YES you can totally get a taobao as a foreigner. I am not sure about the process for opening a store, but I was able to open one as just a regular user.

Make sure that you open your zhifubao account FIRST, and then when you go to taobao, click on "log in with zhifubao." The other way around does not seem to work well. When you establish the account with zhifubao, you will have to provide a photo of your passport and residence permits. I never had to submit anything of myself holding the document, just the document itself. It took me about three weeks (yes, three entire weeks) to get it all figured out. Worse case scenario, they do have a customer service line, they seem to have some good tips.