22,000 Chinese men sign up to donate sperm on Alibaba

Although volunteer sperm donors can receive a payment of 3,000-5,000 yuan (US$483-$805), not many men have responded to calls for donations made by several sperm banks across China since April, the newspaper said.

Within 72 hours, 22,017 men had signed up to donate their sperm while 137 had ordered a paternity test and 4,060 men had signed up for sperm fertility testing.

Alibaba, regarded as the place to buy anything online from books to clothes and tractors to smartphones, already sells medicines on its Tmall online marketplace.

The project is the first attempt at O2O (Online to Offline) business by Alibaba Health Information Technology Limited, formerly known as CITIC 21CN Company Limited.

These are some of the ways used by the giant Alibaba group to branch out into heath services, the local media said.

Until now, donors have had to bring along paperwork and make a reservation at a brick-and-mortar sperm bank. Potential donors are assessed on intelligence and good features when applying, attributes which are highly regarded amongst consumers. Afterwards participants then had to agree to a physical check-up within three months.

“The majority of the country’s sperm banks find it hard to attract suitable donors”, he added.

Alibaba calculated that as a result of the three-day drive, there were over 22,000 donor registrations from across the country.

“The number was about the same as we get in an entire year”.

China has more than 50 million infertile couples due to rising work pressure, social and environment changes and stringent donor qualifications, China News reported in March.

Alibaba has been targeting the healthcare sector for some time offering paternity tests and sperm motility kits to help couples start their families. Well, in this age of digital market, online shopping is a norm everywhere.

“In many cases, people are unwilling to make an appointment or go through checks in person”.