For most of you, this will not be a necessary step.

If you followed the directions in our guide to signing up for Taobao,  and left the final checkbox checked, then you will already have an Alipay account created for you automatically. But if you do need to sign up for Alipay account independent of Taobao, then check this out.

Go to the Alipay registration page. Type in the email address you used to register for Taobao and click the button.

Here is what you might see after clicking that button:

• Red – Stop! You are already registered on Alipay. That’s good. If you see this, click here for our guide on figuring out  your Alipay account. 

• Blue – You are not registered on Alipay. Please continue with the registration form. 

When registering for Alipay seperately, it will ask for more info than when you signed up for Taobao.  They will want your ID (passport) number and a phone number. Let’s take a look.

• For numbers 1, to and 3, you enter in the same thing twice to confirm against typos.
• Your passwords in 2 and 3 cannot match!
• Number 4 is a security question. The default is asking for your Dad’s and Mom’s names. Remember what you type. 

• Passport 护照 is the second option  
• Enter your mobile phone number. Or another contact phone number. They only need one.

The next screen will tell you that you need to confirm your email address. Go to your email.

You will receive an email that looks like this. (Check your spam folder if you don’t see it.) Click on the circled link.

Since my name is not really Marty McFly, I did not click through. But when you click the link, you will see this success screen.

That’s one of the more difficult forms Taobao will throw at you, but you did a great job. Now you can take a look around Alipay – check out our guide to the Alipay Control Panel.

If you have any more questions, you can check out the official walkthrough (in Chinese, but still very intuitive) or ask us in the comments below.

1. Username: in English or Chinese – either is okay. You can enter from 5-20 characters. Click the button underneath to see if the name is available.

2. Password: 6-16 characters Make it a good one (with a number and a symbol) Otherwise Taobao will bother you to change it all the time.

3. Enter your password again: the tiny blue triangle in the text box will turn green if the passwords match, and red if they don’t match

4. E-mail address: Expect to get some e-mail at this address. Taobao sends transaction updates and sometimes ads, all in Chinese. It is not a high volume. But if you have several e-mail accounts and prefer to keep one “clean”, then you may want to give them your “dirty” e-mail address.

5. And enter your e-mail address again: Again, the triangle in the text box will verify that you entered correctly.

6. Type the Captcha letters that you see: If the letters you get are unreadable, you can click on the text link just to the right to get a new set.

7. Leave the checkbox checked: This automatically creates a Zhifubao account for you. Zhifubao is like Paypal, a secure online payment system, and is the easiest way to pay for your Taobao purchases.

8. Click the big Submit button: When all your little triangles are green, you are good to go.

Back to How to Sign Up for a Taobao Account. 

Back to Getting Started on Taobao Overview.

Registration Takes Less than a Minute

If you have ever signed up for anything online, the Taobao registration process will be very familiar. All you need is a username, a password and an e-mail address. Start by going to the Taobao registration page.

Enter your information as indicated by my green hints:

A couple quick tips:

Choose a good password, with a number and a symbol. Otherwise Taobao will nag you about having a crappy password every time you log in. Also, when choosing which email address to use, keep in mind that Taobao will send you some emails whenever you buy something.

Step 1: Fill out your username and password. Hit the orange button.

Step 2: Fill out your email and Make sure you check the Box! Hit the orange button.

Step 3: It will ask for you to check your email, but if you hit the orange button it will send you to the email address you provided.

Time to Check Your Email

If you don’t see it right away, Check the junk message/spam  folder!!! That’s where I found mine! Open the newly received e-mail and click the big fat orange “Confirm” button in the middle of the message.

Success!

You will be taken to a page confirming your successful registration. Congratulations! You are now the newest member of Taobao!

Mac Users: More info for you here~

Next Step

But before you can start buying things, you will need to add money to your account. That means a trip to your local China Post Office to buy a Taobao Recharge Card.