when trying to redeem them. As this underground market expands, experts are urging stronger regulation and oversight to safeguard consumer rights and promote fairer trading practices.

According to The Paper, more vouchers are often issued than cakes. Manufacturers sell vouchers at discounted prices to dealers, who then resell them at higher rates to companies and other buyers. These vouchers often land in the hands of scalpers, who purchase them at lower prices and resell them for profit.

For instance, a mooncake manufacturer might issue a 100-yuan voucher and sell it to a dealer for 65 yuan. The dealer then resells it to a consumer for 80 yuan. That consumer may gift it to someone else, who sells it to a scalper for 40 yuan. The scalper, in turn, sells the voucher back to the manufacturer for 50 yuan.

In this closed loop, without a single mooncake being produced, the manufacturer makes 15 yuan, the dealer gains 15 yuan, and the scalper pockets 10 yuan.

The Paper also identified “major scalpers” in the mooncake voucher market, who stockpile vouchers worth millions of yuan, functioning much like dealers. They begin negotiating bulk orders with merchants as early as May, often securing partial refunds.

In contrast, “minor scalpers” buy vouchers from individuals and resell them according to market demand, without maintaining large inventories. This speculative trading makes it difficult for manufacturers to accurately predict supply and demand, sometimes resulting in overprinting or underprinting of vouchers.

Quoting a lawyer, The Paper reported that using vouchers instead of physical mooncakes does help reduce food waste and cuts transportation costs. In theory, it creates a profitable system for manufacturers and dealers, making resource allocation more efficient. However, in practice, consumers who buy these vouchers are often at a disadvantage when dealing with merchants, with their rights and interests difficult to fully safeguard.

The terms for mooncake vouchers are entirely set by the merchants, who include various liability exemptions to avoid their own responsibilities while placing numerous restrictions on consumers. For example, if a merchant provides mooncakes close to their expiration date, consumers often have little recourse.

Vouchers expire if not used in time, rendering them invalid. Some even require advance reservations or pickups from specific locations, adding inconvenience. If the product is out of stock, consumers may be forced to pay the difference to exchange for another item.

The underground trade of mooncake vouchers has grown so rampant that experts are calling for stronger regulation to protect consumer rights and ensure fair trading. They also propose establishing a self-regulatory body within the industry to enforce transparency and ethical practices, aiming to restore the vouchers to their original intent — celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival, not fueling a profit-driven black market.

Editor: Apurva.

(Header image: Visuals from VCG, reedited by Sixth Tone)