Shopping in China: Where to Buy, Bargaining, Returns and Receipts

Shopping in mainland China is easier than most first-time visitors expect, but a few rules work differently from home. Prices in shops must be marked by law, and you pay the tag price — bargaining is normal only at markets and stalls where nothing is tagged. You pay mostly by phone (Alipay or WeChat Pay linked to your own card), with cash as a backup that shops cannot legally refuse. The rule that catches Western visitors out: a shop does not have to take something back just because you changed your mind — that right exists for online orders, not for in-store purchases. Keep the receipt, ask for the official invoice (发票, fāpiào) on anything big, and you have the paperwork for returns, complaints and the tax refund at the airport.

Five things to know before you buy anything

1. Your phone is your wallet. Alipay accepts foreign Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Diners Club, Discover and UnionPay cards. WeChat Pay accepts the same list plus American Express. Physical cards work where the shop shows the matching card logo — if there is no logo, ask the cashier. Cash (renminbi, RMB) is legal tender and a shop may not refuse it.
2. Prices are marked, and the tag is the price. Shops must show the product name, the price in Arabic numerals and the unit (per item, per 500 g and so on); English on the tag is optional, so many tags are Chinese-only. A seller may not add anything on top of the tag or charge a fee that isn't marked.
3. Bargain only where there are no tags. Marked prices are the general legal duty, though some places or goods may be exempt under local rules. In practice, bargaining is what you'll meet at tourist markets, souvenir stalls and some wholesale markets. In malls, supermarkets and chain stores, haggling gets you nowhere.
4. Returns are not automatic. In a physical shop you can return, exchange or get a repair when the item is faulty — not because you no longer like it. Online and other distance purchases come with a 7-day no-reason return. Check the item before you leave the counter.
5. Keep the receipt and ask for a fapiao. If you ask for an invoice, the shop must issue one. When a shop does take something back, it refunds the price shown on that invoice or receipt, and the departure tax refund needs it too.

Where to shop, and what each place is good for

Match the place to what you are buying. Here is how the main options compare for a short trip:

Malls, department stores and supermarkets

For anything where being genuine matters — brand clothing, cosmetics, a phone, a camera lens — buy in a mall or a brand's own store. Prices are tagged, staff at bigger malls are more likely to speak some English, and large stores are the places most likely to take a foreign card. Many department stores are also registered tax-refund stores; ask at the service desk before you shop if you are planning a big purchase.

Supermarkets and convenience stores are underrated for gifts. Packaged tea, Sichuan pepper, dried fruit, sweets and local snacks cost far less here than at a souvenir stand near a famous sight, and everything has a price on the shelf. Remember your home country's rules on bringing food in.

Specialty shops: tea, silk, porcelain

For tea, silk and porcelain, an established specialty shop beats a market stall. A proper tea shop will let you taste before you buy and will tell you where the tea comes from and which harvest it is. Silk and porcelain shops in cities known for them (Hangzhou and Suzhou for silk, Jingdezhen for porcelain) carry a wider range of grades. Ask about returns before you pay, and get any promise in writing — a shop that advertises "7-day exchange" or a similar promise has to keep it. If you would like to learn what good tea tastes like before spending money on it, tea-tasting sessions in the big cities are listed on Klook, and our guide to Chinese tea culture covers the basics.

Tourist markets and souvenir stalls

This is where bargaining happens. Beijing's Silk Street (秀水街, Xiùshuǐ Jiē) is the best-known example: Beijing's official English portal, in a 2020 page, describes bargaining there as a must and says opening prices can be 2 to 20 times what the seller will actually accept. That gives you an idea of the gap at markets aimed at tourists; it is not a fixed rule for every market. Quality at these places ranges from fine to poor, and many "brand" items are copies (more on that below). Check stitching, zips and how things work before you pay, because getting money back from a stall later is difficult.

Wholesale and electronics markets

Cities like Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Yiwu have huge wholesale districts. Shenzhen's Huaqiangbei (华强北, Huáqiángběi) electronics area is the famous one for phone accessories, cables, power banks and gadgets. Stalls are mostly set up for bulk buyers but will usually sell single items, and prices improve when you buy several. Test anything electronic in front of the seller, and be careful with "brand" electronics in these markets — genuine branded devices are safer in an official store. Our Guangzhou and Shenzhen guide covers the two cities in more detail.

Online: Taobao and JD

Taobao (淘宝, Táobǎo) and JD (京东, Jīngdōng) are where most people in China shop, and prices are usually lower than in tourist areas. For a short trip they are hard to use: the apps are built around a Chinese phone number, a Chinese delivery address and Chinese-language customer service. Check in the app itself whether it accepts your phone number and your card before relying on it. If a Chinese-speaking friend or your hotel can help with delivery, online orders do come with the strongest return rights you will get in China (see the returns section).

Duty-free shops

Airport duty-free shops sell to passengers who have already cleared exit formalities. A smaller number of cities also have downtown duty-free shops. You can buy there if you are leaving China by plane or international cruise within 60 days; you show your passport and your ticket, shop in the city you are departing from, and collect the goods yourself in the departure area of the airport or port. There is no spending cap, but quantities must be reasonable for personal use, and travellers leaving by train or over a land border do not qualify. Since November 2025 these shops can add products such as phones, small drones, sports goods and over-the-counter medicines, and they may take orders online. Store locations change, so check which downtown shops are open in your departure city before planning around one.

Hong Kong is a separate customs and consumer system with its own rules, so none of this applies there. See our Hong Kong shopping guide if your trip continues south.

Prices and bargaining

A tagged price in China is the price. The law behind this is the Provisions on Clearly Marked Prices and Prohibition of Price Fraud, which apply to physical and online shops alike. You can read the full text on the Chinese government's official gazette (in Chinese).

Sales and "original price" labels are also regulated. If a shop shows a crossed-out "original price" without explaining where it comes from, that price may not be higher than the lowest price the shop actually sold the item for in the 7 days before the sale. A shop may not raise the tag just before a sale to make the discount look bigger. The rules list what counts as price fraud: luring you with a low price and charging a higher one at the till, fake discounts or comparisons, misleading price labels, and not honouring a price promise, among others. Whether a case is actually fraud is decided by the regulator, not on the spot.

Where there is no tag, you bargain. A few things help:

• Ask the price first, then decide what you would happily pay. Don't anchor on the opening number.
• Use the calculator. Sellers type a price into a calculator or phone and hand it to you; type your counter-offer back. No Chinese needed.
• Buying several items gives you room to ask for one total price.
• Walking away is your strongest move. If the seller doesn't call you back, the last price was probably close to real.
• Agree the final price before you pay, and pay that exact amount by phone so there is a record.

Keep it friendly. Bargaining is normal at a market stall and nobody takes offence. Trying it in a mall or supermarket will just get a polite no.

Paying

Set up Alipay or WeChat Pay with your foreign card before you fly — our Alipay setup guide walks you through it. A UnionPay card issued outside mainland China can be linked to both apps as well. When you pay by foreign card on a terminal, it may offer to charge you in your home currency; Visa's rules say the screen must show both amounts and the rate and let you choose freely, and in our experience choosing yuan is the safer default. For which shops take cards, see using international cards in China; for how much cash to carry, see do you need cash in China.

Returns, exchanges and online orders

This is the rule that most often catches visitors out. China's consumer law gives a no-questions-asked return right only for purchases made at a distance — online, by phone, by TV shopping or mail order. When you buy something in person in a shop, the legal right to return it depends on it being faulty.

In a shop: faulty goods

If what you bought doesn't meet quality standards, you can return it, exchange it or have it repaired under the applicable rules or what you agreed with the shop. If no specific rule or agreement covers it, you can return it within 7 days of receiving it, and the seller pays necessary costs such as shipping. Certain listed products fall under the "three guarantees" system (三包, sānbāo — repair, replacement, return): a performance fault within 7 days of sale lets you choose a return, exchange or repair, and within 15 days an exchange or repair. You need the invoice and the warranty card for this, and the warranty period starts from the invoice date. Ask the shop whether your product is covered — the list does not include everything.

Signs saying "no returns" or "no exchanges once sold" do not cancel these rights. Shop notices and fine print that exclude or limit your legal rights are void. Going the other way, a shop's own promise is binding: if it advertises an exchange or return policy, it has to honour it.

For an item that simply doesn't fit or that you regret buying, it's up to the shop. Big malls and brand stores often agree to an exchange if the tags are on and you have the receipt; market stalls usually won't. Ask "can I exchange this?" before you pay, not after.

Online: the 7-day no-reason return

For online orders you can return an item within 7 days of receiving it without giving a reason. The exceptions are custom-made goods, fresh or perishable items, digital goods that have been downloaded or unsealed, newspapers and magazines, and goods you confirmed as non-returnable when buying. The seller must mark non-returnable items clearly and ask you to confirm; it cannot make "no return" the pre-ticked default, and opening the package to inspect the item does not cancel the right.

The item has to come back in good condition: working as before, with all parts and labels. Broken hygiene seals on food or cosmetics, an activated electronic device or cut-off clothing tags count as not in good condition. The 7 days start the day after you sign for the parcel; you notify the seller, send the item back with its accessories and any free gifts, and the seller refunds within 7 days of receiving it. Unless the seller says otherwise, you pay the return postage.

Fapiao, the tax refund, and taking things home

Fapiao: the official invoice

A till receipt and a fapiao are not the same thing. The fapiao is the official tax invoice. Any shop you pay must issue one when asked, and the consumer law says the same from your side: if you ask, the shop has to give it. Most fapiao are now digital. Fully digital e-invoices were rolled out nationwide from 1 December 2024, carry the same legal weight as paper ones, and can be sent to you by email or through a QR code. Saying "fāpiào" and showing your email address and your name (or 个人, gèrén, "personal", as the buyer title) is usually enough. Ask for one for anything expensive, anything with a warranty, and anything you want a tax refund on.

The departure tax refund, in short

Visitors who have stayed in China no more than 183 days can claim back part of the VAT on goods bought at registered tax-refund stores. You need to spend at least ¥200 in the same store on the same day. The refund rate is 11% for most goods (8% for goods taxed at the lower VAT rate), and the refund agent deducts a handling fee from that. At the store you show your passport and get a tax-refund application form plus the VAT invoice; when you leave, customs checks the goods first and then you claim the money at the refund counter in the departure area. You have to leave within 90 days of buying. Since July 2026 the process can be fully paperless, with a national tax-refund service code you register once on your phone. The full step-by-step, including the instant in-store option, is in our guide to departing China.

What you can take home

Most souvenirs — tea, silk, modern porcelain, clothes, snacks — are no problem on the Chinese side; the bigger question for food is usually your home country's import rules. Three kinds of purchase need care:

• Antiques. Precious cultural relics may not leave China at all, and ordinary relics are restricted. Art, crafts and other objects made in or before 1949, among other categories, need a cultural-relics export review. You apply to a relics review office before departure, it gives an opinion within 15 working days, and approved items get an export mark and a permit that customs checks.
• Wildlife products. Ivory and traditional medicines containing bear bile, musk, pangolin scales, leopard bone or antelope horn cannot be taken out without an export permit (CITES). Don't buy them. Seeing them on sale in an airport shop does not make them legal to carry.
• Gold, silver and valuable herbal medicine. These are on the restricted list; if you carry restricted items over the limit or need a permit for them, you must declare in writing at customs.

Fakes, shopping scams and how to complain

Counterfeits

The "designer" bags, watches and trainers at tourist markets are copies, whatever the seller says about "original quality". Chinese customs can treat counterfeit goods carried out of the country as infringing goods and seize them when the quantity goes beyond reasonable personal use. Your home country may be stricter on what you bring in, so check its rules before you buy.

Shopping scams and tour-group shopping stops

The scams aimed at shoppers are the tea house, the "art student" exhibition and the friendly stranger who knows a good shop — all covered in our guide to tourist scams in China. The common sign: someone else chooses where you go to spend money.

If you join an organised tour, the travel agency may not make you shop at designated stores or add extra paid activities, unless both sides agree or you ask for it and it doesn't affect other people in the group. If an agency breaks this rule, you can ask it within 30 days after the tour ends to arrange the return and pay you back first. China's tourism ministry says forced shopping on a tour is illegal; report it to the 12345 government service hotline in the city where it happened, and keep your contract, itinerary, payment records, chats and any recordings.

How to complain

For consumer problems — a fake sold as real, a price that doesn't match the tag, a shop refusing a valid return — the channel is 12315, the market regulator's hotline, together with the national 12315 complaint platform. To file, you give your real identity, the name and address of the business, what you want and the facts; the regulator decides within 7 working days whether to accept it, and complaints must be made within 3 years. If both sides agree to mediation, it has to be finished within 60 days of acceptance; if it fails, arbitration or court are still open. Where a seller is found to have cheated you, you can claim compensation of three times the price, with a minimum of ¥500.

The 12315 hotline and platform are mainly in Chinese. If you need help in English, Beijing's 12345 hotline offers English and nine other foreign languages, and Shanghai's 12345 offers 18 foreign languages. 12345 handles non-emergency complaints; anything involving a threat to you or your property is a 110 call. Whatever route you take, the receipt, the fapiao, a photo of the shop sign and your payment record are your evidence — this is why you keep them.

The short version

Pay by phone, and keep some cash as a backup. Trust the price tag, and bargain only at untagged market stalls. Buy anything that must be genuine in a mall or brand store, and check every item before you leave the counter, because in-store returns depend on a fault or the shop's own promise. Ask for a fapiao on bigger purchases: it backs up returns and complaints, and you need it for the tax refund at the airport. If something goes wrong, 12315 handles consumer complaints and 12345 can help in English in Beijing and Shanghai. Next step: get your payments set up, then read our departing China guide so the tax refund goes smoothly.

Last updated: November 2026