Top Biz News

Some are buying extra train tickets and reselling them to earn money

By Shang Ban (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-02-09 11:55

SHANGHAI: Some Shanghai office workers and college students are making money by reselling extra railway tickets they bought during the ongoing Spring Festival travel season, a time when billions of Chinese crisscross the country to enjoy the big day with their families.

According to a regulation created by railway authorities to stop scalpers, from Jan 20 to Feb 2, each passenger in Shanghai can purchase no more than five tickets a day at the box office or over the telephone.

However, some office workers and college students are buying the maximum number as a chance to make pocket money.

A college student surnamed Han said: "I suffered a lot buying tickets and I suddenly realized that since I have the right to buy five, I might just buy more than I need and resell the rest to earn some money as compensation for the painful experience."

Han posted her ticket information on the well-known online flea market ganji.com, quickly selling three sleeper tickets of train K372 to Taiyuan at 400 yuan each, about 50 yuan higher than the original purchase price.

Han said she doesn't think what she did is as illegal as what the scalpers do. They usually stock large amounts of tickets and sell them at a price much higher than the ticket's original value.

An office worker in Shanghai surnamed Ai said he wants to resell a ticket for Feb 12 to Anhui province because he has had a change in schedule. He said he is considering selling it at a higher price.

"I don't want to refund the ticket with the box office because there is a 20 percent commission charge and I will have to go back to the railway station," Ai said.

According to Ai, railway tickets are easy to sell at this time of the year.

"And I don't think there is anything wrong that I earn some money out of it because I suffered buying the ticket," he said.

However, according to the regulation, reselling railway tickets at a price more than five yuan above the original value is illegal. A man in Shenyang, Liaoning province was reportedly arrested in January for reselling a ticket above its par value to cover his taxi fare.

"The nation has very tough and specific regulations on railway tickets," said Chen Xiyuan with Shanghai Railway Police. "Sometimes, out of ignorance, people think what they do is legal but actually it is not."