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A foreigner's guide to WeChat payments in China

blog.lerner.co.il

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Re: A foreigner's guide to WeChat payments in China

#101

Post by dingaling »

olalonde wrote: post #71
reaperducer wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, first, it'd probably be a phone-primary payment world, not a phone-only payment world That's just moving the goalposts. The whole point of the original post was that moving to a phone-only payment world is a bad thing, and that's what is happening in some places (China is only one). I see no scenarios where my risk exposure is significant in a phone loss or breakage scenario. Then I submit that you lack imagina…

That sounds a lot like losing your wallet or dropping it in the sewer. Except that losing your wallet is a lot worse. In the situation you described, I'd just borrow the driver's phone to login on WeChat and pay.

> That sounds a lot like losing your wallet

Many tourists keep backup cash and travel documents in a waist-pack just for that contingency.

To expand on the original scenario, last year my primary phone was soaked in freak torrential rain and shut-off. Thankfully I had loaded all my travel docs, password safe and maps to a backup tablet and I was able to call into a service station and arrange my affairs over their wifi. It took two days for my phone to dry out.

Always, always take a backup when away from home.

> I'd just borrow the driver's phone to login on WeChat and pay

You'd know your password from memory? You'd trust his phone? Would you use banking apps on his phone too?

Re: A foreigner's guide to WeChat payments in China

#102

Post by Markoff »

here i will save your time reading that long nonsense - if you don't live in China and travel there, then ask any Chinese to top up your account and give them cash in exchange. if you live in China getting phone number and bank account it's extremely easy, there is not even waiting period for bank card, because there is no name on UnionPay cards so they can give you card immediately

Re: A foreigner's guide to WeChat payments in China

#103

Post by est »

reaperducer wrote: post #13

I was getting funny looks from taxi drivers and waitresses, all of whom were disappointed that another primitive foreigner was forcing them to use cash. I simply don't like the thought that if I forget my phone, get my phone taken from me, drop my phone and it breaks, or run out of battery that I'll be stranded somewhere and unable to buy food, check in to a hotel, or even get home. Societies should move toward more…

I simply don't like the thought that if I forget my cash, get my cash taken from me, drop my cash by mistake, or run out of cash that I'll be stranded somewhere and unable to buy food, check in to a hotel, or even get home.

Sounds similar?

> Societies should move toward more payment methods, not fewer. Redundancy is important

Totally agree. In some stores in China, you can spend money by face recognition.

Re: A foreigner's guide to WeChat payments in China

#104

Post by reuven »

Markoff wrote: post #102

here i will save your time reading that long nonsense - if you don't live in China and travel there, then ask any Chinese to top up your account and give them cash in exchange. if you live in China getting phone number and bank account it's extremely easy, there is not even waiting period for bank card, because there is no name on UnionPay cards so they can give you card immediately

That's great advice, except for one thing: Many Westerners visiting China cannot accept money transferred to them. The "wallet" functionality just doesn't exist. That's why I wrote that blog post. Sorry it wasn't useful for you.

Re: A foreigner's guide to WeChat payments in China

#105

Post by Markoff »

torgian wrote: post #61

I never had a problem using cash to pay for things, including taxis. The biggest problem with taxis is that most drivers don't carry much change, so I always make sure i have a hundred RMB in small bills on me, just in case my phone is dead.

it's difference between not carrying cash and telling you they don't have cash/change for obvious reasons, this happens only to foreigners

if you are drunk enjoy those fake banknotes they have for these occasions. happened to me only once completely sober in restaurant they tried this while i was there with my Chinese wife, they really have no shame

Re: A foreigner's guide to WeChat payments in China

#106

Post by jason_slack »

pascoej wrote: post #7

Nice guide. I didn’t know it was possible without the Chinese phone number + Chinese bank account. Getting a Chinese phone number and bank account was surprisingly painless for me. You prepay around 20-30$ for a phone number at 1rmb/500mb and the account is a simple form. Then if you have a nice bank account with fee free international withdraws you can convert money without fee by going to the atm, withdrawing, then…

I had no trouble getting a phone number and bank account. China Construction Bank was straight forward. They only ran into a few issues with the characters in my full name. They had to create a legal name for me in China. It took 2 hours for everything but I walked out of there with an account a debit card, access to their services via an app on my phone. They really made sure I was all set.

Re: A foreigner's guide to WeChat payments in China

#107

Post by jason_slack »

reuven wrote: post #12
NedIsakoff wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WeChat pay is a lot less useful then Alipay. I would recommend Alipay.

As I wrote in the blog post, I tried to get Alipay to work. So far as I can tell, they truly don't let foreigners (without Chinese bank accounts) use their payment system.

Yes, you need a Chinese bank account for AliPay.

You could give RMB's to a friend and have them transfer you money to AliPay from their AliPay account. This involves your friend needing to go to their bank and deposit your RMB's into their account though.

Re: A foreigner's guide to WeChat payments in China

#108

Post by jason_slack »

NedIsakoff wrote: post #11
reuven wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I seriously thought about getting a bank account and phone number. But I have a single-SIM phone, and really didn't feel like swapping the SIM in and out, depending on who I was calling. (Nor did I feel like having two phones with me.) But yes, if I hadn't managed to get WeChat payments to work, I probably would instead have written a guide on getting a Chinese bank account!

WeChat pay is a lot less useful then Alipay. I would recommend Alipay.

I had both WeChat and AliPay. I found that most vendord accepted both equally. Very rarely did a vendor only accept WeChat.

However, every person has both AliPay and WeChat and they use both.

Re: A foreigner's guide to WeChat payments in China

#109

Post by jason_slack »

zavi wrote: post #78
xster wrote: post #75

Since this is being used as a guide, it might be worth being pedantic and pointing out that it's the 'wrong' way of doing it. It definitely beats carrying cash but it's a 'second class citizen'-ish way of using mobile payment. The mechanism the OP used is the 'pocket change' system which, like its name suggest, can't be used everywhere. It's great for getting casual consummables, getting ice cream etc but doesn't wor…

This is false, you cannot open a bank account unless you live in China (work & residence proof required). Source: just came back from China, went to a few banks and tried to open an account. AliPay seems to now accept foreign debit cards though as a source of funding.

> This is false, you cannot open a bank account unless you > live in China (work & residence proof required).

This is completely false.

Re: A foreigner's guide to WeChat payments in China

#110

Post by markdown »

taberiand wrote: post #50
markdown wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What use is going to a phone store when you don't have any means of paying for a phone? Further, in many countries you can't buy a sim card without ID so if your ID was stored on your phone, you're screwed there too.

I made this point separately, but you can use the phone you're buying to pay for itself, just log into WeChat on it while in the shop. I hope you're carrying your passport in a foreign country.

> I hope you're carrying your passport in a foreign country.

One should absolutely not do this. You'll be royally screwed if you lose your passport. Leave it in your hotel room, with just a photo of it on your phone.

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