The Rise and Fall of a Card Recharge Platform
The Birth of the Recharge Platform
Over twenty years ago, in an era without smartphones and quick QR code payments, gamers had to buy game cards from small stores for recharges. Some astute individuals saw business opportunities in this, and Lao Jiang was one of them. He set up a recharge platform specifically for gamers. The process was simple: store owners like me only needed to open an account on his platform and deposit some money. When customers came to buy game cards, we could directly recharge for them. It was convenient for customers, and it was just a small favor for us. Everyone was happy. At that time, I thought Lao Jiang had really hit the jackpot. He used to be a small store owner like me, but now he could take this opportunity to advance his career to a new level.
Taking Over the Platform
However, about two years later, Lao Jiang came to me. He said he wanted to pursue bigger things and asked if I was interested in taking over his recharge platform. I was at a career bottleneck at that time, not knowing what to do next. After a few days of hesitation, I completed the handover with him and took over the platform. Lao Jiang's platform had game card inventory worth hundreds of thousands of yuan, and the outstanding debts from various internet cafes added up to tens of thousands of yuan. I almost emptied my savings to transfer these game cards and debts.
Challenges in Operation
Back then, many things were much more troublesome than they are now. For example, this recharge platform was not fully automatic. It required a dedicated person to monitor the back-end. Whenever an internet cafe wanted to recharge, the computer would make a "di - di - di" sound, and the dedicated person had to manually recharge. I posted a recruitment notice and hired a cute girl in just two days. I equipped her with a computer and set aside a space at the back of the store as her workspace, where she was responsible for recharging game cards every day.
Then, I had to visit internet cafes. Customers wouldn't come to us on their own. I initially thought it was just about visiting newly opened internet cafes every day and recommending our recharge platform to them. I believed that such a convenient platform would be hard for most internet cafe owners to refuse. But it turned out I was wrong. I later realized that we had to compete with other recharge platforms to win over existing internet cafes.
Competition in the Market
When I took over this so-called "Banfei Technology," I thought it was the only recharge platform in the city. I was shocked to find out there were already three. This was my oversight. I didn't ask all the necessary questions in advance. But competition is normal in business. I ran a retail store myself, and there were a row of similar computer stores upstairs. I faced competition from them every day, so I thought I could handle this competition too.
I started by visiting a newly opened internet cafe. The owner was a young man. He politely invited me to the lounge next to it and listened patiently as I explained the function of the online recharge platform. During this process, he didn't say a word, just nodded slightly. After I finished, he said, "What's the benefit? What's in it for me if I use your platform?" I was young at that time and was stunned by his question. I stammered, "Ah, wh - what, be - benefit? Our platform... it's... it provides convenience for you, right? It allows you to conveniently recharge game cards for your customers. That's the benefit!" The owner looked at me like I was a fool. After a while, he smiled and said, "Oh, okay,嗯!" Then he didn't say another word. His "Oh, okay,嗯!" still sticks in my mind today. He just sat there, not saying a word, with a half-smile on his face. I imitated his expression, and the atmosphere became extremely awkward. But it seemed like I was the only one who felt awkward. The owner didn't care at all. He just stared at me and watched me leave. When I said goodbye to him, he just "嗯"ed and didn't show any other reaction. I knew this trip was a waste of time. When I got back, I immediately told Lao Jiang about it.
The Problem of Agency
Lao Jiang told me that if they wanted benefits, I could give them. But the profit of the recharge platform was already very thin. The benefits we could offer were not further price cuts but extended payment terms, like monthly, quarterly, or even semi-annual and annual settlements. However, the money I had to pay to the game companies for virtual game cards couldn't be less. I had to pay first and then get the cards. This meant I needed to invest a large amount of capital. The initial investment was far from enough. In the following period, I invested all the money the store earned each month into the platform, but it still wasn't enough. I had to borrow some from my mother to barely make up the shortfall. At this point, the outstanding debts were nearly 200,000 yuan.
But the debt wasn't the most serious problem. I soon discovered an unsolvable issue. For a long time, physical game cards had "agents." For example, the well-known game cards like NetEase cards, Shouyou cards, Dada cards, and Bibi cards, as long as it was a relatively large company, their cards were distributed by region. Buying cards from other regions was called "cross-regional trading," which was not allowed. In fact, it wasn't just game cards. Big brands like Sony and Sennheiser's headphones and speakers were also regionally distributed. We had to get goods from local or provincial agents, not from other regions in large quantities. Otherwise, it was considered cross-regional trading. The virtual game cards of the recharge platform also had agents, and the key was that the agents of several major game companies were all divided up by the other two platforms. Lao Jiang didn't have a single agent when he transferred the platform to me. Just before the transfer, he lost his last agent.
Difficulties with Competitors
Now, if I wanted to buy game cards that already had agents, I had to go to these two agents instead of the manufacturers. The two agents were named Zhang and Cheng. I called their companies Xiaozhang Technology and Xiaocheng Technology. The owner of Xiaozhang Technology was relatively gentle, a smiling tiger. Every time I went to him, he was smiling and polite, but he always gave me a creepy feeling. They mainly did business in the county areas, and more than half of the internet cafes in the county used their recharge system. The price he gave me for the cards he represented was slightly lower than that for other internet cafes.
The owner of Xiaocheng Technology didn't even bother to pretend. The first time we met, she said to me with her nose in the air, "You know you can't cross-regional trade, right? If you do, the consequences will be serious. I'm only going to say this once. If you think it doesn't matter, you can try it." Not only did she say harsh words, but the prices she gave were also extremely high. The price she gave me for all the cards she represented was exactly the same as that for other internet cafes. That meant if I got goods from her and then provided them to internet cafes, my profit would be zero.
The reason she was so overbearing was that I didn't have a single agent. If I had the agency of even one game card, even if it wasn't a top-tier game, as long as someone was playing it, she would have to get goods from me. Then I would have bargaining power. But I had nothing. I was completely at a disadvantage.
The Triangular Competition
The three of us were in a competitive relationship. Each of us operated a recharge platform. Whenever there was a new internet cafe in the city, all three of us would immediately send people to try to persuade the internet cafe to use our recharge system. And about 70% to 80% of the long-established internet cafes were in the hands of those two guys. They didn't just sit around either. Almost every day, they would send people to try to win over my internet cafes, offering various promises and benefits to make them use their recharge platforms. But I couldn't do the same to their internet cafes.
More Troubles
One night, the chat tool rang. Xiaozhang suddenly sent me a message, saying that from tomorrow, they would no longer provide me with game cards and that I shouldn't come to get goods anymore. My heart sank. I knew there was trouble. I quickly asked him what was going on. Xiaozhang said, "What's going on? Don't you know? You went to win over our internet cafe yesterday!" I understood immediately. This internet cafe originally used our Banfei Technology recharge platform, but recently I found they had changed platforms, so I went to talk to them. After all, they were my customers before, and I hoped they would come back. I told Xiaozhang about this situation, and his reply was simple: "I don't care if this internet cafe used your platform before. Since it's using mine now, you can't go there!" I was really angry when I saw his message, but I couldn't show it. I could only apologize and say that I wouldn't go there again. Xiaozhang didn't reply to my message, but the next morning, he came to my store and brought an XX Yibao. This Yibao was a peripheral device launched by a large online game company at that time, similar to a set-top box now, but its concept was too advanced, so the sales were not good after it was launched. The company distributed the Yibao to the dealers, and how to sell it became the dealers' task. Xiaozhang said politely that he "hoped I could help him deal with an Yibao," but the meaning was clear. I had no choice but to obediently take this Yibao. By the way, I tried every means to promote this Yibao to customers later, but all failed, and it ended up being a dead stock.
The Decision to Give Up
During that time, I was constantly troubled every day. This so-called Banfei Technology was really a "useless technology." Maybe Lao Jiang's platform had once been brilliant, but when it was in my hands, it could only be described as completely useless. I couldn't get any agents and was constantly restricted by others. I really couldn't continue. I also thought about trying to get some agents. I did talk to two game companies, but the conclusion was that it was impossible. Because the evaluation criteria for agents by online game companies were mainly based on performance. The other two companies in the city were doing much better than my Banfei Technology. If I wanted to rise quickly and surpass them in business, I had to win over the internet cafes that used their platforms. However, I couldn't do that because the agency rights of game cards were in their hands. I needed to get goods from them. So it could only be that they came to win over my internet cafes, and I couldn't win over theirs. This seemed like an unsolvable situation.
The huge pressure made me thinner and thinner. I was already tall and thin, but during that time, I lost even more weight, dropping to only about 120 pounds. My father said I was too thin and there must be something wrong with my body. In fact, the problem was not physical but psychological. I was extremely anxious,彷徨, and helpless, as if being crushed by a big mountain. I also started to get sick frequently. I would suddenly have a fever for no reason, maybe for an afternoon or a night, and then it would be gone the next day. My temper also became very暴躁, and I would get angry easily. During that time, my employees were a little afraid to see me. Whenever I went to the store, everyone would be silent.
The Turning Point
The platform operation was facing huge difficulties, but Taozi, my partner, calmed down. She used to have a bad temper and would often quarrel with me, but she had a special quality. Whenever something happened, she was usually the calmest one. We hired a dedicated person to recharge game cards during the day. After she got off work at 5 o'clock, Taozi and I would take turns to monitor the platform until 12 o'clock at night. If there were any recharge requests from internet cafes in the middle of the night, we would deal with them together the next morning.
One night, I had a fever again and couldn't move in bed. But that night, there were so many things happening. Sometimes the game card recharge would fail, sometimes the customer would say there were no points in the account even though the recharge was successful, and there were also problems caused by the newly opened internet cafes' improper operations. One problem after another came, and I was very烦躁. I was already not making any money, and there were so many troubles. How could I not be annoyed? But Taozi was very calm. I listened to her calling the customer service and communicating with the internet cafe owners. No matter how emotional the people on the other end of the phone were, she always calmly sorted out the problems and tried various ways to solve them. Listening to her, I fell asleep. The next morning, I found that my fever had gone, and Taozi wasn't by my side. She should have gone to the store to open it. I checked the computer and found that she had solved all the problems from last night. Looking at the bright sunshine outside the window, I finally let go of my last bit of obsession and made up my mind to end the operation.
The End of the Platform
I persisted in operating this recharge platform for about one and a half to two years. The process could only be described as extremely painful. Finally, I contacted the other two companies in the city and transferred all the internet cafes in my hands to them. I didn't do this to show my generosity or repay evil with kindness. The main reason was that most of the internet cafes owed me money. When I transferred the internet cafes, the debts were also transferred to them. After calculation, the personnel expenses and server rental fees I spent during this period were higher than the income. This didn't even include the水电费,网费, and other expenses that were not easy to calculate. That is to say, we not only spent a lot of time and energy but also lost money every month.
Lessons Learned
After this failure, I went back to running my store honestly. Later, I opened an account on each of Xiaocheng and Xiaozhang's platforms because I still needed to recharge game cards for customers in my store. Since I had given up Banfei Technology, I could only recharge from them. The attitudes of the two platform owners did a 180-degree turn. They became very, very friendly and gave me the highest-level permissions on their platforms. Xiaozhang even said that the payment could be settled once a year, not in a hurry. They often came to give me small peripheral gifts and would chat with me like old friends when we met. Every time I saw their friendly smiles, I felt a lot of emotion. Their friendliness was not only because I transferred the remaining internet cafes to them but also because there was no longer any conflict of interest between us.
The girl who was responsible for recharging game cards didn't leave either. Later, I started to wholesale computer consumables, and she became a salesperson, specifically going to the county areas to run business. We worked together for many years.
This failed attempt at the recharge platform was probably the biggest failure in my business career. The main reason was that everything had been too smooth before. The first store I took over from someone else. The previous owner didn't manage it well, but I made a profit in the first month after I took it over. Then the second store I opened was also successful. Continuous success made me overconfident and even a little arrogant. Even though I knew Lao Jiang must have transferred the platform because he couldn't make money from it, I still believed confidently that it would get better in my hands. Moreover, I was really too inexperienced at that time. I didn't ask all the necessary questions and didn't understand all the situations before I hastily took over the platform. The outcome was actually predictable.
Before this, I always thought that everyone around me, including Taozi and my parents, was revolving around me. Although I didn't achieve any great success, I thought I was the center of my world, shining a light on everything around me, even if it was just a little bit of light. I thought I was leading everyone forward. But until that night when I couldn't move in bed and watched Taozi solve one problem after another, I suddenly realized that my perception had been wrong for a long time. We are family and a group of travelers walking together on the road of life. While I was struggling to move forward, they were also doing their best to find the way forward. The choices we make may not always be right, but we all shine a little light and walk together through the wind and rain.
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