Chinese Beauty Collection Shop Only Write Sued over Payment Arrears

Only Write owes more than 500,000 yuan ($72,050) and only repays 50,000 yuan ($7205).

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Recently, CHAILEEDO learned from the China Judgements Online that Hangzhou Bowu Management Co. (hereinafter referred to as Bowu), to which Only Write Beauty Collection belongs, was ordered by the Hangzhou Qiantang District People's Court to pay Hangzhou Chunyuan Trade Ltd. Co. (hereinafter referred to as Hangzhou Chunyuan) more than 500,000 yuan for goods owed to it in a dispute over a sales and purchase contract.

According to public reports, the first Only Write shop opened in Hangzhou on 28 March 2020, with products covering Chinese and international mainstream beauty brands in categories including colour cosmetics, skincare and fragrances. Its products are in the form of single products, big brand samples and beauty mystery boxes.

Only Write was once favourably received by capital for its relatively new model and bright single-store performance. In March 2021, Only Write received an angel round of funding of tens of millions of yuan from Vision Knight Capital. In November of the same year, Only Write received another exclusive investment from a well-known industry fund, completing a Series A investment of 45 million yuan ($6.5 million).

And just as Only Write was surging ahead, it had been fined several times in 2021 for operating cosmetics without legal sources and selling cosmetics without Chinese labels.

In response to this loan default, CHAILEEDO called Bowu and Hangzhou Chunyuan respectively for details. As of press time, the phone Zhou Jianlei, the person in charge of Bowu, has not been connected, and Hangzhou Chunyuan has not replied. "The case of Bowu has already been adjudicated." According to a source close to Hangzhou Chunyuan spoke to CHAILEEDO.

Some public information shows that the Futian District People's Court in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, froze the equity of Bowu for 670,000 yuan ($96.5 thousand) last year. Also in early March this year, Bowu was listed as an executee by the Qiantang District People's Court in Hangzhou, with an enforcement bid of 50,000 yuan ($7.2 thousand).

The other party involved in this case, Hangzhou Chunyuan, was established in 1995 and is a comprehensive beauty agency and marketing company with a strong industry presence in China, with several exclusive import beauty brands, such as MORCANCOS, THE SAEM and AYIRES. Its offline channel partners include WOW COLOUR, Afiona and Gialen, among other well-known chain shops.

According to the public information on the website of the China Judgements Online, on 14 November 2022, the Qiantang District People's Court in Hangzhou filed a case regarding a dispute over the sale and purchase contract between Hangzhou Chunyuan and Bowu.

According to another civil first instance judgment issued by the said court, the plaintiff Chunyuan Trade filed a claim with the court, "Between 19 May 2017 and 23 June 2022, the plaintiff Hangzhou Chunyuan provided the defendant Bowu with a series of cosmetics such as MORCANCOS. Upon settlement between the parties, the defendant owed the plaintiff a total of 542,778.50 ($78,214.4) for the goods as of September 2022. The defendant issued a "Letter of Repayment" to the plaintiff, but only paid 50,000 yuan ($7205) thereafter."

In response, the plaintiff, Hangzhou Chunyuan, demanded that the defendant, Bowu, pay the full amount of the purchase price and interest from the date of filing the lawsuit until the actual payment was made, and bear the costs of the case and the costs of preservation.

The defendant Bowu, said that the defendant and the plaintiff do not exist in the sale contract relationship, the plaintiff asked the defendant to pay the so-called 542,778.50 yuan ($78214.4) payment and pay interest claim does not have any factual and legal basis and other reasons, refused to pay.

But the court held that, according to the plaintiff to provide the relevant information and the parties to the trial statements on file, the plaintiff and the defendant between the existence of a sales contract, and the evidence submitted by the plaintiff can prove the defendant still owes the fact that the goods, the plaintiff repeatedly to the defendant to call the remaining payment, to no avail.

Finally, the court made "the defendant Bowu in this judgment within ten days of the date of entry into force to pay the plaintiff Hangzhou Chunyuan 542778.50 yuan ($78214.4)", and at the same time to pay the plaintiff Hangzhou Chunyuan late payment losses.