PayPal is one of the biggest and oldest ways to send and receive money online. You can not only use it to buy things online, but you can also keep your balance in it and then send or receive money with it. Rarely will you find a business that won’t let you pay with PayPal. But does AliExpress accept PayPal? Can PayPal be used on AliExpress?
You could for a while. In 2010, AliExpress and PayPal made a deal to work together. In that year, PayPal and Alibaba made a deal so that Alibaba, which owns AliExpress, can use PayPal as a way for its customers to pay.
The thing is, only AliExpress buyers who paid with PayPal got a benefit, while the sellers had to pay fees. In addition to the fees they had to pay AliExpress, they also had to pay a fee to PayPal when they got paid.
In 2011, AliExpress stopped letting people pay with PayPal. This happened because PayPal wanted to charge a 7% processing fee. This percentage is a lot, and sellers didn’t make as much money as they could have.
Because of this, AliExpress made AliPay, its own way to pay for things. So, can you use PayPal to buy things on AliExpress? Yes and no are both right answers. Most of the time, though, the answer is no. If you see an ad that says it’s possible, it’s probably a scam.
Today, only people from the United States or the United Kingdom can use PayPal as a payment method on AliExpress. This doesn’t mean that it will work either. In some cases, the shipping address must also be in the US or UK.
Since we can’t do this, let’s talk about some other ways to shop besides AliExpress. We’ll also talk about important things like security and buyer protection, in case you’re worried that these alternatives to PayPal’s services can’t compete.
Payment Options on AliExpress
AliExpress started out as an online store for the Chinese market, but it has grown into a marketplace for people all over the world. Anyone in the world can buy something here, and the seller who listed the item on AliExpress will ship it.
AliExpress charges the buyer, and then AliExpress transfers the money to the seller’s account after taking out the fees. The payment options have nothing to do with what the seller wants.
Here are the ways you can pay for something you want to buy on AliExpress:
- Charge cards
- QIWI
- Boleto
- Bancontact
- iDeal
- Przelewy24
- SMS Payment in Russia
- AliExpress Pocket
You can only use the payment methods above if you are using the AliExpress app. If not, you have more ways to pay if you use a desktop.
Protection for buyers on AliExpress
People like PayPal because it protects buyers. All of this started when eBay made PayPal the official way to pay. There was even a time when a buyer could win a dispute and leave a seller with a negative balance, even if the buyer had already paid the seller.
In situations like that, PayPal would pay the buyer the amount of the refund and charge the PayPal account of the seller. If the account has no money in it, PayPal will have to charge the seller for the cost of the buyer’s purchase, which will make the account look bad. If the seller deposits money into the account soon, PayPal will charge the amount owed until the account balance is back to $0.
This protection was loved by buyers. But not all AliExpress users can use PayPal, so how can they be protected? AliExpress has two ways to protect buyers. The first one is called Basic Guarantees, and the other one is called Advanced Guarantee.
You can protect yourself from the basic guarantee in two ways. You can file a dispute if the item isn’t the same as what was shown on the store or if it arrives late. For the first case, you must be able to show that the item you got is really different from what you ordered. For example, if you ordered a pair of shoes but got a dress instead, you can file a claim.
The problem is that you have to send the item back, which will cost you money. This is hard, especially for purchases made outside the country. Also, you only have 15 days from the date the order was finished, not the date you got it, to file a dispute. The completed date on AliExpress is the date that the seller sent you the item.
If the item got stuck in customs in your country, you are not covered. If you bought something that is illegal in your country and the government didn’t give you permission to do so, you can’t file a dispute.
The Advanced Guarantee is a warranty that lasts 2 years. Usually, this guarantee only applies to countries in Europe, and you have to apply for it and be approved for it. It’s not a given. If you get approved but the item is broken, you can only take it to the local AliExpress service center. After you bring it to the service center, it will be fixed in 15 days.
What Is Alipay?
Alipay is a way to send and receive money, just like PayPal. It is an electronic wallet, and both buyers and sellers can use it on AliExpress and other online shopping sites like Taobao. It is the second biggest way to pay online, but it is much bigger than PayPal. Alipay is used by a billion people around the world.
Alipay is great for merchants because they can sell goods in their physical stores and get paid through Alipay. In this case, the seller has a QR code for the item, which he shows to the customer. The customer then just needs to pull out his phone, open the Alipay app, and scan the QR code. The customer has to tap a few buttons to confirm, and then the merchant will know that the payment went through.
How do you use Alipay?
It’s an eWallet that you have to put money into. To use it, you must link it to another piece of financial information, like your credit card number. Alipay will take money from this credit card and then use that money to pay the merchant.
You can get an Alipay account in three different ways. The first way is to scan a QR code on the merchant’s website. After that, you can sign up for the service. The second way is to sign up for an account on Alipay’s website. The third way is to download the app and finish signing up from there. You can use the Alipay Member Protection Program once you have an Alipay account.
Here are some of the things the program does:
- Alipay uses encryption technology to protect your privacy. This means that the system scrambles all the information you give it and turns it into a code. This information can only be read and understood by the Alipay system. Your information won’t be given to another company, either.
- Online payments are safe because the system has robots that can spot any strange behavior. It is ready to keep your account safe from transactions you don’t want. This system is like the ones banks use to stop fraud, find money laundering, and find out about cash advance scams.
- You are protected from unauthorized transactions for 90 days if you are a member. You will also get a full refund if you can show that someone used your Alipay account without your permission.
You must first file a request for compensation before you can get a refund or reimbursement. In this process, you need to tell Alipay what happened, and they will look into it. The investigation will take up to five business days, after which your account will be credited.
Can AliExpress be used with PayPal?
Yes, PayPal can be used on AliExpress, but not always. This method of payment really depends on where you live. Right now, you can only use PayPal if you ship the item to the US or the UK. You also have to be signed up in these countries.
If you live in Asia, you won’t be able to use PayPal even if you change your shipping address to one in the US or UK. If PayPal isn’t listed as a payment option, the only other thing you can do is contact the seller and tell them you want to pay with PayPal.
If the seller agrees, you can use PayPal to pay for the item. But the AliExpress protection policy will no longer cover you. Most sellers, though, don’t want to accept PayPal because the fees are too high.
There have also been reports of Chinese sellers getting ripped off by buyers who say they didn’t get the item even though the seller sent it. The buyer gets a refund plus the item, and the seller loses both his capital and his profit for that item.
But you should know that many sellers prefer to give refunds through PayPal. They will even pay the fee that PayPal charges you to receive money. They will do this, but you have to close the dispute you opened on AliExpress in exchange. They want to be good on the site so that they don’t get kicked off.
There are other sites like AliExpress where you can use PayPal.
If you really want to pay with PayPal, there isn’t much you can do on AliExpress to make this happen. Your best bet is to go somewhere else to shop.
Here are some recommended sites where you can pay with PayPal and still find cheap items like those on AliExpress:
- eBay
- Etsy
- Shops on Facebook
- Banggood
- DHGate
- Chinabrands
Summary
If PayPal had been one of the ways to pay on AliExpress, that would have been great. It is one of the most popular ways to pay online around the world. Even though Alipay is now bigger than PayPal, most of its users are still in China. And since there are a billion people living in China, Alipay only has more users because of that, not because it is the best choice in the world.
Even though PayPal and AliExpress have different ways of doing business, there is still hope that they can come to an agreement that will help both PayPal and the sellers on AliExpress.
