Yahoo was investigated for monopoly in Taiwan

The Taiwan Fair Trade Commission is currently conducting an investigation to conclude whether Yahoo violated antitrust regulations.

The investigation was officially launched after some users reflected on Yahoo's new auction service fee policy.

Yahoo - the world's largest and largest provider of electronic gateways in Taiwan - has announced that it will charge a 3% transaction fee for any one item from August 10. Which is auctioned on its website. Along with these are modifications to the fee for listing products as well as the use of some other Yahoo functions.

Yahoo's new move took place just a month after rival eBay accepted to give in to Taiwan in the Taiwan market and accepted a joint venture with PCHome - the third-largest Internet portal provider at Taiwan.

Responding to customer feedback, the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission will examine the case in detail and will decide whether Yahoo is monopolized in the market.

" We will need to decide whether Yahoo has gained a monopoly on the Taiwan auction market ," said Chen Rong-long, a representative of the Commission. " Yahoo will be fined about $ 780,000 if the committee decides that the recent price increase is proving to be an advantage of its monopoly power ."

According to law firms in Taiwan, a company with annual revenues of up to $ 31 million or more and accounting for up to a third of the market is considered exclusive.

" The new user fee system allows us to provide better service and bring new improvements to the auction for users ," said Charlene Hung, e-commerce business services manager of Yahoo - said.

By the end of July this year, Yahoo's Taiwan auction site had a total of more than 3.7 million. Transaction value in 2005 reached 687 million USD.

Yahoo has officially started charging product listings on its auction site in April 2004. At that time, many customers switched to eBay services - the second was removed by Yahoo very far in the online auction market but did not charge users.

" Customers who have switched to eBay have returned to using Yahoo's service in the past three months. This is a proof that the Taiwan auction market has returned to itself, " Hung said. .

Yahoo has become the largest service provider in the Taiwan online auction market. Meanwhile eBay has entered into a joint venture with another partner and will launch a new auction service later this year.

Hoang Dung