Chinese Auction War: Taobao.com to be Free of Charge for Three More Years

From Yahoo Finance (Press Release):

"Alibaba.com announced today that its Taobao.com Chinese-language consumer auction site will remain free for buyers and sellers for three more years, until at least October, 2008. In addition, Alibaba.com will invest US $120 million to further grow Taobao.com's trusted e-commerce marketplace with the goal of creating one million jobs for entrepreneurs in China."

"In addition to its pledge to make Taobao free until October 2008, Taobao.com called on Ebay to join Taobao in making its services free for Chinese users. "We call on Ebay to do what's right for this phase of China's e-commerce development and make your services free for buyers and sellers in China," said Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba.com. "Cutting prices is not enough -- it's time to make your services free and affordable for all of China's entrepreneurs and consumers." "