Although Taobao was once plunged into a "disguised charge" crisis last year because of the launch of the "Zhaocai Jinqian" value-added service, this year it still decided to take risks and launch more value-added services. Yesterday, Taobao.com confirmed to The Economic Information Daily that in April it would begin offering optional value-added services to merchants (B2C) newly opened in 2006 on its Mall platform. This move is regarded by the industry as an attempt by Taobao to "indirectly" charge fees. However, a Taobao press spokesperson denied the "fee" claims, and emphasized that Taobao's commitment of "continue free for C2C for another three years" remains unchanged.