WooCommerce for Payments from China

Howdy!

WooCommerce includes a PayPal Standard payments option that should allow you to setup and receive payments while in China, and then transfer those to your bank account as needed.

I would recommend reaching out to PayPal support here first though to be sure things will work as needed:

https://www.paypal.com/c2/webapps/mpp/home

There are currency converters that also allow you to display different currencies in your shop, but charge in only one currency. You could use something like this:

https://woocommerce.com/products/currency-converter-widget/

In that scenario, you could set your shop currency to USD, but allow citizens to see the pricing in whatever currency you’d like to make available.

I hope this helps!

Thanks, Zach. I have learned to avoid PayPal if possible, and have also learned that the vast majority of Chinese have never heard of it. There are exceptions. But they all use their homegrown companies.

Howdy!

I understand.

I would recommend looking into something like this then:

https://woocommerce.com/products/alipay-cross-border-payment-gateway/

Documentation can be found here:

https://docs.woocommerce.com/document/alipay-cross-border-payment-gateway/

You would need to be approved for an AliPay account before being able to use it, so I’d recommend contacting AliPay support:

https://about.alipay.com/contact

Thanks again. I have an Alipay account but no Partner ID or Security Code. I can’t actually use the account unless I connect it to a bank account on mainland China. Same with WeChat Pay. And I may not get a bank account any time soon unless I go to China.

But this is progress, I feel like I’m getting closer (after six months!).

Ah, I see. I’m sorry, I thought you were in China as well, but I see you must be teaching Chinese citizens ESL from Canada.

These are currently the only options we have at WooCommerce.com that work with China:

https://woocommerce.com/countries/china/

It’s a very tricky situation (as you know).

For what it’s worth, the AliPay plugin I linked to in my last response may be your best bet. The information here outlines the differences between the AliPay options:

https://opmc.com.au/our-services/integration-plugins-api-web-development/integration-with-alipay/alipay-cross-border-payment-gateway/there-are-two-alipay-payment-gateways-plugins-have-you-got-the-right-one/

Thanks, Zach. The way I read it, if I use the cross-border, I don’t need a mainland bank account, which means I won’t need an Alipay account either. If correct, this is certainly worth looking into.

Sorry, following back up with this:

The way I read it, if I use the cross-border, I don’t need a mainland bank account, which means I won’t need an Alipay account either.

With this option:

https://woocommerce.com/products/alipay-cross-border-payment-gateway/

You do not need a mainland bank account, but it looks like you may need an Alipay account.