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E-commerce firm Alibaba.com Corp has joined hands with China Construction Bank to offer loans to individual sellers on its auction site to spur trading and expand its share in China's consumer-to-consumer market.

 

Vendors on its subsidiary Taobao.com, who often find it hard to gain bank loans, can get up to 100,000 yuan (US$13,698) in short-term loans if they have a good credit history, Alibaba said yesterday.

 

But applicants will have to pay higher interest rates of 8.21 percent a year for the bank to make a profit margin and to offset the risks. Sellers can apply for the loans when they have closed a deal but not yet received the money.

 

They must also be users of the Alipay system, which holds buyers' money in trust and won't send it to the sellers' bank accounts until buyers confirm they have received the goods and are satisfied with the quality.

 

About 40,000 to 50,000 sellers on Taobao are qualified for the program,...

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