Recently I've been staying home with some free time, so I thought about browsing Xianyu to pick up merchandise from various exchanges and give them away as rewards to everyone.

Then I checked the prices and was shocked—a T-shirt sells for 588, a suitcase for 2888, a water cup for 288.

Honestly, it's not expensive, it's absurd.

These items were never meant to be sold for profit. They were given by exchanges to KOLs and partners for brand exposure. Now they're all being pulled out as secondary market monetization tools.

What's more ironic is that genuine collectors who actually want to own these items can only buy secondhand inventory at markup prices.

Many KOLs talk about creating content and building the industry, but behind the scenes they're squeezing every monetizable resource dry—turning engagement into cash, exploiting information gaps, and now even merchandise isn't spared.