Alipay should not be unfamiliar to Chinese people. It is widely used in physical shops and for online shopping in China. Alipay has now also developed a version for overseas payments. How much do you know about international Alipay? What are the advantages of international Alipay for overseas payments? Let’s take a look at the international version of Alipay.
What is international Alipay?
The escrow service jointly developed by Alibaba and Alipay is a third-party payment-guarantee service designed to protect the security of transactions between buyers and sellers in international online or offline transactions. If you already have a domestic Alipay account, you only need to link your domestic Alipay account – there’s no need to apply for an international escrow account. If you don’t have a domestic Alipay account yet, you can log in to the Alipay website to apply for one.
What can international Alipay do?
After being linked to a domestic Alipay account, international Alipay allows for collecting RMB through the Alipay account or paying in RMB overseas. International Alipay converts GBP into RMB as it comes into the seller’s domestic Alipay or bank account, at the real-time exchange rate on the day the buyer pays. Users can also charge in sterling directly by setting up a GBP collection account.
What is the difference between international Alipay and Alipay?
The international escrow service process is similar to that of domestic Alipay: in the transaction process, the buyer pays the purchase price to the international Alipay account of the third-party guarantee platform, and then the third-party guarantee platform instructs the seller to deliver the goods. After confirming the order, the payment is transferred to the seller, and an online transaction is completed.
What are the advantages of international Alipay?
Alipay is more than just an app: it is also a day-to-day e-wallet that Chinese people cannot live without. It is precisely because of the promotion of Alipay that China is gradually moving towards a cashless society. Let’s take a look at the advantages of using Alipay:
- Your personal bank account is actually an e-wallet. You can link banks and credit cards to your Alipay account and enjoy funds transfer/withdrawal/credit-card payment services. Almost all services are free.
- You can use Alipay for most offline payments, including restaurants, supermarkets, taxis, hotels, etc. The potential of Alipay will exceed your expectations: when you use the app, you will have a better payment experience. In order to occupy the foreign market, Alipay is always marketing with sellers: while merchants gain higher sales, customers can also find lots of discounts through promotions.
- You can borrow money from Alipay. Alipay uses Sesame Credit to determine your credit limit, depending on your behaviour in all Alibaba Group services and other channels. When you shop under Taobao and offline, you can use HUABEI: just like a credit card, you can pay back your spending next month. You can also use JieBei for paying rent, and this service gives you a year to repay your spending.
- You can make overseas payments with preferential foreign exchange rates. When processing overseas payments, Alipay uses the real-time exchange rate to convert GBP into RMB for payment. This move can save the trouble of redeeming foreign currency, and also saves the commission fee generated when redeeming.
- In addition to the above financial services, you can also purchase funds, gold, and any other financial products through Alipay. Alipay’s mission is to help you manage all of your assets online.
- You can use Alipay to buy all kinds of insurance, covering almost every aspect of life. Alipay sometimes even releases unusual kinds of insurance, such as love insurance: if you don’t break up with your girlfriend or boyfriend, you will be rewarded.
- You can also use Alipay to register paying for public services or utilities. You can make payments for water/electricity/gas/personal income tax/traffic fines/transfer visas through Alipay.
Alipay is more than just a payment app. It has become a new lifestyle. Alipay’s overseas promotion facilitates Chinese people’s overseas consumption, and can also help overseas merchants to promote their products.
