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”
Hello Eric,
I have tried to verify Alipay using my passport and now it’s still not yet verify and need China bank account. So, can i borrow my friend’s bank account in China to verify my account?
Thanks.
View Commentno, it must be your own china bank account.
View CommentHi! Just wanted to ask… some of the Taobao sellers have options for: “Using credit card please choose this” (花呗信用卡付款请拍这个 ) when I am purchasing their items. The option adds an extra 1% to the item price, do I have to choose this still or does it only apply purchases made using local credit cards by local buyers (since I am already paying the 3% fee for credit card payments)?
View CommentHI, Suz
that option only applies purchase made using local credit cards by local buyers.
View CommentHi, I used to top up my Alipay purchase card by AXS but now they had stopped this service, is there any other way to top up?
View Commentmaybe a visa or MasterCard gift card?
View CommentHi Eric, I can’t find the option of “pay on my behalf” on Alipay again. What could be wrong?
View Commentit is still there.
View Commenthow do i change credit card? My old credit card details are not valid. I could not figure how to change the credit card. Would appreciate your guidance. Thanks
View Commentyou can go to http://www.alipay.com to manage your cards.
View CommentYou’re a massive help with this walkthrough! Thanks so much! I just have a question, I don’t want to save my card details but I had accidentally checked to save, do you know if there’s a way to remove it?
View Commentyes, you can go to http://www.alipay.com to manage your cards.
View CommentHi, I have managed to register an account and made two orders with the same buyer. As there is a limit of a number of items oper order, I was trying to make more subsequent orders, but after the first two successful payments (the money got take from my account), when I go to pay other orders it says my payment method can not be verified? any tips on this? My bank did not seem to have blocked the card as I did not get any call or notification from them. I tried to add other cards and get the same message back. thanks!
View CommentWould a debit card instead of a credit card work?
View Commentdebit card is ok.
View Commentwhich is the best saving method to pay for Taobao? Am using direct credit card on Taobao which incurs 3% bank service fee. Is Alipay purchase card better? But when transferring money from SGD to Alipay Purchase card is there any service fee too? Thanks Eric
View Commentthe cheapest way to pay for Taobao is a China bank account.
View Commenthello, since yesterday I can no longer find payment by visa card on taobao they deleted it?
View CommentUnable to use my YouTrip MasterCard to make RMB payments to Alipay when buying from Taobao website through my desktop computer. Alipay kept rejecting my YouTrip MasterCard RMB payments through my desktop computer. Please help. Thank you.
View CommentI managed to charge my Taobao buy ystd on my Youtrip Mastercard. Is it because your Youtrip card have not enough funds for the transaction?
View CommentHi there!
View CommentWould like to check with you when we are surfing on TaoBao, thr price is shown in Yuan, but when cart out, am being charged in USD? Is this normal? As i’m shopping from Singapore, shouldn’t the transaction be charged in SGD? Hope to hear from you thank you!
it is normal,they charge you USD if you are international buyer.
View CommentHow to remove the access given to friend to pay by friend option. On android phone
View CommentIs there another way to pay for shipping fees if my alipay account is frozen?
View Commenthow about your taobao account?if you can still access your taobao account,you can ask other people to pay for you.
View CommentCan i use prepaid visa card plus to buy on taobao?
View Commentyes
View Comment