Supporters outnumbered opponents Sunday in an online poll on introducing a real-name system to online retail registration after China's commerce authority issued a draft to solicit public opinion.

The State Administration for Industry and Commerce released a draft regulation on its website Friday, saying personal information of people applying to start an online store, including their real names and address, would be required when registering with the e-commerce agents.

It also said eligible retailers would be approved by the e-trading agents, and the move would regulate trading behavior and protect consumers' rights and interest.

As of Sunday, a total of 3,727 netizens, or 48.9 percent, were in favor of the regulation in an online survey launched by China's leading web portal, Sina.com., while 43.8 percent of the total 7,608 respondents were opposed.

The poll signalled the real-name system would be officially introduced, which would raise the registration threshold, said an unnamed representative of Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba.com. Corp.

"It is a good news for consumers as it will help prevent Internet trading fraud and encourage online retailers to improve their services," said Chen Jiao, a 27-year-old regular online buyer.

But opponents expressed concern that the measure could increase retailers' costs.

"It may incur license fees after registering with real names, which would strain many small e-retailers' finances and curb their development given the backdrop that most of the e-store owners operate on thin profit margins," said Tan Yan, who has run a clothing store in Asia's biggest e-commerce website Taobao.com for three years.

The draft did not mention whether e-store applicants would have to apply for licenses.

At present, online retailers are not required to provide their real personal information when registering e-shops.

Data from China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) showed the number of the country's online shoppers jumped 38.9 percent year on year to 87.88 million as of last June. The volume of online shopping in the first half of this year reached 119.5 billion yuan (US$17.5 billion).

(Xinhua News Agency April 4, 2010)