国内英语新闻:Boeing 747s finally find buyers on Taobao

SHENZHEN, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Two Boeing 747 freighters were sold Tuesday on Taobao after repeated attempts to sell them offline.

The aircraft were purchased by SF Airlines for more than 320 million yuan (around 48 million U.S. dollars), according to Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court.

Three Boeing 747 planes went up for auction on Monday. One of the auctions failed because only one buyer registered a bid, the court said.

It is the first time aircraft have been the subject of a Taobao judicial auction, the court said. Deals were reached after 26 bids. The auction gathered over 800,000 viewers.

The freight planes were previously owned by Jade Cargo International, the first Chinese cargo carrier with foreign investment. The company folded in 2013.

The three aircraft had been put up for auction offline six times since October 2015, but failed to find buyers.

"Online auctions are a good way to handle the property of bankrupt firms," said Long Guangwei, the court's vice president.

"Online auctions save time and service fees for bidders," he said.

Almost all Chinese courts have registered on Taobao's judicial sales platform since the service was launched in 2012.

Over 330,000 objects have been auctioned there for a total of 460 billion yuan (about 69.6 billion U.S. dollars).

"Online auctions help transparency in legal affairs because all information is there for all to see," said Lu Weixing, general manager of Alibaba's auction business.

Financial, tax and land resources authorities, customs and police have used online auctions, Lu said. There have been several online auctions of company shares, land use and steel production capacity quotas, whose value reached billions.