尾款人

What does 尾款人 mean?

During China's shopping festivals, a small deposit locks in a discount, and the balance, the 尾款, comes due weeks later. In November 2020 the nickname 尾款人 trended as the first wave of Double Eleven payments opened: shoppers queued to hand over money for things they had already bought but not yet received, and the word captured the mixture of thrill and dread. The meme pairs naturally with the year's 打工人 wave, since both jokes are about money moving away from you faster than it arrives. It peaked in the pre-dawn hours of 1 November 2020, when the payment window opened and Weibo filled with screenshots of zeroed-out accounts.

Where does 尾款人 come from?

The term spread at the start of November 2020, when the Double Eleven presale, launched on 21 October, required buyers to settle their balances on 1 November. Night-owl shoppers coined jokes about paying money for goods they could not yet touch, and the punchline 预售一时爽，尾款火葬场 made the rounds on Weibo. Media coverage treated 尾款人 as one of the festival's defining memes of the year, alongside 打工人.

How to use 尾款人

• 零点刚过，她准时付完尾款，看着余额默默哀嚎：我是光荣的尾款人。
  Língdiǎn gāng guò, tā zhǔnshí fù wán wěikuǎn, kàn zhe yú'é mòmò āiháo: wǒ shì guāngróng de wěikuǎn rén.
  The moment midnight passed, she paid the balance on time, looked at her bank account and groaned: I am a proud member of the balance-payers club.
• 预售一时爽，尾款火葬场。
  Yùshòu yīshí shuǎng, wěikuǎn huǒzàngchǎng.
  Presales feel great for a moment; the balance payment is where you get cremated.