Double 11 in China: A Guide to Singles’ Day Sales

TL;DR — the 30-second version

The last time Alibaba published a Double 11 total, in 2021, eleven days of sales made 540.3 billion yuan — roughly 83 billion US dollars. Then it quietly stopped publishing the number. Double 11 (shuang shiyi, “double eleven”) is still China’s biggest shopping event of the year, and it stopped being a single day long ago. Presales open in the second half of October, you pay a deposit first and the balance later, and you need a verified payment app plus a delivery address inside China. Screenshot the prices you care about in advance; that covers most of the traps.

The short answer: what is Double 11?

The short answer: Double 11 is an online sales festival that started in 2009, when Tmall (then called Taobao Mall) picked November 11 — Singles’ Day (guanggun jie, “bare sticks day”) — and ran a promotion with 27 merchants. It grew into the biggest shopping event on earth: by 2018, a single day moved 213.5 billion yuan. The modern version is a month-long season with two payment steps and one main day. For a foreigner with a working Alipay or WeChat Pay, joining takes about ten minutes; the skill is reading the prices. The sales figures above come from Alibaba’s own announcements.

Why the date matters

November 11 never moves — four ones, four singles, the joke the name came from. The sale windows around it move every year. Recent Octobers followed the same shape: presales open around the 20th, a mid-sale wave lands around November 1, then the main day on the 11th. This year’s exact schedule had not been announced as of early October 2026, so watch the home-screen banners in Taobao, Tmall, and JD.com — that is where the real dates live. Set a phone reminder for the last week of October.

The two-step payment, explained

Most big Double 11 deals use two payments. First, during presale, you pay a deposit (ding jin, “fixed money”) — typically 10 to 100 yuan, more on expensive items. Then, in the November window, you pay the balance (wei kuan, “tail money”). The deposit locks the sale price and is effectively non-refundable, so only deposit things you genuinely want. Coupons stack on top: the classic is a spend-reduce (man jian, “spend, then reduce”) like spend 300 get 50 off, plus small red packets from the app games. The savings are real on big brands and electronics; they are rarely as gigantic as the banner numbers claim.

What changes if you are a foreigner

Less than you would think. If your Alipay or WeChat Pay is already verified with a Chinese phone number — passport verification counts — you shop with the same two taps as everyone else. Two things matter specifically for us. First, a delivery address inside China is a hard requirement; that is your apartment, and it needs a building and floor number. Second, some smaller stores will not take an international card, so load the wallet balance or link a local bank card before the sale starts. We also write our address in Chinese, because in mid-November the couriers have no time to call twice about a missing gate number. And the usual seven-day no-reason return (qi tian wu li you, “seven days without a reason”) still applies to most items — the safety net if the size is wrong.

The traps we learned the hard way

• Prices get jacked before the sale. The “original price” printed on a deal page is often a mark-up from September. Screenshot anything you want two weeks before presales open.
• Deposits are the point of no return. Skip the balance window and you lose the deposit. Set an alarm for the first balance day.
• The logistics crush. Parcels ordered on November 11 can take a week instead of two days. Never order anything time-critical — documents, medicine — inside the sale window.
• Cheap is not the point. A 300-yuan thing you wanted at 200 is a win; a 100-yuan thing you never wanted is a loss. We order only what was already on our list.

Quick answers

Q: Is Double 11 actually cheaper? A: Often, yes — mostly on electronics, appliances, and big brands, where deposits and coupons produce real savings. The giant claimed discounts are marketing; screenshot prices and judge for yourself.

Q: Do I need a special account? A: No. A verified Alipay or WeChat Pay with a Chinese phone number and a delivery address in China is enough.

Q: When do I need to act? A: Around October 20, when presales usually open, deposit by deposit. This year’s exact dates appear in app banners in late October.

Q: Can I get a deposit back? A: Not really — that is what makes it a deposit. If the seller fails to deliver, it comes back automatically; if you change your mind, treat it as spent.

Editorial review: EasternReset Team · Snapshot: 2026-09. Found an error? Tell us.