I also have been trying to use my card at Carrefour here in Kunming and it has not worked, but they told me their network has been down and no cards are working at all. I have been able to use it at several other locations though but the hassle factor is quite high. I like the better rate and ability to earn points but wish they would work on the implementation a little better. Interesting that a hotel that had a sign with both logos would not take it. I am guessing if she had been willing to try it, it would work.

Has anyone ever been able to use a Discover card for online payments in China yet? If so, how do you go about doing that?

I want to try to pay my China Mobile bill with Discover. Not being in China, my ICBC account is running low on RMB...

Also, I encountered a very oddball merchant today. Alldays (the convenience store). I tried using my Discover there and the cashier told me "no". Then I tried my SCB UnionPay card and they still said no. I asked "why" and she said that their acquirer has some problems passing the payment to the merchant for everything but BoC/ICBC/CCB so they'll only accept those banks' cards (they also said that corporate said that anyone that accepts one of the "others" will have the money docked from them personally if the payment doesn't come through after processing). The Baidu table says the acquirer no. 401xxxx is a credit union of some sort. Probably has something to do with it.

Point: UnionPay has some work to do.

As online payments are generally processed directly by the issuing bank, rather than through an intermediary like UnionPay, I don't think this is possible.

If you have a way of paying taobao merchants you can recharge your China Mobile account through that. They'll even give you a discount.

But buying things on Taobao almost always requires the use of 支付宝/Alipay, leading you directly back to the problem of only being able to pay using a direct transfer from a Chinese bank...

The lone exception to this that I am aware of is that one can add an HK-issued Visa/MC to their Alipay account if they have a valid HKID. Of course, you also need to have a verified Alipay account, which requires either a 身份证 or a complicated process involving a local guarantor...

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Discovery card aside, there is a twist for even visa, master and amx in Chins, like everything else - some places only taking them if they are issued by a Chinese bank. Cash is the king as for backups

No, that's because Chinese-issued Visa/MC/AmEx are dual-network cards, also functioning on the local UnionPay network. They are always processed as such in China.

Hmmm, sounds like no luck...

Bumping this thread up. Any recent (2012) experiences with Discover in China? Where, when, acceptance vs fight with the cashier to try it out on the Unionpay network?

I'm heading back to USA soon for a Family-and-Friends Tour, and am toying with the idea of applying for a Discover card while there. Any merits to getting the debit version (which I think is now offered) over the standard credit card version--from a Chinese system acceptance standpoint?

+1, I'd like to know now that Discover is my pretty much go-to card internationally since Schwab is RIP (sob)

Just make them swipe it: Discover = UnionPay.

Not quite. Two big merchants that will NOT take it:

1 is Senao, a company that operates certain China Unicom stores/service centers (just Shanghai? Or do they exist in other cities? I have no idea.) on its behalf. Their policy is "no foreign cards", no UnionPay logo on card=no swipe. Asking to escalate results in a dead end (the person who makes decisions is always "away"). They've directly told me that if I insist on using that to go to a directly-operated Unicom service center. I always do, and have never had any trouble with them.

2 is Okashi Land. They import food. Same thing- no UP logo on card = no go. Apparently it's store policy. I've had to leave one location because I was getting too frustrated. I now frequent another location using only my local ICBC card and only buy their discounted items.

Most other merchants happily take it, and I continue to shop with them (but I had to remind the people at Carl's Jr that it goes through the "local" machine, not the "foreign" one) Discover really needs to offer an option with a UnionPay logo or allow customers to add one as a custom design because pretty much every merchant hangup I've had to deal with involves the card not having the logo.

NOTE: If you read enough Chinese to use those white machines in subway stations in Shanghai, you can now use your Discover card to top up your subway card, cellphone, pay utility bills, load an Alipay account and/or pay for Taobao transactions; it's pretty much every aspect of daily life covered.

Anyone have luck using Discover to pay China Mobile bills at their service halls?

I've tried mine at all three providers for recharge vouchers. Shouldn't bill payments also be processed similarly (system feeds amount to card terminal, swipe, no PIN, go)?

As I've said a few posts above, a certain few merchants (the most annoying offenders named and shamed) will absolutely not take it no matter the circumstances because it doesn't have a physical UnionPay logo. In Shanghai, most will refuse it at first, but are willing to try it and will be surprised to find that it works.

As for the debit version, the main merit is cash withdrawals; not having to worry about whether the ATM you're using is actually linked into the Plus/Cirrus network or not (I've had problems with ATMs displaying those logos and not actually accepting foreign cards, and even Shanghai has quite a few UnionPay-only ATMs).

So I assume it worked with you vouchers?