Alibaba Updates TrustPass Member Services
Ebrun, 12/05/12
In a public notice about 2013 updates to its TrustPass service today, Hangzhou-based B2B e-commerce firm Alibaba.com's 1688.com domestic B2B site has announced that starting on January 1, 2013, there will be across-the-board upgrades to TrustPass member services, unifying multiple TrustPass service plans into a single TrustPass membership plan priced at RMB 3,688 per year.
Alibaba TrustPass offers an online trade services platform for Chinese SMEs engaged in domestic trade. At present, Alibaba offers multiple tiers of seller services: a "basic member" plan priced at RMB 1,688 per year, a "standard member" plan priced at RMB 3,688 per year, and a limited-availability plan priced at RMB 2,800 per year. All of these will be merged into a single service plan with the new upgrades.
Existing members who have already paid membership fees for 2013 will have their membership subscriptions processed according to their original order, and will be able to choose whether or not to upgrade after January 1, 2013.
A spokesperson for TrustPass said that the new member services would be more unified, more clearly defined, and more consistent in quality. "The new plans add on-site verification, mobile storefronts, official company pages, and other new services in addition to everything originally available with the RMB 3,688 membership plan," the spokesperson said.
In its announcement, Alibaba explained that the TrustPass service upgrades will complement previous upgrades to the company's 1688.com platform. In 2012, Alibaba.com connected 1688.com to sister B2C and C2C e-commerce platform Taobao, establishing a stricter set of standards for merchant verification and instituting a new page design, among other new measures. According to Alibaba.com, the 1688.com platform has transitioned from its former role as an enterprise trade data platform to become a transaction-focused enterprise e-commerce platform and has unveiled new payment features for large payments, large orders, and cross-industry online transactions to bring sales, procurement, and business services for multiple industries online.
Editor's Note: For more background on this topic, please see "Rumor: Alibaba.com Disbands TrustPass Sales Team" MD 2/09/12 issue.
Keywords: B2B e-commerce Taobao Internet Alibaba.com TrustPass 1688.com
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