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!
198 thoughts on “4 Ways to Pay on Taobao”
There is no option to pay with credit card for me, there is only Alipay
View Comment怎么我到了“提交订单”后,没有办法继续?
View CommentHi Eric,
View CommentI am a little bit confused and was hoping you could help.
Do I enter my international credit card information after I try to purchase something?
Or do I enter it into my account before (because I cannot find it in settings)?
Every time I enter the payment page it takes me straight to the alipay website. Can I even use credit card to pay for my stuff on the website?
View CommentHow to change the language in mobile taobao software?
View Commentyou can not change language,there is only Chinese version.
View CommentHey ya, does anyone know how much the bank usually charge for additional processing fee if I choose to pay using Debit MasterCard? I read somewhere that the Alipay’s service fee is about 3%? My total cost of the items itself should be around 300 (according to that day’s conversion rate) but my bank charged me at 340! That is more than 10%?
View CommentI recently used tao bao and paid with my credit card, and not ali pay, and now the item has arrived and received and i am happy with it, but it asked me to type in alipay password, so to let the seller know I have received the item. However, I don’t think I ever register any to begin with. What should I do ?
View Commentyou don’t have to do that,just ingore the message.
View CommentHow to ignore? They won’t let me process.
View CommentHello Eric
View CommentI want to send OTP code to my email not mobile phone no.
How can I change?
they only support sending otp code to your moblie phone right now.
View CommentHi, I tried to pay using my credit card but the alipay kept denying and replied 抱歉,网络系统异常,请稍后再试。What should I do?
View CommentAre you using vpn? If not, then there might be some problems with your internet connection (too slow/insecure connection)
View CommentThis means that the server is having issues please try again later
View CommentInternational credit cards from other countries are avaliable to buy at taobao and tmall?
View CommentHi good day! Im trying to order to taobao. my colleague told me I can connect my debit card to alipay. my debit card is from china construction bank, is it possible to connect it to alipay? thanks!
View Commentyes if your debit card is issued by Mainland china construction bank.
View Commenti see. i’ve been trying to connect it to my alipay account but it does not allow me. is there any way you can help me with this?
View Commentyou can send the screenshot to my email,I will check it.
View CommentHello.
Can i use this method to pay goods on 1688 to ?
Thank you.
View Commentyes,you can.
View Commenti add my Debit card into Alipay app account,and pay successful in Taobao
View CommentHi Eric,
On AliExpress, you can read in Help that only credit cards are supported, and Visa or MasterCard debit cards are not. But CS will confirm that Visa Debit cards are also supported and widely used for payments. Basically, when a buyer uses such card linked to his bank account to make a purchase, Alipay can use Visa or MasterCard international transaction processing system to charge payment, so it doesn’t need to be a member of any other cash transaction systems. Since Taobao payments are also processed by Alipay, they likely have the same processing options for international transactions. Can you contact Alipay CS to clarify?
View CommentVisa or MasterCard debit cards is supported by taobao alipay based on some feedbacks I received from internatioanl shoppers.
View CommentDo you know if a Visa or MasterCard debit card is accepted? I’m wary of using my actual credit card to make purchases, and I had planned on buying a visa/MasterCard gift or debit card.
View Commentno,they don’t accept Visa or MasterCard debit card.IMO,credit card is safe becasue They WILL NOT remember card info for you.
View CommentI have problem using my credit card after I changed my mailing address, what should I do? I know my credit card is fine, confirmed with the bank. Thanks.
View Commentyou should contact taobao English customer serivce for problems like this.
https://www.howtotao.com/taobao-customer-service/
View CommentI’ve used my Vista debit card for Taobao and haven’t had a problem. You should be fine.
View CommentHi,Liz,thanks for your feedback,I have just contacted the Taobao customer service,they are pretty sure only credit card is supported.so would you mind sharing more info about this?(I.e. your country,card type ect.)
View CommentHi Eric, affirmative on the above.
I’ve been using a Mastercard Debit Card from my local bank in Singapore to pay for all of my purchases on Taobao.
No issue whatsoever.
View Commentdid u have any extra charges for that?
View CommentHow did u pay with mastercard? Mind sharing? Because they only gave me an Alipay option
View CommentIs there any 3% surcharge using mastercard debit card?
View CommentWhich bank did you used? Thanks!
View Comment