Originally Posted by
wlau
By the way, another dumb question. Now that I have AliPay setup with a Chinese phone number, foreign credit card, and not that prepaid thing, are there legitimate places I can add cash to my AliPay balance? Like, can I go to an ATM using my US-issue card to withdraw cash. Instead of taking actual cash, can I scan AliPay and have the money go in there? Or are there machines that can recharge AliPay balance using cash? Not sure if you guys travel to Japan, but Japan is just perfect. I can recharge IC at every transit station.
You could give me (or pretty much anyone else in China) cash, and I would transfer it to you. In spite of the fact that I dislike cash, there are ICBC CDMs minutes away from both my home and office.
ETA: I want to highlight the fact that both Alipay and WeChat Pay rely upon actual banks. And. I want to dismiss the notion that China is a cashless society. Cash is easy to get (from CDMs), and it is kind of easy to spend....but you might end up forking over 100 for a 2-pound bag of potatoes.