The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said yesterday that Yahoo-Kimo Inc (雅虎奇摩), the nation's largest online auctioneer, did not violate any laws by charging sellers a handling fee for each transaction.
Yahoo-Kimo was accused by Internet users of abusing its dominance in the market after it began charging its sellers a transaction handling fee -- 3 percent of the closing price -- on top of a listing fee of NT$3 per item, beginning Sept. 1.
"We found Yahoo-Kimo auction is not a monopoly, and it did not engage in unfair competition by using its advantage," commission spokeswoman Chou Ya-shu (
DAILY LISTINGS
The commission found that on average there were 3.91 million daily postings on Yahoo-Kimo between May 2 and July. 24.
But the postings dropped 12.3 percent to 3.43 million items between Sept. 1 and Oct. 16.
The number of postings on a smaller online auction site run by a local portal PC Home Online (
NOT A MONOPOLY
While monopoly means a non-competition market, the existence of PChome eBay Co and two other auction sites shows that Yahoo-Kimo was not capable of eliminating other players, Chou said.
Taiwan's online auction market was worth NT$31.7 billion (US$959.3 million) last year, and Yahoo-Kimo took NT$22 billion, or 69.4 percent of the market, according to the commission.
Collecting transaction handling fees is one business model adopted in the world, and companies applying charges need to evaluate the business risk, Chou said.
Yahoo also charges its users in Japan a handling fee, that is 5 percent of the final sale price, Chou said.
Auction giant eBay collects a final value fee, 5.25 percent of closing price in the US, and 10 percent in South Korea, Chou said.
Yahoo-Kimo said yesterday that it was happy with the results of the commission's investigation and it would continue to enhance its service to sustain its business.
RESULTS
As for the declining postings, Yahoo-Kimo said the drop was within its expectations.
PChome eBay Co, however, said that its listings have increased more than expected.
It celebrated surpassing the 1 million mark last month, and thinks it will hit 2 million by next month, company chief executive Simon Yeh (葉奇鑫) said last month.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
RSS