Yahoo-Kimo Inc (
"We've planned to turn the free service to a fee-based platform for a while, and this is the right time to implement it," said Charlene Hung (
More than 4 million items are for sale on the Yahoo-Kimo site, through which 95 percent of the nation's auction business is conducted, Hung said.
Last year, products worth NT$10 billion were traded on the site, showing that local Internet users have a high acceptance of and interest in online auctions, prompting the auctioneer to shift its business model, she said.
According to Yahoo-Kimo's plan, online sellers will be charged NT$3 for each item posted for 10 days. High-priced products will be charged more and posted for 15 days. For example, motorcycles are NT$30, cars and real estate are NT$100 per item. Sellers who want to set floor prices for their products will need to pay another NT$5. Buyers will not be charged.
Sellers who agree with terms and conditions can pay online with their credit cards. Those who fail to comply with the charging policy will be banned from using the service.
The charging mechanism, however, may cause Yahoo-Kimo to lose some users, as many members have already complained to the Web site following the announcement.
Hung shrugged off the discontent, saying her company expected a drop in posted items and member numbers, but that after a while, users, especially buyers, would enjoy shopping more because the site would have more quality products instead of unwanted goods.
Rival eBay Taiwan said it had no plan to charge users and was ready to accept disenchanted customers from Yahoo-Kimo.
"We've received many inquiries from Yahoo-Kimo users who intend to switch to our Web site after the charging mechanism begins," Ivy Huang (黃淩佳), eBay marketing director, said yesterday.
While leading the online auction sector in the world, eBay has failed to make inroads into the Taiwan market, attracting just 200,000 goods for sale.
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