Regulators review Taobao

Updated: 2011-11-01 09:36

By Chen Limin and Ding Qingfen (China Daily)

  Comments( China Daily Website - Connecting China Connecting the World

Sorry, the page you requested was not found.

Please check the URL for proper spelling and capitalization. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Chinadaily.com.cn, try visiting the Chinadaily home page

Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
)
Print Mail Large Medium  Small 分享按钮 0

Regulators review Taobao

The headquarters of Taobao.com in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo / China Daily]

Allegations of 'monopoly' are given close look

BEIJING - Chinese industry regulators are studying whether Taobao Mall engaged in a monopoly, after a group of small- and medium-sized vendors launched a protest last month against the country's largest business-to-consumer (B2C) site.

The Ministry of Commerce suspects Taobao Mall may have held a monopoly, Nie Linhai, deputy commercial counselor of the ministry's Department of Electronic Commerce and Informatization, told China Daily on Monday.

He added that the ministry is discussing this issue with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and National Development and Reform Commission.

This is the first official response to questions that were raised over whether Taobao Mall abused its dominant position in the market by raising fees it charged vendors.

The B2C unit of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd increased service fees and the cash deposit it takes from vendors starting next year.

This sparked "malicious buying" operations against larger Taobao Mall vendors. Alibaba then placated the small- and medium-sized vendors with measures including a grace period for regular vendors to pay fees and a reduction in their deposits.

However, Liu Lu, a seller and one of the organizers of the protest, said many sellers are still dissatisfied and an application has filed to the Ministry of Commerce for an anti-monopoly probe into Taobao Mall. He added that some of his counterparts have closed their Taobao Mall stores and opened new ones on other websites.

Nie said the ministry hasn't received any applications from sellers. "As a public (e-commerce) platform, Taobao should not serve its own interests regardless of those of other people," Nie said.

Taobao Mall declined to comment on the issue.

Shen Danyang, the ministry spokesman, said last month that the ministry will step up efforts to come up with regulations for the online retail market after the Taobao Mall incident. Nie added that a measure against monopolies in the sector will be part of those regulations.

Opinions differ over whether Taobao Mall has abused its dominant position.

The market Taobao Mall is suspected of monopolizing needs to be clarified and also whether its fee increases are excessive, said Wang Junlin, a lawyer with Beijing Yingke Law Firm.

Liu Junhai, a professor of Renmin University of China and a member of the expert group on online retail regulations, said that Taobao should have a pricing procedure that takes account of sellers' views and that more competition should be welcomed.

Taobao Mall and Taobao.com, the consumer-to-consumer online shopping site, accounted for 71.3 percent of the country's online retail market during the second quarter, according to the domestic research company Analysys International.

Regulators review Taobao

Comments (English only) View Comments
Your name

Messages that harass,abuse or threaten others;have obscene or otherwise objectionable content;have commercial or advertising content or links may be removed.

Comments: ( China Daily Website - Connecting China Connecting the World

Sorry, the page you requested was not found.

Please check the URL for proper spelling and capitalization. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Chinadaily.com.cn, try visiting the Chinadaily home page

Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
)