Alibaba’s online payment system is called Alipay.
Alipay is a digital-payment platform established in Hangzhou in 2004 by Alibaba Group and Jack Ma. It was first closely associated with Taobao, Alibaba’s online marketplace, where a trusted payment intermediary helped buyers and sellers transact with greater confidence.
A key early feature was escrow: Alipay could hold a buyer’s payment until the transaction conditions were met. That approach helped reduce mistrust in online shopping and contributed to Taobao’s competition with eBay’s Chinese operations. Alipay later expanded into mobile payments, QR-code transactions, bill payment, transfers and other financial services.
Alipay is often confused with Alibaba itself, but they are different entities: Alibaba is the broader technology and commerce group, while Alipay is the payment platform associated with Ant Group, formerly known as Ant Financial. WeChat Pay, Apple Pay and PayPal are competing or distinct services.