Online auctions are more efficient and help protect judicial fairness, said an official from a court in Jiangsu Province, which recently auctioned items online.

Due to the absence of commissions and procedure fees, the whole transaction process was much simpler compared to previous off-line auctions, Dong Tao, a director from Xuzhou Intermediate People's Court's judicial identification office, told the Global Times on Monday.

"Anyone in the nation can participate in the online auction and the whole transaction is safe and confidential. No one intervenes in the transaction during the auction," said Dong.

The court launched its online auction shop on taobao.com, a leading purchase website in China, in December, and the stuff auctioned online included items such as vehicles and production equipment. The volume of business transactions hit about 500,000 yuan ($82,700), after the auction began receiving bids in December, Dong said.

"Compared to off-line auctions, the prices received for items at an online auction are higher and the number of successful cases is higher. Online auctions can help maximize the benefits of litigants and protect judicial fairness," he said, adding that the court will only know the names of the winning bidders after the online transaction has finished.

Loopholes still exist in online auctions. One purchaser may have several online accounts to make bids, but there is little supervision over this. If there are too many buyers in the bidding process, the price will be raised very high, Lu Zhiyong, a manager from an auction company in Beijing, told the Global Times.