NANJING, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- A court in eastern China's Jiangsu Province said Tuesday that it auctioned 53 diamonds online at a total amount of 2.23 million yuan (320,000 U.S. dollars).
The batch of diamonds was sealed up by the Suzhou Industrial Park People's Court after its owner failed to repay their debt within the time limit.
The diamonds were sent to a special agency for identification and then shelved for public auction on the judicial sales platform of Taobao, Alibaba's shopping site.
The court also organized a display for the diamonds on Nov. 7, attracting over 120 potential bidders. As of Monday morning, 170,000 internet users viewed the auction webpage. An estimated 1,645 participated in the auction.
After 4,676 rounds of competitive bidding, the final auction turnover was set at a premium rate of 303 percent.
Online auctions can help save time and service fees for bidders and at the same time increase transparency and prevent under-the-table operations in legal affairs, the court said.
Almost all Chinese courts have registered on Taobao's judicial sales platform since the service was launched in 2012, auctioning assets from diamonds, cars, land use and Boeing 747s to company shares and steel production capacity quotas.
The Suzhou court joined Taobao's judicial sales platform in 2014. A total of 3,438 items have been shelved and 2,344 sold, with a transaction amount of 7.07 billion yuan.
