Online stores' designers in great demand

To avoid paying the commission, some designers choose to open an online-store selling design services instead of registering at the decoration market.

Taobao's decoration market operator argued that the registered designers, provided by Taobao with functional tool bags, great demand and an environment of healthy competition, will benefit more than the unregistered ones do.

The operator also said that users of the decoration market are protected by Taobao's refund system. They may even enjoy a dual guarantee if the designers pay security money of 10,000 yuan, which would be used to compensate for the losses of store owners if disputes should happen.

Some unregistered designers claim that the authentication system does not put them at a disadvantage since Taobao's decoration market can only offer finished designs while some store owners prefer customized ones.

Shi Li, 25, from Changchun, capital of Northeast China's Jilin province, has been working as an online store designer for three years. Unlike Liu, Shi focuses on customized designing, which means his only task is to meet the demands of a certain store owner.

"Customized designing has its own problems," Shi said. "It is quite common to redesign a single webpage over and over again until it can satisfy the customer."

In the daytime, Shi works as a designer for an online store of women's clothing. From this job he gets a fixed wage of 3,000 yuan, which he regards as good money considering the average wage of designers in Northeast China.

"Store owners value us much more than they did several years ago since customers are now less likely to spend money in a roughly designed store," Shi said. "I earned only 1,200 yuan the first month I worked as a full-time designer."

Wang Ruofei from Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, a frequent customer of Taobao, says good decoration is critical for an online store. "I usually have no desire for shopping when I stroll into an unsightly one."

"I prefer a light-colored background and elegant design," Wang added.

While earning his bread and butter as a full-time designer, Shi adds a little jam by doing some odd jobs after work. He has long been thinking about having his own design studio.

"I believe this emerging industry will provide me with more opportunities though there are now many competitors," Shi said. "The key to survival lies not only in creativity, but also in patience for gaining customers."

Contact the writer at xujunqian@chinadaily.com.cn.

Ma Yiyun contributed to this story.