To start out, thanks to all the early adopters of the ICBC UnionPay card who reported their experiences with the card, particularly their international testing. For the US, I was interested in getting a broader picture of acceptance in the US with real transactions beyond the limited datapoints available.

Some are based only on reports, while the remaining ones I personally tested June to Sept 2019 with real completed & posted transactions. UnionPay support changes periodically with merchants due to evolving terminal configurations & website/app support so retesting is necessary, mostly to see if it has improved.

One of the interesting facets is merchants who don't support UnionPay chip yet but support cashback like a PIN debit card. At these merchants, this card works like a PIN debit card running on the Pulse/Discover debit network.


IN-PERSON WORKS

Chip & Contactless
McDonald's
Burger King - based on reports

Chip
POS: Clover - based on reports; contactless not tested

CVS drug
99 Ranch (grocery) - based on reports
Home Depot (no contactless for any card type)
QFC (grocery) - based on reports
Walgreens drug
Walmart (no contactless for any card type) - based on reports with cashier; I had trouble getting it to work at self-checkout, but finally successful
USPS (post office; human clerk and kiosk; no contactless for any card type)

Swipe + PIN (Pulse/Discover debit network mode) - acts like debit card

Arco (stations that don't take credit cards) - pay at pump (any amount up to preauthorized $100) or pay at cashier (you give set amount)

Dollar Tree - cash back ($1 fee by store)
Grocery Outlet - cash back
Office Depot
Rite-Aid - cash back
Safeway - cash back
Staples - cash back

Swipe Only (most merchants will accept as swipe; a few examples shown)

POS: Square - based on reports

Starbucks
Target

Not Accepted At All
Costco - loop cycle of chip error & swipe
Fry's Electronics - chip error & swipe did nothing
RedBox - swipe says card not recognized (new card unit, but before chip & contactless enabled)

ONLINE WORKS (web browser) - real payment fully completed & posted

Most websites & apps that autodetect card as UnionPay or Discover when entering will work
Card seems accepted at a rough estimate of 40%-50% of US websites of all types

Amazon.com - card type autodetected as UnionPay
Bedbathandbeyond.com - card type autodetected as Discover
Boxed.com - card type autodetected as UnionPay
DollarTree.com - select card type as Discover
Geico.com - card type autodetected as Discover
Netflix.com (autopay works) - card type autodetected as Discover
PG&E (manual pay) - card type autodetected
RiteAid.com (Authorize.net) - card type autodetected as Discover
Sports Basement (Shopify) - card type autodetected as Discover
Verizon Prepaid (autopay) - card type autodetected as Discover
Walgreens.com - card type autodetected as Discover