(Yicai Global) Oct. 13 -- China's major express delivery companies recently announced jacked-up prices for their services for the upcoming online shopping peak season.

 YTO Express Co. [SHA: 600233] withdrew its notice of price increases one day after issuing it, however, saying that the company would not increase prices during the Double 11 e-commerce shopping festival, so called because it falls on 11/11.

 On Oct. 11, YTO Express issued a notice of its higher price for the festival, saying that rising labor and transportation costs and the need preserve service quality forced it to increase the price for one package under 1 kilogram (kg) by CNY0.3 (USD0.045) and for any portion over 1kg by CNY0.3/kg over and above the original price.

 However, the firm relented and deleted the notice from its official website on the evening of Oct. 12. Vice president Ye Feng also announced that the company would not increase prices over Double 11, The Paper reported.

 The Paper also inquired of YTO Express whether prices will rise again after Singles' Day, but received no clear reply.

 China's two other major express delivery companies ZTO Express (NYSE: ZTO) and YUNDA Holding Co., Ltd. [SHE: 002120] likewise issued notices of price adjustments on Oct.10 and Oct. 11, also citing rising costs.

 Singles' Day started as a 'counter-Valentine's Day' male students at Nanjing University pioneered in the 1990s to protest and resist societal pressure to get hitched at a young age. The students may also have taken their inspiration from the four single digits in the date, which is the prevailing, if erroneous view as to the origin of the term. Apocryphal or not, the celebration has since evolved into China's top e-commerce sales event along the lines of the US' Black Friday.