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E-commerce site users quizzed before buying
By Xu Chi |
December 28, 2010, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA'S leading e-commerce platform is getting tough with bargain hunters who use "cheating" software to snap up cheap goods on fastest-click-wins shopping websites.
Taobao wants only humans who click the Purchase button to succeed in buying goods in the online shopping craze known as "SecKill."
Web users can snap up goods at very low prices, as long as they are first to click the button. At present, some customers use software designed to ensure their order reaches the site before rivals'.
But now, to insist on a human touch, Taobao is asking would-be customers to answer questions, with only those answering correctly allowed to make a purchase.
Moreover, Taobao officials told Shanghai Daily that if the e-commerce giant detects that an earlier SecKill purchase was made using "cheating" software, the order may be canceled. The company says it can monitor the speed and characteristics of an order to determine whether it is being made by an application.
If all this were not enough for Seckill software users, it recently emerged that some applications contain trojans - malware that permits unauthorized access to the user's computer system - allowing online criminals to steal from bankcards.
A Taobao official said the quizzes are expected to combat "cheating" software.
But some SecKill fans complain the site does not recognize their correct answers, leading to more unfairness.
Taobao wants only humans who click the Purchase button to succeed in buying goods in the online shopping craze known as "SecKill."
Web users can snap up goods at very low prices, as long as they are first to click the button. At present, some customers use software designed to ensure their order reaches the site before rivals'.
But now, to insist on a human touch, Taobao is asking would-be customers to answer questions, with only those answering correctly allowed to make a purchase.
Moreover, Taobao officials told Shanghai Daily that if the e-commerce giant detects that an earlier SecKill purchase was made using "cheating" software, the order may be canceled. The company says it can monitor the speed and characteristics of an order to determine whether it is being made by an application.
If all this were not enough for Seckill software users, it recently emerged that some applications contain trojans - malware that permits unauthorized access to the user's computer system - allowing online criminals to steal from bankcards.
A Taobao official said the quizzes are expected to combat "cheating" software.
But some SecKill fans complain the site does not recognize their correct answers, leading to more unfairness.
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