People who have Chunghwa Post ATM cards can use the cards to shop at Chinese online shopping sites Taobao or its spinoff TMall after a partnership with Hangzhou-based online payment platform Alipay took effect yesterday.

The partnership is the state-run company’s first venture into the cross-border electronic trade payment service.

Cardholders can now choose to pay for items bought on the two Web sites from a list of payment options available at Alipay, including the ability to pay in New Taiwan dollars, and pay a processing fee of just 1 percent of their total purchase, Chunghwa Post vice president Wang Shu-min (王淑敏) said.

Prior to the launch of the new service, Taiwanese shoppers could only use their credit cards to shop on the two Chinese shopping sites, were charged in yuan and had to pay a processing fee of 4.5 percent of their total purchase.

Chunghwa Post has about 30 million checking and saving accounts and has issued 14 million ATM cards, 4 million of which also function as Visa debit cards, Wang said.

To use the new cross-strait facility, postal account holders must be at least 20 years old, have activated the fund transfer facility to access the payment service and have card readers so the shopping sites can process the shoppers’ account information, she said.

For security reasons, payment transactions are capped at NT$100,000 per day (US$3,300) and NT$300,000 per month, Wu said.

Starting next month, Chinese shoppers will be able to use Alipay to buy items on Chunghwa Post’s online site, the Post Mall.

Both sides are still testing the service to make sure that transactions for Chinese buyers can be conducted in a reliable and safe manner, Wang said.

The seven-year-old Post Mall built its reputation on helping independent farmers make direct sales to consumers, including lychees and pears. Its revenue has reached NT$300 million, Wu said.

“We will have a special section in our Post Mall next month that will feature high-quality products or produce made in Taiwan,” she said.