Yesterday, Alipay issued a statement saying that it will charge a certain percentage of technical service fees for non-Taobao websites and Alibaba websites for using Alipay. The fee is only for sellers who conduct online transactions, and buyers will still be free.

Kong Fei, manager of Alipay's public relations department, said that charges will start in the first quarter of next year and are estimated to be around February at the earliest. This fee is a technical service fee. Users will not charge any fees when using Alipay to recharge, pay, withdraw cash and other operations. In addition, Taobao's three-year no-charge commitment will continue, while online payments for e-commerce on other Alibaba websites will remain free.

According to online sources, there are currently two tentative charging standards. One is to charge 1.5% of the total payment, and 1% for point cards. Alipay said that charging merchants a certain proportion of technical service fees will help regulate the electronic payment market.

--------------------From: Beijing Times-------------------------------------------