Jack Ma, the former English teacher who runs the Alibaba Group, has for years said that a Taobao listing was not imminent and that the unit had to focus on development first.

Many have now gone professional, buying goods wholesale on Alibaba and reselling them on Taobao.

On the country's biggest online trading platform, Taobao.com, one Shenzhen-based vendor started to sell the pornographic TV USB drives several days ago.

The so-called Taobao addicts are helping to pick up the slack in a sluggish economy. “I can’t live without Taobao, ” said Zhang Kangni, a graduate student in Shanghai.

Ma said she spent about 200 to 300 renminbi a month, which translates into roughly $30 to $45, shopping on Taobao, China’s version of Amazon.