Taobao protester arrested for 'fake goods'

Shanghai Daily, November 28, 2011

China's largest shopping website Taobao is recovering from the damages caused by October protests by its small-scale merchants over membership fee hike.

China's largest shopping website Taobao is recovering from the damages caused by October protests by its small-scale merchants over membership fee hike.

A leading organizer of the anti-Taobao community, an alliance of hundreds of small online shoppers in dispute with China's biggest e-commerce website, has been selling fake luxury products online, police said.

The man, surnamed Lin, was arrested by Guangdong Province police for selling fake Louis Vuitton products, China News Service reported yesterday.

Lin, who operated an online shop on Taobao, is said to have sold fake LV products for more than 1 million yuan (US$157,114).

According to the Anti-Taobao literature, smaller vendors want Taobao to adopt a fair and transparent deposit system that treats small and big shop owners alike. They also want it to hold public hearings before major rule changes.

Taobao, an eBay-style arm of Alibaba Group, has said, however, it will continue its existing system in "the interests of our users."