How to Open a Taobao.com Store?
Taobao (Chinese: 淘宝网) is a Chinese online shopping website, headquartered in Hangzhou, and owned by Alibaba. It is ranked as eighth most visited website according to Alexa Website ranking. With more than 1 billion product listings, the combined transaction volume of Taobao Marketplace and Tmall.com reached 3 trillion yuan in 2017 (and in 2019, Taobao.com alone reached 268.4 billion RMB), more than that of all US e-commerce sites combined. The Economist calls it “the country’s biggest online marketplace”.
Opening a Taobao Store:
Foreigners can open a store on Taobao.com by registering a trading WFOE in China.
However, the whole process is in Chinese, so if you don’t understand the language, you might need a professional to do the application for you. Feel free to contact us if you need an A-Z service for opening a Taobao.com store.
1. Get a Local Sim Card in China
A local Chinese mobile number will be required for all the steps below.
2. Register a Company in China
In order to open a store on taobao.com one hast to register a trading company in Mainland China first.
3. Open A Corporate Bank Account in China
Once you register your trading company, open a corporate account in one of the local banks in China.
4. Open A Corporate Alipay Account
Once you have a corporate bank account in China, go ahead and open your corporate Alipay and link your company’s account to it.
5. Open A Personal Taobao.com Account
Go to Taobao.com and sigh up for a personal account.
6. Link Your Corporate Alipay
Link your corporate Alipay to your personal Account on Taobao.com
7. Apply For A Seller Account
Apply for a seller account on taobao.com. During the process, the system will ask you to upload all of your company documents, confirm your Alipay using your Corporate Alipay account.
8. Approval of Your Taobao Store
After around 1-2 days, Taobao.com will approve or refuse your applcation to open a store. If refused, normally it asks you to fix something and reapply.
Can You Also Assist With AliExpress store?
Yes, we can assist you open an AliExpress store too. Feel free to contact us below
AliExpress.com
Foreigners can open an AliExpress store almost exactly the same way they open a Taobao.com store. If you want to know more about the process, please click on this box.
Tmall.com
Foreigners can open a store on tmall.com too. This platform is one of the most trustworthy e-commerce platforms in China, selling mostly quality products. Click on this box to know more about it.
Have any questions?
Get in touch today and let us assist you with all your questions related to doing business in China, and relocating to China as a foreign entrepreneur.