Jan. 4, 2007 (China Knowledge) – Alibaba.com, China’s largest e-commerce company, is charging some users of its free Alipay online payments service in a bid to seek new source of revenue.

Alipay, Alibaba’s online payment solution in China, will start charging “technical service fees” to Alipay users not doing business on Alibaba's Taobao auction site starting from 2007. Taobao customers can continue to use Alipay for free.

In a brief statement issued on Sunday, Alipay said that the new charges will help to “standardize the electronic payments market and promote the healthy development of the industry”.