Haggling is customary at most stores. Zhongguancun is Beijing's major electronic markets. [Photos/China Daily]

Online shopping behemoths, such as Amazon.com and 360buy.com - the country's most popular electronics online retailer, founded by a former Zhongguancun hawker - have long been luring customers from the market's buzzing hive of counters with the nectar of lower prices and greater accountability.

"The question I get most is, 'Are your BlackBerrys real?'" seller Zhang Zheng says.

"But customers can return a phone within a week if they're dissatisfied and don't even need to give a reason if the phone is re-sellable."

360buy.com's sales volume surpassed 10 billion yuan ($1.56 billion) in January and is expected to generate up to 26 billion yuan in 2011, China E-business Research Center reported in August. Its business-to-consumer market share was 18.1 percent in the first half of the year, second to Taobao Mall's 48.5 percent.

And electronics retail leviathans, such as Gome and Suning, are also taking their business - and price wars - online.

They enjoy a sharp competitive edge over such traditional retail platforms as Zhongguancun's, where a lack of regulation creates gray markets full of overcharging, swindling and fake goods.

Software developer Qi Xiaokai says he never imagined a tech whiz like himself could fall prey to conniving hucksters.

But the 31-year-old was duped in September 2010 when he was offered a laptop at less than the market value and was told to wait for 20 minutes.

"The girl seemed so innocent, so I felt OK to hand over my cash," he recalls.

"But I realized it was a scam when I was told to wait for another 30 minutes, and she recommended another model for a higher price."

Two muscular goons arrived to intimidate him, he says. "But I wasn't scared, because I know how Zhongguancun works. To complain or fight only makes it worse. So I bluffed and said I wasn't so easily bullied."

Such bait-and-switch cheats are business as usual at the market.

"I've stopped going to Zhongguancun so often and usually buy electronics online from sites like 360buy.com," he says.

"The quality is good, delivery is fast and after-sales service is great. I still pick up cheap gadgets, like headphones and mice, in the market, because it's near my work."

Qi believes relocating the vendors won't solve the problem of cheating.

"The most cunning liars are from the big stores," he says.

Zhou Wei is among the tech junkies going online for gizmo shopping.

"There are many promotional activities, such as discounts and group buying," the 25-year-old IT worker says.

"I was a diehard Zhongguancun fan. But it's too easy to get cheated there."