Didi payment methods
 

Had a lot of problems with paying Didi with an International credit card. Wells Fargo Visa verified, but flags fraud with every transaction.
Chase won't even verify. Have a Visa and a credit balance in my WeChat, but haven't gotten Didi to use that successfully.

Notice new payment methods in the Didi app. Didi currency and Travel Cards look the most interesting.
Is there a way to get money into Didi currency?

There are three Travel Card types - Premier travel card, Express travel card and Luxe travel card for pre-paid rides. Are these physical cards you can purchase, or are they available online?

I can concur and simply now use cash. It is funny how difficult China makes it for foreigners to enjoy / embrace their advance payment system with AliPay and WeChat

Didi, tencent, and Alibaba are profit driven companies, and I'm guessing that they have found better ROI opportunities in other areas.

i been using my chase visa card with didi in the past month without any problem.

Amex worked fine for me.

Hmm - I'm getting a (very vague) error message when trying to add (a US) Amex as a "password-free payment method."

Have also been unable to add it to Alipay or WeChat Pay. This is very frustrating.

AA Citi card works fine for me.

Just tried Amex again and it now works!

A Visa card that failed to work earlier also works now. :)

Didi and UK credit card
 

I was surprised to be able to link a UK card to Didi, but I managed it and used the service a couple of times. My concern is that my bank is likely to add a charge for foreign transactions which could double the cost of the ride. After a deposit refund, I now have money in WeChat so would like to switch payment method.

Why don't you get a bank account in China?

Didi and UK credit card
 

I may try to get a bank account on my next visit. Strangely, I could go to WeChat via the Didi payment options and add UK cards to WeChat by that method. The cards are showing as linked in WeChat, but I still can't manage to either top up my WeChat wallet or pay Didi drivers from WeChat funds.

i dont think you can top up wechat wallet with credit cards.

Is there anything in your wechat funds when you try to pay did driver?

If there isn't, and you only have credit card linked with wechat, i don't think it's going to work.

If you are a fairly frequent traveler, you should get a credit card that doesn't have foreign transaction fees. I don't have any problems using the Didi app with any of my credit cards, except I think they don't take AMEX. What is a problem is linking a non-Union Pay credit card to WeChat. Also note that there are some non-Chinese banks that offer Union Pay cards, but from what I've read on this sub-forum is that not many have been too successful with these. Linking a VISA/MC credit card with WeChat will enable the wallet, but won't allow money to be transferred from the card to your wallet. For this it seems there are only 2 choices, open a Chinese bank account with debit card or give someone cash and have them transfer to your WeChat wallet.

I use the Didi app (not through WeChat) all the time and have it linked with a US bank issued VISA card.

DiDi does take my US-issued Hilton Amex. :D

Thanks, good to know. I'm heading back to the PRC this weekend for a month. I'll see if my business platinum works.

Personal platinum worked fine for me 6 months ago so no reason business wouldn't work.

Didi and WeChat
 

I found a card that adds a % rather than fixed amount for foreign transactions and this is working well with Didi. The WeChat wallet is activated as soon as you receive and open a Red Envelope - ie as soon as someone sends you money. I have linked UK cards to WeChat but what is the point of doing this when it's not possible to transfer funds?

Also is it possible to choose the Didi destination on the map? The way I do it now is a little laborious - I find the destination, remember the name, then type in the name.

Is it possible to replace the credit card in the Didi app? I can't seem to change/remove cards...

I think you need to disable password free payment in order to replace your cards. I don't want to try this myself though because my setup works pretty well.

Had no issues setting up my US-issued Chase (CSR) visa as the default payment method on DiDi. However, when it came time to pay, it took a bit of trial and error to get the payment screen to load.

Unlike Uber, payment doesn't occur automatically at the end of the ride. Once I got the payment screen to load, it was entirely in Chinese. I just showed the screen to my driver, he tapped the appropriate button and then it progressed to an English page where I did the final payment confirmation.

Worked just fine in the end, but a few tense moments trying to figure it all out. This was back in May of this year, so perhaps this issue has been resolved since then.

It does if you enable that setting.

I haven't seen that setting anywhere in the app.

Had no issues using my credit cards (both the ICBC US-issued UnionPay and my CreditStacks MasterCard) with DiDi, and even then I could choose to pay cash if I wanted to.

Sorry, English services are currently unavailable in your area.
 

I got the above message when wanting a car so switched to Chinese. This also changed payment options and the payment was not done automatically. I paid cash but now, every time I try to use Didi, I get reminded to pay for that trip. I am back in UK now so will uninstall and hope the trip gets forgotten before my next visit to China.

I don't want to tinker with my settings now because they are working well, but I think automatic payment and password free payment might be the same thing. I see the password free payment option (enabled in my case) in both the Chinese and English interfaces.

So I have a question on using Didi... are the estimates the app gives reliable?

I can go from Shanghai Hongqiao station to the Hilton Suzhou for about Y340 and it takes about an hour. Seems much more direct, and just a hair more expensive, than taking a train to Suzhou then Didi from Suzhou station (and the transit time from Suzhou station to the Hilton is listed at an hour!)

To me this seems like a no-brainer. About US$50 and get dropped at the door.

Do drivers know the trip in advance? So they'd know what they're in for before picking me up?

The estimates are usually pretty accurate, especially on longer trips, but traffic, and sub-optimal routes are variables that can throw things off. Yes, drivers know the drip in advance; when you enter your destination into the app, it gets sent to them as part of your request. If you're not going to take a train, why would you go to the train station (very annoying place to get a car)?

Two solutions:
1. Use Amex card. You need to have access to your email or cell to get verification code.
2. Sign up Wechat and link your credit card (AMEX, Visa, Mastercard) to Wechat Pay, and then use Wechat to make a payment.
I am not sure Wechat pay with foreign credit card works fine on didi, but I have successfully made payments on other apps, so it should works.

Why not try to use Alipay? It have a better compatibility with foreign cards.

I've had no luck getting Alipay to work with any foreign (non-Chinese) card, tried multiple Visa and Amex cards.

Alipay is confusing, because non-Mainland cards may work for a few things and a few things only. I've never seen a chart showing the limitations, so it's trial and error.

I think for non-Chinese cards, you pretty much have to use a debit card for Alipay as a foreigner.

No, I've used a non-Mainland credit card on Alipay for Taobao/TMall purchases and mobile top-ups. But no QR code for instant payments without a Chinese bank card that works for real-name registration (many don't for foreigners).

Also, payment options on Alipay seem to vary depending on whether you're using the mobile app or desktop version.

For real name authentication, you can submit your foreign passport and valid Chinese visa. My Alipay and WeChat wallet both authenticated perfectly.

My accounts are authenticated, and I have no problem doing QR code instant payments or sending money to friends, as long as the funding source is either a Chinese bankcard or "wallet". But, my foreign cards only work for merchants like Didi, Ctrip, and Unicom.

You can only authenticate if your Mainland bank supports real-name authentication using passports on Alipay or Wechat. Only some do. I posted the list of banks that work on another thread here.