Alipay relaxed as Yahoo and Alibaba reached to Agreement

As per latest news, Yahoo & Alibaba have finally come to an agreement in a months-long battle over the ownership of payment site Alipay (online payment processor in China).

Problem started back in May when Yahoo disclosed to the SEC that Alibaba had transferred 100% of its ownership of Alipay to a new company controlled by Alibaba CEO Jack Ma.

...Continue reading Alipay relaxed as Yahoo and Alibaba reached to Agreement

AliPay go Mobile with Mobile Barcode Payments

AliPay, the online payment division of e-commerce Alibaba, has brought 'mobile wallet' to Chinese stores, allowing transactions between shops and their customers. All customers need is to have AliPay application on their mobile phones.

How Alipay on Moble Phones works?
So far iPhone, Android and Nokia apps have released new mobile barcode payments feature for their handsets. Customers with iPhone, Android or Nokia phone need to install AliPay app on their phone first.

Sellers can easily accept the payments by just scanning through the barcode generated on their customer's cell-phone in one of two ways:

1. with the camera of their own smartphone (through their own AliPay account) or,
2. with the barcode scanning gun attached to their cash register.

isnt' it simple? ;)

To make it easier, Alipay did not want customers and shop-keepers to buy extra equipements and made it work with existing systems working all over China. At the moment, AliPay is aiming this at small shops, who need only to register (for free) to put the service into action.

With this system Alipay believe that they can get a bigger share from small businesses in China. They also have plans to make it even simpler and accessible and grow from small retailers to large transactions in future by integrating credit/debit cards using point-to-point terminals.

Shoppers can use funds contained just in their AliPay account, or on any debit or credit cards that they might have connected to it. The shopper will need to have internet access on their phone, by wifi, or 2G/GPRS or 3G.

Chinese Airlines to sell Tickets using Alipay

Since increased oil prices and completion of high speed railway projects among major cities in China, airlines are actively seeking ways to reduce ticket prices. In the same effort Air China has undergone agreement with Alibaba Group's Alipay to sell tickets directly to customers from their online website.

From now on official Air China website, Alipay will be used for online payment support for ticket sales. Other airlines to follow are China Southern and China Eastern.

Currently, tickets offered by some airlines' official websites are cheaper than their agencies', because the authority of fixing the original price of the ticket belongs to the airlines, the report notes.

Due to high oil prices and earning less than 1% of a profit margin in the global airline industry, direct online outlet can increase airlines' profits as the reduction of commissions attracts more customers, the report said.

It is reported that the sale of over 90 percent of airline tickets in China have been conducted by agencies. Yet in developed countries, more than 30% of airlines tickets are directly sold from airlines' official websites, while the ratio even reaches 60 percent for some well-established companies.

Recently on Alipay

• Softbank Alipay Alibaba Progress Towards Settlement

• Alibaba.com share sores 1-week high after Alipay progress

Softbank Alipay Alibaba Progress Towards Settlement

Agreement over the transfer of online payment unit Alipay between SOFTBANK Corp Japan and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd China is expected soon.

As per the statement from Softbank chairman Masayoshi Son, he expects to reach an agreement over the Alipay dispute soon, without elaborating, as he spoke at an energy forum yesterday in Seoul, South Korea.

In May 2011 Jack (Chairman Ma Alibaba Group) had transferred the group's payment company Alipay to a new entity under his control. Softbank and Yahoo! Inc, Alibaba's two biggest shareholders, demanded reasonable compensation for the loss of Alipay.

The dispute was raised in the central bank when new licensing system for non-financial third-party payment service providers was announced.

The People's Bank of China, said applicants must be domestically owned corporations with registration capital of at least 100 million yuan, according to an announcement in June 2010.

Companies with overseas investors were required to apply to the State Council for a license. Ma sold Alipay to Zhejiang Alibaba E-commerce Co, a private company controlled by himself and Xie Shihuang, another co-founder of Alibaba Group, for 330 million yuan. The transaction was completed last August.

Ma has insisted Alibaba board members were aware of the transaction and had agreed to the transfer.

Softbank currently owns about a 30% shares of Alibaba while Yahoo owns about 40%.

Recent Alibaba News:

• The History & Milestones of Alibaba Group
• Alibaba.com share sores 1-week high after Alipay progress
• Alibaba formed Chongqing Based Loan Company

Alibaba.com share sores 1-week high after Alipay progress

Shares of Alibaba.com Ltd (1688.HK), rose to a more than one-week high on Wednesday after Alibaba announced successful progress towards an agreement over the Alipay e-payment unit.

Alibaba Group China, Yahoo Inc USA (YHOO.O) and Softbank Corp Japan (9948.T) said on Wednesday that they had made "substantive and encouraging progress" toward an agreement over the Chinese company's Alipay e-payment unit.

Alibaba and Bank of China partnered via Alipay online payment system

Thursday, 23-July-2009, Alibaba Group announced about its collaboration with Bank of China for expanding its international business development and domestic programs.

Earlier this year, senior Alibaba executives visited Silicon Valley, where they met with market giants includes Google, eBay and Amazon.com in order to discuss discuss about the possible partnerships. Alibaba also showed its interest to bring its C2C website, Taobao and its payment platforms, Alipay to the US market.

Alibaba's deal with the Bank of China will give its online payment service, Alipay, a vital growth as Alibaba will now allow Bank of China customers to make transactions in foreign currency through this platform.

Alipay will also allow Bank of China to offer currency conversion for international trade, which could encourage sales between foreign and Chinese traders. Partnership with Paypal is also under discussion.

Alibaba will also work with Bank of China to expand a loan program for Chinese SMEs. This program is expected to facilitate 6 billion yuan (US$880 million) in loans this year, gives vendors credit ratings based partly on their Alibaba transaction history.

Alibaba Planning to Expand Alipay Online-Payment Service Internationally

Alibaba.com is planning to team up with HSBC Holdings plc and Citibank A.S. With this initiative Alibaba might expand online payment service "Alipay" internationally.



According to sources, Alibaba will allow account holders of the two global lenders to pay and transfer funds online via Alipay platform. It is also reported earlier that the Hangzhou-based company plans to cooperate with MasterCard Incorporated and Visa Inc to launch an internationalized Alipay settlement platform.

Alipay Joins Maru Japan

Alibaba Group's online payment tool Alipay began providing payment services for the Chinese language online store of Japanese department store Marui Co. Ltd. (maruione.jp/cn/) on June 15, reports China.com. The Chinese site is offering free delivery for orders placed between June 15-30 and a 1,000-yen coupon for those who register during the period.

Alibaba.com to turn Alipay into International Online Payment Platform

May 11, 2009 (China Knowledge) - China's Alibaba.com Ltd <1688>, the world's largest online B2B marketplace, plans to team up with HSBC Holdings plc and Citibank A.S. as it aims to turn its Alipay unit into an international online payment platform, sources reported. The company will allow account holders of the two global lenders to pay and transfer funds online via Alipay platform.

Alibaba's Alipay Partnered with Tenso Logistics

Alipay, an online payment tool by Alibaba Group is now partnered with Tenso, the logistics subsidiary of Japanese company Netprice, to provide international logistics to Alipay users on March 3 2009. Alipay users will have to submit a delivery address in Japanese after registering with Tenso.

Alipay signed an agreement in September 2007 to provide online payment to Chinese users of Nissen e-commerce site Jshoppers. Alipay had 130 million registered users by late 2008, said the report.

Alipay Team Up with Mangocity for Air Bookings

Shanghai Morning Post: Mangocity.com (HKES 308) will now be able to use Alibaba Group's online payment tool Alipay for its air tickets bookings. Alipay and Mangocity have also shown their interest on other mutual ventures as well which might include travel and hotel bookings.

Alipay had also signed contracts with two other online travel service providers as well which includes Ctrip (Nasdaq:CTRP) and eLong (Nasdaq:LONG).

Former Alisoft Marketing Director Heads Home to Kingdee

Wang Guanxiong, former marketing director of Alibaba Group's Zhejiang-based software subsidiary Alisoft, has been appointed the new marketing director of Kingdee's (268.HK) e-commerce and Software as a Service (SaaS) platform Youshang.com, reports Sohu. Wang said he was returning to Shenzhen, where Kingdee is headquartered, to take care of his family and had no further comment.

Wang previously worked at Kingdee for three years as marketing director of its Apusic business, and he joined Alisoft one day before Alibaba Group's business-to-business subsidiary Alibaba.com (1688.HK) listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on November 6, 2007, said the report. Kingdee released Youshang.com on November 28, 2007.

Alibaba Payment Tool to Hire 500 Employees in 2009

Alibaba Group's online payment tool Alipay announced on Monday Feb 16 2009, that it plans to recruit 500 employees, including 200 technicians, in 2009, reports Oriental Morning Post. Alipay currently has about 900 employees, including 400 technicians, the company said. The company announced plans to hire roughly 100 employees in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Releases Mobile Insurance Product

Alipay announced the release of a mobile insurance product, "Zhi Fu Dun," the same day, which allows users who recharge accounts or conduct transactions to pursue legal recourse in case of a dispute, the report said. Zhi Fu Dun can be purchased using an Alipay online account for RMB 58 including an RMB 18 annual service fee, according to Alipay customer service.

Alipay Support to Google Chrome

Alibaba Group's online payment tool Alipay has released a Google (Nasdaq:GOOG) "Chrome"-friendly environment where users of the Google browser can experience Alipay. The report said Alipay will become the first domestic third-party payment company to provide Chrome with payment solutions, but did not mention when the service would begin.

Alipay and Paipai Give Spring Festival Statistics

Alibaba's online payment tool Alipay recorded 60% growth year-on-year in transaction volume during the roughly 20 days of the traditional 2009 Spring Festival holiday, with Alibaba's consumer-focused e-commerce site Taobao.com accounting for 50% of the total, said the DoNews report. Beijing-based payment provider YeePay boosted transaction volume five-fold year-on-year during Spring Festival, the report said.

Tencent's (700.HK) consumer-to-consumer e-commerce site Paipai saw Spring Festival transaction volume rise 170% year-on-year, and the number of transactions on the site climbed 188% during the period, reports qq.com quoting PaiPai source. Transactions of Paipai's recharging card grew 368% year-on-year during the Festival, while sales of game and handset recharging cards on Paipai.com jumped 85% and 150% from the year-ago period, said the report.

Alibaba's Alipay Announces Ctrip Partnership

Online travel services provider Ctrip.com International, Ltd. (Nasdaq:CTRP) partnered with Alibaba Group's online payment tool Alipay on January 13, reports Sina. The companies will launch a joint promotion in mid-January. No further details were provided. Ctrip competitor eLong (Nasdaq:LONG) partnered with Alipay in September 2008.

Alipay Starts Collecting Service Fees In China

Chinese third-party Internet payment platform Alipay has announced that it will start to collect a certain proportion of service charges from uses with large-scale trading and the new policy will be take effect from January 1, 2009.

At the same time, the company promises to continue to provide free services to ordinary users.

According to the report published by Alipay, which is owned by Internet B2B company Alibaba, it will offer a monthly CNY5,000 free trading volume to each user. For those whose actual trading volume exceeds the specified amount, Alipay will charge service fees at a certain proportion. The report adds that users who select and buy products on the company's sister auction website Taobao.com and complete the transaction via Alipay are not included in the new policy, which means they still do not need to pay any service fee. The new policy is only effective on transactions completed within the website of Alipay.

Statistics from Alipay show that the number of users who complete more than CNY5,000 trading on Alipay accounts for less than 0.01% of its total users. Therefore, to collect certain service fees from this special group of people will not affect Alipay's 99.99% ordinary users.

Alipay previously announced that by the end of August 2008, the number of its registered users had hit over 100 million, making it the world's second largest third-party payment platform, which was only second to the U.S.-based Paypal with 180 million users.

Alibaba IM Tool Exceeds 100M Registered Users

Alibaba Group's software subsidiary Alisoft has exceeded 100 million registered users of its instant messaging tool "Ali Wang Wang," reports enorth.com.cn citing Alisoft statistics. Ali Wang Wang had 20 million registered users in January 2007.

New Oriental To Accept Online Payment Through 99Bill

Private education company New Oriental (NYSE: EDU) has signed an agreement with Shanghai-based online payment service provider 99Bill to offer online payment for all New Oriental courses, reports Cnetnews. 99Bill had recorded 28 million registered users and 180,000 business partners by September 30, said the report.

Alibaba's online payment tool AliPay signed a contract to provide online payment services for New Oriental in early 2007.