Yahoo-Kimo Inc (
The portal also stressed that it has never suppressed Internet users' freedom of speech, nor has it ever canceled some users' accounts, as some have accused it of doing.
"All comments posted by users, both positive or negative, will be kept intact on our Web site," Charlene Hung (
"However, to maintain order in the discussion area, we'll follow regulations to delete improper content, such as malicious or insulting personal attacks, information that was already posted, and advertising content," she said.
Hung also clarified that charging vendors a listing fee and a transaction handling fee on items sold via auction sites was a common business model seen in the international market.
US auction giant eBay Inc started charging such fees within a year of launching its operations, and Yahoo in Japan did the same within three years. Both transaction handling fees top 5 percent of the concluding prices.
But Yahoo-Kimo, now in its fifth year of operations, will only charge a 3-percent handling fee up to a maximum of between NT$150 (US$4.57) or NT$300, depending on the categories, she said.
For example, the transaction handling fee for a laptop computer auction will not exceed NT$150, accounting for less than 1 percent of the concluding price.
An association established by Yahoo-Kimo users plans to launch a protest against the company, saying the new fee is unreasonable given the site's poor service.
This will be the second fee Yahoo-Kimo has imposed on its sellers. It began charging a listing fee of NT$3 per item in April 2004. Buyers can use the site free of charge.
Unlike foreign sites' approach of charging handling fees immediately after an auction closes, Hung said the firm allows vendors 15 days to conclude transactions before a final fee is imposed.
If buyers cancel the deal, sellers do not have to pay the 3-percent fee.
Since Yahoo-Kimo announced the new scheme last week, transaction volumes and the number of items placed for bidding have not changed dramatically, Hung said.
Moreover, the firm has upgraded its system to add two new functions to benefit its users, she said.
In addition to setting up an online message board to facilitate communication between buyers and sellers, the company has also increased the amount of its fraud protection.
Users will now be entitled to maximum compensation of NT$10,000 -- up from the previous NT$7,000 -- if they are the victim of a fraudulent transaction.
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
NEW PRODUCTS: MediaTek plans to roll out new products this quarter, including a flagship mobile phone chip and a GB10 chip that it is codeveloping with Nvidia Corp MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday projected that revenue this quarter would dip by 7 to 13 percent to between NT$130.1 billion and NT$140 billion (US$4.38 billion and US$4.71 billion), compared with NT$150.37 billion last quarter, which it attributed to subdued front-loading demand and unfavorable foreign exchange rates. The Hsinchu-based chip designer said that the forecast factored in the negative effects of an estimated 6 percent appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar against the greenback. “As some demand has been pulled into the first half of the year and resulted in a different quarterly pattern, we expect the third quarter revenue to decline sequentially,”
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. (better known as Foxconn) ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose 60 places to reach No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc. at 348th, Pegatron Corp. at 461st, CPC Corp., Taiwan at 494th and Wistron Corp. at 496th. According to Fortune, the world’s
DIVERSIFYING: Taiwanese investors are reassessing their preference for US dollar assets and moving toward Europe amid a global shift away from the greenback Taiwanese investors are reassessing their long-held preference for US-dollar assets, shifting their bets to Europe in the latest move by global investors away from the greenback. Taiwanese funds holding European assets have seen an influx of investments recently, pushing their combined value to NT$13.7 billion (US$461 million) as of the end of last month, the highest since 2019, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Over the first half of this year, Taiwanese investors have also poured NT$14.1 billion into Europe-focused funds based overseas, bringing total assets up to NT$134.8 billion, according to data from the Securities Investment Trust and Consulting Association (SITCA),
RSS