The sales and disposal of near - expired food is an important topic to reduce food waste and promote economic development. This study aims to examine the relationship between consumption situation and food type and consumers’ willingness to buy near - expired food, and test the mediation effect of perceived risk and the moderation effect of other people’s evaluation. This study is based on the theory of clue utilization, three series of research results show that : (1) hedonistic near - expired food is more closely related to the blind box situation, and practical near - expired food is more closely related to the non - blind box situation, that is, there is an implicit connection between “blind box - hedonism” and “non - blind box - practical”; (2) the willingness to buy under the blind box situation is higher than that of non - blind box situation, and the willingness to buy hedonistic near - expired food is higher than that of practical near - expired food, and the perceived risk plays a mediation effect in the relationship between the consumption situation and consumers’ willingness to buy near - expired food; (3) Other people’s evaluations play a moderation effect between the consumption situation and food type and consumers’ willingness to buy near - expired food, that is, negative review - disagree evaluation of others will promote consumers’ willingness to buy hedonistic and practical near - expired food in blind box and non - blind box situations. The conclusion of the study can provide important practical inspiration for the strategy formulation of merchants in term food marketing.