Beijing (CNS) -- Taobao Mall's recent announcement on October 10 to raise the merchant threshold encountered fierce protests from mid- and small-sized business owners. The new measures include changes to the "technical service fee" from 6,000 to 30–60 thousand yuan and "bail for breach of contract" from 10,000 to 50–150 thousand yuan.
Taobao Mall, http://www.tmall.com/, is China's largest business-to-consumer (B2C) online marketplace by transaction value.
Thousands of sellers soon formed an "Anti-Taobao League" through online contacts and began acting against the interests of big company sellers by taking advantage of the "mall grading system."
Obvious effects of their actions appeared within only half an hour from the time they started.
After the incident, the parent company of Taobao, Alibaba's CEO Ma Yun asserted his determination to implement the rule as planned on Weibo.
At a press conference on October 12, Zhang Yong, the president of Taobao Mall, promised to compensate the big sellers under attack after the turmoil rests.
Analyst Chen Shou of Analysis International viewed the new rule by Taobao as a decision to abandon the mid- and small-sized seller market and aggregate resources for big targets.
By 2010, China recorded 457 million netizens, 161 million of which are Internet buyers growing at a yearly rate of 48.6%, according to China Internet Network Information Center (CINIC).
Chinese e-commerce is embracing a transformation from a bazaar mode of business units at all levels to a highly-competitive era of outstanding brands and qualities.
In the confrontation between Taobao Mall and individual sellers, the latter's interests were sacrificed due to the dominant position of companies in making industry rules, in the absence of a policy framework or instructions and supervision from the government or industrial associations.
