Alibaba.com launches payments protection

"We are truly on a path to make the B2B ecosystem healthier and more efficient," saidMichael Lee, director of global marketing and business development at Alibaba.com, at the ongoing Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

Alibaba.com, part of the Alibaba Group and aleading platform for global B2B wholesale trade,launched their latest service - Trade Assurance- at the show.

The new service protects customers' payments and ensures that suppliers fulfill their promises regarding shipping dates and quality standards.If either the agreed shipment date or product quality are not met, buyers will get a 100 percent refund from Alibaba.com.Unlike other credit insurance products on the market, this service is free to buyers.

"Trust has been the No 1 issue between first time buyers and sellers," Lee said. "We are committed to helping them removing this barrier."

Lee said the company carefully evaluates each supplier's trade history and credit before inviting them to join the program. "So that we are able to endorse them in front of the buyers," Lee said. "For the buyers, we encourage them to take advantage of this free service to protect their payment, trade confidently and build trust with their business partners."

Beyond removing trust issues, the company also emphasized that localization and partnerships are key to their success in the US.

Alibaba.com wants to provide a platform "where someone could find suppliers within their own country", and "be able to speak their own language", said Sunny Chhabra, online marketing manager at Alibaba.com..

"We consider ourselves as a very global company, but in terms of the US market, we should be able to connect with suppliers in the US, not just find them across the world," he said.

Also, the company assumes that readers in a specific country will always want to read the site in the native language of that country and has customized Alibaba.com within different languages.

"In our case, the site is in English in the US," saidChhabra, adding that partnerships were important as well.

zilian@chinadailyusa.com