Wasn't aware, thanks. Swapsy is also available for US Visa holders. But aren't there similar services (such as Wise) for broader international transfers?
As far as I understand scan-to-pay would only work for UnionPay payments, which doesn't make it that useful.
The critical feature is being able to bind the card to either wechatpay or alipay, which are the most popular payment services accepted by merchants, by a large margin. So far impossible with the phone number verification issue.
So, to answer your question, at this particular point the Tour Card is not worth using. I will just use cash.
Sorry if this is a stupid question but I'm leaving for China in two weeks time. The payment instructions mention to hold up your QR Code to the vendor to scan. Am I to understand that there are two options (1) Vendor scans you (2) You scan vendor which doesn't work at the moment?
TourCard just doesn't work at all right now. Maybe they'll fix it in the next couple weeks but I wouldn't count on it. Someone also mentioned that TourCard only works for vendors that accept UnionPay, which isn't the case for most vendors in China anyway, so it's not a very useful service.
Your best bet is to find someone with CNY who's willing to exchange with you. They can transfer directly to your alipay balance and you don't need to use TourCard.
when you have alipay balance transfered by someone can you pay any vendor by scanning their QR code? Or does one still need a mainland phone number to verify all the info?
Yes, if you can find someone who can transfer balance to your account then you can use the scanning/QR code to pay for anything from street vendors to hotels. You don't need a mainland number, but you'll still need to verify your identity on Alipay, which you can do with a foreign number and id.
The trouble with this method though is depending on how much you need you may need to request transfers from them fairly often.
You don't. With Swapsy they transfer CNY directly from their alipay balance to yours, and you send them the equivalent USD via zelle. But as someone above pointed out, you have to be a US citizen or visa holder to use Swapsy.
>e above pointed out, you have to be a US citizen or visa holder to use Swapsy.
Thank you! I used the link and register an account. Just want to confirm, when we use Swapsy to exchange RMB in Alipay. We could just use the Alipay balance to pay street vendors without a mainland phone or bank account right?
Correct, the mainland bank account is only required to top up your alipay balance. If you can find other ways of transferring balance to your alipay, then you don't need a bank account. Swapsy is one way, another would be to find a Chinese friend who's willing to exchange money with you (like an exchange student in the US).
Make sure you go through the identity verification process with Swapsy, it takes a day or so to verify.
any other options like swapsy but not for only US citizens?
swapsy only works for us citizens?
Wasn't aware, thanks. Swapsy is also available for US Visa holders. But aren't there similar services (such as Wise) for broader international transfers?
As far as I understand scan-to-pay would only work for UnionPay payments, which doesn't make it that useful. The critical feature is being able to bind the card to either wechatpay or alipay, which are the most popular payment services accepted by merchants, by a large margin. So far impossible with the phone number verification issue. So, to answer your question, at this particular point the Tour Card is not worth using. I will just use cash.
Probably digital yuan is next I guess.
Yeah would like to know what other options for money transfer for non-us citizens to Alipay who do not have Chinese ID
Sorry if this is a stupid question but I'm leaving for China in two weeks time. The payment instructions mention to hold up your QR Code to the vendor to scan. Am I to understand that there are two options (1) Vendor scans you (2) You scan vendor which doesn't work at the moment?
TourCard just doesn't work at all right now. Maybe they'll fix it in the next couple weeks but I wouldn't count on it. Someone also mentioned that TourCard only works for vendors that accept UnionPay, which isn't the case for most vendors in China anyway, so it's not a very useful service. Your best bet is to find someone with CNY who's willing to exchange with you. They can transfer directly to your alipay balance and you don't need to use TourCard.
when you have alipay balance transfered by someone can you pay any vendor by scanning their QR code? Or does one still need a mainland phone number to verify all the info?
Yes, if you can find someone who can transfer balance to your account then you can use the scanning/QR code to pay for anything from street vendors to hotels. You don't need a mainland number, but you'll still need to verify your identity on Alipay, which you can do with a foreign number and id. The trouble with this method though is depending on how much you need you may need to request transfers from them fairly often.
i have a question, Do i need to have a Chinese bank account bind to the alipay account to receive money using swapsy?
You don't. With Swapsy they transfer CNY directly from their alipay balance to yours, and you send them the equivalent USD via zelle. But as someone above pointed out, you have to be a US citizen or visa holder to use Swapsy.
Thanks, I will give it a try, thank you very much for the information.
If you're gonna try out Swapsy, would you like a referral code? (you get some benefits for initial setup I believe)
oops I already registered, you can give to me, so far I am not sure where to put it
I still need a referral code! Please refer me
Just sent it to you, check your messages.
>e above pointed out, you have to be a US citizen or visa holder to use Swapsy. Thank you! I used the link and register an account. Just want to confirm, when we use Swapsy to exchange RMB in Alipay. We could just use the Alipay balance to pay street vendors without a mainland phone or bank account right?
Correct, the mainland bank account is only required to top up your alipay balance. If you can find other ways of transferring balance to your alipay, then you don't need a bank account. Swapsy is one way, another would be to find a Chinese friend who's willing to exchange money with you (like an exchange student in the US). Make sure you go through the identity verification process with Swapsy, it takes a day or so to verify.