A Review Of Several Legal Issues Concerning The C2C Online Transaction Contracts In The Case Of Taobao Model

The rapidly growing E-commerce through internet faces no time or space restrictions like conventional sales. Consequently, the change has resulted in great challenges to the established rules and principles that were developed for conventional transactions. E-commerce as a major engine for new economic growths in this century not only changes the style of conventional transactions but also fundamentally affects the basic structure of economies. As one of the components of E-commerce, consumer-to-consumer (C2C) transactions has been becoming more popular as ever by providing unsurpassed convenience for vast numbers of transactions involving goods and services. Online transactions increase the information channels for consumers and alter the ways of payment. Average people are increasingly publishing information and advertisements about various goods and conduct transactions through internet. C2C will be adopted by more and more people as the regulatory regime on E-commerce continues to improve and the public becomes more familiar with online transactions. However, C2C transactions are susceptible to great risks and uncertainties because the parties to the deals are individuals, not legally incorporated entities. How to establish a proper institution to protect the parties'interests and promote the healthy development of the marketplace is a critical question.The novel nature of C2C transactions itself renders the traditional law on commerce and contracts inapplicable in many aspects. It is understandable that such issues exist as this is a relatively new phenomenon. This paper closely examines the transaction model of Taobao, analyzes its C2C online transaction contract, and attempts to develop preliminary solutions for the contractual relationships among the parties to online transactions. The paper includes five parts, and reviews the formation, effectiveness and enforcement of C2C online transaction contracts as well as the rights and responsibilities of the three relevant parties. It further analyzes the legislation experiences and case law of both Chinese and foreign country settings. Finally, the paper proposes recommendations based on the comparative study of the Taobao model so as to create a bridge between traditional laws and this new type of transactions so as to create a healthy and thriving online marketplace.