Amazon China Accepting Alibaba's AliPay

Amazon's China subsidiary Joyo began accepting electronic payment from Alibaba Group's online payment subsidiary AliPay on Tuesday, according to a Joyo customer service representative. A Bianews report said the AliPay function is still undergoing testing on Joyo.cn and will be officially launched in July. Rumors regarding a non-exclusive Joyo-Alipay partnership surfaced in April.

Alibaba Vendor verification service

Seeking for a right supplier to find the right product is the first and foremost issue to buyers. We also got the feedback that finding a reliable supplier to work with, reducing all the hassles in the process of negotiating and contracting is another major concern.

To most suppliers, gaining trust from their clients is the starting point to acquire business.

In an effort to to making suppliers’ profile more transparent to buyers. Alibaba suggested three third-party service providers to offer authenication and verification inspection to its supplier members.

They are

1. SGS Group and SGS CSTC
2. Asiainspection.com
3. Intertrek

Alibaba launches free China online advert service

BEIJING, June 18 (Reuters) - Alibaba (1688.HK: Quote, Profile, Research), China's largest e-commerce firm, launched on Wednesday a free online advertising service, Alimama.com, with the goal of being the largest within five years.

Alimama.com, a wholly owned unit of Alibaba.com Inc, is targeting small-to-middle sized websites, but did not reveal a timetable for when it would begin charging for the new service.

"The goal for Alimama.com set by Ma is to acquire the largest share of online advertising in China within 3-5 years," said Wu Yongming, general manager of the company, referring to Alibaba founder Jack Ma.

"The firm would post a revenue between three and five billion yuan within the next three to five years," Wu said.

Alibaba's Taobao is often called China's eBay Inc (EBAY.O: Quote, Profile, Research), but still does not charge for its services after five years of operation.

The new service will provide small-to-middle sized websites greater access to advertising income, while companies would have more marketing options, said Wu.

After a 10-month trial run, Alimama.com has about 400,000 registered websites and records 2.8 billion daily page views, said Wu. Its patrons include Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research) and PepsiCo Inc (PEP.N: Quote, Profile, Research), he said.

Total online advertising in China is expected to reach 12.2 billion yuan ($1.76 billion) in 2008, growing 58.5 percent from last year, according to the Data Center of the China Internet.

The company did not provide any investment details.

Alimama.com is hoping at least 80 percent of Chinese Internet users will see advertisements sold through Alimama.com by the end of the year, he said.

The new company employs over 300 people, said Wu. ($=6.8822 yuan) (Reporting by Michael Wei; Editing by Kirby Chien)

Alimama.com is hoping at least 80 percent of Chinese Internet users will see advertisements sold through Alimama.com by the end of the year, he said.

The new company employs over 300 people, said Wu. ($=6.8822 yuan) (Reporting by Michael Wei; Editing by Kirby Chien)

Alibaba Honors e-Business Champion Contest Winners

Alibaba merchants gathered at the Gleacher Center at the University of Chicago on Wednesday evening for a reception to honor winners of its e-Business Champion contest. Merchants in attendance included those in town for the eBay conference taking place at the McCormick Place convention center beginning on Thursday.

The five winners of the North American Alibaba contest were EveAlexander.com, MomsOnEdge.com, BellPerformance.net, OnFair.com and DecoBreeze.com. The winners, who range from 1-person companies to one with 17 employees, told Alibaba.com their success stories about doing business online.

Alibaba also highlighted "Ablibaba.com eBay success stories" to highlight how eBay sellers can use Alibaba.com to help grow their businesses. The company also highlighted its new Export-to-China program in which Alibaba helps North American merchants to sell in the China marketplace.

In a podcast interview, Arthur Chang, Vice President of Global Sales for Alibaba, explained the Export-to-China program and described the ways in which sellers were using Alibaba.com in their businesses.

The e-Business Champion contest is being conducted globally, and finalists from each region will be sent to the global Alifest conference being held in China on August 2nd.
More about the event and contest winners can be found on the Alibaba blog.

Alibaba.com Launches New China TrustPass Product for China

Alibaba.com Limited (HKSE:1688), the world's leading B2B e-commerce company, today announced the launch of a new product called "China TrustPass for Individuals" on its Chinese-language online marketplace, which connects suppliers and buyers trading domestically in China. Until now, Alibaba.com's China TrustPass membership had only been available to corporate users.

Similar to the corporate version, entrepreneurs need to pass a third-party authentication and verification process before they become a China TrustPass member. As part of this process applicants need to provide their identity card and bank information. Once they become an authorized China TrustPass member, Alibaba.com will maintain an online trust rating for individuals to build confidence and credibility with potential buyers.

Alibaba.com launched its original China TrustPass membership in 2002 and as of March 31, 2008 had more than 280,000 paying members. Alibaba.com's China marketplace has close to 25 million registered users and is growing at over 36% year-on-year. The price of the new product will be RMB2,300 per year, slightly lower than the corporate version which currently sells at RMB2,800.

"Starting up a new business and trading over the Internet has never been easier and more affordable for entrepreneurs," said David Wei, CEO of Alibaba.com. "Alibaba.com has always been a pioneer of trust and safety on the Internet and we believe that a reliable trust system for individuals as well as corporate e-commerce users is essential. China TrustPass for Individuals will help entrepreneurs build credibility and open up new business opportunities."

He continued, "The launch of this new product is in line with our strategy to further expand and monetize our fast growing China marketplace. We believe there is strong demand for this product in China as seen by the positive reception it has received during the pre-launch sales period." China TrustPass for Individuals was pre-launched on May 10, 2008 and has already signed up thousands of members.

China TrustPass for Individuals will help more entrepreneurs in China launch and develop their business by significantly lowering the start-up costs and entry barriers to running an online storefront and finding potential buyers. With more than 42 million small and medium-size enterprises, China already has one of the world's biggest communities of entrepreneurs.

Alipay Enters Australia Through Partnership With Paymate

Alipay, a subsidiary of Alibaba, has announced in Hangzhou the launching of Hai Wai Bao, a new Chinese shopping platform which has been jointly set up between Alipay and Australia's online payment company Paymate.

Earlier this year, Alipay signed a cooperation agreement with Paymate. The cooperation between the parties enables Chinese consumers to do shopping directly on websites in Australia that have been embedded with Paymate's payment tool.

Alipay's entry into Australia is believed to be a challenge for Paypal, an online payment service provided by eBay which reportedly began to force users in Australia to use their payment tool since May this year and as a result was put under an anti-monopolization investigation by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission.

As of now, Alipay has signed 200 businesses in a dozen countries and regions, including Japan, Singapore, Canada, the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Europe, for overseas payment help for Chinese netizens.

Alibaba Event Coincides with eBay Live

Alibaba is inviting online sellers to attend its e-Business Champion Awards Reception in Chicago next week, taking place on the eve of eBay Live. The event honors successful online sellers, and Alibaba will send one winner to the global Alifest contest to be held in China on August 2nd where they will compete with winners from other parts of the world.

The party takes place on Wednesday evening, June 18, from 6:30 - 8:30 pm at the University of Chicago. There will be free food and cocktails and networking. Alibaba is also giving away five door prizes: a Canon Powershot Digital Camera, Garmin Nuvi 200 GPS, 2 Apple Store Gift Cards for $300/each for the new Apple 3G iPhone, and a Sony Playstation 3 (40 GB).

The Alibaba online marketplace is used by eBay sellers for product sourcing. The company told sellers interested in attending the event to RSVP on its website.

Yahoo China ties with Koubei.com now

Yahoo China disclosed a business plan with Koubei.com (口碑网) with a view to fully developing a consumer-base search service.

Controlled by Alibaba group, both Yahoo China and Koubei.com are targeting for consumer to consumer market. The plan will direct its effort to bring convergence between these two portals, improving its productivity and efficiency in the areas of eCommerce, community and community.

Koubei.com was initialized in Hangzhou in 2004. Over the past three years, it becomes one of the high flyers to set foothold in most of China provinces. Its business extends from classified listings, community to forum. Koubei, means “words of mouth” in Chinese.

The news update came this morning did not unveil a full detail plan but it stresses the importance of building a strong search capability. Jack Ma, Chairman and Non-Executive Director of Alibaba.com, said the move would create a top-notched life style platform for consumers in China.

Alibaba To Build Southern China Operation Center In Guangzhou

Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba, said in a meeting with Guangzhou officials that Alibaba would set up its southern China regional data center in Guangzhou.

Sina.com reports that Ma said that Alibaba has mainly focused on the Yangtze River Delta region for its development in the past years, but it will now strengthen development in Guangdong, particularly in the province's capital city of Guangzhou. Ma said that Guangdong has a large number of SMEs and a large Internet population, which made Alibaba confident of the development there.

Alibaba has pledged to invest US$50 million to building the Southern China Operation Center and Pearl River Delta Region Service Center in Guangzhou, and to expand the scale of its call center.

Alibaba gets head start in Turkey

David Wei, Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba.com, must be very busy over the past few months, traveling back and forth to seal deals with overseas strategic partners. The latest news came on last Thursday (29th May) in which Alibaba has signed an agreement with TURKTICARET.Net

The Turkish business is by far the largest domestic B2B marketplace and also the leading domain name registration and web hosting company of the country.

Powered by Alibaba.com, we’ve seen TURKTICARET.Net , has embedded new search box and browse categories functions from Alibaba. It would channel Turkish SME business via their search initiatives.