To succeed in taobao shopping as a foreigner,you need three things: choose the right item and seller, payment, and shipping.
I have already shared tips about choose right product and seller,shippping.In this post,I will explain the payment method taobao support and some tips about payment.
Two questions about alipay
First,here are two common questions:
Q1. Can I use paypal on taobao?
Unfortunately, you cannot.
On Taobao or any websites owned by Alibaba group, PayPal is not a payment option as it is a direct competitor with AliPay.
Q2. Can I use alipay balance to pay for my taobao orders?
No, you cann’t unless you have a verified alipay account.
but it is very hard to verify it because it requires a bank card issued by China banks.
so unless you work,study or travel in mainland China,you cann’t open a bank account like that.
Here is a guide on how to open China bank accounts as a foreigner.
Four Payment methods Taobao support
credit card
Taobao accepts a wide variety of credit and debit cards, including Visa, MasterCard,JCB.
and the service fee is 3% of transaction amount.
Sellers with credit card payment gateway :per transaction limit: 10000 RMB,per day limit: 10000 RMB
Sellers without credit card payment gateway :per transaction limit: 6000 RMB,per day limit:6000 RMB
Note: If you don’t want your credit card info to be saved on taobao,you can also use pre-paid gift cards or virtual credit card.
Malaysia eBanking
if you are from Malaysia or have Malaysia bank account,you can use this payment method,its service fee is low,which is only 1.5%.
Linked China bank account
as I said,if you are in China right now,you can open a Chinese bank accout,get it linked to alipay as a payment method,the best part is no service fee for every transaction.
another thing is once you have a Chinse bank account,you can open a Taobao store there and selling to China domestic market.
Alipay gift card (支付宝购物卡)
Alipay gift cards are another possible payment method with the Taobao,but it is only available to some countries like Australia or Singapore.
and the limit is per transaction limit: 4500 RMB,per day limit: 5000 RMB
Pay on your behalf
Taobao allows you to ask someone else to pay for your taobao orders,you just need to input that person’s alipay account,taobao will send message to him/her.
Step 1.
on the payment page,find the keywords “找人代付”,click it.
step 2.
now you can type in your friends alipay account ,notes,and the verifacation code.then click”请他付款”.
your friend will receive a notifaction to pay for your order.
The steps to use credit card on taobao
Step 1.
After entering the payment page, input the card number, and then click Next
Step 2.
Card information page where you need to input the relevant information, and then click on Confirm the Payment(确认付款).
Step 3.
if you have activated the 3D Secure (Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode) feature,then you need to input the personal security code to authenticate the transaction.
if not,you can skip this step and will be led to the payment result page.
Let me know what payments you are using in the comments!