When an online-shop owner dies...

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Taobao, the most popular online shopping service in China, has more than 500 million registered users and nearly 8 million daily site visits, the company says.

It has more than 800 million online products and more than 8 million online shop owners, with about 480,000 products sold every minute.

The shopping website is popular not only in China, but is also increasingly finding favor with European and US retailers, who believe it is a good way of reaching Chinese customers, Ting says.

It is estimated that there were about 242 million Chinese online shoppers by the end of last year, 25 percent more than in the previous year, the China Internet Network Information Center says.

Experts say China needs to upgrade its ecommerce laws and learn from other countries on how to cope with disputes that involve online property.

At present there are no specific rules in China on online inheritance, thereby making it difficult for Web companies to establish a legal precedence, Chen Wei, a lawyer in Beijing, says.

Chen, who specializes in inheritance cases, says most online shops with a good reputation overseas have physical stores in their local markets, thereby making it easier to establish presence in cases of a dispute.

But most Chinese shops on online platforms like Taobao have no physical presence at all and are operated by individuals, Chen says, making it difficult for Web companies and judicial authorities to manage and supervise.

"Most of the foreign online shops are shadows of the big enterprises that have rigid rules governing purchases and operations," says Chen Shousong, an e-commerce analyst working for Analysys International, a provider of information products, services and solutions in the China Internet market.

"Most of the Western countries have proper rules and regulations to address issues like online property claims," he says.

"City Angels", a shop owner on Taobao, while welcoming the guidelines feels that it is important for the existing owners to communicate change of ownership to buyers before they stop transactions.

"The reputation of the online shop won't change after it is transferred," he says. "So the seller must inform buyers about such changes."

Such steps will boost the confidence of the buyers and prevent fraud, he says.