EBay's flagship consumer shopping service has struggled in China, but the company is more successful here than many may think, thanks to its fast-growing online payment business, PayPal.

The company's legacy in the world's largest Internet market by number of users has for years been tainted by losing the consumer-to-consumer e-commerce market to Alibaba Group's retail website Taobao.com. But while Taobao and Alibaba's paymentplatform, Alipay, still charge little to no sales commission to merchants--a strategy the Chinese company used to undercut eBay--PayPal's China General Manager Alan Tien says the company has found a commission-based revenue model that works in China.

Tien, who oversees PayPal's domestic Chinese paymentplatform Beibao as well as the acquiring of customers in China for the company's international website, says he focuses most of his energy on the latter, because that's where the revenue growth is.

Alipay's rates still make it difficult for Beibao to post significantrevenue from domestic transactions in China, and Tien says there's nothing he can do about that so long as Alipay charges the way it does. Also, most consumers typically still use direct payments through their bank websites or cash-on-delivery for many of their purchases.

Rather than trying to compete with Alipay's cutthroat rates for domestic sales in China, where the market for non-Taobao online sales is still small, PayPal China teaches Chinese small-business sellers how e-commerce works and how to sell their products to more than 80 million PayPal users world-wide, he says.

While Alipay has the advantage within China and continues to use low rates to build its local user base, Tien says, PayPal has a massive global network built over years and a fine-tuned system for detecting fraud and protecting customers, which is difficult for any competitors to replicate, and such advantages can be leveraged.

Part of this strategy includes linking up with e-commerce websites like DHGate.com or even Alibaba Group's online wholesale Web site, AliExpress. PayPal China's other customers include travel websites serving overseas travelers coming to China, or vendors of virtual goods like online game websites. The company also plans to begin accepting China UnionPay as payment this year, so Chinese consumers can purchase from PayPal's global merchant network.

Convincing Chinese merchants to accept PayPal isn't an easy process, however. While PayPal enjoys brand recognition in Western markets and can acquire customers largely through online advertising, it has very little recognition in China, where many sellers have never considered taking their businesses online. In effect, a crucial part of what PayPal China does is using a sales team to call potentialinternational e-commerce merchants, like contract manufacturers who want to sell their own non-branded products, and convincing them that they can tap a larger market by listing their products in online malls or creating their own websites.

'In China, many people we call have no idea what we're talking about' at first, Tien says. 'But after you get the idea in their head, they may hear someone else mention it, and then maybe months later they will remember that they got this call from PayPal.' To further help its cause, PayPal China also advises Chinese customers on their options for online shopping software, and answers concerns about currency exchange. (Merchants must handle any foreign-exchange interactions on their own).

The result of all this: growth in the 'high double digits' in China, Tien says, though he won't disclosespecifics. PayPal charges a 3.4% base rate to Chinese merchants.

When asked about the prospect of PayPal some day becoming eBay's biggest business, Tien said the company has vastly more growth potential than online marketplaces do; while those businesses compete for a specificportion of consumer spending, PayPal could potentially serve all types of payments in all areas of spending, from retail to rental fees.

Loretta Chao

• payment [´peimənt] n.支付；报酬；报偿 (初中英语单词)
• platform [´plætfɔ:m] n.(平)台；讲台；站台 (初中英语单词)
• charge [tʃɑ:dʒ] v.收费；冲锋 n.费用 (初中英语单词)
• manager [´mænidʒə] n.经理；管理人；干事 (初中英语单词)
• domestic [də´mestik] a.家庭的；本国的 (初中英语单词)
• international [,intə´næʃənəl] a.国际的，世界的 (初中英语单词)
• energy [´enədʒi] n.活力，精力；能力 (初中英语单词)
• compete [kəm´pi:t] v.比赛，竞争，对抗 (初中英语单词)
• advantage [əd´vɑ:ntidʒ] n.优势；利益 (初中英语单词)
• system [´sistəm] n.系统，体系，制度 (初中英语单词)
• recognition [,rekəg´niʃən] n.认出；认识；承认 (初中英语单词)
• western [´westən] a.西的；西方的 (初中英语单词)
• acquire [ə´kwaiə] vt.求得，获得，学得 (初中英语单词)
• advertising [´ædvətaiziŋ] n.广告a.广告的 (初中英语单词)
• prospect [´prɔspekt, prəs´pekt] n.景色；境界 v.勘察 (初中英语单词)
• portion [´pɔ:ʃən] n.嫁妆；命运 vt.分配 (初中英语单词)
• consumer [kən´sju:mə] n.消费者；用户 (高中英语单词)
• commission [kə´miʃən] n.委任(状) vt.委任 (高中英语单词)
• revenue [´revinju:] n.税收；收入 (高中英语单词)
• significant [sig´nifikənt] a.重要的；意义重大的 (高中英语单词)
• massive [´mæsiv] a.厚实的；魁伟的 (高中英语单词)
• potential [pə´tenʃəl] n.&a.潜在的；可能的 (高中英语单词)
• currency [´kʌrənsi] n.通货；通用；货币 (高中英语单词)
• disclose [dis´kləuz] vt.揭露；透露；泄露 (高中英语单词)
• specific [spi´sifik] a.具体的；特有的 (高中英语单词)
• retail [´ri:teil, ri´teil] n.&a.&v.零售(商品的) (英语四级单词)
• trying [´traiiŋ] a.难堪的；费劲的 (英语四级单词)
• network [´netwə:k] n.网状物 vt.联播 (英语四级单词)
• wholesale [´həulseil] n.&vt.批发 a.批发的 (英语四级单词)
• convincing [kən´vinsiŋ] a.有说服力的；有力的 (英语四级单词)
• vastly [´vɑ:stli, ´væstli] ad.巨大地；广阔地 (英语四级单词)
• legacy [´legəsi] n.遗产；传代物 (英语六级单词)
• strategy [´strætidʒi] n.兵法；战略 (英语六级单词)
• overseas [,əuvə´si:z] ad.(向)海外 a.海外的 (英语六级单词)
• taking [´teikiŋ] a.迷人的 n.捕获物 (英语六级单词)