Speed overkill

• Source: Global Times
• [09:31 February 17 2011]
• Comments

Professional speeding

While Ming attributes his failure to bad luck, he was probably unaware that whenever he tried to "speed kill" an item, there were probably armies of paid professionals - dubbed "speeders" - doing exactly the same thing.

A search of taobao.com by the Global Times found nearly 2,000 stores offering "speed kill" services for their customers.

"We guarantee success," a customer representative of one such store said to the Global Times, claiming that they would refund the money if the bid fails.

The store's trading record showed that it had successfully sold 453 such services in the last month, making an estimated 11,000 yuan ($1,669), more than what many white-collar workers make in the same period.

In addition to using faster Internet connections and advanced computer systems, many "speeders" also use a special device that automatically starts bidding whenever a product comes up, according to a report by the Xinhua News Agency.

"The customers' interest in 'speed kill' is destined to drop," Guan Peng, vice president of Anhui Yanhuang Network Technology Company, China's largest provider of domain name services, said to the Global Times.

"'Speed skill' services are detrimental to both customers and retailers," Guan said, "because with the existence of such services, neither can the retailers get the expected promotions for their stores, nor can customers benefit from bidding," he added.

In a recent online poll on qq.com, only 20 percent of some 8,000 respondents said they would try "speed kill."

Guan said that a lack of transparency frequently led to customer complaints and even lawsuits, and to ensure its fairness a third-party supervisory body will be needed in the future.

"However, like any other online marketing strategy, people will lose interest in 'speed kill' sooner or later," Guan said.