Shops and shopkeepers On tabao

source from http://asia.cnet.com/blogs/sinobytes/post.htm?id=63013693

Navigating the bamboo scaffolding of China's rapid-rising tower of technology by Steven Millward,China

Similarly to eBay, there's an emphasis on shopkeepers being rated by buyers to display who can, and can't, be trusted. The same, too, for buyers. In the screenshot to the right, you can see one shopkeeper's stats, displayed on its shop home screen. After every transaction, both parties can optionally rate each other; but it has become polite to give a good rating where one is due. The more "crowns" and "hearts", the better

Text reviews can also be posted under every product. Interestingly, running a Taobao shop has become a national pastime, with even office workers on a good salary running shops, chatting online with potential customers--perhaps even during office hours--and sorting out the mailing of items in the evenings and on weekends. University students, too, provided they have a laptop, have taken to being sellers to give themselves a bit of an income during the semester. Setting up a Taobao shop requires no fees be paid to the site. So it's just a matter of sourcing for some products from a wholesaler--an easy thing to find and do in China, which is the "world's factory" after all--for a fairly small outlay. And then you'll hopefully be able to sell the goods at a competitive price which slightly undercuts the bricks-and-mortar stores with their huge overheads.