Buy a Convicted Criminal’s Car: Taobao Opens Government Auction Platform

Do you like Taobao, but wish that you could use the service to buy the possessions of convicted criminals and other assets seized by the Chinese government? If so, today is your lucky day, because Taobao has just launched a judicial auction platform in cooperation with the High People’s Court of Zhejiang.

The site (pictured) promises to be “open, fair, and equitable” and according to the Marbridge Daily, potential bidders will have to pay a deposit and submit accurate personal information before they can successfully bid on any items. At present, no auctions have started and the only items apparently available are cars (the BMW pictured above and a Mitsubishi SUV). We suspect there will be more on offer once things get up and running, and an Alibaba rep told us: “We don’t rule out the possibility of listing more types of assets online if this auction platform is well received by our users.”

She also explained the current lack of items on the site:

At the moment, sf.taobao.com is a pilot project between Taobao.com and the High Court of Zhejiang Province. Taobao.com is providing technical assistance to help the courts auction off related assets in a transparent and efficient manner.

Since this is new to Taobao, the site also features a helpful — if brief — FAQ for potential buyers. It’s hard to know whether or not this style of auction will catch on, but I suspect that anything offering cheap cars is going to do pretty well.

[via Marbridge Daily]