Alibaba.com inks deal with Western Union

SHANGHAI, CHINA: Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba.com Ltd said on Thursday that it has signed an agreement with payment provider Western Union for its AliExpress wholesale platform.

Alibaba.com ended its partnership with PayPal, the online payment unit of Ebay Inc, last month after PayPal wanted to increase transactions for certain accounts.

Under the deal with Western Union, users buying items on AliExpress will be allowed to make cash payments through Western Union Agent locations in more than 160 countries.

Alibaba.com is a unit of Alibaba Group, which is about 40 percent owned by Yahoo Inc.