Online Payment Methods in China

Preferred online payment methods in China include cash-on-delivery for online shoppers while other payment systems include e-wallet, bank transfer and credit cards.

The online payment in China is dominated by two players Alipay and Union Pay. China Union Pay is increasing its share in internet and mobile payment users segment. According to the latest data from China Union Pay as of 30 Aug 2015 they had exceeded 260 million payment users. They have become an important option for cardholders in China. Other than China, Union Pay card can be used in over 150 countries that cover 26 million merchants and 1.9 million ATMs.

Analysis International (leading information provider of product, service and solution in China internet market) showed that in the first quarter of 2015 Alipay had 36.4%, while China Pay had 35.49% and Tenpay had 12.6% marketshare.

Apart from the Big three online credit card payment solution service providers China has other smaller players namely Lakala, Interaction Strengths, LiamlianPay, JD Wallet, 99bill, BestPay, YeePay, PingAnPay, Qiandaibao, Suning and others. (source: China Internet Watch).

 Alipay is the biggest and largest player in China. They command an user base that exceeds 600 million. Innovative payment gateway solutions by Alipay and Unionpay have enabled online transactions as well as online finance including settlements with debit/credit cards on Alipay, Yuebao and credit overdrafts. Alipay provide an escrow service where payments collected from buyers are released to sellers only on buyers' receipt of goods. (source: Crossborder ecommerce research).

Tenpay is Alipay's main competition in the payments industry. Paypal lacks penetration in Chinese market but they are the top foreign competitor and is the preferred payment solution for purchasing products internationally. Paypal does not offer escrow protection.

 Online Bank transfer via Union Pay is the preferred method as UnionPay being the world’s leading payment card brands with over 3.5 billion cards has no serious competition. You can do online payment china through payment Asia.