This guide is for individuals who need to receive money through Taobao. If you only buy, Taobao does not require identity certification.

The short answer, is that if you ever need to receive money for any reason (that includes refunds) Taobao will want to know who you are. That should come as good news to anybody buying anything, as it adds some security to the process, but is a bit of a pain for those who actually need to get certified. You will need a Chinese bank account and a good Chinese friend to get certified!

Let’s take a full inventory of what you will need:

• You will need a very good Chinese friend to vouch for you
• Your China bank account info
• The ability to check your bank account activity
• A scan of your passport
• You will need to be able to print something out, sign it and scan it back in to the computer
• Patience and perseverance

It sucks! But if you take it step by step, you will get through it. If you have any dilemmas, keep the Alipay service hotline handy: 0571-88156688.

The Letter

You will need to fill out the following letter, print, sign and scan it.  Copy/paste it into word and replace my prompts with your info. (By now you should probably have a Chinese friend helping.)

担保函

担保人：Your Chinese Friend’s Name

住址：Your Chinese Friend’s Address

联系电话：Your Chinese Friend’s Phone Number

被担保人：Your Name (as it appears on your passport)

中国境内住址：Your China Address

联系电话：Your Phone Number

鉴于被担保人向支付宝公司提交个人/商家会员支付宝实名认证申请，担保人特此向支付宝公司保证被担保人向支付宝提交的所有认证资料真实无误，如有虚假，担保人同意承担由此引起的一切损失。

担保人签名（手写）：Your Chinese Friend’s Signature

年 月 日 The Date

You will need to enter the same info into a webform later, so you may find it helpful to keep the file.

When you have the letter ready, click here to go to the beginning of the certification process. Then click the following buttons to push it along.

Type your name in the order it appears on your passport, which may be last name first.

You have that letter, right? Good. We are about to upload it. You will need to type in all that info again, plus a little bit more.

Not quite. Alipay will want to verify your bank info. To do that, they will make a tiny deposit into your account in the next 1-3 days. You will need to check on that and report back. When you know the amount, click here to go to your Alipay account. Find the link that says 申请认证 which will either be here:

Or here:

Now click on the yellow button:

And now enter in that amount that was deposited into your bank account.

When you get this popup box, click the one on the left:

It will think for a moment…

Oh sweet lord what a relief!

Do you want to laugh? Cry? I want to do both.