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I went back to China for a month in December 2019. It's crazy how Wechat payment is now used everywhere. Any shops in China (I believe 99% of them): in wechat

I went back to China for a month in December 2019. It's crazy how Wechat payment is now used everywhere. Any shops in China (I believe 99% of them): in wechat, you have "wallet" that generates QR code. Go to any shop, at the counter, show the QR code generated, they have the machine (or wechat app) to scan it. done. Crazy efficient. Most of the people there don't bring wallets anymore. Most of the restaurants in Shenzhen now has a QR code. You scan it, order what you want, and the food come. Don't need any interaction with the waiter, what I felt a bit inconvenient since I like to ask what's good there. Starbucks: When I've left home, ordered via the Starbucks "mini-app" inside wechat, when I arrived in starbucks 5 minutes later, it was ready on the counter. Metro and Bus: get the metro/bus "mini-app" in wechat. you get . In their receipt it is mentioned "blockchain" technology. I'm not too sure if they use it, wondering if they really do use a blockchain behind to generate receipts. Sending money to ANYONE: never been that easy to send money to anyone. Even if you , show the QR code, and they'll . No more " I don't have cash on me " excuse. There is also no hard limit on how much you can send. I remembered paying all my rent via wechat when I lived there, about 3000 usd every 3 months.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
kohtatsu 7y ago
Mobile pay for Starbucks is a thing in North America, without the centralization of surveillance. (There's probably a dozen tracking SDKs, but we're working on getting those to be properly opt-in, and they aren't fed almost directly to the gov't.) Now that Apple Pay is available for online checkouts it has mostly the same convenience as WeChat. Hopefully Android Pay or whatever will catch up soon, as Apple Pay is only usable in Safari from what I know.
- use-net 7y ago
  yet another password? NO WAY! stay clear of this registereware!
woutr_be 7y ago
I just wish they would allow foreigners to use it as well. I live in Hong Kong and go to China quite often to visit friends, but it’s a pain in the ass to pay. Usually my friends pay for me, and I give them cash. The rest just split through Wechat.
- xvilka 7y ago
  It's allowed for foreigners who has the mainland bank account. But yes, it's impossible without.
  - woutr_be 7y ago
    Yeah sorry, by foreigners I was mostly referring to tourists.
dijit 7y ago
Not sure if you know, but at least life in Sweden is pretty close to this. Contactless payments are everywhere (Apple/Samsung/Android pay) and the app “swish” works great for sending payments to people. Even some businesses have a swish QR code displayed in lieu of taking cash payments.
- Hamuko 7y ago
  Same in Finland, although most people still use contactless cards instead of Apple/Samsung/Android payment apps. But since they work on the same terminals, it's really easy for people to switch when they want to. I'd go all in on Apple Pay if not for the fact that the grocery store I go to has a loyalty card program and I can't use that with Apple Pay. Luckily the loyalty card is tied to my bank card, so I can get the loyalty card benefits and pay with the same tap.
- adouzzy 7y ago
  The brilliant thing about wechat (or alipay) is that they don't have a close affiliation to the banks. And therefore far less transaction fees.
  - stingraycharles 7y ago
    Do people have to pay transaction fees for using their bank cards in the US? At least over here in .nl there are none of these fees (as a consumer) and we have free NFC payments with your regular bank cards or Apple Pay etc.
    - dijit 7y ago
      EU caps the transaction fee of banks to like 1%. (which is paid by the seller). NL is a bit of a special cookie here, companies in NL don't like paying 1% transaction fees, so most companies only accept MAESTRO. Because Maestro has lower tx fees. Every time I visit I can't pay for anything with my VISA or Mastercard. It's rather frustrating.
      - 7y ago
pmlnr 7y ago
Eh. 2019 May, Hangzhou, impossible to rent a bicycle without alipay or wechat. The funny bit is that with UK phone number you can't sign up for the service. China should have gone wireless cards, like most sensible countries.
odiroot 7y ago
I've been to Chengdu and Shenzhen in 2017. People were sometimes sighing and rolling their eyes when I tried to pay with cash. Even worse with cards.
- wendyshu 7y ago
  Why are cards worse?
  - daveFNbuck 7y ago
    You need special equipment to accept cards.
    - wendyshu 7y ago
      Did they not have the equipment?
  - odiroot 7y ago
    First, it takes time. Second, western cards (especially debit) are not always accepted in China.
    - wendyshu 7y ago
      Yeah I guess cards can be slower than cash
badrabbit 7y ago
That sounds pretty scary,what a price to pay. Let's say you're blacklisted for something, that's it, you can't buy anything or get any services from anywhere. You can't even beg for money! I hope I never have to see that in my lifetime,a very rare thing where I would prefer wars before it came to this.
- yegle 7y ago
  That's exactly what's happening: - https://www.vice.com/amp/en_us/article/939q35/heres-how-china-is-silencing-coronavirus-critics-in-the-us https://www.vice.com/amp/en_us/article/939q35/heres-how-chin... - https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/25/20976964/chinese-americans-censorship-wechat-hong-kong-elections-tiktok https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/25/20976964/chinese-america...
- perlpimp 7y ago
  or suddenly being not a part of a desired ethnic group
microcolonel 7y ago
I don't really have an issue in Canada with payments. Contactless w/ Visa/Amex/Interac is basically ubiquitous, and cash is fine when you don't want to rely on the networks. That thing you describe with Starbucks is here too, not that I really care about waiting 90 seconds for a beverage at a Starbucks, on the occasion that I visit one.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

kohtatsu 7y ago

Mobile pay for Starbucks is a thing in North America, without the centralization of surveillance. (There's probably a dozen tracking SDKs, but we're working on getting those to be properly opt-in, and they aren't fed almost directly to the gov't.) Now that Apple Pay is available for online checkouts it has mostly the same convenience as WeChat. Hopefully Android Pay or whatever will catch up soon, as Apple Pay is only usable in Safari from what I know.

use-net 7y ago
yet another password? NO WAY! stay clear of this registereware!

woutr_be 7y ago

I just wish they would allow foreigners to use it as well. I live in Hong Kong and go to China quite often to visit friends, but it’s a pain in the ass to pay. Usually my friends pay for me, and I give them cash. The rest just split through Wechat.

xvilka 7y ago
It's allowed for foreigners who has the mainland bank account. But yes, it's impossible without.
- woutr_be 7y ago
  Yeah sorry, by foreigners I was mostly referring to tourists.

dijit 7y ago

Not sure if you know, but at least life in Sweden is pretty close to this. Contactless payments are everywhere (Apple/Samsung/Android pay) and the app “swish” works great for sending payments to people. Even some businesses have a swish QR code displayed in lieu of taking cash payments.

Hamuko 7y ago
Same in Finland, although most people still use contactless cards instead of Apple/Samsung/Android payment apps. But since they work on the same terminals, it's really easy for people to switch when they want to. I'd go all in on Apple Pay if not for the fact that the grocery store I go to has a loyalty card program and I can't use that with Apple Pay. Luckily the loyalty card is tied to my bank card, so I can get the loyalty card benefits and pay with the same tap.
adouzzy 7y ago
The brilliant thing about wechat (or alipay) is that they don't have a close affiliation to the banks. And therefore far less transaction fees.
- stingraycharles 7y ago
  Do people have to pay transaction fees for using their bank cards in the US? At least over here in .nl there are none of these fees (as a consumer) and we have free NFC payments with your regular bank cards or Apple Pay etc.
  - dijit 7y ago
    EU caps the transaction fee of banks to like 1%. (which is paid by the seller). NL is a bit of a special cookie here, companies in NL don't like paying 1% transaction fees, so most companies only accept MAESTRO. Because Maestro has lower tx fees. Every time I visit I can't pay for anything with my VISA or Mastercard. It's rather frustrating.
    - 7y ago

pmlnr 7y ago

Eh. 2019 May, Hangzhou, impossible to rent a bicycle without alipay or wechat. The funny bit is that with UK phone number you can't sign up for the service. China should have gone wireless cards, like most sensible countries.

odiroot 7y ago

I've been to Chengdu and Shenzhen in 2017. People were sometimes sighing and rolling their eyes when I tried to pay with cash. Even worse with cards.

wendyshu 7y ago
Why are cards worse?
- daveFNbuck 7y ago
  You need special equipment to accept cards.
  - wendyshu 7y ago
    Did they not have the equipment?
- odiroot 7y ago
  First, it takes time. Second, western cards (especially debit) are not always accepted in China.
  - wendyshu 7y ago
    Yeah I guess cards can be slower than cash

badrabbit 7y ago

That sounds pretty scary,what a price to pay. Let's say you're blacklisted for something, that's it, you can't buy anything or get any services from anywhere. You can't even beg for money! I hope I never have to see that in my lifetime,a very rare thing where I would prefer wars before it came to this.

yegle 7y ago
That's exactly what's happening: - https://www.vice.com/amp/en_us/article/939q35/heres-how-china-is-silencing-coronavirus-critics-in-the-us https://www.vice.com/amp/en_us/article/939q35/heres-how-chin... - https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/25/20976964/chinese-americans-censorship-wechat-hong-kong-elections-tiktok https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/25/20976964/chinese-america...
perlpimp 7y ago
or suddenly being not a part of a desired ethnic group

microcolonel 7y ago

I don't really have an issue in Canada with payments. Contactless w/ Visa/Amex/Interac is basically ubiquitous, and cash is fine when you don't want to rely on the networks. That thing you describe with Starbucks is here too, not that I really care about waiting 90 seconds for a beverage at a Starbucks, on the occasion that I visit one.