According to the Daily NK:
Daily NK has learned that the fees vendors pay for the right to sell goods varies depending on their goods and is now applicable to stall and street merchants alike. Home appliances and industrial items carry the most expensive stall fee, according to inside sources. This is because these products tend to be large, they sell for a high price, and they have good profit margins.
In a telephone conversation with the Daily NK on the 6th, a source in Yanggang Province said, “The stall fees for market traders are either 1500 KPW [0.18 USD], 1000 KPW [0.12 USD], or 500 KPW [0.06 USD] according to the size and type of product. The fees for sellers on the street are based solely on the type of product, since size is less of a factor for those outside the market.”
Daily NK crosschecked this news with an additional source in the same province and a separate source in South Pyongan Province.
She explained that the small stalls are approximately 1.5 meters wide and are mainly used by food and fish vendors. Medium-sized booths [1000 KPW] are good for sellers of rice, cigarettes, and other household goods while the largest booths are 2.5 meters wide and home to the appliance and industrial goods sellers; these set a given merchant back 1500 KPW.
“As the number of stalls in the marketplace has increased, so have the profits for the authorities, who collect on the fees. In the past, the stall fees were uniform for all sellers, but now the regime has found a way to make more money by customizing the pricing model according to the stall size and the product’s profit margin.”
“Just a few years ago, there was very little regulation of the market. In this lax environment, we saw large increases in the number of market vendors and street sellers. Sellers could move about freely between areas and markets to try to get the best price. Now things are much stricter. To sell X, you first have to pay the fee to sell X.”
“Additionally, both market sellers and street merchants have to pay a fee now. In the past, the fee was exclusively for sellers in the marketplace, but now everyone has to fork over the cash in order to get a badge or label authorizing them to sell that day. Inside the marketplace, the market managers make the rounds at least once a day to make sure everyone is abiding the rules,” she said.
“Now they also make rounds outside of the market at least twice a day to make sure all those merchants are paying for the right to sell. The fees for street merchants are 500 KPW for vegetables and 1000 KPW for light goods. The market managers aggressively police the area to ensure that everyone has the appropriate credentials.”
According to the source, the market traders are only checked once a day because it is easier to track them down and verify that they’ve paid the stall fees. Outside traders go all over the place to sell their goods, which is why the market managers go out twice a day to check on them.
Read the full story here:
Stall fees raised for market vendors
Daily NK
Kang Mi Jin
2015-10-7
