Signaling the opening of a new market for Chinese manufacturers and retailers, Alibaba Group Ltd. is working with Western Union to develop an online payment platform, the Chinese business-to-business e-commerce specialist announced earlier this month.
The deal, handled through Alibaba’s wholesale e-commerce platform AliExpress, will create the Western Union Quick Pay payment platform, a spokesperson for Alipay, Alibaba’s main online-payment service, tells PaymentsSource.
The new service would enable buyers from countries where banking services are not fully developed to purchase Chinese-made goods online via AliExpress by paying in cash at Western Union outlets, he says.
Western Union first would wire the payment to AliExpress, which would release the funds to the merchant once the buyer confirms receipt of the purchased goods, the spokesperson adds.
The service will charge a minimum of 65 yuan (US$10 or 7 euros) for the transaction, he says. “But to receive payments, participating Chinese merchants must have an account with Alipay.”
Besides Quick Pay, AliExpress will continue to accept other payment options, including Visa and MasterCard cards. Western Union will offer the service at its locations in 160 countries worldwide, according to the spokesperson.
This announcement comes about a month after Alibaba ended its collaboration between PayPal Inc. and AliExpress (
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