4 ms·

Most of the merchants will just ask the customers to show the transaction detail in their phones.

by yuanchenxi95 6y ago

smachiz 6y ago
Sure, which works great until rampant abuse shuts that down. Pretty easy to fake a receipt.
- scarmig 6y ago
  It's also pretty easy to take an item and walk out without paying. But it doesn't happen. At least, it doesn't happen that much, and I would guess it happens much less in China than in the USA (though I'd be curious to see actual shrinkage numbers). QR codes seem to have largely supplanted cash and credit cards in mainland China, whatever hypothetical downsides they might have. And the very limited hypothetical advantages of NFC (it's unclear to me what they actually are, but let's grant they exist) don't compensate for the fact that an expensive terminal is needed, so NFC isn't displacing QR codes in the near future.
  - smachiz 6y ago
    The five finger discount is a risk regardless of payment method and doesn’t have a bearing on which method is superior. NFC terminals aren’t expensive - especially since they can be a cheap phone now. QR without validating payment received is probably only viable up to maybe $10USD before the risk of being defrauded is too high. I bet you’ll find lots of one way QR shops have a phone that they verify they’ve received payment on anyway.
    - scarmig 6y ago
      It doesn't have a bearing on which method is riskier, but it does have a bearing on the idea that everyone is going to be generating fake receipts on their phones. And, yeah, most places do verify based on another phone.
      - smachiz 6y ago
        At which point the QR is no better - and probably worse - than the stripe app and an NFC reader.
ryandrake 6y ago
What about people without smartphones? I assume credit card or cash is still an option in China?
- sfifs 6y ago
  Only foreign visitors carry cash these days in China in cities in my personal experience :-) Some shops actually don't accept cash at all - so you have to pay a colleague in cash and they'll pay the vendor with Ali or Tencent Pay on your behalf. China netizen population is estimated around 900 million. So essentially all adults in Urban and many in rural excepting small kids. Generally for the elderly, their kids or grand kids will help.

Most of the merchants will just ask the customers to show the transaction detail in their phones.

smachiz 6y ago

Sure, which works great until rampant abuse shuts that down. Pretty easy to fake a receipt.

scarmig 6y ago
It's also pretty easy to take an item and walk out without paying. But it doesn't happen. At least, it doesn't happen that much, and I would guess it happens much less in China than in the USA (though I'd be curious to see actual shrinkage numbers). QR codes seem to have largely supplanted cash and credit cards in mainland China, whatever hypothetical downsides they might have. And the very limited hypothetical advantages of NFC (it's unclear to me what they actually are, but let's grant they exist) don't compensate for the fact that an expensive terminal is needed, so NFC isn't displacing QR codes in the near future.
- smachiz 6y ago
  The five finger discount is a risk regardless of payment method and doesn’t have a bearing on which method is superior. NFC terminals aren’t expensive - especially since they can be a cheap phone now. QR without validating payment received is probably only viable up to maybe $10USD before the risk of being defrauded is too high. I bet you’ll find lots of one way QR shops have a phone that they verify they’ve received payment on anyway.
  - scarmig 6y ago
    It doesn't have a bearing on which method is riskier, but it does have a bearing on the idea that everyone is going to be generating fake receipts on their phones. And, yeah, most places do verify based on another phone.
    - smachiz 6y ago
      At which point the QR is no better - and probably worse - than the stripe app and an NFC reader.

ryandrake 6y ago

What about people without smartphones? I assume credit card or cash is still an option in China?

sfifs 6y ago
Only foreign visitors carry cash these days in China in cities in my personal experience :-) Some shops actually don't accept cash at all - so you have to pay a colleague in cash and they'll pay the vendor with Ali or Tencent Pay on your behalf. China netizen population is estimated around 900 million. So essentially all adults in Urban and many in rural excepting small kids. Generally for the elderly, their kids or grand kids will help.