How does Alipay work for online payments?
The shopper chooses Alipay at checkout and is redirected to the Alipay app on a phone or to the Alipay website on a computer. They confirm the payment in the app or scan a QR code, and the result returns in real time. Antom, a payments brand of Ant International, lists the funding sources as the wallet balance, cards, Huabei (a pay later credit line) and Yu’E Bao.
Foreign merchants use Alipay’s cross-border service. Antom’s documentation sets the limits for shoppers in China: payments are processed in CNY, from CNY 0.10 up to CNY 300,000 per transaction and CNY 3 million per person a year. An unpaid attempt times out after 14 minutes. Antom offers the service to merchant entities in Singapore, Hong Kong, the EEA, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and Malaysia, with a separate route for merchants in China.
Refunds are supported, disputes are not. Antom supports full and partial refunds for up to 365 days and has no chargeback or dispute process for Alipay. Stripe also offers Alipay, with refunds up to 90 days after payment, and says there is no dispute process because the shopper authenticates with their Alipay credentials. If a shopper complains to Alipay, they may be sent back to the merchant.
Where and how do shoppers use Alipay?
In China, online payment runs through wallets. CNNIC counted 1.017 billion online payment users at the end of December 2025. The People’s Bank of China reported that non-bank payment institutions, the category that includes Alipay, handled 1.33 trillion online payments worth CNY 337.81 trillion in 2025. Stripe describes Alipay as having more than a billion active users worldwide and lists its customers as Chinese consumers, overseas Chinese and Chinese travellers.
Alipay+ extends the reach beyond China. Ant International describes Alipay+ as a unified wallet gateway with more than 2 billion consumers, more than 50 mobile payment providers and coverage of more than 210 markets. Its partner list shows which wallets accept online checkout payments through Alipay+. They include AlipayHK in Hong Kong, Touch ‘n Go eWallet and Boost in Malaysia, GCash, BPI and BillEase in the Philippines, TrueMoney, Rabbit LINE Pay and K PLUS in Thailand, Kakao Pay, NAVER Pay and Toss in South Korea, and DANA, Kredivo and Akulaku PayLater in Indonesia. Some partners, such as PayPay in Japan, take part only for in-store QR payments.
In Hong Kong, AlipayHK is run by Alipay Financial Services (HK) Limited, which has held a stored value facility licence from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority since 25 August 2016. The HKMA counted 86.4 million stored value accounts in use at the end of 2025, and HK$34.3 billion of online spending through them in the fourth quarter.
What rules and costs should merchants know?
Limits come from the wallet. The CNY 300,000 per transaction and CNY 3 million a year limits apply to Chinese shoppers paying through the cross-border service, and each Alipay+ partner wallet has its own currency and limits.
Business categories are checked. Stripe says a merchant cannot use Alipay if it is restricted by Stripe or appears on Alipay’s prohibited business list.
Inbound use is growing as well. A Xinhua report published in April 2026 says China lets visitors link overseas bank cards to Alipay or WeChat Pay, and that more than 10 million inbound tourists used such services in 2025.
How would Omno handle Alipay?
- One checkout: Alipay and Alipay+ partner wallets would appear in the Omno hosted checkout next to cards, local methods and crypto, with a redirect to the app on mobile and a QR code on desktop. Merchants with their own payment screens would use Direct Links on their own buttons.
- Routing rules: The merchant would set rules by shopper country and currency that send these payments to a connected provider with access to Alipay’s cross-border service or Alipay+. Omno connects through those providers; it is not an acquirer and does not hold funds.
- Cascading: In the hosted checkout, if that provider is unavailable or rejects the request before the shopper pays, the payment would move to the next provider in the rule until one accepts.
- Status: The order would stay pending until the provider confirms, and the final result would reach the merchant by webhook.
What should merchants plan for?
Confirm orders on the provider’s notification. The shopper may close the app before returning to the shop, so the webhook, not the redirect, should complete the order.
Plan refunds without disputes. There is no chargeback route, so shoppers rely on the merchant’s own refund process, within the provider’s refund window.
Pick wallets by market. Alipay serves shoppers from China, while Alipay+ reaches shoppers in Hong Kong, Southeast Asia and South Korea through their own local wallets.
Price in the right currency. Shoppers in China pay in CNY, and the provider converts and settles in the merchant’s currency.