Founded by Alibaba Group in 2004, Alipay is China's largest third-party online payment platform. Alipay has over 700 million users by the end of 2012. Users can pay various bills via the platform, such as online shopping, telephone bills, and tuition fees. Take online shopping as an example. Buyers put the money into their Alipay account which will not release the money to the sellers until the buyers get their goods. Alipay provides its users with a simple, safe and fast online payment method, protecting the interests of both buyers and sellers.