Photo: screenshot of video posted on Sina Weibo

With Christmas and New Year right around the corner, luxury brands such as Chanel and Dior have began to launch limited holiday gift boxes. Many Chinese consumers have expressed excitement for these boxes, but after receiving these boxes, excitement turned to disappointment and netizens mocked these brands for "taking people for a ride."

Some Chinese streamers managed to purchase Chanel's gift box "No.5 Calendar," a 1,000 limited edition item that costs more than 6,000 yuan ($938), uploading unboxing videos after receiving their purchase. 

"One of the salespeople at Chanel told me that she just got one for me from overseas and that other people had failed to get one even though they do not lack for money," vlogger "ganshiqi" says in one video uploaded to Sina Weibo on Tuesday.

But after opening all the small boxes contained in the gift box, she expressed disappointment, claiming that the actual contents were worth no more than 1,000 yuan.

Aside from a bottle of perfume, a bottle of nail polish, a hand cream and a lipstick, the remaining items were either mini-size bottles of cosmetics or a simple accessory such as stickers, dust covers, fridge magnets and seemingly flimsy bookmarks.

After removing her third set of stickers from the box, the web celebrity expressed annoyance and complained that "this was not a pleasure consumer experience." 

Another netizen "zz xiaohei" also uploaded a video on Sina Weibo on October 31, saying she expected much from the gift box but was a little disappointed after taking out all of the contents.

"I think these gift boxes are not sincere at all and even fooling consumers. The price is too high for these contents," one Sina Weibo user commented.

"Putting stickers and key chains in a high-end calendar box is no different from throwing away scraps," another netizen wrote.

Dior also launched its holiday gift box almost at the same time, and one vlogger on Douyin, Chinese-version Tiktok, bought one with price of about 4,000 yuan and expressed her discontent in the video as she found most were mini samples.

Chinese livestreamer Li Jiaqi complained on a stream in 2020 that many international luxury brands were not showing sincerity as their Christmas box prices were too high and the value of the products contained in the boxes were not equal to the price paid.

"The idea is to give back to users, but it's more like a clearance sale," a woman who helps others purchase luxury goods from overseas, told the Global Times on Monday. 

"These brands should be more sincere toward consumers and improve their limited holiday sets."