How do people in China pay online?
Online shopping is part of everyday life. The National Bureau of Statistics reported online retail sales of CNY 15,972.2 billion in 2025, up 8.6%. Online sales of physical goods reached CNY 13,092.3 billion, 26.1% of all retail sales of consumer goods. CNNIC counted 937 million online shoppers and 1.017 billion online payment users at the end of 2025, 90.3% of internet users.
Mobile wallets carry most online payments. The People’s Bank of China reported that non-bank payment institutions, the category that includes Alipay and WeChat Pay, processed 1.33 trillion online payments worth CNY 337.81 trillion in 2025. The NetsUnion clearing platform handled 1,194.9 billion transactions.
Foreign merchants mainly reach Chinese shoppers through the same wallets. Through Alipay’s cross-border service, run by Antom, the shopper is redirected to the Alipay app or a QR code page and pays in CNY. Limits are CNY 300,000 per transaction and CNY 3 million per person a year, and the result comes back in real time. WeChat Pay’s cross-border service covered 78 countries and regions and 36 currencies in April 2026.
Cards come next. UnionPay is China’s domestic card scheme, and its cards can be used in 183 countries and regions, with 3-D Secure for online payments. Apple Pay is available in mainland China. Google Pay is not on Google’s list of supported countries.
What rules shape online payments in China?
Shoppers can return goods within seven days. Under Article 25 of the Consumer Rights Protection Law and the 2017 interim measures that apply it to online shopping, a consumer can return goods bought online within seven days of receipt without giving a reason. Custom-made goods, fresh and perishable goods, opened or downloaded digital content and delivered newspapers are excluded. The seller must refund within seven days of receiving the returned goods, by the original payment method unless the consumer agrees otherwise.
Cross-border e-commerce imports have limits. Since 1 January 2019, a shopper can buy up to CNY 5,000 per transaction and CNY 26,000 a year through the cross-border e-commerce retail import channel. A single item above CNY 5,000 can still come through that channel, but full customs duty, import VAT and consumption tax apply, and goods bought this way may not be resold in China.
Personal data falls under the Personal Information Protection Law, in force since 1 November 2021. It also applies to companies outside China that handle the personal information of people in China to provide them with products or services. Such companies must name an entity or representative in China, and transfers of personal information out of China need a security assessment, a certification or the standard contract.
How would Omno route payments in China?
A merchant would connect once and set routing rules per method, currency and customer group. For shoppers in China:
- Alipay pay-ins would go to a provider that offers Alipay’s cross-border service, with the hosted checkout redirecting the shopper to the app or a QR code and the order pending until the provider confirms.
- WeChat Pay pay-ins would go to a provider connected to WeChat Pay’s cross-border service, confirmed by the provider’s notification rather than by the shopper’s return to the store.
- UnionPay and other card pay-ins would follow rules by BIN, scheme and amount, with cascading: if a provider is unavailable or rejects the request, the payment moves to the next provider in the rule until one accepts.
Webhooks would report the final status of every payment, and the routing-decision log would show which provider handled each payment and why.
What should merchants plan for?
Plan for Alipay and WeChat Pay first. Most Chinese shoppers pay online with one of them, and a checkout without both misses the habits of most buyers.
Plan for UnionPay. It is China’s domestic card scheme, so check that each card provider in your rules accepts it and supports 3-D Secure.
Plan for seven-day returns. Most physical goods can be returned within seven days of receipt, and the refund should go back by the original payment method.
Plan for data rules. If you sell to people in China, check whether you need a representative there and which route you use to transfer personal information out of China.