Item Moderation for Multinational E-commerce

A case study with AliExpress and Toloka

Image by Mediamodifier from Pixabay

Introduction

E-commerce platforms such as Amazon, AliExpress, and Shopify allow users to upload items they would like to sell. Thousands of vendors use them to connect with potential consumers.

But not everything can or should be sold there, and it’s the responsibility of the platforms to monitor what’s being sold on them. In this article, you will learn how multinational online shopping company AliExpress does just that.

What is item moderation?

Item moderation for e-commerce is a classification problem. After looking at pictures of the product, its description, and the price, we need to decide if it is suitable for sale on the platform.

Photo by the Author

AliExpress has a few categories they classify items into:

• OK. Products without display restrictions. They can be sold and displayed everywhere.
• RESTRICTED. Products restricted to display. They can only be shown on direct request.
• ADULT. Adult products related to sex. They have a separate category…