Alibaba luxury auction sales to expand

E-commerce conglomerate Alibaba Group's Xianyu Auction platform is gearing up its expansion in used luxury sales, by cooperating with the China Certification & Inspection Group luxury identification center.

Xianyu Auction inked a cooperation deal with the luxury identification center on Friday, saying it would work closely with the center to regulate the quality of used luxury items.

"Together with the center, we can control the quality of used luxury goods, effectively stopping fake goods entering our platform. Then we could better protect consumers' interests," said Guo Zuli, head of Xianyu Auction's luxury business department.

Under the agreement, Xianyu Action will launch a special section dedicated to the items, which have been approved by the center as authentic.

Early in 2014, Alibaba launched an online flea market platform called Xianyu for people selling used goods. Then Alibaba merged Xianyu with its online auction business together into Xianyu Auction in May, aiming to creating the biggest sharing-economy platform in China.

With the improvement of living standards, people now own a large amount of used goods. Shanghai-based enterprise data aggregator CBNData's report shows that in 2016 China's used goods market is expected to reach 400 billion yuan ($60 billion).

According to Alibaba's previous statements, Xianyu Auction would connect users, the mobile community and commodity trading together, sketching a huge blueprint for a sharing economy.

The Beijing-based China Certification & Inspection Group luxury identification center is the first independent body dedicated to provide luxury identification and certification.