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为EBay旗舰的消费购物服务在中国遇到了困难，但得益于在线支付业务PayPal的快速增长，它在中国比很多人想象的更为成功。在中国这个用户数量全球居首的互联网市场。Ebay的传奇多年来一直在褪色，因其在消费者对消费者(C2C)电子商务市场输给了阿里巴巴集团(Alibaba Group)旗下零售网站淘宝网(Taobao.com)。但PayPal中国区总经理田毓中(Alan Tien)说，在淘宝和阿里巴巴支付平台支付宝(Alipay)仍对商户只收取少量佣金或不收佣金（这是一种用来同eBay竞争的策略）的时候，PayPal已经找到了一条以佣金为基础、适合于中国的收入模式。
田毓中掌管着PayPal在中国国内的支付平台"贝宝"，并负责为公司的国际网站吸引中国客户。他说他的主要精力集中在后者，因为那里才是收入增长所在。
受支付宝低费率的制约，贝宝仍然难以从中国国内的交易中取得明显的收入。田毓中说，只要支付宝不改变现有收费模式，他就无能为力。另外，多数消费者购买的很多产品，往往仍然是通过银行网站直接支付，或采用货到付款的支付方式。
支付宝针对国内交易收取的费率低到不能再低，被淘宝占去后剩下的电子商务市场也已经很小。田毓中说，在这种情况下，PayPal中国就不去跟支付宝直接竞争，而是向中国的小企业商户传授电子商务的运作方式，教它们怎样把产品卖给PayPal在世界上的8,000多万用户。
田毓中说，虽然支付宝在中国国内占据了优势，并且仍在利用低费率积累国内的用户基础，但PayPal在全球范围内有一个多年积累起来的庞大网络，还有一个用于侦测欺诈、保护客户的精密系统，这是任何竞争对手都难以复制的，而这样的优势也可以充分利用。
这个战略包括与敦煌网(DHGate.com)甚至是阿里巴巴旗下批发网站全球速卖通(AliExpress)展开合作。PayPal中国区的其他客户还包括针对来华外国游客的旅游网站，或游戏网站等虚拟产品销售商。该公司计划在今年开始接受中国银联(China UnionPay)作为支付手段，这样中国消费者就能够从PayPal的全球商户网络购物。
但说服中国商户接受PayPal并不是一个容易的过程。虽然PayPal在西方市场拥有很高的品牌认知度，并且可以主要依靠在线广告吸引客户，但它在中国的认知度很低，而很多中国卖家以前也从来没有考虑把业务搬到网上。PayPal中国区做的一项重要工作，事实上是让销售团队给有可能做国际电子商务的商户（如希望出售自产无牌产品的合同制造商）打电话，让他们相信，如果把产品放到网上购物广场，或建立自己的网站，他们可以拥有一个更大的市场。
田毓中说，我们打电话过去，一开始很多人都不知道我们在说什么，但你让他们头脑中有这样一个概念后，他们可能会听到别人提起，过几个月可能又会想起他们曾经接到过PayPal的这个电话。PayPal中国还在网上购物软件的选择上为中国客户提供建议，并解答汇率方面的疑问。（商户必须独力应对可能出现的汇率问题。）
田毓中说，这一切带来的结果是在中国实现了"高双位数"的增长，但他没有透露具体数字。PayPal对中国商户收取3.4%的基础费率。
在被问到PayPal有朝一日成为eBay最大业务的可能性时，田毓中说，公司的增长潜力比网上市场大得多；当其他公司为某个具体领域的消费支出而竞争时，PayPal有可能为包括零售和租金在内的各种领域、各种形式的支付提供服务。
Loretta Chao
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 payment platform, 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 payment platform 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 significant revenue 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 potential international 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 disclose specifics. 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 specific portion of consumer spending, PayPal could potentially serve all types of payments in all areas of spending, from retail to rental fees.
Loretta Chao
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 payment platform, 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 payment platform 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 significant revenue 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 potential international 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 disclose specifics. 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 specific portion of consumer spending, PayPal could potentially serve all types of payments in all areas of spending, from retail to rental fees.
Loretta Chao
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