Sources from the world's largest third-party transaction platform eBay have stated that the company will prohibit transactions of virtual property online. Virtual goods like currencies, accounts and equipment in online games will not be allowed to be auctioned online. However, taobao.com, the largest online auction site in China, has yet to take the same action.

As fraud in virtual goods transactions has occurred from time to time and online game accounts and other virtual goods are frequently stolen, eBay finally announced that it will prohibit the online transaction of virtual goods of multi-player online role-playing games like World of Warcraft and EverQuest II. However, the virtual community of the online game Second Life is not included in this prohibition.

Some analysts commented that following eBay's prohibition of virtual goods transactions online, users' virtual rights are likely to be safeguarded at online transaction platforms and they will be provided with better transaction services. This may indicate that online game operators and government departments are expected to interfere in virtual goods transactions online.

However, Taobao stated that it will not prohibit the transactions of virtual goods currently, as it has been calling for the establishment of an open online shopping platform. A representative with Taobao pointed out that China's online gaming industry is still in a development period, therefore, any prohibitions of virtual goods transactions are very likely to "kill" the new generation of Internet products.

Additionally, Taobao stressed that it will delete information on the website once network fraud and theft of virtual property are reported. Taobao stated that it is more urgent to determine the ownership of virtual property legally before regulating online transactions of virtual property.

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