Alibaba Fined For Matters Related To Singles Day Pricing

(RTTNews) - Chiese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA) said Friday that it has received notices from Zhejiang Price Bureau that the company has been fined RMB500,000, or about US$81,000, for matters related to Singles Day pricing by third-party sellers on its Tmall marketplace in 2013 and 2014 and RMB300,000, or about US$48,000, for pricing in other promotions in 2013 and 2015.

'Alibaba marketplaces are designed to bring buyers and sellers together and, while pricing by third party sellers is done independent of Alibaba, we are strongly committed to protecting consumers. Thus we will be reinforcing pricing rules and regulations with our sellers in our daily operations and emphasizing these rules well in advance of our 2015 Singles Day activities," the company said in a statement.

Singles Day is a day for people who are single, celebrated on November 11 (11/11). The date is chosen for the connection between singles and the number '1'. This holiday became popular among young Chinese people. It has also become the largest online shopping day in the world, with sales in Alibaba's sites Tmall and Taobao at US$9.3 billion in 2014.