Seized property sold in judicial auction on Alibaba platform (2)

Data from paimai.taobao.com indicated that 20 district courts from 11 cities in Zhejiang Province have set up online judicial auction platforms on the website.

"I support this online judicial auction via China's most-used B2C e-commerce website, since it is more transparent and fair than offline judicial auctions, which are operated by court-entrusted auction companies, creating a risk of under-the-table dealings," said Wang Xu, a lawyer with the Beijing-based Lantai Partners Law Firm.

Besides, these no-commission online judicial auctions will maximally protect the interests of both parties in a lawsuit, because in a traditional judicial sale one or the other of them would have to pay expensive commissions to auctioneers, Wang said.

However, at least one insider has a different opinion about the sale.

It is illegal for paimai.taobao.com to perform judicial auctions, as it is not licensed to carry out these auctions, Ou Shuying, deputy secretary-general of the China Association of Auctioneers (CAA), was quoted as saying in the Shanghai Evening Post in July.

But Wang said that the auction was legal, as courts have the right to auction the involved property and paimai.taobao.com just provided them with a platform.

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