Hundreds of vendors protest Taobao policies
By Ding Yining |
November 24, 2011, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
HUNDREDS of small vendors reportedly gathered in front of Taobao's headquarters in Hangzhou yesterday to demand a reform of the system that the huge online shopping site uses to assess vendors.
But Taobao wasn't budging.
Pictures uploaded to the microblog Weibo.com showed groups of people staying in front of Taobao's office building yesterday morning. They demanded that Taobao amend its vendor-evaluation system that favors bigger vendors at Taobao Mall, the platform that hosts mostly bigger and established brand retailers.
According to the written material from the so-called "anti-Taobao" online community, smaller vendors want Taobao to adopt a fair and transparent deposit system that treats small and big shop owners alike. They also want it to hold public hearings before major rule changes, China National Radio reported on its website yesterday.
Taobao's current rules keep track of each vendor and buyer's activity, and all vendors' ratings are open for future buyers to see before they decide which shop to use to make purchases.
"These demands would destroy the credibility in China's online shopping community and would hurt customers' benefits, and we're not in position to change those rules," Taobao said yesterday.
"We will not give up the current system and will continue to safeguard customers' interests," it said in a statement.
Su Huiyan, an analyst with Internet consultancy iResearch Inc, agreed with Taobao's position. "Credibility is crucial when shoppers are choosing vendors, and abandoning such a system would eventually hurt consumers' interests," Su said.
In October, groups of small vendors bought products from Taobao Mall and immediately sought refunds to show their anger toward a new rule that could charge Taobao Mall vendors up to ten times more for their annual fee.
Taobao later postponed launch of the new rules for one year and expanded the customer-protection funds.
But Taobao wasn't budging.
Pictures uploaded to the microblog Weibo.com showed groups of people staying in front of Taobao's office building yesterday morning. They demanded that Taobao amend its vendor-evaluation system that favors bigger vendors at Taobao Mall, the platform that hosts mostly bigger and established brand retailers.
According to the written material from the so-called "anti-Taobao" online community, smaller vendors want Taobao to adopt a fair and transparent deposit system that treats small and big shop owners alike. They also want it to hold public hearings before major rule changes, China National Radio reported on its website yesterday.
Taobao's current rules keep track of each vendor and buyer's activity, and all vendors' ratings are open for future buyers to see before they decide which shop to use to make purchases.
"These demands would destroy the credibility in China's online shopping community and would hurt customers' benefits, and we're not in position to change those rules," Taobao said yesterday.
"We will not give up the current system and will continue to safeguard customers' interests," it said in a statement.
Su Huiyan, an analyst with Internet consultancy iResearch Inc, agreed with Taobao's position. "Credibility is crucial when shoppers are choosing vendors, and abandoning such a system would eventually hurt consumers' interests," Su said.
In October, groups of small vendors bought products from Taobao Mall and immediately sought refunds to show their anger toward a new rule that could charge Taobao Mall vendors up to ten times more for their annual fee.
Taobao later postponed launch of the new rules for one year and expanded the customer-protection funds.
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