Any Way to Avoid Foreign Credit Card Fee?
 

A while back, I booked a on Ctrip (the flight was the same price on eLong and Travelzen so I guess I booked on Ctrip by random). At the end, there was a 3% (+/- a few basis points) charge for using a credit card issued by a bank outside of China. This will be on top of the 2.5% (or so) foreign exchange fee I'm sure my bank will charge. Do any of the other travel sites not charge this fee or is there another way of avoiding it?

Travelzen does not charge the foreign credit card fee. Elong, like Ctrip, does. For this reason, when using a foreign credit card to purchase air tickets via online transaction, travelzen tends to be my go-to company. I have had no problems with them in many past transactions over the last 3-4 years.

credit cards
 

Some credit cards do not charge the foreign fee, Amex plat, & Visa premier signature are the two i use. IMO, C-trip may be worthy of the 3% as they also will deliver a fapiao, (receipt) .

Unfortunately only way I know is via Chinese CC, or check out the latest paypal options.

Have you forgotten about cash, Mr. Fox? No matter where I leave it, the ctrip couriers seem to take it.

I thought YOU were the king of milking CC's for free points? :p

The Travelzen website appears to be dead (or, at least, no longer offering travel to the general public?). What other websites would be usable for booking travel?

Also, are Ctrip, Elong, and (Travelzen) still the go-to sites for booking airfare and hotels these days in China?

Well, you revived a 3-year old thread, and yes travelzen seems to have abandoned their retail booking interface. For domestic air tickets, you can see if this site charges the foreign cc fee: http://ticket.9588.com/FlightTicket/Main_E.aspx

For hotels, you need to be aware of this ongoing thread. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/china...15-beyond.html

These days, I personally would use elong for domestic hotels, or book directly. I would avoid ctrip due to unfavorable policies they have adopted. If you are trying to book hotels in major cities in the 4*, 5* category then using one of the international sites like expedia, booking.com, or similar could also work out for you.

If you're living in China or spending enough time there, consider opening a Chinese bank accoount and getting a Chinese debit card, which you can then use for online purchases.

This is a bit easier said than done, not so much opening the account which is easy enough but getting familiar with online banking, which can seem quirky or even quirkier at first, depending on your bank. But it'll make life easier, since some domestic hotel chains, for example, only accept Chinese cards for prepayments.

For credit cards, HSBC, Capital One and Discover (which can be used on Diners Clubs network) don't charge a foreign exchange fee. Otherwise, just open a Charles Schwab Bank High Yield Investor Checking Account which has no fees and no minimum balance. It requires a Schwab Brokerage account which also has no fees and no minimum balance. The Platinum Visa Debit Card it comes with provides for no fees of any kinds including ATM and Foreign Transaction Fees worldwide as they will rebate/refund any fees you get charged. When you get money from the ATM, you get the best rates for currency exchange as it's based on the wholesale rate, the same rate the banks get directly and what you see on financial news and not the lower rates that includes the bank or whoever does the exchange that collects their share if it.

There are other cards as well but these are off the top of my head. For things that deal with money, check out the forums at fatwallet.com.

Ctrip (along with many other OTAs) charges its OWN fee, Vince, and that is the primary topic of this thread.

For a while, at least, ctrip or elong was waiving foreign card fees for air tickets bought through their mobile app.

And HSBC in Hong Kong certainly imposes a surcharge on overseas credit card purchases.

As moondog says, you are not on-track with this line of discussion on this thread. You are talking about best home-country-based vehicles for traveling. This thread is about Chinese vendors (particularly travel agents) charging their own fees when you use a foreign credit card---in addition to flat or percentage fees or surcharges, and related area of discussion is DCC (dynamic currency conversion) practiced by many Chinese vendors and/or THEIR bank acquirer.

Whether or not ctrip still refunds the cc surcharge when booking via its mobile app (I would tend to doubt it, but who knows), my advice is avoid it like the plague:
-partial (as in 1/3 on popular routes) list of flights
-extremely finicky about credit card input (e.g. my expiration date is 6/16, and the closet it can get is 8/16)
-I had it on two different phones, and I swear it made them "sick"

The Chinese app is less buggy than the English app, but still suffers from the same atrocious UI.

Whichever site it was, it wasn't a case of refunding anything but simply accepting foreign cards without tacking on a fee of its own.

I do admit that I install most Chinese apps only when needed and then uninstall till needed again. I just don't trust them always whirring away in the background.