Alibaba Q3 Net Income Rises 12%

The giant e-commerce company, Alibaba has released financial data that shows third quarter profits rose 12% after raising prices for merchants to sell on it’s trading platform.

Net income increased to 410 million yuan ($64 million) from 366.1 million yuan a year earlier. Revenue rose 11 percent to 1.6 billion yuan.

Much of the market of Alibaba comes from outside China, where foreign markets want to buy cheap Chinese goods. Alibaba for a long time now has been a main source of this. Exporters are now paying 50% more this year to set up an online storefront. The price increase is part of a strategy implemented to sustain revenue growth. Alibaba has also been selling higher value goods to increase average spending per customer.

CEO, Jonathan Lu is also investing more into protecting buyers who have been conned by fraudulent merchants. In the past Alibaba has been found to corruptly sell the ‘Gold Supplier’ status to merchants in exchange for bribes. Now ‘Gold Supplier’ memberships are officially selling  for 29,800 yuan since January.