According to Qiu Changheng, vice president of Alipay, China's first e-commerce credit system is expected to be launched by the end of 2009 and the system will fully cover small and medium-sized enterprises and individual users.
Qiu revealed the news through local media while attending a seminar in Beijing with the theme of Internet credit and the transfer of small and medium-sized enterprises. This seminar also attracted over 30 senior experts from the People's Bank of China, the information division of China's Ministry of Commerce, the market order division of China's Ministry of Commerce, and the national information center of China's National Development and Reform Commission.
Qiu said at the meeting that as a leading company in China's Internet third-party payment industry, Alipay's secured transaction model benefited its initial development and solved the confidence issues between sellers and buyers.
Alipay has actually already launched an Internet credit plan targeting its cooperative vendors. The credit grading standards of this plan include hundreds of indices and the company will make real-time calculation of the relevant information of all vendors via a designed model soon. On the basis of this plan, Alipay published the first batch of trustworthy vendors in 2008. Alipay promises that if there is any fraud problems with these trustworthy vendors, Alipay will make full compensation to customers.
Qiu said he believes a complete credit system should not only cover vendors, but also buyers. The company is expected to launch the first buyer-oriented credit system based on the existing statistics within 2009, forming a complete e-commerce credit system in China.
Qiu further explained that according to this credit system, users with higher credit ratings can enjoy higher discounts and higher payment limits. People who violate the credit regulations will be punished with restriction or termination of Alipay's services.