Showdown between China's realty agents and estate websites

But the housing agents' tit-for-tat strategy might deal a big blow to the company. Within a week of the boycott, Fang.com's share price dipped to $10.34 from $11.34. If their relationship continues to be strained, some believe the company could face up to 40 percent revenue loss.

The housing agents, however, might get burnt by their own fire, as a fallout with China's dominant real estate website could make them lose customers.

According to official statistics, Fang.com dominates 50 percent of the online house listing market in China. The website proudly boasts a record of more than 20 million registered users, with average daily hits of 12 million, making it the most visited among similar websites. Its mobile application had 2.17 million users by January 2014, four times that of the second-ranking app in the same category.

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So the real-estate-versus-e-commerce quandary could be a lose-lose deal for both. The store manager of Shanghai-based Renchuan Real Estate Agents told Xinhua harboring bad blood with Fang.com is the last thing he wants because the website has solid numbers of users and a very good brand.

"Since the boycott, our phone consultations have dropped by about 30 percent," he said.

The dicey dispute has also raised concern among potential house purchasers, who have complained about a sudden lack of listings on Fang.com, which is currently only able to post information from little-known companies.

Mr Ye, a Shanghai resident, said most of the listings on Fang.com were suddenly invalid and he had to turn to other websites for fresh listings.

Li Tiegang, a professor with the real estate research center of Shandong University, said websites like Fang.com should learn to protect the interest of both realty agents as well as their users.

"The website's interests are closely connected with the agents and users, so if its people do not behave, they will eventually hurt their own prospects," Li said.

Yan Yuejin, a research fellow with E-house China R&D Institute, said that housing agents are extremely important to the e-commerce websites because they not only help provide housing information, but also verify the authenticity of such information while protecting the interest of purchasers. He urged both sides to reconcile.

"Both sides should make some compromises and find a solution to the problem, instead of maximizing their own interests by damaging the interests of each other," he said.

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