Rumor: Taobao Bans External Image Linking
Ebrun, 8/10/12
An image storage service provider who requested anonymity revealed today that Hangzhou-based C2C & B2C e-commerce site Taobao plans to tighten restrictions on third-party image storage services as a way of driving merchants to use Taobao's own image storage features. Taobao will test to see whether or not merchants' images are stored on Taobao's servers, and will flag any externally stored images as "irregular," regardless of whether or not the content is accessible and permissible.
"External linking" refers to the practice of uploading product images to image storage space offered by a third-party service provider, then linking to the address of the images in Taobao's backend system to display them in their product listings.
Taobao's own image storage service uses the company's self-developed content-delivery network (CDN) system to address the issues involved in constantly reading and writing large volumes of small image files. Merchant users can upload images to the system directly, without having to paste in image file addresses. Some merchants continue to use lower-priced third-party products and services, however, which allow them to decrease their own cost pressures. Another major reason for merchants' willingness to use external services is the support these services offer for stores on multiple e-commerce platforms, meaning merchants can use the same images on Taobao, Tencent's (0700.HK) Paipai, Eachnet, or Leho.com.
According to the third-party image hosting provider, Taobao's image hosting is exclusive of other platforms. The terms of use clearly stipulate that images uploaded to the space may only be used on Taobao. The company is unwilling to allow its network resources to be used by other e-commerce platforms, the source said, and proscriptions against third-party image storage services are also grounded in data security concerns and a desire to maintain the independence of Taobao's platform.
A completely redesigned Taobao image storing service will be unveiled in September, along with a new pricing policy. The company may offer free bonus image space, free service for merchants rated "one diamond" or lower, or a certain amount of free space for all merchant users as ways of lowering the cost of image hosting for merchants. The newly reimagined service reportedly takes merchants' positions into account in developing a traffic volume-based image display feature enabling merchants to view up-to-the-minute statistics about their online stores' image hosting volumes.
Keywords: e-commerce Taobao Internet B2C C2C online images storage
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