淘寶再度被美國列入惡名市場黑名單

The US government has put China’s biggest ecommerce platform back on its blacklist of “notorious markets” known for peddling fake goods, a decision Alibaba argues may have been politically motivated.

美國政府再度把中國最大電商平臺列入其“惡名市場”黑名單，這類市場以兜售假貨而聞名。阿里巴巴(Alibaba)辯稱，美國政府這一決定背後或許存在政治動機。

Taobao, an online marketplace owned by Alibaba, managed to get off the list four years ago after clamping down on counterfeiters, but on Wednesday was put back on this year’s list.

四年前，阿里巴巴旗下在線集市淘寶網(Taobao)在對假貨展開打擊後，被撤下了該黑名單。但在本週三，淘寶再度被列入了該黑名單。

“While recent steps set positive expectations for the future, current levels of reported counterfeiting and piracy are unacceptably high,” said the US Office of the Trade Representative, which compiles the Review of Notorious Markets.

“儘管近來的措施令人對未來產生積極的期待，但目前報告的造假和盜版水平高得難以接受，”美國貿易代表辦公室(Office of the US Trade Representative)稱。該機構負責編制《惡名市場審查報告》(Review of Notorious Markets)。

Alibaba said it was “very disappointed” by the decision, which it claims may have been politically motivated in an environment of rising tensions between Beijing and the US.

阿里巴巴表示，它對這一決定感到“非常失望”。該公司聲稱，在中美之間緊張關係加劇的背景下，這一決定背後或許存在政治動機。

“The fact that the decision ignores the real work Alibaba has done to fight counterfeit makes us question whether the USTR decision was swayed by the current political climate,” said Michael Evans, president of Alibaba Group.

“這一決定無視阿里巴巴爲打擊造假而開展的實際行動，令我們懷疑美國貿易代表辦公室的決定是否受到當前政治氣候的影響，”阿里巴巴集團總裁邁克.埃文斯(Mike Evans)說。

Alibaba has been in conflict with international business groups over the long-running problem of counterfeit goods sold by Taobao’s 10m merchants. Last year the American Apparel & Footwear Association said it was “frustrated” by the company’s lack of progress in handling counterfeiters.

由於淘寶1000萬商家出售假貨的問題長期存在，阿里巴巴與國際商業集團之間一直衝突不斷。去年，美國服裝和鞋類協會(American Apparel & Footwear Association)表示，它對阿里巴巴在處置造假者方面缺乏進展感到“失望”。

Jack Ma, Alibaba’s founder, boasted earlier this year that fakes were often "better quality and better price than the real names” — drawing criticism from goods makers for seeming complacent about Alibaba’s record on fakes.

今年早些時候，阿里巴巴創始人馬雲(Jack Ma)誇口稱，許多假冒商品“比真品質量更好，價格更優惠”。這一言論遭到產品製造商的批評，稱馬雲似乎對阿里巴巴的售假記錄不以爲意。

Alibaba, which listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014, claims it is making more progress than ever, saying that in 2016 it has removed more than twice the number of infringing product listings than last year.

2014年在紐約證交所(NYSE)上市的阿里巴巴聲稱，它取得了比以往任何時候都要大的進展。它還表示，2016年其下架的侵權產品數量是去年的兩倍多。

“It is therefore unreasonable for the USTR to have concluded that Alibaba is less effective in anti-counterfeiting than when it reviewed our efforts in 2015 and when it removed us from its list four years ago,” said Mr Evans.

“因此，美國貿易代表辦公室斷定阿里巴巴現在在打假方面不如2015年其審查我們的努力時有效，不如四年前其將我們從名單上移除時有效，是不講道理的，”埃文斯說。

Taobao has over 1bn goods available for sale at any given time. As with US-based eBay, it is easy for small merchants and individuals to set up their own sites on the platform.

在任一給定時點，淘寶上的在售商品都超過10億件。與總部位於美國的eBay一樣，小商家和個人很容易在淘寶上建立自己的店鋪。

“It’s not ideal, but I don’t think most Chinese users really care whether the US puts Taobao on its list or not,” said Mark Natkin, managing director of Marbridge Consulting, a tech consultancy in Beijing. “It’s an issue more for investors . . . and whether it leads brand owners to take action.”

“雖然它不完美，但我不認爲大多數中國用戶真的在乎美國是否把淘寶列入其名單。”北京科技諮詢公司邁博瑞諮詢(Marbridge Consulting)董事總經理馬克.納特金(Mark Natkin)說，“這更多地是一個投資者要應對的問題……更多地是一個是否會導致品牌所有者採取行動的問題。”

Mr Natkin added: “One of the great appeals for Chinese users [of ] is you can get anything on the platform at very low prices. If you were really good at cleaning up all the shoddy goods, it would have a negative impact on the gross transaction volume.”

納特金補充說：“（淘寶）對中國用戶的一個巨大吸引力在於，你能夠在該平臺上以很低的價格搞到任何東西。如果真的能在清除所有假貨方面做得很出色，將對總成交額產生負面影響。”

Alibaba is also grappling with a wave of fake reviews and order-faking scams that merchants use to inflate their sales and ratings — methods collectively known as “brushing”.

另外，阿里巴巴還在努力應對一系列虛假評論和訂單造假騙局——這些被商家用來誇大銷量和擡高評級的手段統稱爲“刷單”。