Recently, Zhanjiang Customs District made a public auction of 22,661 pieces of confiscated smuggled marten furs at an auction center in Zhanjiang City. To ensure fairness and transparency in the auction and convenience for the buyers outside Zhanjiang, the Customs conducted the combination of onsite auction with online auction. Through 72 rounds of bidding, those marten furs were sold out at a total of CNY5.18 million. Afterwards, the proceeds were turned over to the state treasury.

“Compared with conventional auction mode, online auction is not restricted to time and geographic region and thus can restrain malicious collusion to cleanse market operation and secure the interests of clients,” said an officer in charge of the auction. Moreover, the online mode can greatly raise transaction efficiency, with transaction cost reduced for the bidders, and so becomes an innovation being promoted by the Customs in auction operation.

To ensure fairness and transparency, Zhanjiang Customs made the auction right ownership determined by drawing lots; the auction object evaluated by the City Price Authentication Center; the auction announcement posted in advance on provincial newspapers, the Customs web portal and relevant auction websites; the fur samples viewed by bidders one week in advance; whole auction process watched on site by supervisory departments of the Customs

According to the officers in charge, Zhanjiang Customs always attaches importance to combat against smuggling and disposal of confiscated articles, getting all the confiscated through “sun-shining” disposals like public auction to reach standardization, openness and legalization. Since 2015, the Customs has finished 17 such disposals, with resulting proceeds more than CNY18 million into the state treasury, thus contributing to national interest and local socio-economic development.