lsquare

https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/21/busin...hnk/index.html

​​​​​​​If this truly marks the start of widespread acceptance of international Visas and Mastercards, then this is a very positive development.

889

That train has left the station now that essentially everyone has Alipay and Weixin. Besides, Alipay and Weixin charge a small fraction of Visa/MC's fees.

lsquare

Perhaps this is true for locals, but I suspect most foreigners don't have Chinese bank accounts and phone numbers. Therefore no AP and WX.

moondog

A lot of businesses don't have card-accepting POS machines, and even in places that do, many employees don't know how to operate them. I don't think MC being more widely available will move the needle on this because most consumers would simply link their new cards to Wx or Ap and keep the physical plastic in drawers at home.

YariGuy

I saw the news today and was a little bit puzzled.

Because frankly the business model in the USA for credit cards is completely different than the rest of the world, including China. Consumers in the US are able to get generous rewards/points/miles because of the high swipe fees. As far as I know, these fees are tightly regulated in China. Even if MC (or Visa or Amex) becomes widely accepted in China, I don't see how US cardholders are able to get massive points without the companies shutting down this money-losing proposition.

Right now, Wechat is eating the fees for international card transactions. But they are limiting it to RMB200 per swipe / ???? per year (I forgot the amount). I don't see them willing to eat this cost interminably.

The only sustainable outcome I see is that Visa / MC / Amex is widely accepted but usage in China get no points or maybe are capped at 1 cent / dollar.

Visconti

Not that the inconveniences of a wayward foreigner such as myself matters, but I recall many years in Shanghai, I wanted to order some Shao Lung Boas for lunch. The eatery was within one of those mall complexes with a food court, and the cashier advised me they couldn't take cash or credit cards, only WeChat or its equivalent.

So, I'm assuming absent a Chinese bank account, there's no other way to have, even temporarily, any of these digital payment services when in China?

moondog

Check out the dedicated thread on the topic. As long as you can get either wx or ap working, you'll be in good shape.

mlin32

Interchange fees are also capped and regulated in the European Union (Amex is excluded I believe). MC/Visa find ways to make money, even if the banks and institutions here don't. Of course, we do not get any fancy rewards and we actually pay for the privilège of having a credit card (which is really, a deferred debit). But I think MC/Visa probably makes enough money in the US market to offset others.

Then again, I don't see them dethroning Unionpay, Weixin, Alipay, etc... anytime soon. If anything, might be the other way around, as the Chinese payment methods start getting more used outside the home market.