Changing money at Shanghai airport rip off
 

I could not believe they charge around $7 flat commision and give a lower rate. Are there other places to change money at the airport?

1) If you have $ that you want to exchange so you don't have to take it around China - bank

2) If you are happy to keep your $ and take it back home with you - ATM

Loads of threads here about which banks will change Forex for RMB and which ATMs work with overseas Credit Cards

The money exchange booths in airports are, without exception, a very poor option

nickyboy

The forex ATMs are usually pretty good IME.

Flat fee 50 rmb, set by government.

Chinese currency is regulated and that includes the level of commission you get charged. If you insist on carrying lots of cash around with you and exchanging it, then do so in relatively large amounts to minimise the currency hit. Your hotel and any banks you deal with will usually charge the same commission fee.

Note that in order to change anything back, you have to produce the receipts you got when you obtained the RMB in the first place. No receipt = not able to change back (or doing so on the black market for an inferior rate).

ATMs are everywhere in the cities, and will take most ATM card and credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Cirrus, Plus, Discover are all widely accepted, Amex can also be used). The commission you pay will be lower. The only downside of ATMs is that an ATM receipt cannot be used to change back to your home currency, so don't withdraw more than you need.

It's bureaucratic I know, but this is China and it is the way things work. I currently have to do tax returns on a monthly basis, which I can assure you is as much fun as it sounds...

The Y50 fee is something that I've only encountered at airports, and even then, mostly only at branches inside international arrivals lobbies.

Same thing I noticed. I always keep at least 250 rmb in my travel wallet in the event I need to take a cab to Puxi/Pudong instead of the Maglev. The rate I got at Le Meridien when I stayed this past trip was far better than the airport rate and without the 50rmb fee too.

To get the best fx rate, one should be on the look out for guys lurking around most banks in shanghai. They have minimal english skills but sufficient to ask if you would like to exhange money. They basically take money out of their bank account straight away when you provide them with your fx currency, after agreeing on the rate.

Changing money at the airport would be the last resort and a total rip off.

Except you have to be careful about counterfeit and other such scams.

Hm, this may not be standard, but I'm pretty sure I used an ATM receipt in 2006. Good to know that I can't rely on that method.

Of course, the person in the booth can't tell which cash was exchanged, and which was withdrawn, so exchange your first hundred at a bank somewhere, and withdraw the rest. Just don't lose the receipt :)

We had to exchange money at the airport, too, and paid the RMB 50 fee. At other places you have to ask. Some banks charge the fee and some don' t. If I remember correctly the fee can even be lower than RMB 50. I think one bank wanted to have RMB 25.

The good thing about hotels is that they are not as picky as banks. In banks your dollars have to be without any failure. One of my bills has been declined, because it was ripped a little bit. That was accepted at my hotel. But you do not get a second chance with money which has hand writings on it.

And it is even easier to fill in the form at hotels. Once I had to fill in the form several times. You are not allowed to:
- make a cross (tick the field instead)
- the $ character needs to be in front of the number, not behind
- do not correct anything
- use the american format for number 7 (without the second horizontal line)

Felt like an idiot and bank employees did not want to fill in the form for me either. My friends were so upset, not only because of this, but also because of the way the clerk spoke to us, that they called for the manager. Then everything was easier and quicker and they even apologized.

Sounds like a bank to avoid.

open a bank of america account in the states.

you can use jianshe bank atm (china construction) for free.

forget about the airport exchange place
discover card is widely accepted in china just like a local credit card and it does not charge any exchange fee
you can also use bank card from bank of america to withdraw cash in local currency, again no exchange fee but need to find the right atm to use

Are you sure about that? I've read Discover tacks on 2% in foreign currency fees. Also, "widely accepted," appears to be a bit of a stretch.