Using Discover card in China
 

Does anyone have any experience with using their Discover card in China? I was looking around and found out that you can use Discover at places that accept "Union Pay", which is just about everywhere. Just wondered if anyone has done it, and if so were there any fees or anything? As far as I can tell there is supposed to be no forex fee. That would be great if I could use my card here for purchases etc...

You can pretty much forget about using it to make purchases. Even if a merchant displays a Union Pay sign, it doesn't mean they will take every card, it depends on their merhant agreement. Some only take Visa, and many only accept Chinese issued cards. You might be able to use it at an ATM with a Union Pay logo.

I too am a bit skeptical. I am going to give a try at some point and see how it goes. Discover has a .pdf file on their website with instructions in Chinese to carry with your card to show to the cashier explaining relationship. Here is a link to a msn article telling about the agreement between the two and it is saying they are supposed to be accepted system wide on each others systems...

http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/pro...108&id=6181210

If it works more than once the whole time I'd consider it a miracle. Will probably depend on where you are. In places frequented by lots of Westerners you'll have a better chance, as somebody may have already fought the battle for you. As a rule the Chinese are pretty mistrustful of credit cards, and I can't see their going for it just because you have a piece of paper that says they should. Nice thought, though.

One time in Irkutsk I was in a bank that had a logo for Citibank Travelers checks on the cashiers window where I was standing. I had exactly those instruments, so I thought I was in luck. Nope. To this day I don't understand what the logo was supposed to convey.

very true, many places display the visa/mastercard logos, but very few actually take them... I have been successful in using visa on a few occasions but even that has taken some prodding. I am hoping that this will work, and there are no transaction/exchange fees supposedly. I am guessing no one else has tried it much yet. I will try it out sometime and report back.

I'm glad I read this thread. I had no intention of trying to use my Discover card (half the time I can't find a merchant in the US that takes it so I'd never even try it out of the country); however, I did not realize that visa/mc were not widely accepted. Are traveller's checks accepted? Is it cash, all cash, and only cash?

Just exchange your TC at the hotel for local currency. IME, the rates of exchange aren't that bad at the hotels I stay in. But I usually just go to the local Citibank ATM and withdraw what I need for the trip.

All the fine hotels and restaurants usually take MC/Visa and sometimes AE, but I've never tried using a discoverer card.

where did you use it? i used my BoA (1% fee) at a papajohns (newly opened out in the boonies, no westerners), a couple large bookstores half a subway stop away from people's square, and a place selling olympic stuff. nobody noticed or said anything about it being a "real" visa. i ignore the unionpay and just look for the "visa" logo (ive never seen any other logo, such as MC or AMEX). has worked for me but im sure there's people with more experience on this board.

Most of my experience is in SW China, Kunming and Chengdu. It takes a little longer for things to trickle down here. There are many shops that display the visa/mastercard logos but then when you try to use them they say, only China issued visa/mastercard. That is why I am hoping this Discover/Unionpay deal will work, since they are supposed to be the same network. I have seen the Unionpay logo a lot of places and think it may be worth a try. I do realize it may take some convincing.

Well, I tried it today and it works! The cashier just kind of looked at it and was not sure what to do and had to call a supervisor. I had printed off of the Discover website the page showing in Chinese describing how to process the card and showing the UnionPay logo. They looked at it and I convinced them to give it a try. It worked much to their surprise. I will post back later once it posts to my account with the exchange rate given. I have learned though that UnionPay is the most widely accepted card in China and noticed the logo in all kinds of places and shops.

Well, just to update again, (if anyone cares) the transaction posted to my account with what I see as a pretty good exchange rate. They gave me a rate of 7.708. The day I made the purchase I checked the forex rate on xe.com and it showed as 7.74. So, while the rate is a little lower it is better than anything I can get from the atm using a master/visa debit card, as most take off 1% minimum, giving a rate of 7.66. Or using master/visa for purchases also carries a minimum 1% fee, usually 3%. When you add to it that UnionPay is the most widely accepted network in China I think this is a good deal. I plan to use it is much as I can for my expenses here.

[QUOTE=AandT;7599986)(if anyone cares)[/QUOTE]

I do care. :) Thanks for the update. ^ Perhaps Discover Card can put the UnionPay logo somewhere on its cards to make it easier for the people.

Me too. Discover in China - who'd a thunk it?
Some time ago, I ditched my MBNA Visa in favor of Capital One just to avoid their 3% fee*. I'll print out those Discover instructions just in case I need a back-up solution.

* Also applied to charges made in US$ to companies registered in Canada:td:

Yeah you know that would be really helpful if the logo was on the back of the card. I think I will write to Discover and ask them to do that.

I thought I would give everyone an update on this topic -

I tried using my Discover at Carrefour in Shanghai last week. Clerk an the card, but no luck.

I just checked in to the Panglin Hotel in Shenzhen. There is a sign at the reception desk displaying the Union Pay and Discover logos. I handed my Discover to the checkin clerk and she just looked at it, so I turned the sign around and showed her, but she handed the card back and told me to use something else.

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... :mad:

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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?

I've just started using my Discover card in China 5 days ago, and it works pretty much everywhere, but a UnionPay decal would be really nice.

An added bonus would be statement (in Chinese) that no PIN is required.

Should've said this ages ago, but yes, it works. It will ask for a PIN, but six zeros does the trick.

Also agree with moondog, but would prefer the option of printing the logo right onto the card. I could see merchants looking at a decal'ed card suspiciously.

some issue i have with discover yesterday
 

hi,

i wanted to share some problems i have when using discover card in china. I was planned to buy certain expensive products visited few stores and here are their problems. (please notice all store i went to DO accept UNION PAY).

1st store, they told me they wont accept discover card at that time. i showed them the little printout and they still said no. they also called to the unionpay hotline, verified my account is valid but the answer they got from union pay is that their machine was NOT ready to take discover card.

2nd store, they said they would ok to give a try on the credit card. after a swipe, some error messages pops up. The clerk told me to check is the card still valid or not. I went downstairs to buy some 20rmb from supermarket, pay from the card and it worked!! So i go back up and say the card is valid and keep swiping. The swiped total of 5 times and said the same messages pop up again. So i have to find another store.

3rd store, they said they have trained to use discover card and noticed it was treated as a unionpay card. But the superivisor came down and told me that they cant accept discover card starting with 6011. I asked why and she said is just company policies.

4th, the last store, the clerk said they would trained to to use discover card and they CAN accept discover card. However, she said she has NOT seen any one using discover card since she worked. She asked where i came from i said usa and she nicely swiped my card. The card went through and i finally get my stuff.

Conclusion: dont expect all merchant display union pay logo also accept discovercard. I have been to 4 stores and 3 stores were NOT accepting them. I was curisouly to also ask does why this happen? ANy one know?

Thanks.

Wow too bad to hear about this. They key is to make sure they swipe it as if it's a UnionPay card and use the same system. Sometimes there are two systems stores will use.

I would just tell them it's the same thing and ask them to try. Don't try to attract too much attention to it.

dear all.

just wanna update u guys on some purchase within china using discover card.

i met a friend, who worked inside on unionpay, told me he staff inside knew the card would work on the unionpay network. however, unionpay would not bother to advertise or tell merchants that about the accepting of the discover.

1st, China is a very protective country. The government wanted to protect their home made companies. (As you know, the shareholder of unionpay is chinese banks, which is also owed by chinese governement). So the governement would not allow a big advertisment on the discover card itself to protect unionpay's profit (unionpay had like 80% market in china).

2nd, There are really some card processing machines that just DO NOT accept discover. (the same machine which used to swipe unionpay). Since Discover had to charge, and unionpay had to charge. The cost of acceping a discover card in China is much bigger. So when you see a unionpay logo in CHINA, dont automatically assume it will also accept discover because the merchants/shopping centres may not entitle to use discover because of the cost.

3rd, EVEN THOUGH the machine do accept union pay. You have to understand chinese people are not brave to break the rules and they tend to follow orders from superior. When they see a card that they dont recognize and there is no logo on it, they will ask their superior. However, their superior didnt know about DISCOVER too. So at last, they JUST WILL NOT SWIPE YOUR CARD FOR ANY REASONS. (especailly if you are buying big $ purchase).

4th, the reason DISCOVER dun put unionpay logo on the card is that the chiense governement DONT allow them to do so. Chinese govt wanted to protect the profit of unionpay. BY ALLOWING THE UNIONPAY LOGO ON THE CARD, IT REPRESENTS THAT THIS CARD CAN BE USE FREELY WHERE UNIONPAY IS DISPLAYED. So DISCOVER are not allow to display the logo.

THanks.

This I have trouble believing. What can they do if Discover says they'll display it anyway? If they break the UnionPay-Discover link they'll be hurt far more as UnionPay acceptance drops to near-zero in North America without Discover's network. Dual-logo cards will become a lot more popular. Do they think they can build it all back up on their own?

Secondly, that doesn't explain the multitude of shops with those little "welcome" signs that display both UnionPay and Discover logos, just to get the point across.

Then again, this is the same UnionPay that doesn't even properly advertise to merchants how to use their fancy new UPCash technology, so I'd be more likely to ascribe incompetence to it.

Been using Discover the past week, no problems.

I am going to take the jump and get a Discover card this week. Travel to China 6-8 times a year for a week or two at a time. Any new reports about easier acceptance ? Last post from almost 2 years ago. Cheers.

Acceptance isn't really an issue at all, but sometimes you need to convince/explain that Discover is on Union Pay.

Thanks. I'll report back in a month or so.