It splits into two cases: (1) you are in China; (2) you are overseas and want to buy on Chinese platforms and have the goods reach you.
One key sentence first: most sellers on Chinese platforms ship only to domestic addresses — so to receive the goods, you must use a consolidation warehouse.
Below we go through six points where you have to decide. Each one sets out the consequence of getting it wrong.
Decision Point 1: Which Platform to Buy On
| Platform | What it is good for | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Taobao | Almost everything: unusual parts, battery cells, DIY materials, small goods | The widest choice, many individual sellers, low prices; the interface is in Chinese, and an overseas phone number can be used to register |
| Tmall | Genuine branded goods, industrial goods, brand batteries | Corporate stores, more reliable after-sales |
| JD | Electronics, brand cells, large appliances | Self-operated stock is reliable and delivery is fast |
| Pinduoduo | Low-priced small goods | Plenty of low-cost supply, but some sellers do not support after-sales; registration and payment are more restricted |
| 1688 | Bulk purchasing, factory cells, wholesale | The lowest MOQ, suited to buying industrial goods such as cells in batches |
Decision Point 2: What Identity to Buy Under (Get This Wrong and Everything After It Stalls)
A. Register yourself. Register a Taobao/JD account with an overseas phone number (include the country code, and receive the SMS verification code); registering on Taobao automatically links Alipay (Alipay is the core of payment).
You must complete Alipay real-name verification with a passport: Alipay → Me → Real-name verification → choose "Passport verification" → upload a clear photo of your passport, enter your name (it must match the passport exactly), and complete facial recognition.
Review usually takes a few hours to 24 hours. Without passport-based real-name verification, you cannot pay.
B. Have a purchasing agent order for you. Send the product link to the agent, who places the order and ships it to the consolidation warehouse; you pay the goods cost plus service fee plus freight.
The benefit: you do not have to arrange Alipay passport verification yourself; the cost: a service fee, and you have to trust the other party.
C. Use AliExpress (Alibaba's international retail platform). English interface, pay directly in foreign currency, international direct mail, no consolidation warehouse needed. The cost: a narrower range than Taobao, and the same cell usually costs more.
Decision Point 3: Where to Ship To
Case A: you are in China
Enter a Chinese address directly (the hotel front desk's or the landlord's name plus phone), and a domestic courier delivers straight there.
Case B: you are overseas and using a domestic-only platform such as Taobao or JD
The seller will not ship abroad directly — you need a consolidation warehouse:
- Register with Cainiao consolidation or a third-party consolidation company and get a dedicated address at a Chinese warehouse plus your dedicated ID;
- When ordering on Taobao/JD, enter that consolidation warehouse address as the delivery address (you must write the dedicated ID, or the warehouse cannot identify your parcels);
- Parcels arrive at the warehouse one by one → the warehouse signs for them and photographs them for inspection (at this step you can look at the cells from the outside);
- In the consolidation system, tick all your parcels, apply for combined packing, and pay the international freight;
- The warehouse declares to customs, and an international courier delivers to your overseas address.
Cainiao consolidation is Taobao's official service and the most reliable; third-party consolidation works too, but be careful to filter out scammers.
If you are on route C from decision point 2 (AliExpress), this step is not needed — AliExpress is international direct mail.
Decision Point 4: How to Pay (a Foreigner with No Chinese Bank Card)
- Alipay accepts: Visa / Mastercard / JCB / Diners / Discover;
- Before ordering, tell your overseas bank to unblock cross-border transactions to China, or the payment will be declined;
- Alternative: WeChat Pay also links overseas credit cards, and is more compatible with JD.
The above are third-party platform rules that may change; the official Alipay page is authoritative.
Decision Point 5: Whether It Can Be Shipped (Battery Products Are Where This Most Often Goes Wrong)
- Batteries and cells hold charge and are dangerous goods;
- Many ordinary international couriers cannot carry lithium batteries — confirm with the consolidation company before ordering whether it supports transhipment of battery products, or the parcel will be held, returned, or even fined;
- Some consolidation services only accept bare cells with no charge, or cells with a protection board; battery shipments have a separate channel at a higher price;
- Duty: on entry to your country a parcel may be charged customs duty and consumption tax, payable by the recipient — understand your own country's customs rules in advance.
Decision Point 6: How to Verify on Arrival
- Counterfeit risk: Taobao has many individual sellers — when buying cells, always have the seller provide the batch code and a quality inspection report, and test internal resistance and capacity yourself on arrival;
- Language: platform chat has built-in machine translation, but for complex technical questions (cell parameters, authenticity testing) use simple English;
- Risk control: an overseas IP plus passport real-name verification plus a large number of orders in a short period easily triggers risk controls, and the account may be temporarily restricted — do not place many orders in a short time.
The Full Process (Nine Steps)
This process corresponds to route A in decision point 2 (register yourself). If you choose B (a purchasing agent), steps 1 and 5 are done for you by the agent; if you choose C (AliExpress), steps 2, 6 and 7 are not needed (AliExpress is international direct mail).
- Register an account + complete Alipay passport real-name verification + link a foreign card;
- Obtain the consolidation warehouse's Chinese address (overseas users);
- Search for products on the platform (image search / translate Chinese keywords) and read the details and seller reviews;
- Contact the seller through platform chat and confirm: stock, specification, dispatch time, and whether they can ship to a consolidation warehouse; for battery products, ask in advance whether they can be shipped and whether they are a shippable category;
- Add to cart, submit the order, and choose Alipay to pay;
- The seller sends by domestic courier to the consolidation warehouse;
- The warehouse signs for it; you inspect the parcels, apply for combined packing, declare the product information, and pay the international freight;
- International transport and customs clearance, delivered to your overseas address;
- Inspect the goods on arrival; if there is a problem, contact the seller or the consolidation customer service.
Answers to Two Common Questions
Q: I registered with an overseas phone number but do not receive the verification code. A: Some countries' carriers block inbound SMS; register with an email address instead, or have a purchasing agent place the order.
Q: What do I do if the payment fails. A: Check two things first — (1) whether your card issuer has allowed cross-border transactions to China; (2) whether Alipay's passport real-name verification has been approved. These two are the most common causes.
One last word of our own. In this process, from the platform and the language to payment and logistics, every step is somebody else's rules — but Chinese platforms have Chinese rules and your market has your rules, and the two do not have to be remade in each other's image.
This is what we call le qi su: habits do not need changing, and what needs clarifying is simply how a given step is done on this side.